Six Feet Under

Season Two

Episode One

      Last year brought HBO viewers a gem of a new series from Alan Ball, the creator of the acclaimed if uneven American Beauty. The 13-episode first season garnered further acclaim for Ball and for HBO. Reportedly, the in-house buzz was so strong on this one that they greenlighted season 2 before the first episode of the first season even aired.

      The series centers on the Fishers, a dysfunctional family (I know, an overused term if there ever was one, but it fits) who own and operate a funeral home on the Los Angeles area. The series deals, repeatedly, with loss, along with individual searches for identity and meaning in life. All of the characters had to come to grips with

     The cast includes Peter Krause, who many became familiar with during the acclaimed-but-unsupported series Sports Night. He plays Nate Fisher, the errant son who returned to the family for Christmas just as in an unrelated traffic accident the patriarch of the family dies. While not necessarily the central character, he is nonetheless the catalyst (on a par with the father's death) for transformation of his mother, brother and sister as they each come to varying grips with who and what they are during the first season.

     By the end of that season Nate has come to peace with his relationship with the bright and extremely challengingly iconoclastic Brenda Chenowith (Rachel Griffiths) and a medical prognosis that he might have only a short time left to live. The relationship appears forced, to be frank, but it remains to be seen if what they dealt with in the first season, along with Nate's new attitude, will combine to keep them together. I don't expect Nate's new Zen glow to last, they have little to nothing in common, and I don't think it's in Brenda's nature to be really happy for long.

    David Fisher (C. Michael Hall) is running neck and neck with his mother, Ruth (Frances Conroy) for the Most Transformed Identity position in the first season.

    Anyway, if you're interested in all that head over to HBO's site where they have an exhaustive overview of the show, episodes and characters.

    Let it suffice to say it was a generally brilliant first season with the irregular bits coming largely from the practice of having different writers and directors from episode to episode. It left them with a lot to live up to.

   Let's see how season 2 kicked off.

   Rodrigo Garcia directed this launch of the second season, and did a fine job of it.

   The transformations and self-definitions continue, this episode flows fairly seamlessly from the close of the first season… making it difficult for me to say much that's new.

   Brenda's already irritated me again - I wouldn't be disturbed to see her drop out of the series this season. Little sister Claire continues to be something of a yawn, her interest defined more by the self-destructive nature of her boyfriend, Gabriel.

   David continues to be the most interesting character. I applaud the way the series didn't reward him left and right for coming out of the closet and taking a stand last season. Oh, there's nothing vengeful in that - I like David Fisher - it's just that the way it's being handled is much more realistic. That he's resentful of what he lost, and impatient to have a romantic relationship again, all make perfect sense. Where this will take him is uncertain. After the excesses of his suddenly wanton behavior in season one it seemed he'd relearned some of his responsibility. Will he start to lose it again?

   Nate's dealing with the realization that he's finally getting in the game. The question will be, how deep in it will he get before the urge to escape begins to overwhelm him? If his relationship with Brenda crashes, will he lose some of his new-found stability?

   I was pleased both with the humor in the episode and their sticking with the opening death scene formula.

   A good opening to the second season. I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

   Any comments? Feel free to post them on the messageboard.