Six Feet Under

Last night (finally) we completed the series finale of Six Feet Under. A fantastic HBO series with a real and upfront depiction of death, loss, the funeral business, and the families who are a part of it. From HBO.com: “When death is your business, what is your life? For the Fisher family, the world outside of their family-owned funeral home continues to be at least as challenging as--and far less predictable than--the one inside.”

A few favorite quotes:

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Claire: I know stealing a foot is weird. But, hello, living in a house where a foot is available to be stolen is weird.

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Tracy Montrose Blair: Why do people have to die?
Nate: To make life important. None of us know how long we've got. Which is why we have to make each day matter.

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Margaret: Just because both your parents are shrinks doesn't mean you're a shrink.

Brenda: Well, just because you're a shrink doesn't mean you're not insane.

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Claire: Great. So I get nothing.
Ruth: You get an education, something not all people are privileged to.

Claire: Well, what if I don't want to go to college?
Reader of the Will: College is a necessity in life not only to excel in learning, but to survive.

Claire: Spare me the tough-love rationalization, just bottom-line it, please.
Reader of the Will: If you choose not to go to college, the money will be available to you when you're 25.

Claire: It's like blackmail from beyond the grave.

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[Nate needs Claire to pick up some death certificates]
Nate: Uh, one's at a nursing home, and the other, I think... is also at a nursing home.

Claire: Ugh. I hate those places. All the old people want to touch my hair.

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Brenda: You know what I find interesting? If you lose a spouse, you're called a widow, or a widower. If you're a child and you lose your parents, then you're an orphan. But what's the word to describe a parent who loses a child? I guess that's just too fucking awful to even have a name.

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Nate Sr.: You hang on to your pain like it means something. Like it's worth something. Well, let me tell you - it's not worth shit. Let it go! Infinite possibilities, and all he can do is whine.

David: Well, what am I supposed to do?

Nate Sr.: What do you think? You can do *anything* you lucky bastard - you're alive! What's a little pain compared to that?

David: It can't be that simple.

Nate Sr.: What if it is?

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David: You can't ever really know a person and if you think you can, you're living in a dream world.

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David: [as a stoned Claire sits down next to him in a pink shirt] you could've dressed.

Claire: ...I couldn't.

David: The rest of us managed.

Claire: [looks at him] ... the rest of you win.

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Nate: You can't take a picture of this. It's already gone.