R.I.P., "Six Feet Under"

Six Feet Under has been laid to rest.

(Warning: Spoilers follow below, so stop reading now if you don't want to know.)

After five seasons, the critically acclaimed HBO series came to a close Sunday night with each member of the extended Fisher family meeting their ultimate demise.

Rather than the stark death sequences that opened about 60 episodes of the show, the series finale opened with a birth, as Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) prematurely delivered a fragile baby girl while a ghostly Nate (Peter Krause), who had died suddenly three episodes earlier following a bout of adulterous sex, looked on from the confines of the sterile hospital room.

Though the show made an initial departure from its usual morbid subject matter, the Grim Reaper was merely lurking around the corner, which became evident later in the episode.

As the show wound down, it almost seemed as if viewers were going to have to be content with a traditional happy ending, as the Fisher family gathered for a last supper, telling stories and toasting Nate's memory in what appeared to be their most normal shared meal ever.

Things seemed hopeful at last. Claire (Lauren Ambrose) had a promising job offer across the country. David (Michael C. Hall) and Keith (Matthew St. Patrick) had reunited, purchased and redecorated the funeral home and were providing a stable home for their adopted sons. Ruth (Frances Conroy) had pulled herself out of the paralyzing fog of depression that began with Nate's death. Rico (Freddy Rodriguez) had struck out to start his own business. Brenda had finally accepted the Fishers as family rather than foes and her premature baby, Willa, seemed to be thriving.

However, as any longtime Six Feet Under fan could attest, a traditional happy ending simply wouldn't do for the flawed Fisher family and as such, series creator Alan Ball did not provide one.

As Claire drove tearfully away from her Los Angeles existence, bound for a new life in New York, the show took a futuristic turn, segueing into a montage that revealed each character's final moments in life.

An elderly Ruth died in bed in 2025, attended by Claire, David and George. Keith, who finally married David, was violently shot to death while manning his own security company in 2029. His ghost later reappeared to usher David to the other side in 2044. Brenda died in the company of her rambling brother, Billy (Jeremy Sisto), who seemed to literally talk her to death in 2051.

Finally, Claire, the youngest member of the family, passed away alone in bed in 2085 at the age of 102, surrounded by mementos of a long and fulfilling life and officially closing the book on the Six Feet Under family.

Over the course of Six Feet Under's five seasons, it won seven Emmys in 32 nominations. Next month, the show will vie for five awards at the 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, including the much coveted Best Drama Series prize and the Best Actress in a Drama Series honor for Conroy.

As for what's next professionally for the show's major players, it's a fairly safe bet that it will be something quite different from their work of the past few years.

Conroy is currently shooting the film Wicker Man opposite Nicolas Cage, in which she plays a doctor. Ambrose is shooting the movie Diggers about four working-class friends who make a living as clam diggers.

Next month, Krause starts work on the film Civic Duty, in which he'll portray an accountant. Hall is slated to begin work shortly on a Showtime pilot called Dexter, in which he'll play a murderous forensics expert.

Griffiths appears in the HBO movie Angel, which will show at the Toronto Film Festival next month. St. Patrick stars as a detective in Fox's new drama, Reunion, which premieres Sept. 8. Rodriguez is currently shooting Poseidon, a remake of 1972's The Poseidon Adventure.

As for Ball, he's busy adapting the novel Towelhead for the big screen. "I'm done meditating about mortality for a while," he told USA Today. "It's been really fun to write things where no one dies."

Meanwhile, fans don't necessarily need to let the series rest in peace just yet. The fourth season of Six Feet Under will be released Tuesday on DVD, with the fifth and final season still to follow.