Pilot

This episode, the first one of the series, is simply great. I began watching it a few days ago, and I think this is one of the greatest things there have been in television. The pilot episode doesn't get boring at any time, and keeps you awaiting for what happens in the next scene.

The characters are probably among the best I have seen in a television program. It reminds you of the film "American Beauty", also written by Alan Ball. The freak mother, with their sons: the runaway, the repressed one, the teenage girl. The initial situation (the death of the father), unleashes one situation after the other, told in an excellent way, and the inclusions of phony ads makes way for the laughs, although there are several moments that will make you laugh. The performances can't get better, neither the script.

Great.

I thought no show could start better than "Lost" or "Breaking Bad". But I was wrong. First of all we are given these little funny commercial ads that are hilarious. The theme and the concept of this show wouldn't be easy to take in, since death is not something we are used to. But somehow, the episode makes a funeral funny. Of course there's so much more to it, but making someone laugh about death is something that really surprised me.

Apart from that, the characters gripped me to the show. I had never been so interested in TV characters this way with just an hour of television. Therefore, I was immediately addicted, and Six Feet Under would become my first TV priority for a long time...

Without a doubt one of the best pilots I have ever seen. The hour makes you laugh and also reflect on the dilemmas of each character. I am hooked from the beginning, I really have to commend the writing and acting. In terms of visuals, many of the scenes arise through rich compositions, which I am sure will be improved upon over next episodes. I'm just so surprised that this is a great pilot.

Before I go any further, I must state two things. One, I have never before seen 'Six Feet Under' so the task of reviewing a pilot to a show that I have never been exposed to is difficult for me. And secondly, I have given this episode a distinguished star rating that I very rarely give to movies or TV shows/episodes and for this episode, a pilot, to earn it must say something about how much of an immediate impression the series has made with this one episode.

The opening credits is the viewer's first glimpse into this series and right here, I was glued to this show. The hypnotic, mildly dark and gloomy score combined with the elegant, stylized cinematography that invites the viewer into the world of the show completely spoke to me. By the end of the opening credits, I was invested into the series before a moment of 'actual' footage began. There's only one other pilot to a show that accomplished a similar feat for me personally and that was 'Twin Peaks'.

To combine such contrasting tones of humour and drama around the sensitive and deeply personal subject matter of death is a risky endeavour to put it simply and the end result could have very easily been a disaster. But because of realistic characters at the forefront as well as a restrained use of black comedy within the script, Alan Ball has created a wholesome work.

All the characters introduced here are simply fantastic and I mean no hyperbole. Among all, my favourites were Peter Krause and Michael C. Hall as brothers Nate and David Fischer respectively. There's immediately such high tension between the two characters that I cannot wait to see play out during the show and both Krause and Hall are simply magnificent here. I hope the quality level of their performances do not drop because they translate such wonderful humanity to the characters from script to screen.

The cinematography deserves another mention outside of simply the opening credits. This is a beautifully shot episode, superbly framed (many great uses of high angle shots and tight framing) and beautifully lit (whether it's having the camera bask in the warmth of the daylight or immersing the camera into gloomy scenarios) and the direction is equally fantastic. The cinematography serves the direction and the direction does a stellar job of bringing the material to life.

I absolutely adore this pilot episode. It's one I was hoping to enjoy but for it to have made such a high immediate impression was not something I was necessarily expecting. The world that is created here by Alan Ball is one that I find totally immersive once this first hour ends and the pacing within the hour is perfect. It's an episode that hits the nail on the head for both the drama and the comedy, an uneasy task and in doing so, creates such a uniquely engaging world. The characters all feel so sincere, credit to excellent writing and wonderfully honest lead performances. I cannot sing praises enough for this episode and am curious how it holds up in the context of 'Six Feet Under' as a whole.

Cannot recommend highly enough.

The pilot episodes mostly normal and tells the show is about what and what we are going to watch.

But the pilot of Six Feet Under is totally changes that idea. First of all the scene where Ruth screams after finds out her husband's dead. I was shocked and said to myself this is not a normal show. And i was totally right the black comedy and the emotional funeral scene of Nathaniel Fisher was one of the most beautiful things i've seen on the show.

If you're planning to watch the show you're about to watch an amazing pilot episode, believe me. 10/10.