Series / Six Feet Under

"Life is wasted on the living."

— Nathaniel Fisher Sr.

Six Feet Under is an HBO Ensemble Dramedy created by Alan Ball that originally ran from 2001 to 2005, comprising 5 seasons and 63 episodes, and aired as a Sunday Evening Drama Series.

The show follows the life of the Fishers, a family who runs a mortuary in Los Angeles. After family patriarch Nathaniel Fisher Sr. is killed in a car accident, his three children and widow take up running the family's funeral home business. Each episode begins with a death, which sets up that episode's funeral.

Has a Character Page under construction, any contributions would be appreciated.

Not to be confused with the Death Metal band of the same name.

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This show provides examples of:

• Abortion Fallout Drama: Claire gets pregnant from her cheating sleazy boyfriend, and ends up having an abortion. There are no ill side effects, but she does end up seeing her baby in the arms of Nate's dead wife in a hallucination/trip to the afterlife/whatever the hell that was.
• Aborted Arc:
  • Keith and David during one season go through an entire storyline about taking in Keith's niece, Taylor, as their own, and going through lengths to get her mother into rehab. A few arguments later, Keith allows his parents to take her. The entire season has been exploring David and Keith's relationship as potential parents, making this a clear Aborted Arc, perhaps because it became clear that their relationship was not strong enough yet to sustain a family dynamic.
  • Kroehner's storyline was initially intended to add friction to Nate and David trying to run the business. The storyline was dropped after season 2 as it wasn't needed anymore, the characters had enough drama among themselves by that point. See No Antagonist.
• Accidental Suicide: The season 2 episode "Back to the Garden" opens with a man going about what seems to be a daily routine of some autoerotic asphyxiation. This time however something goes off and he ends up killing himself. It was clearly a secret of his as his widowed wife only finds out about his kink from his death.
• Against the Grain: Nate was practically born into the funeral business, but rather than following in the footsteps of his father, he left home at 17. David takes over as funeral director, and Nate eventually joins the business after much deliberation.
• All Bikers are Hells Angels: Averted. The Biker funeral is wild but not dangerous, and the "guest of honor" died on his way to be a mall Santa (in full getup).
• All Gays are Promiscuous: David, Keith, every single character that is attracted to the same gender seem to have no self control over where they put their genitals. Somewhat diluted because this is also true for the straight characters, especially Brenda and Nate, which is not surprising considering how they originally met.
• All There in the Manual:
  • In 2003 the series' official companion Six Feet Under: Better Living Through Death was released. It contains among others the main characters' family trees until season 4, documents from the Fisher kids' childhoods, Nathaniel's letters to Ruth from Vietnam, Claire's and Billy's chat history, excerpts from Charlotte Light and Dark, Nathaniel and Isabel and Brenda's unfinished book and many of Claire's photographs. Plus a fan letter written by 11-year-old David Fisher to Matt Dillon.
  • The complete series DVD set includes a small booklet with all the main characters' obituaries, providing lots of extra information to complete the epilogue from the series finale.
• Alone with the Psycho: In season One Episode 12, Nate's meeting with Billy. He called him to collect a body and staged the apartment with creepy photographs. Billy doesn't look mentally stable at all and looks like he might hurt Nate or himself.
• Anyone Can Die: In a way. The idea that any person can die at any time is a major theme in the show, but at the same time, only two major characters die young in the entire series, and there are only a couple other times important characters even come close to dying.
• The Apprentice:
  • Arthur. He studies at mortuary school and hopes to become a funeral director. During his senior year, he receives a live-in apprenticeship at the Fisher & Sons & Diaz.
  • Rico's backstory. Mr. Fisher took him as a protege, taught him well and Rico became a star among the restorative artists.
  • David and Keith's son Durrell in the finale. He's seen with David in the prep room, looking at the procedure and listening to David's explanation.
• Artistic License: Bondage: A non-sexy version. At one point, Sarah is going through opioid withdrawal with the help of Ruth and Bettina. Ruth and Bettina get sick of her dramatics and Bettina announces they're going for a walk, so they restrain Sarah by tying her wrists to the headboard of her bed with scarves. This is a terrible way to restrain someone, especially someone who is genuinely desperate to get free - it would be either ineffective or very dangerous. ^note  Unless knots are tied correctly, they can slip and tighten as the person struggles, causing nerve damage and loss of circulation after just a few minutes. Bondage experts particularly recommended against narrow rope ties at places where nerves and veins are close to the surface - like the wrist - for exactly this reason. You should also never leave a person who is restrained alone, ever, even when using safer equipment like bondage cuffs; if there's an emergency they might not be able to free themselves.
