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[Aunt Jenny]

Brenda seemed to be pregnant with new hubby's baby at David & Keith's wedding, which seems to be about 10 years in the future, and and would put Brenda into her mid to late 40's.

Yeah, saf, a friend of mine just had her first baby (and a gorgeous, lively, HEALTHY baby) at 47, against all odds and, surprisingly, without much medical intervention (it wasn't in vitro, no borrowed eggs, etc.). I'm sure that in 10 years, motherhood at 47 won't be quite as exceptional as it is now.

[greybear]

What's left to say that y'all haven't already said? Well, one of the small things that touched me was the new sign in front of the house: Fisher & Sons: A Family Business for 60 Years [emphasis mine].

I think the point is that one [or both] of David's boys went into the business with him. That's a sweet thought, and brings the business, which is the main inanimate character of the series, full circle, too.

This reviewer concludes that Anthony is gay:

If you looked carefully, you saw that Durrell went on to work at the funeral home with his father, David; that Anthony was gay ...

This post has been edited by greybear: Aug 22, 2005 @ 3:20 am.

[fabmimi]

teafan62:

I love that the series ended on the birth of Nate's daughter after it started on the death of Nate's daughter.


I don't know... I'm sad and weepy and confused, but... what? What daughter?

I think the poster is referring to the season, not the series opening, where Brenda had the miscarriage. It would have been way too early to know the baby's sex.

Still, though, an interesting concept that the season started with the death of Nate's child and ended with the birth of Nate's child.

I actually interpreted Claire as Nate's daughter, as in Nate Sr.

Someone also mentioned Billy at Willa's 1st Birthday. I think Billy was holding Maya's Oakpi, the stuffed animal that MaChen bought for her at the zoo.

Anyways just glad that AB was able to bring closure and leave much for our imagination. I'd rather have "forced" resolution rather than things left hanging. It was never brought up that Maya might not even be Nate's because of Lisa's affair so I guess I'll have to that let go now.....forever. *sob*

[loveittoomuch]

loveittoomuch, your observation reminds me of a scene in season 4 during David's birthday dinner (after he's been abducted) and Claire shows up stoned. She make the most hilarious comment about the episode about only women (and people of color) clearing up the table.

I do remember that, JetBlack. I loved that in that context Claire was sort of cluelessly trying to create eqality at the table in her naive sort of art school way. Here, we have in Ball and Co. artists who have created such a reality for mass consumption. Nice.

[teatrica]

To me, without that element of communication with the dead, the show was just about a bunch of depressed people living and working in, and around a funeral home. As I said in my above post, without that element of spirituality, the show, much of the time, was soooooooo depressing, to me.

My only consolation to this its that there's a little bit of both.

It's obvious of course that Brenda's concious manefistations of Late Nate Jr. in the elevator, hospital etc. were her own thoughts, as were most of the character's space-outs/daydreams.

Wheras the (night)dreams; both Brenda's of the two Nates and David's of himself and Nate when he woke up, were subconcious, so its a comforting idea to think that while asleep, they reached the other side.

Still Reeling. And waiting for it to come on comcast...

Incase anyone cares, and because I can't think about anything else here are the dates:

Ruth: 1946-2025 (79)
Keith: 1968-2029 (61)
David: 1969-2044 (75)
Rico: 1974-2049 (75)
Brenda: 1969-2051 (82)
Claire: 1983-2085 (102)

This post has been edited by teatrica: Aug 22, 2005 @ 3:46 am.

[nicolae79]

I was a dedicated SFU fan the last 4 seasons, but haven't watched much this season. I tuned in for the finale and it blew me away. I miss this show already. As messed up as Brenda is, she has always been my favorite and I am overjoyed that she led a happy life. And Lauren Ambrose was so amazing tonight. It completely sucks that Keith died the way he did. But overall I just completely loved the way everything was tied up in the end. It was the best series finale I have ever seen.

[franabanana]

From much earlier:

Nate was just a bleep in Brenda's life.

They were together for 5 years and had 2 kids. And the idea that Brenda is still "in" the family even after her own remarriage speaks to the bonds she forged while he was alive.

Anyone else dreaming about these characters tonight? Get out of my head, SFU!

This post has been edited by franabanana: Aug 22, 2005 @ 4:33 am.

[greybear]

Are these reviewers reporting their own observations, or are they working from notes that the producers gave them?

Fifteen years later, David has moved on with another partner, but it's Keith's face he sees as he dies. In 2051, Brenda's nutty brother Billy -- with whom she endured a creepy, incestuous bond -- finally talks her to death.

I'd like to think that David's relationship was so fulfilling that he had more to give to someone else. On some level, I guess it's interesting that he ended up with another man of color. On another, it's just an old saying come true ...

Brenda's expression: PLEASE, if there is a God, TAKE ME NOW!
------------
Hey! I just discovered that you can click the links here and view some of the newspaper articles without having to register. Just keep refreshing the page to get the new articles as they come in. Cool!

This post has been edited by greybear: Aug 22, 2005 @ 4:45 am.

[cutie27414]

Wow, I could not have cried more.

Did anyone think it was interesting that neither David nor Claire changed their last name after they got married? I wouldn't think Claire would, because she is such a free spirit, but I thought for sure David would, just to share that bond with Keith. Just something I noticed.

