Six Feet Under Season 5

Re: Six Feet Under Season 5

Quoting myself, too. Anybody have an answer to my question above? Still wondering.....

--John

Re: Six Feet Under Season 5

Hi John,

I have no idea if this is the same interview Patrick referenced -- it's very short -- but here Krause hints briefly at the reasons why the last season would have been difficult for him, and why he wouldn't want to revisit that sort of show / character again anytime soon.

Krause Resurfaces After 'Six Feet Under' - washingtonpost.com

For Krause, it sounds like being Nate in the fifth season was as hard on him as it was on us. He says it was "a heavy cross to bear" being a "complicated anti-hero". (Indeed)

I loved the finale too, although a friend of mine remarked that it played out like a particularly morbid car commercial, minus the small text at the bottom of the screen. Most of my friends won't go near the show because they are turned off by the morbid subject matter, but I tell them to be courageous, it's painful but worth it! The show can be quite cathartic.

Re: Six Feet Under Season 5

Great article, Steve, living with that character couldn't have been easy, I would have been relieved too to be rid of it I think, especially if it began to carry over into my real life like it did for Peter.

As for the subject matter of the show as a whole I wasn't very disturbed by it for two reasons, one I had some friends who were in the funeral business (they've stated that all the technical stuff that has to do with running the home and dealing with the bodies was all very accurate, right down to the names and styles of the caskets) and two i've always been blessed with an abnormal level of enlightenment about the subject of death.

I think that one of the points of the show was to examine the subject in a realistic manner, not in a documentary style to where we can't relate but as it is and to reaquaint society with it because it seems that more and more these days most people want to ignor it or deny it and to this end the show did a fantastic job.

We get old and we die, it's part of life and I think it's healthy to acknowledge it at least once in awhile, especially when it's depicted in an amazing form of entertainment like it was on the show. Now, having said that, I was disturbed by some of the manners of death throughout the course of the series, the accidental one's were fine (and at times even comical to a degree) but I had a hard time with the murders.

The two that still stick out in my mind were the one's where the chinese woman was running the conveniance store and was shot in the head by a robber and the one where the guy was walking through the office gunning people down. They were so senseless and violent that they disturbed me for days afterwards but again part of the reason for the show is to show us that death comes in many forms and when your number is up it's up.

Whew, morbid stuff, didn't expect to get this deep when I began this post lol. I think i'm going to go watch something funny now like Groundhog Day.

Lastly, I would love to get that great DVD box set of the complete series that they have out, the one with the little patch of "grass" on top lol, now that's clever DVD packaging.

Re: Six Feet Under Season 5

the one that disturbed me was the home robbery one where the homeowner didn't do anything to aggravate anyone, but the robber just simply decided to kill him for no reason =P. it can happen anywherez, anytime and that's scary.

PS speaking of ads, have u seen the 'blood drinks' that alan ball is doing for his new HBO series? anyways, i like what alan ball does, he's very very creative from american beauty to six feet under =).

Re: Six Feet Under Season 5

Thanks, Steve, for the link. It's not the same article that Patrick Sun linked to (that was on thestar.com), but I got the gist of what Krause went through in the last season of SFU

My "favorite death" was the one where a husband (John Billingsley in a short, but memorable role) is droning on and on about his job, and his wife, who has had enough of him, kills him with a frying pan!

--John

Re: Six Feet Under Season 5

Oh god yes, I forgot about that one.

I had this little thing that I did when watching the show that sort of defused the seriousness of the accidental death sequences, I used Bill Murray's line from Scrooged, like for instance the episode where the guy leans out of his SUV to retrieve the newspaper, falls out just before the front wheel runs over him I would say "Oh watch out. Thanks boys, get the nurse." lol.

I like the "misdirection deaths", where it's setting you up to think that one person is about to buy the farm but it turns out to be someone else.

Re: Six Feet Under Season 5

Not sure if this was something that evolved out of a show like "Six Feet Under," but I find the idea has really gotten tired with overuse on shows like "CSI" and "House."

Re: Six Feet Under Season 5

I don't know, I can't speak for CSI because I don't watch them but I always enjoy the medical crisis at the opening of each House episode.

I always wonder to myself "what strange illness did the writers come up with this week to give this poor bastard?" lol.

Re: Six Feet Under Season 5

I've sampled a few CSI episodes over the years and for this viewer, it holds nothing on House. Given the choice of watching new and inventive ways for people to die versus new and inventive ways to save people, this optimist will choose saving every time.

In fairness to CSI, it isn't about the killing; it's about the search to determine how people were killed -- and who killed them.