• Artistic License – Religion: Becoming a deacon in the Episcopal Church is a very serious matter that involves a 3-5 year formation. However, David is ordained a deacon roughly a week after the priest at the family's parish suggested the idea to him. Plus, deacons wear robes similar to those of a priest while performing liturgical services, yet David wears only a suit at his ordination.
• Beleaguered Assistant: Rico is ambitious and wants a greater role in the business. He often feels his great competence is not being rewarded properly.
• Big Brother Instinct: Both Nate and David look out for Claire whenever possible. In return, eventually, Claire starts looking out for them.
• Bittersweet Ending: In the distant finale most of the characters appear to have a happy life, except for David and Keith, who is killed on duty in 2029. Death is a logical consequence of life, but watching the on screen deaths of the familiar characters is very heavy hitting no matter if they are old and grey or happy. The return to a young Claire with all the life ahead of her alleviates it somehow. That and the fact she lives for over a century.
• Black Comedy: Many of the death scenes, but by no means all of them. Some of them are very uncomedic, including a cot death and a mass shooting.
• Black Sheep: Nate. A deconstruction in the sense that life alters his plans and he becomes the prodigal son and a family man without trying, but he is not cut out for this and snaps.
• Body of the Week: Every episode begins with a death, and the epitaph faded into the credits in a manner reminiscent of "going into the light" associated with death.
• Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie: When Lisa dies, Nate remembers her wishes to be buried without embalming or a coffin, out in nature. Nate manages to grant this request, although it means deceiving her family and breaking the law. Incidentally right before he dies, Nate expresses his wish to have a similar burial, which his family are much more capable of carrying out.
• Bury Your Gays: The Fishers deal with burying one of the partners in a gay couple, even the homosexual David assuming the man had AIDS until his lover corrects him. Partly subverted when we see that Keith is killed in an armed robbery, not necessarily the first main character to die but the only one to die a violent death.
• But Not Too Gay: Probably among the first TV-shows to casually avert it, that is portraying homosexual sex and relations in the same light as straight ones, without making it its central message or theme. It helps that the show's creator is also gay.
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Many, but mostly between David and Keith, Nate and Brenda, Claire and Ruth, Rico and Vanessa.
• Brother–Sister Incest: Brenda has a... bizarre relationship with her brother, who openly states that he is in love with her. There was even a scene where she fantasizes about actually sleeping with him. Ever since Season 1 there was the question of whether they actually did it. It was not confirmed until a later season that they did not.
• Bystander Syndrome: In "That's My Dog", David gets carjacked. He suffers terribly and actually doesn't have many opportunities to ask for help because that might get him killed. However, when the psycho lets him go, he's seen going along a road, badly beaten and looking awful. He tries to stop somebody, but all cars just ignore him and keep going. Luckily, a police car appears at the end.
• Call-Back: A subtle one. In season 2, when Nate discovers that what he has AVM, he and Brenda go to the beach. When Brenda goes home and Nate is alone, he imagines himself just swimming out to sea (a metaphor for his dying). In season 5, right before Nate flatlines, he and David seem to have this shared dream where he does exactly the same thing, swim out to sea, and the scene is shot the exact same way. The only difference is this time David tells Nate not to be foolish, right before it definitively becomes David's nightmare.
• Camp Gay:
  • David when alone with Keith. He actively represses this around other people, especially in the beginning, and much of his character development is about accepting himself and allowing himself to stop worrying about every little mannerism.
  • Robbie the florist who works at Nikolai's. He's somewhat effeminate. Ruth asks him about how he came out to his parents, which offends him, but later tells Ruth he never did.
• Character Development: It's jarring to see the Fishers in the early episodes compared to the latest ones.
• Chekhov's Gift: In Season 4, Lisa's young niece Michaela gives Nate a copy of Mary Roach's book Stiff to give to David. After repeatedly forgetting to deliver the gift, Nate discovers that Michaela has concealed a photograph in the book that reveals the involvement of her own father (Lisa's brother-in-law) in Lisa's death.
• The Chew Toy: David, from getting kidnapped and beaten to catching an STD from a prostitute.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Played straight with Claire's best friend Parker; Averted with Claire's college friends who appear again in the last season.
• Cliffhanger: The end of Season 2 with Nate's operation, apparently lethal but then subverted.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Lisa. To be fair, she has a reason to be, as Nate actually loved Brenda (and obviously still loved her) whereas he only married Lisa to please his mother and provide a stable home for the baby.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Lisa, before she marries Nate. Ruth also has her moments.
