I'm thinking maybe six feet ain't so far down

OK, this is the last time you'll have to hear about it. I finally (finally!) finished the last season of Six Feet Under last weekend. I had planned to parse it out over a few weeks, thereby extending the farewell, and the enjoyment. Heh. I watched it in 3-4 days. I know that for those who watched it as broadcast it's been almost a year now, but humor me a little, won't you? See how I pretended that this whole damn blog isn't an exercise in humoring me? I'll just say it, guys. This was the best, most satisfying series finale I've ever seen. And that for a series that is easily in my Top Five All-Time (and mightily wrestling for the number one spot). The finale was wonderful--joyful, sad, tragic, quirky, human, fantastical....fitting. And it allowed me to bawl without apology because this was real stuff (unlike when I get manipulated to tears by those bastards at Extreme Home Makeover...which I refuse to watch anymore...I feel soiled after). I loved every episode of the final season, but a post about those would go on and on. A few highlights from the finale:

• Ruth and George come to a prickly understanding. Ruth is unconsolable, but George asks to hold her and he sighs deeply as she lets him. Maybe it wasn't love anymore, but it was something they both needed. Is it wrong that I'd settle for that right now? And don't you think Frances Conroy has a bit of genius? The whole SFU cast is amazing, but she did some crazy shit and yet it was unerringly believable.
  
• David and Keith come to a prickly understanding with each other and their kids. Only with these two, you can really feel the love, and David wouldn't be an easy guy to love, would he (I)? They understand each other's fears better (as a couple and a family) and come to some acceptance. But they are still kids and parents, rude and flawed and real.
• Claire's boyfriend. Ummm....YUM! Who else wants to snack on some Ted? I keep coming back to that scene when Ted takes his naked walk to bed and then he and Claire pose and play with the camera. Divine. The lighting, the white sheets, the quick cuts showing the camera shots of their faces-- I loved it.
  
• Brenda's baby is healthy. She, like David, overcomes her demons. I always assumed that the ghosts in this series were actually manifestations of the fears of the haunted. I re-watched this episode with Alan Ball's commentary and was really interested to hear him say that explicitly. Oh, and baby-wise, I love that they started this final episode with a birth instead of a death.
• David's demon being himself and when he's exorcised it, he wakes to see Nate with the sweetest smile ever.
  
• The closing Breathe Me segment with Claire driving and the montage of the future and each family member's death was brilliant. I couldn't have loved it more. Just perfect. I cried and laughed and cried again in the span of a few moments. Did I already say it was perfect? Oh, and one of David and Keith's boys is gay and has a cute Asian boyfriend. Yay!
  

I've loved, loved, loved other television shows, sure. I've lamented a show's end and missed the characters like I'm missing friends. Yep. But nothing like this. I've never before had such a strong connection to fictional characters (Television characters, anyway. Books are another story). Call me crazy, but I've been mourning their loss the last few days. I can't quite believe I'll get no more peeks into their lives. At the same time, this finale makes me glad I won't. Fitting, satisfying and oddly, comforting. Now I may just have to begin again. Cue Season One. I promise not to talk about it.