Six Feet Under has the best finale ever according to George RR Martin
The author of Game of Thrones also cites his favorite episodes of The Sopranos, Black Mirror, Mad Men…
Vanity Fair recently published a top of their favorite episodes in the history of the series, and Blackwaterof Game Of Thrones (season 2 episode 9), figured prominently there. This ranking did not escape the author of the literary saga that inspired the HBO show: George RR Martin posted a message on his blog to thank the magazine, while specifying which were his own favorite episodes in television history.
He then specifically mentions several series that he loves: The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Black Mirror, Fargo, On Listen or Mad Menbut he recognizes that the one that struck him the most came from a completely different show: Six Feet Under.
“If I had to choose one episode that is even more perfect than all the ones on this list… it would be the finale of Six Feet Under. I like this series, although I can’t say that I loved it as much as Rome, Deadwood Or Fargo, and a few others that are missing from this list. On the other hand, this very last episode is by far the best finale in the history of television. I don’t see how we could do better.”
Broadcast in 2005, this finale entitled Everyone is waiting, was written and filmed by Alan Ball, the creator of the show which had started on HBO four years earlier. For the 15th anniversary of the series, the latter returned to this “perfect ending”but watch out for spoilers (If you don’t want to know anything, go directly to the photo below to discover George RR Martin’s other series favorites).
“We started writing the story for the fifth season knowing that it would be the last, Ball explained.. That’s when someone said: ‘We should kill everyone. Move forward in time and show the end of each character’. I completely agreed. What a perfect ending! This is exactly how this series was supposed to end. We shot in the desert for a whole day and Lauren (Ambrosethe interpreter of Claire, the little sister Fisher) was very moved, because she had grown up with this show.”
In this twelfth episode of season 5, Alan Ball actually decided to wrap up all the stories of the members of the Fischer family. We therefore discover via a “flashforward” the way everyone will die in the future, which is heartbreaking, but at the same time fits perfectly with the initial theme of the series, which takes place in their family funeral business.
Among the other favorites cited by George RR Martin, there is The Suitcaseof Mad Men (season 4, ep.7, almost entirely focused on Don Draper and Peggy Olson), Ozymandiasof breaking Bad (ep. 14 of the final season, key moment in the relationships between Skyler, Walter White, Hank and Jesse) or even San Jupiero of Black Mirror (season 3, ep. 4, a story full of nostalgia with Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Mackenzie Davis).
“In The Sopranosthere were lots of great episodes, but The Pine Barrens (season 3 episode 11, with Paulie and Chris in the snowy woods, editor’s note) was very special, continues Martin. Throughout the rest of the series, I was waiting for this Russian to come back when we least expected him. The Wire was also very successful. She was steadily approaching perfection. (he then mentions the death of important characters which we will not spoil here) Black Mirror is also an extraordinary series on many levels, and San Junipero is a story that I have seen again and again. I’m telling all my friends to watch this episode.”
We ranked the 28 episodes of Black Mirror from worst to best