• Club Kid: Played straight with a dance instructor David dates briefly in the early seasons. David tries it out for awhile, which surprises several other characters, and he eventually decides isn't for him. Keith, though without the drugs and apparently without the promiscuity, as he is only ever seen with the man he is dating.
• Comforting the Widow: Comes with the job.
• Cool Teacher: Olivier. Arguably a deconstruction, as Olivier does give good advice and tries to get his students to think outside of the box, but he is such a prick and the way he interacts with his students is often totally inappropriate. He eventually straightens out a bit though.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Brenda's brother took this to crazy stalkerish levels over her relationship with Nate, and Russell's behavior bordered on this at Claire's art exhibition at the end of season four. Nate showed a (potentially justified) example of this while stoned, though the situation involved meeting a naked Australian man in Brenda's house and then discovering they were sleeping in the same bed.
• Creepy Mortician: How characters outside of the family see the Fishers.
• Creepy Crows: The ominous black bird appears in the opening credits.
• David Versus Goliath: Fisher & Sons vs Kroehner.
• Dead Person Conversation: Nathaniel's frequent chats with the Fisher children, and occasionally Ruth. This also happens with the people that the Fisher's are embalming. David in particular seems prone to this in the beginning, when he represses his emotions much more, and has to process his reactions in a more internal way (the conversations with the dead people are a way of presenting internal monologue).
• Death of the Hypotenuse: Nathaniel Fisher, Sr. (triangle with Ruth and Hiram); Lisa (triangle with Nate and Brenda); subverted with Nate, whose death ends any possibility of either staying with Brenda or leaving her for Maggie.
• Die Laughing: The Body-Of-The-Week "Parallel Play" is a teenage girl who dies laughing. She and her friends have a slumber party and play a phone prank. They're laughing about it when the girl falls backwards off the bed and hits the floor head-first, dying instantly. Rico, the restorative artist, can't get the goofy grin off her face, and he scoffs: "I wish I knew what the fuck was so funny."
• Disaster Dominoes: A number of deaths in the show occur in this manner. The death of the Season 3 finale is probably the most remembered one among fans.
• Divorce Is Temporary:
  • Played straight with the Chenowiths. The Díazs have it prevented by the successful Foot-Dragging Divorcee variety and George and Ruth have something in between as they remain "social" but do not remarry.
  • According to invokedAlan Ball, if Nate had lived, he would've eventually come to his senses and stuck with Brenda.
• Downer Beginning: The series start with the death of the patriarch of the family, on Christmas Eve.
• Dysfunction Junction: Although by the end many of them got better.
• Due to the Dead: In "Brotherhood", Paul Kovich requests the cremation of his brother Victor, a Gulf War veteran who died following health problems resulting from his service. Paul is extremely bitter toward the military and states that he wants his brother cremated without any ceremony. This doesn't feel right to Nate, who subsequently finds out that Victor had left a written request to be buried at a military cemetery. David thinks that as Victor's brother is their client, they should honor his wishes over Victor's. But Nate can't accept this. When Paul comes to pick up Victor's urn, he is astounded to find that Nate has arranged for a military funeral, which is about to take place, with some other veterans that Victor had known invited, and that subsequent burial in the local national cemetery has also been arranged. When told that this is in line with Victor's stated wishes, an infuriated Paul is at first in denial that they actually are his wishes; ultimately, faced with what is effectively a done deal, he allows the funeral to proceed.
• Erotic Asphyxiation: One death-of-the-week occurs as a result of this going awry. The family are doubly bereaved because they think that he deliberately hanged himself.
• Everyone Can See It: It's plainly obvious that during the entire time Nate was married to Lisa, he still loved Brenda (even though he denied it), and that Brenda still loved him (even though she denied it).
• Everyone Has Lots of Sex: Played outlandishly straight. In one episode, Nate's mother literally can't even leave a room for five minutes when having Brenda over for dinner without Nate and Brenda going at it right there.
• Fade to White: A series staple. Used after the death of the week, and to transition between acts and the ending credits
• Fair Cop: David's boyfriend Keith is a sexy gay black cop who looks great in his uniform. David's sister Claire is impressed with his looks and when they have a chance to talk, Keith mentions he fell in love with David because he sees more in him than just a "big black sex cop" and just gets him.
• Fake Guest Star: Jeremy Sisto, James Cromwell, and Justina Machado appear in a majority of the show's 63 episodes; Sisto in 31, Cromwell in 26, and Machado in 42 (2/3 of the show).
• Family Business: The funeral home, obviously.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: One per episode, with few exceptions.
• Friends with Benefits: Nate and Lisa. Lampshaded by Claire ("So you're like, what, fuckbuddies?").
