20 Most Important TV Deaths This Decade

3. Everyone - Six Feet Under (Season 5, Episode 12)

Prior to its airing, there was much speculation surrounding how Six Feet Under might choose to bow out, given that each episode characteristically begins with a Fisher cadaver meeting their often grisly, frequently comical or ironic end. The series finale, Everyone's Waiting, gave fans one of the most satisfying endings to a show in history, as Alan Ball revealed the future fates of all the main characters: Ruth dies of old age with her family at her side (and Nate there in spirit), Keith ends up being shot by robbers after setting up his own private security company, David later dies of a heart attack after seeing a vision of young Keith, Rico dies of a heart attack while on a cruise, Brenda dies of old age while appearing to be talked to death by Billy, and Claire is the last one standing, dying of natural causes aged 102, having apparently become the great artist she always wanted to be. So many shows attempt to give fans complete closure and end up doing too much or simply not getting it right, but Six Feet Under is a rare example of a show that managed to make not a single bad step in its impeccable series finale. This is a rare show where it actually made sense to show us when the principal characters all end up in the ground, and though that old-person makeup was a little dodgy, it took nothing away from the bracing emotional impact of that final five minutes.