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'Six Feet Under' Overview
Posted by Austin Hudson
on
9:06 AM
in
television
My television viewing habits are well documented on certain parts of the internet. One of my favorite moments of the day is getting in bed at night and firing up whatever TV show I'm currently watching. I average an episode or two a night, and I usually end up knocking out entire series (although there are some that I cannot finish).
My latest TV addition took the form of 'Six Feet Under', the critically acclaimed HBO series about a family of mortuary owners and their lives. The series on the whole was very good; it was joyful, and happy, and bitterly sad all at the same time. That's a difficult road to walk, but somehow they managed to make it happen.
While gathering my own thoughts about the series, I did a quick Google search to see what other people thought and their reactions to the last episode (which was amazing). It was there that I realized something I probably should have figured out somewhere along the way: we were supposed to have a main character, and he was supposed to be Nate.
Let's talk about Nate Fisher the character. Played by Peter Krause, Nate rejoins the family funeral home at the beginning of the series after a long stint as the 'assistant manager at the largest food co-op in Seattle'. Herein lies my problem -- we're supposed to like Nate. Consensus across the internet is that Nate is a likable guy. Peter Krause receives top billing on the show, and most summaries of the show invoke Nate in their first lines.
But Nate's a dick. I don't like him.
'Six Feet Under' is, first and foremost, an ensemble show. All of the Fisher family is given equal weight in terms of story-telling, and are often dedicated their own episodes. From this, though, it's made clear that we're supposed to care about Nate especially.
The irony to me is, despite that we're supposed to like Nate, he doesn't really do anything particularly admirable. Time and again, Nate engages in risky, hurtful or simply selfish behaviors.
Note: The rest of this write-up features heavy spoilers; highlight to read.
In the very first episode, we meet Nate getting off an airplane. He's come home for Christmas, and he's pissed about it. Look, I can understand if you don't like your family, or if you left on bad terms. But the instant he's off the plane, he's complaining about how much he hates his family and how messed up they all are. Obviously, over the course of the series, we see how much he loves them. But still, here's your first impression of Nate! He follows this up with anonymous, unprotected sex with a stranger as soon as he finds out his dad died. Good job, Nate, making the smart decisions. But this can be written off as his moment of grief, so let's give him a pass for that one.
Next, he arrives at the Fisher home, and immediately lets everyone know how pissed off he is that A) he's home for Christmas and B) his dad's dead. He takes a brief moment to announce self-importantly that he's the assistant manager of the second largest food co-op in Seattle, and then returns to complaining. And complaining. And making a rude phone call to Brenda. Then back to complaining.
And this is the main character.
He doesn't get much better over the show. Everyone in 'Six Feet Under' makes mistakes. One of the delicious truths of the show is the portrayal of their characters as living, breathing people. Nate just seems to make more mistakes (of varying severity) than anyone else in the cast. He's cold, callous and/or rude to almost every member of the cast on a regular basis. For a decent portion of the show, he'd rather smoke pot than spend time with his wife. He has extramarital affairs on the drop of a hat, even breaking up committed relationships. He's kind of a jerk.
Look, I get that you want Nate to be conflicted. He doesn't come off as conflicted, though. He comes off as an immature child, drifting through life doing whatever feels good and whatever will inconvenience him the least. Where other characters take the high ground, Nate refuses to take the ground at all. Viewers and the internet seem to love Nate, and seem genuinely sad when he dies at the end of the series. Not me, though, mainly because the last thing he did before dying was cheating on his pregnant wife because he felt an 'emotional connection' to someone else. He then breaks up with her from his hospital bed before dying. This is not a lovable character! If your character breaks up with his pregnant wife on his deathbed because he feels a 'connection' to a one night stand that he is, by law, related to? That's messed up!
On the whole I sided more with David Fisher (played by Michael C. Hall). David is the better example of what the writers were attempting to do with Nate; he's conflicted, he's not always right, but he's a lovable person. For every dark moment he has ('That's My Dog'), he has another amazing moment, like early in the series when David finally tells the Kroehner Death Care representative that he will murder him if he continues to mess with his family. David doesn't come off smelling like roses, and he's far from perfect. But he comes across as human, and genuinely a nice person. Nate... well, I can't be too sure about him.
I guess that's the beauty of good writing. So many people fell in love with the character of Nate, and I just didn't like him. It's unusual watching a television series where you don't like the main character; it can happen to some extent to any well-written show (later seasons of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' do little to make the main character as endearing as she once was).