• The "Fun" in "Funeral":
  • Biker Funeral! Porn-Star Funeral! Opera style funeral!
  • Lampshaded by the psychotic Billy when he fakes his suicide. ("If you mix up the letters in 'funeral' you get 'real fun.'")
  • Referenced in one of the Parody Commercials in the pilot episode, which proclaims that their product puts "fun, back into the funeral".
• Gaydar: Nate jokes about his, David doesn't like the word.
• Gayngst: In the beginning David feels intense shame over being gay, but eventually he learns to accept himself, and his relationship with Keith becomes stronger and healthier over time.
• Grumpy Old Man: In "The Room", an elderly widower comes to Fisher & Sons to arrange his wife's funeral and spends the entire time snapping and growling at everyone, no matter how kind they try to be to him.
• Happy-Ending Massage: Brenda, during her sex addiction.
• Happily Adopted: Durrell and Anthony, eventually.
  • Maya, by Brenda. When Nate dies the biologically unrelated Brenda is the only parent she has left, and Brenda takes care of her as if she were her own. It's for this reason that 'What about Maya?' is a conversation Nate and Brenda need to have, as Maya doesn't remember Lisa and thinks of Brenda as her mother.
• Henpecked Husband: Nate after marrying Lisa.
• High-Voltage Death: In the episode "An Open Book", a porn star is killed by her cat pushing her electric curlers into the bathtub.
• Hollywood Atheist: Brenda, so very much. She remains outspokenly Atheist throughout the show. It is incidentally one of the things that ends up driving her and Nate apart, as Nate starts attending Quaker church services, which Brenda complains he does just to drive them apart, as he knows very well it's an experience they can't share (The services involve sitting in silence until the parishioners hear messages from God, which to Brenda was basically equivalent to Nate asking her to join him in sitting in silence for however long).
• Honest Corporate Executive: The Fishers are very fair with their clients and attempts to overprice are usually frowned upon; there is also a tradition in the family of pro-bono funerals.
• Hospital Paradiso: Subverted when Brenda chooses the easier way. In a moment of idealism, Brenda refuses her mother's offers for placement as psychologist in a high-class hospital and chooses to work in a public centre as councillor instead. The people working there are good people and they appreciate Brenda's presence because they're overworked and understaffed. But Brenda can't take the conditions and the cynicism permeating the place and leaves after a day, returning to her mother for the cushy job.
• Hostile Hitchhiker: The controversial episode "That's My Dog", in which David Fisher was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and almost murdered by a psycho hitch-hiker.
• Housewife: Ruth. Subverted, deconstructed, and everything else.
• Hypocrite: Keith accuses David of this for belonging to and becoming a deacon in a conservative church that disapproves of homosexuality. David points out that a lot of Black people would consider Keith a traitor for working as a cop.
• I Am Not My Father: Several of the characters spend considerable time trying to be unlike their parents, only to realise that they are exactly like them.
  • Nate refuses to join the family business and moved away when he was seventeen. After Nathaniel Sr died he came back and reluctantly co-ran the business with David.
  • Brenda resented her parents and therapists in general and so became a shiatsu masseuse to avoid following in their foot-steps. Eventually when she decides to get her life together, she ironically trains to become a therapist.
  • Keith fights the violent rage inside him because he knows that if he gives into it he will become just like his abusive father. Unlike most of the others, he does eventually overcome it and grows into his role as father for his adopted children.
  • Claire is fearful of becoming exactly like Ruth instead of following her dreams. Incidentally Ruth, who claims to see herself in Claire, has a vested interest in not allowing Claire to throw away her life the same way that she did.
  • Claire's boyfriend Ted is a notable aversion. Instead of trying to deny that he's just like his father, he actively tries to become him.
• Imagine Spot: Used constantly, to the point the audience gets to second-guess the writers and occasional subversions of the trope are very effective and shocking. The characters frequently indulge in socially awkward thoughts or desires.
• Indulgent Fantasy Segue: A dark variant of this occurs when Nate is informed by a doctor that he has an untreatable yet potentially fatal medical condition. However the doctor gives him this news in such a nonchalant and insensitive manner that Nate fantasises about violently murdering him on the spot. He resorts to verbally abusing the man instead.
• Informed Attribute: In universe. Some of Claire's high school classmates bully her for being a creepy, morbid Goth girl...except Claire would actually rather ''not'' live in a house with dead bodies in the basement. While she doesn't have the sunniest personality, she's more of a Deadpan Snarker than a death-obsessed vampire wannabe.
• Interrupted Intimacy:
  • Nate and Brenda get interrupted twice, first by Nate's mother, then Brenda's brother. Later, after they get married and try to conceive a baby, they get interrupted by Maya, who thinks they're just jumping up and down.
