Everyone's Waiting

"Everyone's Waiting"
Six Feet Under episode
The extended Fisher family toasts Nate's memory at Claire's farewell dinner.
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 12
Directed by	Alan Ball
Written by	Alan Ball
Featured music	"Breathe Me" by Sia
Original air date	August 21, 2005
Running time	72 minutes
Guest actors
Jeremy Sisto as Billy Chenowith Joanna Cassidy as Margaret Chenowith Kathy Bates as Bettina Richard Jenkins as Nathaniel Fisher Tina Holmes as Maggie Sibley Peter Macdissi as Olivier Castro-Staal Chris Messina as Ted Fairwell Kendré Berry as Durrell Charles-Fisher C. J. Sanders as Anthony Charles-Fisher
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List of Six Feet Under episodes

"Everyone's Waiting" is the 12th episode of the fifth season of the HBO television series Six Feet Under, the series' 63rd episode overall and the series finale. The episode was written and directed by Alan Ball and originally aired in the United States on August 21, 2005. It was met with universal acclaim from both critics and viewers alike, often being cited as one of the finest series finales in the history of television.^[1]

Plot

The episode begins like no other of the series: not with a death, but with the birth of Willa Fisher Chenowith. The baby is born prematurely, and Brenda is plagued by visions of Nate, who vicariously conveys Brenda's internal fears that the child will not survive and insists that he cannot accept it if she does make it and that she is "damaged." Ruth stays by Brenda's side and comforts her, telling her Maya can now live with her. Brenda awakens to see Nate and Nathaniel holding Willa, with Nate showing his love for his daughter.

After Brenda brings Maya back home, it sends Ruth into a depression. George tries to comfort her and promises he will help her get through it. Ruth is helped by a phone call to Maggie when she tells Ruth that Nate was happy the last night he was alive.

Claire gets back into photography with Ted's help, and later receives a phone call from a stock photography company in New York saying they have a position for her as a photographer's assistant. She later finds out that Olivier recommended her for the position. After finding her mother crying, she says she will stay at home to help her, but Ruth insists that she move to New York so she will not regret it later. Ruth also unfreezes the trust fund set up by her father. Claire later finds out that the photo company consolidated its operations and her position is no longer available. When thinking of calling off her trip, Nate tells her she needs to go to start a new life in New York anyway.

Rico encourages David to sell the funeral home, but David refuses to sell and instead he and Keith buy out Rico's 25% share. Rico and Vanessa begin to plan their future and find a small funeral home where they start their own business.

Nate visits Claire one last time as she prepares to leave for New York.

David agrees to temporarily leave home, and returns to the funeral home with Ruth. During a nightmare, he is confronted by Nathaniel about considering leaving the business and for his sexuality. He is forced to fight his mysterious attacker back and finally sees his own face. David and Keith, along with their sons Durrell and Anthony, move into the funeral home and redecorate it. Ruth moves in with her sister in Topanga.

The extended Fisher family has a farewell dinner for Claire where they reminisce of Nate, telling stories and toasting Nate's memory. The next morning, Claire has a tearful goodbye with her family and drives off into her future.

The episode ends with flash-forwards to milestone events in the main characters' subsequent lives and, ultimately, their deaths. The montage (set to Sia Furler's "Breathe Me") is intercut with views of Claire driving out of Los Angeles.

In the flash-forwards, Ruth is seen enjoying life in Topanga; David teaches Durrell about embalming; the extended Fisher family celebrates Willa's birthday; David and Keith get married. Ruth dies of old age in the hospital with David, Claire, and George at her side. She sees her deceased husband Nathaniel and son Nate before she passes away. At Ruth's funeral, Claire sees Ted and they later get married. Keith is shot and killed by robbers while exiting an armored truck. At a family function, David dies after seeing a vision of a young Keith smiling at him. While on a cruise with his wife, Rico has a heart attack and collapses. Brenda dies of old age in her home with her brother Billy. Finally, Claire is shown dying at the age of 102, having outlived them all.

Reception

The episode received five Emmy Award nominations at the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards. Creator Alan Ball was nominated for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series and Outstanding Directing in a Drama series; it was also nominated for Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series and Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series. It won the award for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special.

TV Guide ranked the episode #22 on its list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time" and also named it one of the best TV moments of the decade.^[2][3] Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Wrapping up an acclaimed show is pretty much a no-win proposition (e.g., The Sopranos). But Alan Ball's 2005 coda distilled all that we'd learned about life and death after five seasons with the Fishers."^[4]

In 2011, the finale was ranked #8 on the TV Guide Network special, TV's Most Unforgettable Finales.^[5]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Six Feet Under

• "Everyone's Waiting" at HBO
• "Everyone's Waiting" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Everyone's Waiting" at TV.com