Scots Taffer on 29/11/2007 at 09:28
Oh shit yeah, it was the weakest season of the five. The first was probably the funniest. The second was perhaps the most interesting when it came to plot developments. The third was the most depressing. The fourth was pretty emotionally draining but at least less depressing than the third. The fifth kind of ran out of steam but managed to pull off the best ending ever.
Thirith on 29/11/2007 at 10:34
I thought the fourth season was weaker, actually - it drifted towards melodrama much more than any of the other seasons. Season 5 was mainly depressing for much of the time: Claire'd turned into a bitch, Ruth was starting to get crushed under the weight of living with (and looking after) a mentally ill husband, Nate seemed to have been permanently damaged by the Lisa fiasco. To some extent, the characters seemed to have been defeated by life, much more so than had ever been the case before.
In any case, after what happened to Deadwood, I'm just happy that HBO continued Six Feet Under to the end. Just imagine if they'd cancelled it after season 4 or some such crap... (I'd rather not imagine!)
Oh, and season 5 had some of the best use of music in the series: Cold Wind (Arcade Fire) and Breathe Me (Sia).
*wishes he could go and listen to the second 6FU CD right now*
*starts whistling "Don't Fear the Reaper" until his office mates give him nasty looks*
Scots Taffer on 29/11/2007 at 10:53
I'm running on three/four year old memories, Thirith, so you might be right about s4 vs s5. I plan to watch all the seasons and buy 3 through 5 which I don't own yet as I progress. I recall the David kidnapping being in season 5, which I thought was really overwrought melodrama and kind of killed one of the most interesting characters off from any meaningful development.
Hah, Nate's motorcylce scene to "Dont Fear The Reaper", his dream-interruption with "I Just Want To Celebrate" followed quickly by Sia's "Breathe Me" are all imprinted into my memory.
Thirith on 29/11/2007 at 10:58
I thought the kidnapping episode itself was good (but very tough),* but it did become a bit of an albatross for the character in question.
Scots, your list of musical moments is almost identical with mine. The very last bit of the last episode, starting with "I Just Want to Celebrate" to the end, is practically perfect. "You can't take a picture of this, because it's already gone." Click. It's around here that I get a lump in my throat, usually.
P.S.: The complete season 1-5 set is one of the last big DVD acquisitions I made, and I'm nerdishly happy with it! :D
*When the guy who played Jake turned up in Garden State, it almost threw me completely. I kept thinking, "That's the asshole who...!"