  • Federico thinks Vanessa is having an affair so he walks in to Ramón, trying to surprise them. it turns out his cousin Ramón is having sex with another man. Federico flips out.
• Intoxication Ensues: First Ruth and later Nate unintentionally get high on some ecstasy that David hid in an Aspirin bottle.
  • Later on in season 4 Claire and her art school friends experiment with a new version of ecstasy, joining what appears to be a new Fisher family tradition.
• Irony:
  • In Season Two, Ruth (having found out that David is gay and trying to deal with it in a healthy and understanding manner) tells Claire that if she has any homosexual feelings at all she shouldn't be afraid to express them. Claire denies feeling any attraction to women. In season 4 she eventually forms an attraction to Edie, one of her friends from Art School, although it doesn't take.
  • In the beginning, David sees Nathaniel Sr in a vision telling him that the name of the funeral home is 'Fisher & Sons', how that has to continue and how David will never have any sons. By the end Nate's the one who doesn't have any sons (he has two daughters), David and Keith offer to buy out Brenda's share (which means neither she nor Nate's daughters own a part of the business any more) and it's David's son Durrell that ends up learning the family trade
  • During his eulogy Federico talks about how Nate was excellent at dealing with the bereaved, that he knew exactly what to say to comfort them, and then hit on the irony that, if he were actually alive, he'd know just what to say to comfort them all.
• Ironic Echo: Watch the last few episodes of the Fishers mourning after Nate's death. Then watch the first few episodes after Nathaniel's death. Familiar, but different, wouldn't you say?
• It Came from the Sink: Blood comes spurting out of the kitchen drain in a season 4 episode. It turns out the drains in the basement mortuary room are clogged, and backed up into the house during an embalming procedure.
• It's Always Sunny at Funerals: Funerals almost invariably occur on beautiful, sunny days, since this is, after all, LA. Of note is Bernard Chenowith's funeral, which was held outside at the exact same place that Nate and Brenda had planned to be married the first time.
• Jerkass: Most of the characters try to be decent human beings but still have their dark moments.
  • Federico is a bit pushy, and (initially at least) a homophobe.
  • Brenda and her mother tend to be uppity, condescending and self-centered.
  • Nate tries to be an amiable and empathic Nice Guy but eventually Took a Level in Jerkass ensues, he gets tired of doing what others expect him to and goes back to his more narcissist tendencies, moments before he dies the last thing he ever says to his wife is they are done, beyond repair . Can also be seen as Fallen Hero, Nate started out as The Everyman but by the end of the series he became the least likable member of the main cast. Everyone changed for the better by the end, but Nate returns to his old The Casanova ways after the family man role doesn't work for him. He probably does so because of Lisa, whose death shook him irreparably.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Celeste brings her hair and makeup people with her to an event she's performing at, and the organizers discover, shortly before the singer is supposed to go onstage, that they're on the hook to pay three thousand dollars for those services. An exec objects to this, pointing out that the event is for charity. Celeste replies that she knows that, and that's why she's donating her time, but her team have not volunteered to work for free and must be paid. Moreover, all of this was in the contract that the organizers signed, so it's hardly Celeste's fault that they didn't read it carefully. She may be bitchy, but she's right: her team do have to get paid, and charity or not, the organizers had agreed in advance to foot the bill.
• Killed Offscreen: Villain corp Kroehner gets into trouble with the Security and Exchange Commission and goes bankrupt. We hear this as an offhand comment in conversation, long after they stopped being a problem for our characters.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Nate's first child ensues under inappropriate circumstances from a single infidelity, and is unplanned, the second one takes a lot of time and effort.
• Lady Drunk: Margaret Chenowith. Rarely does one see her without a drink in her hand.
• May–December Romance:
  • Ruth and Arthur have a brief relationship which consists mainly of spooning (fully dressed) and nuzzling.
  • Nate's backstory has him losing his virginity with a woman 17 years his senior. He's still fond of her decades later.
  • Claire and Billy qualifies as more of a May/September romance, him being closer to her brother's age.
• Meaningful Funeral: The Fishers do or harbor these for a living.
• Megacorp: Kroner, the commercial funeral home from the early seasons.
• Metaphorical Marriage:
  • Father Jack is under threat of being dismissed from his position because he has performed a symbolic wedding ceremony for a lesbian couple in his church.
  • David and Keith attend a metaphorical wedding held by David's gay friends Terry and Paul. They registered for gifts, have a grand outside ceremony and enjoy partying with friends.