[Siara]

Fifteen years later, David has moved on with another partner, but it's Keith's face he sees as he dies. In 2051, Brenda's nutty brother Billy -- with whom she endured a creepy, incestuous bond -- finally talks her to death.

I'd like to think that David's relationship was so fulfilling that he had more to give to someone else. On some level, I guess it's interesting that he ended up with another man of color. On another, it's just an old saying come true ...

David needed to give to others and did this best in a family context. It would have been awful to think that after Keith's death he spent the rest of his life in isolation. To me, that fact that he found another partner implies that his time with Keith left him filled with caring and life. I know lots of widowers who've remarried and I think it's possible to do this without "replacing" your first partner.

On some level, I guess it's interesting that he ended up with another man of color. On another, it's just an old saying come true ...

hee, hee, hee. 'Tis true...

A touching scene that hasn't been mentioned much is the scene in which David's showing his son how to embalm. I loved that.

[Brenda]

Even though we will never really know I feel like the vision of the two Nates with Brenda was real and a visit from the dead. I think that they put Nate Sr. in that one so to tell us that it is real since Brenda has never met him or knew how he talked.


This gave closure and perhaps Brenda could live her life again knowing that Nate loved them.


I still don't think that this makes up for the way he treated her since finding out about the baby. But Ruth's words that Nate loved her the best he could sums it up. Nate was not capable of giving love to the fullest and making his partner feel secure and that they had him exclusively.

[Satine76]

I'm reading all of your posts and I've just got to ask: how in the world did you guys catch all of the stuff you caught in the last ten minutes? I was crying hysterically. I was getting so pissed off at myself because I knew I was missing key things I was supposed to be seeing. However, I was too busy grabbing more kleenex and trying to breathe and trying not to pay attention to the same behavior coming from my mother (all I kept thinking was: thank god I'm not the only one who's uncontrollable!).

I want to watch the ep again so I can pay more attention to who was at the weddings/funerals of the Fishers at the end. I just don't know if I can do it though. I traditionally watch the show again on a Monday evening, but I don't think I can take it again. Usually, after you see a show or a movie the weepiness wears off. I don't think I can ever watch this last show without losing it.

Alan Ball is brilliant. I have never felt so attached to a show in my life. It seems silly now to go back to network television. I cannot wait to see what he does next. I will watch whatever he does, no matter what.

Michael C. Hall is supurb. Can't wait to see what he does next.

Thanks to all involved in SFU. That is what television should be about.

[catrina]

Re: Older Ted and Claire's 40's hookup...

I loved everything EXCEPT that. I just found it way too pat that he showed up all those years later and then they pick things back up. It was just to convenient for me.

I could buy it if you believe in fate. Billy made the comment earlier in the episode that Fishers have a habit of meeting their spouses on the day relatives die. I could see Ted (who is older than Claire...maybe late 40s-early 50s?) happens to see an obit in the paper for a Ruth Fisher and it makes him recall Claire so he decides to show up.

As for Keith's death...

I thnk Ball wanted at least one death to be not "old person dying in bed at right time." It would have been a little too pat. Plus, of all the characters, Keith is the one is seemed least likely to bed in a bed at age 75. teatrica thanks for calculating everyone's age at death. That's been bugging me since I went to bed.

As for Claire dying "alone" without family around her. Not many people actually *die* just when their relatives are standing next to them. She could have been in a nursing home or a hospice even and just happened to slip away when no one was there. I wish the series had been a little more open about whether Claire ever had kids...but maybe Ted had kids before Claire at least.

I agree a lot about the bad aging make-up but what can you? Had they shown two women to be Willa and Maya they would have had to hang signs around their necks to tell the viewers that's who the adult women were supposed to be.

I think one of the most touching moments was when "old" David saw Keith catch a football as he was dying. I don't know why but seeing dead loved ones at the moment of death always touches me.

Jetblack interesting idea about the whole series potentially being Claire's memory of the past. It would make sense then the line Late Nate Jr. told her. (which I didn't really understand at the time). I guess I've come around that these are how the characters go...its not ambigious although it might be watching Claire think about the last moments of her life.

[Brenda]

I bet Claire kept in contact with Ted. I don't think he showed up after 20 years out of the blue.

[AvidGuy]

At the risk of being labeled a 'hater' put me in the category of finding this particular episode less than great.

Add me to the list of 'nitpickers' who found the preemie elements so out of whack with our experience with our wee one that it greatly lessened the emotional impact of those scenes. I thought that maybe they were compressing time until at one point one character was talking about something that happened 'yesterday'-it was after the miracle preemie Willa was pronounced okey-dokey that time really started being compressed. But I did at one point think that the preemie scenario wasn't any more out of whack with reality than the sensitive and giving Republican lawyer-and I mostly let that work of fiction slide.

I suspend disbelief all the time (heck, I just enjoyed the movie "Red Eye") but much of this episode seemed out of step with the series. I cried, but not as much as I did during the previous two episodes.

As an apology for sharing this opinion, I'll offer this link to some recaps of last night's show...

(edited because many of those stories weren't recaps)

This post has been edited by AvidGuy: Aug 22, 2005 @ 9:07 am.