Six Feet Under dies a slow death

This season of Six Feet Under (its last, according to HBO) has been an exercise in dissatisfaction and eye-rolling. Each character has been spiraling into his or her own personal hell of self-indulgence and resentment, to the point that I could barely stand to keep watching. If it weren't for Claire (who once again was forced to ditch an obsessive boyfriend) and the intriguing David/Keith combo, I would have quit watching long ago. And when Nate Jr. finally succumbed to the long-hinted-at affair with Maggie, I thought it was all over. Nate, whose experiences with his daughter and mysteriously-dead wife Lisa had turned him into a halfway-decent person, was apparently resorting to type under pressure and I didn't think I could take it.

And then the hand of God (or perhaps it was the enigmatic Narm) struck him down, leaving him motionless at the end of the episode. Perhaps dead.

Please, Lord, let him be dead.

A series that deals so intimately with death and features dead characters regularly (Nate Sr., who died in the series premiere, has been a regular visitor to the Fisher & Diaz Funeral Home) needs to end on a dramatic note, and the death of a prominent character has long been rumored. Killing Nate Jr. off about four episodes before the season finale gives the characters plenty of time to achieve some closure for the series while still allowing Peter Krause (Nate Jr.) plenty of screen time – as a ghost, or whatever you want to call the dead characters who spend time talking to the living. His father probably has more than a few choice words for him, and don't think there won't be plenty of drama among the living as well. Given that the series has to end, Nate is a lot more interesting dead than alive. Here's hoping he really has kicked the oxygen habit.