  • Before David and Keith go to Terry and Paul's thing, they discuss whether they should symbolically get married too. David thinks it would be great to have some kind of ceremony, but Keith insists it's not needed because they are practically married already, being in each other's will etc. Shortly after this, David starts referring to Keith as his husband. (In the finale it's revealed that David and Keith get legally married in 2009.)
    David: Maybe we should get married.
    Keith: So we can have people going on vase-buying errands for us?
    David: No. So we can say all those "forevers" and "no-matter-whats".
    Keith: You're in my will, I'm in yours. We basically are married, even if the law refuses to recognize it. But then again, I refuse to recognize most of the Bush Administration. I guess it all evens out.
    David: I still think some sort of ceremony in front of all our family and friends would make it more real.
• Mistaken for Cheating: Played with. Federico has a foolhardy and odd affair with a stripper, but the relationship is not sexual after the first contact, and she takes advantage of him. Federico's wife discovers the relationship and naturally assumes it's sexual (she reasons that he spent too much money not to be getting any on the side). After Rico is thrown out of the house, actual sex ensues and Federico tries to move in with the stripper, but he is unwelcome.
• The Missus and the Ex: Brenda and Lisa don't get along well, they feel uneasy and overshadowed by the other, and Brenda is haunted by Lisa's memory after Lisa's death, a void impossible to fill in Nate's life.
• Mock Millionaire: The first deceased managed by Nate, a penniless con artist.
• Moving-Away Ending: The show ends with Claire moving away from the Fisher family home and saying goodbye to her whole family. As she drives away, she sees flash-forwards into the future of their deaths, including her own.
• Mushroom Samba: Ruth's experience in the woods when she took ecstasy by mistake. She sees many bizzare things like a huge teddy bear or lots of colorful lights, and eventually she had a conversation with her dead husband.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye:
  • Nate, before Lisa disappears only to be found dead weeks later.
  • Ruth, when Nate dies while she is away camping.
  • Brenda. Nate, just before he died, told her he wanted a divorce. They never got the chance to work things out. Brenda's supervisor, tired of her whining, specifically told her exactly how she should work through their problems and Nate's sudden death meant that she never got to act on that advice.
  • The driving force for much of the angst in the first few episodes after Nathaniel, Sr. dies. It's particularly bad for Nate, who hadn't seen him in a month, and then only a few times a year before that.
• Nice Guy: Claire briefly dates a nice boy named Toby. Caire and Toby promptly break up when he criticizes Claire's attitude, thinking she's too cynical and mistaken in believeing that her life sucks. Lampshaded when Brenda comments how nice he is (and how he differs from her usual boyfriend type of Troubled, but Cute).
  Brenda: Toby seems nice.
  Claire: [sarcastic] Yes, Toby is very nice.
  Brenda: Not your type, huh?
  Claire: A deranged psychopath? No, I guess he's not.
• No Antagonist: After the Krohener arc. The business seems to be doing fine, the show becomes far more character oriented.
• No Medication for Me: Whenever an episode needs more drama, Billy will sometimes go through extreme examples of this trope.
• N-Word Privileges: The other restorative artist at Krohener's who talks briefly with Federico.
  Artist: You ever heard of Jewish lightning?^note the act of burning down or otherwise destroying your own property for the insurance money Oh sorry, did I offend you? I'm Jewish, I can say that.
• Obnoxious In-Laws:
  • Federico can't stand his sister in-law, who overstays her welcome in the house. The contempt is mutual. When Vanessa finally tells her to leave, she blames Rico but he's so happy she's leaving that he doesn't care.
  • Ruth didn't care much for Brenda (either because they were basically opposites or because Brenda was emptying her house so soon after Nathaniel died), but basically never tried to keep her and Nate apart, instead dealing with her displeasure almost passive-aggressively. Eventually after Nate dies they patch things up as Ruth insists that Brenda is going to need her to take care of and help raise her two granddaughters.
• Once per Episode: Every episode begins with the Death of the Week except on three occasions: The third-to-last episode, which continues on the death that occurred at the end of the previous episode; an earlier episode where the lack of deaths is something of a plot point; and the finale, which begins with a birth.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted, seeing as there are two characters named Nathaniel: Nathaniel Fisher Senior and Nathaniel Fisher Junior. Though it doesn't really matter seeing as Jr. is usually referred to as 'Nate'. A third Nathaniel is the character from the Book Within a Show Nathaniel and Isabel. Shortly after meeting Brenda, Nate gets a bit freaked out by the tattoo of his name on her back. (It actually refers to Billy, because the two siblings could identify very well with the book characters.)
• Open-Minded Parent:
  • Nathaniel Fisher, Senior. Subverted since his kids had no idea how open-minded he was. The only version of Nathaniel we ever see are hallucinations of what the characters think he'd say in the situation
  • Brenda's parents are open-minded to a fault.