Again, I guess it's a good reflection on human life. So many people cried for Nate, and celebrated with him. Not me, though. I was more of a David man.
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My latest TV addition took the form of 'Six Feet Under', the critically acclaimed HBO series about a family of mortuary owners and their lives. The series on the whole was very good; it was joyful, and happy, and bitterly sad all at the same time. That's a difficult road to walk, but somehow they managed to make it happen.
While gathering my own thoughts about the series, I did a quick Google search to see what other people thought and their reactions to the last episode (which was amazing). It was there that I realized something I probably should have figured out somewhere along the way: we were supposed to have a main character, and he was supposed to be Nate.
Let's talk about Nate Fisher the character. Played by Peter Krause, Nate rejoins the family funeral home at the beginning of the series after a long stint as the 'assistant manager at the largest food co-op in Seattle'. Herein lies my problem -- we're supposed to like Nate. Consensus across the internet is that Nate is a likable guy. Peter Krause receives top billing on the show, and most summaries of the show invoke Nate in their first lines.
But Nate's a dick. I don't like him.
'Six Feet Under' is, first and foremost, an ensemble show. All of the Fisher family is given equal weight in terms of story-telling, and are often dedicated their own episodes. From this, though, it's made clear that we're supposed to care about Nate especially.
The irony to me is, despite that we're supposed to like Nate, he doesn't really do anything particularly admirable. Time and again, Nate engages in risky, hurtful or simply selfish behaviors.
Note: The rest of this write-up features heavy spoilers; highlight to read.
In the very first episode, we meet Nate getting off an airplane. He's come home for Christmas, and he's pissed about it. Look, I can understand if you don't like your family, or if you left on bad terms. But the instant he's off the plane, he's complaining about how much he hates his family and how messed up they all are. Obviously, over the course of the series, we see how much he loves them. But still, here's your first impression of Nate! He follows this up with anonymous, unprotected sex with a stranger as soon as he finds out his dad died. Good job, Nate, making the smart decisions. But this can be written off as his moment of grief, so let's give him a pass for that one.
Next, he arrives at the Fisher home, and immediately lets everyone know how pissed off he is that A) he's home for Christmas and B) his dad's dead. He takes a brief moment to announce self-importantly that he's the assistant manager of the second largest food co-op in Seattle, and then returns to complaining. And complaining. And making a rude phone call to Brenda. Then back to complaining.
And this is the main character.
He doesn't get much better over the show. Everyone in 'Six Feet Under' makes mistakes. One of the delicious truths of the show is the portrayal of their characters as living, breathing people. Nate just seems to make more mistakes (of varying severity) than anyone else in the cast. He's cold, callous and/or rude to almost every member of the cast on a regular basis. For a decent portion of the show, he'd rather smoke pot than spend time with his wife. He has extramarital affairs on the drop of a hat, even breaking up committed relationships. He's kind of a jerk.
Look, I get that you want Nate to be conflicted. He doesn't come off as conflicted, though. He comes off as an immature child, drifting through life doing whatever feels good and whatever will inconvenience him the least. Where other characters take the high ground, Nate refuses to take the ground at all. Viewers and the internet seem to love Nate, and seem genuinely sad when he dies at the end of the series. Not me, though, mainly because the last thing he did before dying was cheating on his pregnant wife because he felt an 'emotional connection' to someone else. He then breaks up with her from his hospital bed before dying. This is not a lovable character! If your character breaks up with his pregnant wife on his deathbed because he feels a 'connection' to a one night stand that he is, by law, related to? That's messed up!
On the whole I sided more with David Fisher (played by Michael C. Hall). David is the better example of what the writers were attempting to do with Nate; he's conflicted, he's not always right, but he's a lovable person. For every dark moment he has ('That's My Dog'), he has another amazing moment, like early in the series when David finally tells the Kroehner Death Care representative that he will murder him if he continues to mess with his family. David doesn't come off smelling like roses, and he's far from perfect. But he comes across as human, and genuinely a nice person. Nate... well, I can't be too sure about him.
I guess that's the beauty of good writing. So many people fell in love with the character of Nate, and I just didn't like him. It's unusual watching a television series where you don't like the main character; it can happen to some extent to any well-written show (later seasons of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' do little to make the main character as endearing as she once was).
Again, I guess it's a good reflection on human life. So many people cried for Nate, and celebrated with him. Not me, though. I was more of a David man.
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