I thought the Six Feet Under premiere was great.

The first ten minutes, where Nate’s wandering through an anesthesia-induced purgatory is the kind of stuff that made me such a fan last season. He gets to see his family and friends’ reaction to his death. He attends his own funeral. Past mistakes and missed opportunities haunt him — as has similarly happened to most of the show’s characters — embodied as real people, who appear in delusions and visions. I remember an episode last season where every kid ever aborted as the result of Nate’s sexual indiscretions appears in the family living room. He enters the room and comes face to face (to face, to face, etc.) with his past.

It’s like M. Night Shyamalan meets Charles Dickens.

After we learned that Nate survived the surgery, we get more of the wonderfully flawed, fully textured development of the rest of the Fishers and those closest to them. Michael C. Hall nails David Fisher, the recently-outed, insecure, emotional doormat. Hall always manages a thin whisp of perspiration for the part. It’s perfect.

Frances Conroy too is excellent as the neurotic, efficient, ultimately lonely Ruth Fisher — tonight resorting to revealing lifelong regrets about her marriage to her eight-month-old granddaughter.

I’m not a big fan of David’s boyfriend Keith. His character I think is a bit thin — a little too convenient for the writers’ purpose — to flesh out David’s insecurities. Also not liking Vanessa’s boss. She’s pretty similar to the funeral chain executive last season who was continually harassing the Fishers into giving up the business.

Tonight was all about decisions. Nate witnesses a series of visions of what his life may have been like in alternate universes. Ruth wonders if her decision to marry was the right one. Claire, who has finally found her calling in art school, blows off class to pursue a new love interest. Keith’s forced to work as a rent-a-cop because of bad decisions he made on the force. David’s decided his options are too limited between Keith and the funeral home, so he pursues new interests — an affirming decision freeing himself of his dependence on Keith.

Tonight’s episode was also one of the most optimistic in the series. That probably says more than anything how incredibly dark the show can be. But there is optimism. We finally see Nate happy. His illness is behind him. He’s happy with Vanessa (another really wonderful character), and is thrilled with his new daughter. The flashbacks to his stint between life and afterlife were pleasantly discomforting, and he ultimately makes peace with them.

Sullen Claire, too seems to be happier.

And the soundtrack — Coldplay, Radiohead, Steve Earle — well, well done.

On whole, a great start. Looking forward to what they throw at us next.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 2nd, 2003 at 11:08 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.