  • David had one date with a guy who boasted about his great parents who have never been anything but supportive of him and his coming out. David is envious.
• Parent with New Paramour: George. The Fisher children are taken aback that Ruth would marry George six weeks after having met him and they don't warm to him. Nate in particular tells him that no matter how much he tries, he'll never be his father. The Fisher children do eventually become accustomed to him somewhat, and George is there with David and Claire on Ruth's death bed.
• Porn Stash: When Keith and David's adopted sons find their porn, they decide to toss the whole collection of it away. It's enormous, taking up several full garbage bags. The two of them begin arguing at the dumpster about which titles are too good to throw away.
• Posthumous Character: Nathaniel Fisher Sr.
• Pretty in Mink: Celeste wears a full-length lynx coat.
• Pro Bono Barter: Nathaniel Fisher Sr., being sympathetic to low-income clients, was willing to accept a lifetime supply of marijuana from one client as payment for services, and use of a private room above a restaurant from another.
• Proscenium Reveal: "In the Game" opens with a young girl home alone when a slasher-killer breaks into her house. The girl screams...then cut to inside a movie theater where we realize it's only from a horror movie that is playing.
• Punny Name: Federico and Vanessa have a son named Julio; it's a common name for Latino boys, but it also means "July." At the end of season 1, Vanessa gives birth to another boy, and names him after her father...Augusto.
• Put on a Bus: Brenda at the end of season 2. The character does not return until partway through season 3 when The Bus Came Back.
• Really Gets Around: Olivier, David, Nate and Brenda, to the point where it becomes an addiction for her. Character Development changes some of this.
• Recycled In Space: Lampshaded with "Nathaniel and Isabel: In Space!"
• Riddle for the Ages:
  • What was Nate Sr. doing in the apartment he kept hidden from his family?
  • What was the dog that briefly appeared in one of the last episodes, and why was Nate so afraid of it?
  • What happened to Gabriel after the shooting? When Claire sees him in a vision in Season 3, she guesses his actions have caught up with him and he is dead somewhere, but that is about it.
• Romantic Rain: Distressed and soaking wet David walks into Keith's flat, they embrace, get back together and start making out. It turns out that it happens in Keith's imagination or dream, as it was just one of the show's staple Daydream Surprise/Imagine Spot moments.
• Room Full of Crazy
  • Billy creates one deliberately for Nate's benefit after Brenda demands that he return his key to her house. ( Brenda did this because when she and Nate went on a 'romantic' weekend to Las Vegas, he broke into their hotel room while they were sleeping and took photographs of them in bed.)
  • George made one after his dormant mental illness reared its head and he became convinced the apocalypse was coming. He moved into the Fisher family's bomb shelter, and there are later scenes of him in it with the walls covered in papers and magazine pages, pacing and talking to himself.
• Screw Politeness, I'm A Senior: Mr Jones, the elderly black customer.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Not spoken, but implied by the fact that no one brings up the legal implications of Kroehner's bully tactics against Fisher & Sons, which would most likely run afoul of U.S. antitrust laws. In fact, when Kroehner go bankrupt David mentions they were being federally investigated, but he never mentioned what for.
• Secret Test of Character: Keith's ''protegee'' taking an interest on him turns out to be this. He fails it.
• Sex at Work: An attractive plumber comes to fix the pipes at the business. He takes a liking to David and he gives him oral sex in the storage area.
• Shotgun Wedding: Nathaniel Fisher, father and son. In the case of the son, the unplanned child and subsequent marriage derails his life as he half-heartedly commits to doing what is expected of him instead of doing what he feels in his heart (as he had previously done).
• Shout-Out:
  • David and Keith are fans of Oz
  • Rachel Griffiths is Australian. The episode that featured the naked Australian man and Nate getting high on weed involved her slipping into her natural accent as part of Nate's hallucination.
• Sibling Rivalry:
  • Nate and David, initially. They are eventually able to work past their issues and develop a healthy relationship.
  • Ruth has a one-sided rivalry/resentment of her sister Sarah. Their relationship is basically the same as David and Nate's, Ruth resents her sister for being free-spirited and doing whatever it is that she wanted, whilst Ruth had to give up her life to look after their legless grandmother. Sarah eventually reveals that she envies Ruth for having three children, whereas she was unable to have any. Like Nate and David, they eventually patch things up and become rather close.
• Single Mom Stripper: Federico has an affair with one for a while.
• Sex for Services: Keith has to prostitute himself for the sake of David to avoid a lawsuit.
