MLA: "Pilot." Six Feet Under. HBO: 03 FEB 2001. Television. 15 May 2011.
In the very first episode of the series, the founder of the funeral home director dies. He is the father of the main characters, leaves his wife widowed and his family confused on how to treat the body of their father in a way different from all other bodies that have been in the funeral home.
This episode sets up one of the most interesting shows that I have seen in months. The characters are so different and diverse that it is hard to imagine they come from the same family. You have a drug addicted daughter, a son who is not willing to open up to anyone in his family. Another son who would rather be in Seattle and a mother who should be in therapy. Dysfunctional family owning a funeral home makes Good times.
Episode 2: The Will
MLA: "The Will." Six Feet Under. HBO: 03 FEB 2001. Television. 15 May 2011.
The funeral home director has left the will for his family. Over half a million dollars to his wife, half of the company to both of his sons. Money to his daughter. The plot focuses on life after the death of the father and the decision whether or not to sell the business.
I had never seen how a reading of a will was done. Not in cartoons, not in movies or television shows. It seems pretty easy and regular. The person reads what the deceased wanted and everyone goes their own way (according to this show). The interesting part of this episode comes from the conflict between the brothers who have completely different personalities trying to make joint decisions.
Episode 3: The Foot
MLA: "The Foot." Six Feet Under. HBO: 03 FEB 2001. Television. 15 May 2011.
It becomes a lot more obvious that the business will be put out of business if they don't sell. However the funeral home named, 'Fischer and Sons" makes it hard for the "sons" to give away their fathers work. They find out a competitor sets up a plan to put them out of business.
A man gets chopped into 50 pieces by a dough mixer. Every episode starts out with a death that the show centralizes on. That is probably the more interesting of the three. The first being the death of Fischer and the second being the death of a con artist. They decide not to sell their business and have to face a competitor that cremates the body for dirt cheap.
I think this show is one of the more interesting shows that have I have seen in a long time. The show is about death and the care of the dead but the characters make the show so interesting. The best part of the show is they incorporate a lot of things from actual care of the dead that we have learned about in school and use it to make the show interesting. One of the major conflicts of the show is created by one of the sons being afraid of dead bodies after seeing his dad embalm a person. It shows the fluid being drained out of the body and the person being cut open. The show confirms a lot of the ideas that I had about the care of the dead industry. It shows it as being something that people are supposed to fear, as seen in episode one when the son speaks about a silcian family how literally pounded on the casket and let out loud yelps of pain opposed to the American idea of grief which is to sit quietly in all black. It also talks about the business side of the care of the dead business.
The son named Nathaniel, or Nate makes a deal with a widower in the second episode who can not pay for the casket she ordered. He offers to let her rent the casket and then give the casket to someone else for half price making it so that the profit becomes very minimal as the widower rented the $9,000 casket for next to nothing. What he doesn't know is only one person can have the casket because during a cremation the casket has to be burned as well. The intentions of this was to give the woman a proper funeral with the casket she wanted without having to embarrass her. It was done out kind intentions however selling the casket half off would bring only 300 dollars in profit. There was also a decision between selling the business to a bigger funeral home or keeping it in the name of their dad. Selling it would mean they would get a lot of money and keeping it could mean they get put out of business. I feel like putting another funeral place out of business is immoral because they are supposed to be their to help people grieve and make it ideal resting place for a loved one. Not a competition between who can make a better deal and therefore a more successful business.
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