Six Feet Under: Season 3

I went into Six Feet Under knowing virtually nothing about it. It was a show about a family running a funeral parlor, it was well-received by critics, and its finale is widely considered to be the best series finale of all time. Other than that, I had precious little idea what the hell the show would be like. Perhaps that's why it sat in my backlog for such a long time - two whole years - before I finally decided to pop that first disc into my PS3. I liked the first two seasons without really loving any characters, plot points, or scenes. I know that's kind of a backhanded compliment, but I'm just being honest. Season 2 ended on a cliffhanger - I mean, it wasn't really a cliffhanger unless you thought they might kill off the main character in the second of five seasons - but the third season opens up by having a little bit of fun with it, nonetheless. And from there the third season goes nowhere, fast. I mean that as literally as the expression can be meant; nothing really happens, but I flew through most of the episodes anyway, just enjoying my time.

It's funny. After getting a bit ambitious to learn more about shows like Game of Thrones and The Wire while watching them, I've been hit with some spoilers (some of them major) just from careless Google searches and Wikipedia browsing. So I've made it a point to actively avoid anything on the Internet pertaining to Six Feet Under. And I was doing just fine, when all of a sudden, a few days ago, somewhere, I read just one sentence about the show. It referenced "...the then-controversial third season, in which nothing happened for far too long, and then, all of a sudden, everything happened." That's not a spoiler, at all, but it did get me excited to press on through the final three or four episodes of this season. And, uh, yeah. Suddenly, a lot of shit happens! Wow! Such timing, me reading that sentence!

I guess that's not a great story. But I'm left without much to say about Six Feet Under. Discussing the plot would do it no justice and there really aren't many thematic elements to explore beyond, "hey, isn't life kind of crazy, when you think about all this death?" But it isn't depressing, and it isn't boring. Check it out some time. For now, I'll barrel forward into the fourth season.