• Sleeping with the Boss: This happens between Kroehner's Matthew Gilardi and his boss. It doesn't stop her from firing him for incompetence.
• Spirit Advisor: Ari, the female rabbi.
• Spoiler Cover: It went through this on the DVD sleeve example in the UK - the final series' boxset not only shows a wedding photo of Nate and Brenda on the back, but the entire cast at a funeral with Nate conspicuously missing.
• Start My Own: In the final three episodes, Rico toys with the idea of selling his share of Fisher & Diaz to start his own funeral home. Initially David can't buy him out and refuses to put the house on the market^note  Well, to be more specific he puts the house on the market and then takes it off when he decides he can't just sell his family home. However, Keith then offers up his own money which allows them to buy out Rico so he can start his own funeral home.
• Straight Gay: Keith is so straight that he occasionally has sex with girls...but apparently that doesn't make him bi.
• Take Back Your Gift: Lampshaded. During an argument with Brenda, Nate takes his engagement ring off. She is upset.
  Brenda: (tearfully) Don't you throw that ring at me. It's such a cliché, I'll barf.
  Nate: [throws it] There. Barf.
• Take That!:
  • To two teenage oriented shows:
    Claire: Who do you think plays Parker in the movie of her life? Sandy Bullock or Julia Roberts?
    Boy: Oh, please, she'd never rate that high. She'd get like one of those Buffy or Dawson's Creek chicks, tops (real life "Buffy chick" Michelle Tractenberg later guesting on the show).
  • Trevor (Brenda's high school boyfriend)'s wife mentions being on a panel show with Kobe Bryant, that emaciated chick^note Lara Flynn Boyle from The Practice and some twelve-year old rapper^note  Lil Bow Wow.
• The Teaser: Every episode begins with the death of a person - some kind of tasteful discretion shot is often used - and then a card displays the name and birth and death dates of the deceased.
• There Are No Therapists: Inverted, there are too many, and the characters complain several times about therapy being the answer for everything. Brenda was a psychiatrists' guinea-pig during her childhood, and loathes the upbringing received from her parents, who are both shrinks. Ironically when Rico's wife is suffering from depression she goes to a doctor to get medication instead of actually going to talk to someone.
• Too Dumb to Live: Let's face it, some of the death scenes probably qualify for Darwin Awards.
• True Art Is Angsty: In-universe, averted with everyone but Claire. Claire attains some moderate artistic success with a more upbeat portfolio, but keeps trying to pitch her own work, which is all gloomy shots of gravestones. No one is interested.
• Unexpected Inheritance:
  • Nate receiving 50% of the mortuary is a big surprise for the whole family.
  • Federico and Vanessa receive a $149,000 inheritance from a deceased elderly neighbor because Federico was kind to her while she was alive. In the season 2 finale, when Fisher & Sons is facing bankruptcy, Federico uses $75,000 of this inheritance to finally become a partner; much to David's chagrin. The business is thereafter named Fisher & Diaz.
• Uptight Loves Wild:
  • As far as we know, this was basically Ruth and Nathaniel's relationship.
  • While Nate is relatively free-spirited, Brenda makes him look uptight by comparison (although sometimes the dynamic reverses, particularly after they get married).
• Unseen Character: George's other son Brian. Frequently mentioned, but as far as the audience knows, Ruth never met him.
• Wax On, Wax Off: While working for Nikolai, Ruth takes a flower arranging course. The first exercise? Proper breathing.
• Wham Line:
  • In the season three premiere, Nate is in surgery. Cut to death title card: Nathaniel Samuel Fisher Jr. 1965-2002. This is then subverted when it's revealed that this is a hallucination Nate himself is having.
  • At the end of episode 9, Season 5 David takes a nap, when he wakes up, Nate has flatlined. Death title card: Nathaniel Samuel Fisher Jr. 1965-2005.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Near the beginning of Season 5, Ruth buys George his own place and convinces him that they're moving out together as an effort to get him back on his feet so that she can dump him. Granted, George was suffocating her and hiding his mental illness from her was wrong, but as George points out, if Ruth wanted out, all she had to do was say so, she didn't have to string him along.
• Where Were You Last Night?: Several examples, to be expected given the all-around promiscuity.
• The Whitest Black Guy: With sexual orientation, not race. Keith often feels uncomfortable when spending time with David's Camp Gay friends and taking part in stereotypically "gay" activities like playing Leading Ladies at a party.
  • A recurring theme particularly in seasons 2 and 3 was Keith's tendency to become cold, impatient and hardassed to David when in front of Keith's dad, who makes it very clear how sick to his stomach he is to see Keith with a choir singing white boy.
• Yandere: Lisa.

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