‘Six Feet Under’s Most Shocking Death Changed the Show

The Big Picture

• Nate’s death in the final season of Six Feet Under was a major blow to the Fisher family but ultimately led to their growth and transformation.
• The remaining members of the Fisher family had to face their grief head-on and confront their own personal demons in order to move forward.
• The series finale focuses on Claire, who chooses to live life to the fullest and honor Nate’s memory by taking risks and pursuing her dreams.

On the surface, Six Feet Under was a series about death. It’s right there in the title after all. The first ever episode of the HBO show, in 2001, started by killing off the patriarch of the Fisher family, Nathaniel (Richard Jenkins). Every episode following began with the abrupt death of someone as well. Six Feet Under followed the surviving Fishers, not only as they ran the funeral home that had been in their family for generations, but as they struggled to live after the death of Nathaniel, or just live in general. These characters always felt like they were six feet under, struggling to dig themselves out.

In the fifth and final season of Six Feet Under, the biggest blow was dealt when the series’ most important character, Nate (Peter Krause), died unexpectedly. It was another dark moment for a show full of them, but it was also one that brought the Fisher family out of their funk. With the man so many turned to now gone, everyone remaining had to either sink or swim through the grief — but it also led to some of the series’ best moments.

Nate Fisher Dies in ‘Six Feet Under’s Final Season

When Six Feet Under begins, Nathaniel Fisher Jr. is the family member who seems most in trouble. He’s far away from the rest of his people, having left Los Angeles behind for Seattle. The first time we meet him, it’s after a tryst with a woman named Brenda (Rachel Griffiths). He’s in his mid-30s but has zero direction in life, no relationships, no family of his own. Nate only exists. When his father dies, he’s talked into staying in L.A. and running the Fisher and Sons Funeral home with his brother David (Michael C. Hall).

As the seasons go by, Nate’s life, while still messy, becomes at least a bit more organized. He not only runs a business, but he and Brenda are now an item (though it is an unhealthy one most of the time), and he even becomes a dad. The rest of his family isn’t doing so great either. Nate’s mother, Ruth (Frances Conroy), is a timid and broken woman. David is a closeted gay man living a life of self-hate and internal pain. His younger sister, Claire (Lauren Ambrose), goes from an angsty teenager to a young woman trying to find her own way. Nate, though not the best example of how to live, is the closest this family has to a strong center, a glue keeping them together.

Season 5 of Six Feet Under rips everything apart by killing Nate off. He’s given a serious brain disorder that leaves him in the hospital. In a heartbreaking moment, he flatlines right in front of David. The scenes after are absolutely brutal, as we watch the Fishers fall apart, preparing a funeral for their own family member. It does include a touching scene of David washing his brother’s body, but with Nate gone, how are these people, who are such a broken mess, ever going to make it now?

Nate’s Family Live Through Their Grief in ‘Six Feet Under’

Six Feet Under could have gone incredibly dark after Nate’s death. While the series has always been about grief and would be so more than ever now, Brenda, Ruth, David, and Claire could have given up, and it would be completely understandable. Nate Fisher’s death did change what was left of the show, but in a positive way. His character had served its purpose in life, and now in death, the loss of Nate would propel the Fishers forward. They could let themselves be buried, or they could dig their way out, and the Fishers dug with all they had.

David was finding himself while Nate was alive. He’d always been in love with a cop named Keith (Mathew St. Patrick) and finally was brave enough to be out among everyone. He and Keith got married and adopted two sons, only for Nate to then die. David falls apart, but when he can’t sink any lower, he rebounds, and buys Fisher and Sons. One beautiful scene shows him teaching his son the ropes, readying the next generation. Would David have gotten here if everything had stayed status quo?

Ruth Fisher’s entire life has been pain, starting with a tumultuous childhood. She and her husband, Nathaniel, were no longer close (she was in fact cheating on him when he died). For five seasons, we watch her timidity turn into anger and rage. She finds love with another man, George (James Cromwell), but when he begins to suffer from memory loss, she bails. Her life has no direction and turns to turmoil when her son dies. Ruth doesn’t lay down and die, though. She instead decides to move forward, deciding to keep George in her life without remarrying him, to move in with her sister, and to make peace with Brenda, who she doesn’t get along with. As for Brenda, Nate had left her, and now with him dead, we find her in the hospital alone and pregnant with his child. She has her purpose now, to raise this child, and to be a mother to Nate’s daughter from another woman.

‘Six Feet Under’s Unforgettable Finale Wouldn’t Exist Without Nate’s Death

Claire Fisher becomes the focus of Six Feet Under‘s series finale. Everyone else was already an adult in Season 1, but we get to watch her grow up in chaos. She goes through several relationships and a lot of pain, but there is so much potential for her. She’s an artistic soul who loves photography. While lives around her are coming to an end, hers is beginning. Claire was close to Nate, and she could just give up on her dreams and become directionless just like Nate was for so long, or she could choose to live life to the fullest. Claire chooses the latter.

At Nate’s funeral, Claire flashes back to a moment, as a child, when she walked in on Nate crying in his room while listening to Nirvana’s “All Apologies.” She’s confused, but her brother tells her, “Kurt Cobain died today,” saying he was too pure for this world. Claire responds, “Well, his music will live on.” Nate smiles and agrees. We come back to the now, at the funeral, where Claire smiles at the memory.

As Six Feet Under comes to an end, Nate’s music lives on, not just through his children, but through his sister. Claire decides to take the biggest of risks and leave the only home she’s known behind, just like her brother once did. She’s off to New York for a job, one that the “ghost” of Nate encourages her to go after. As a scared Claire drives out of Los Angeles, we flash forward through the lives of her family, watching their lives grow full until each one comes to a happy, peaceful close.

Claire does too, dying at the age of 102, looking at pictures of her family, including several of Nate, and Ted (Chris Messina), the man she will marry. She dies with a smile on her face. We end with a flash back to the present, with a younger Claire looking more calm and ready now. She rolls the window down, letting the wind play with her hair. Claire is ready to live. Nate’s death is heartbreaking, but he had to go so that everyone else could find the will to live their lives to the fullest. Nate died, but the Fishers lived.

Every episode of Six Feet Under is available to stream now on Netflix.

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