“Breathe Me” by Sia…
…Otherwise known as the song that’s played over the final scene of Six Feet Under, which I recently finished watching. Outside of being one of the greatest shows I’ve had the pleasure of watching (in fact, if I did a Five Best…Television Shows That I’ve Watched, it’d be #4, behind The Simpsons, Arrested Development, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with #5 being Freaks and Geeks), it’s also one of the saddest. It’s one of only two shows that has made me cry multiple times (the other being Buffy), a fact that I’m not ashamed to admit. Six Feet Under is gorgeous, heartbreaking, hilarious, maddening, thoughtful, and, most of all, thought provoking.
My girlfriend Nadia and one of my best friends, Kyle, both claim Six Feet Under as their favorite show, and as I watching it with Nadia (her second or third time through, depending on the episode), it was a pleasure both for me and her. For her, it was being able to revisit the Fishers, and for me, it was being able to see them for the first time, and ultimately regarding them as my own family.
That’s something I can say about no other TV family, whether it be Simpson, Bluth, or Summers.
As for “Breathe Me,” it’s not the greatest song in the world, but when I think about how it’s used on Six Feet Under, I can’t help but feel the same sadness and get the same shivers that I got the first time I watched the finale.
(Note: The reason I didn’t mention any specific moments on Six Feet Under is because I don’t want to ruin anything for any potential viewers, unlike how a certain recent issue of Entertainment Weekly ruined a huge plot point for me.)
