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Everyone's Waiting

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"Everyone's Waiting"

"Everyone's Waiting" is the 12th episode of the fifth season of the HBO television series Six Feet Under, the series' 63rd episode overall and the series finale. The episode was written and directed by Alan Ball and originally aired in the United States on August 21, 2005. It was met with almost universal acclaim from both critics and viewers alike, often being cited as one of the finest series finales in the history of television.[1]

Plot

The episode begins like no other episode—without a death—but with the birth of Willa Fisher Chenowith. The baby is born prematurely and Brenda is plagued by visions of Nate who conveys her internal fears that the child will not survive and insists that he cannot accept it if she does make it and that she is "damaged". Ruth stays by Brenda's side and comforts her and tells her Maya can now live with her. Brenda awakens to see Nate and Nathaniel holding Willa, where Nate shows his love for his daughter.

After Brenda brings Maya back home, it sends Ruth into a depression. George tries to comfort her and promises he will help her get through it. Ruth is helped by a phone call to Maggie, after she tells her that Nate was happy the last night he was alive.

Claire gets back into photography with the help of Ted and later receives a phone call from a stock photography company in New York for a photographer's assistant position. She later finds out that Olivier recommended her for the position. After finding her mother crying, she says she will stay at home to help her, but Ruth insists that she move to New York, so she will not regret it later on. Ruth also unfreezes her trust fund set up by her father. Claire later finds out that the photo company consolidated its operation and her position is no longer available. When thinking of calling off her trip, Nate's ghost tells her she needs to go to start a new life in New York anyway.

Rico encourages David to sell the funeral home, but David refuses to sell, and instead he and Keith buy out Rico's 25% share. Rico and Vanessa begin to plan their future and find a small funeral home where they can start up their own business.

Nate visits Claire one last time as she prepares to leave for New York.

David agrees to temporarily leave home and returns to the funeral home with Ruth. During a nightmare, he is confronted by Nathaniel about considering leaving the business and for his sexuality; he is forced to fight his mysterious attacker back and finally sees his own face. David and Keith along with the boys move into the funeral home and redecorate it. Ruth moves in with her sister in Topanga.

The extended Fisher family has a farewell dinner for Claire where they reminisce of Nate telling stories and toasting Nate's memory. The next morning, Claire has a tearful goodbye with her family and drives off into her future.

The episode ends with flashforwards to some milestone events in the main characters' subsequent lives and, ultimately, their deaths; the montage (set to Sia Furler's "Breathe Me") is intercut with views of Claire driving down the literal and figurative 'road of life', its literal incarnation becoming progressively less crowded, ultimately leaving her alone on the highway concurrently with the depiction of her eventual death.

In the flashforwards, Ruth is seen enjoying life in Topanga; David teaches Durrell about embalming; the extended Fisher family celebrate Willa's birthday; David and Keith get legally married. Ruth dies of old age in the hospital with David, Claire, and George at her side. She sees her deceased husband Nathaniel and son Nate before she passes away. At Ruth's funeral, Claire sees Ted; they later get married. Keith is shot and killed by robbers in his security vehicle. At a family function, David dies from a stroke after seeing a vision of a young Keith smiling at him. While on a cruise with his wife, Rico has a heart attack and collapses. Brenda dies of old age in her home with her brother Billy. And finally, after living a full life, Claire dies of natural causes.

Reception

The episode received five Emmy Award nominations at the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards. Creator Alan Ball was nominated for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series and Outstanding Directing in a Drama series; it was also nominated for Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series and Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series. It won the award for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special.

TV Guide ranked the episode #22 on its list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time" and also named it one of the best TV moments of the decade.[2][3] Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Wrapping up an acclaimed show is pretty much a no-win proposition (e.g., The Sopranos). But Alan Ball's 2005 coda distilled all that we'd learned about life and death after five seasons with the Fishers."[4]

In 2011, the finale was ranked #8 on the TV Guide Network special, TV's Most Unforgettable Finales.[5]

References

  1. ^
     • "Six Feet Under – The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME". TIME. September 6, 2007. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
     • "Empire Presents The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time". Empire Online. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
     • "The Ten Best Television Series Finales". Blog Critics. March 27, 2009. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
     • "50 Best TV Dramas Ever". TV Squad. March 11, 2009. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
     • "Happy Endings: The 6 Best TV Finales". TV Fodder. August 22, 2005. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
     • "TV's Best Finales Ever". TV Guide. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
     • "TV's Best and Worst Series Finales". NY Post. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
     • "TV's All-Time Best Series' Finales". MSN TV. Retrieved March 28, 2010. [dead link] Template:Wayback
     • "5 Best TV Finales". Pop Vultures. March 14, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2010. [dead link] Template:Wayback
     • "The Best Series Finales". UGO.com. June 11, 2007. Retrieved March 28, 2010. [dead link] Template:Wayback
     • "Top 10 TV Series Finales: The Sopranos, Friends, Cheers". Film.com. April 2, 2009. Retrieved March 28, 2010. [dead link] Template:Wayback
  2. ^ http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/feature/tvs-top-100-episodes-of-all-time-40-21-1441.html?page=2
  3. ^ "Top Moments of the Decade". TV Guide. Retrieved 2010-02-12. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Geier, Thom; Jensen, Jeff; Jordan, Tina; Lyons, Margaret; Markovitz, Adam; Nashawaty, Chris; Pastorek, Whitney; Rice, Lynette; Rottenberg, Josh; Schwartz, Missy; Slezak, Michael; Snierson, Dan; Stack, Tim; Stroup, Kate; Tucker, Ken; Vary, Adam B.; Vozick-Levinson, Simon; Ward, Kate (December 11, 2009), "THE 100 Greatest MOVIES, TV SHOWS, ALBUMS, BOOKS, CHARACTERS, SCENES, EPISODES, SONGS, DRESSES, MUSIC VIDEOS, AND TRENDS THAT ENTERTAINED US OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS". Entertainment Weekly. (1079/1080):74-84
  5. ^ TV's Most Unforgettable Finales - Aired May 22, 2011 on TV Guide Network
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