Product Details

• Actors: Frances Conroy, Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Lauren Ambrose, Mathew St. Patrick
• Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 5
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Hbo Home Video
• DVD Release Date: July 6, 2004
• Run Time: 780 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (129 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001KL5DA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,992 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Six Feet Under - The Complete Second Season" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In some ways, HBO's Six Feet Under plays kid brother to stellar BMOC The Sopranos: it's spunkier, less refined, chancier, and a bit of a punk. Nevertheless, the show set in the Southern California mortuary Fisher and Sons deserves its place in the pantheon of great television series. The initial season was a showcase for the most original characters, including tight-lipped brother David (Michael C. Hall) coming out of the closet, emotionally trippy mom Ruth (Frances Conroy), and the most complex girlfriend on the face of the planet, Brenda (Rachel Griffiths). Slowly, the major force in season 2 is the unassuming lead, Peter Krause. Part of the long line of good-looking actors who never get respect because they make it look too easy, Krause (Sports Night) finds the perfect blend of optimism with a wonderful, bittersweet anguish as Nate, the prodigal son.

The initial season's happy ending is forgotten as relationships change, the business is still under fire from the evil conglomerate Kroehner, and a lively dream sequence is just around the corner. As with the premier season, creator Alan Ball lets many others direct and write the show, but his stamp is all over it. The eccentricities of the characters are shaped, and not always suddenly. Take daughter Claire (Lauren Ambrose), who sheds her bad boyfriend only to find more complex relationships on her road to discovering her own groove. One person in the mix is Ruth's beatnik sister (Patricia Clarkson, in an Emmy-winning role), a joyous embodiment of thriving--if aging--counter culture. Another new character is Nate's old girlfriend, the granola-loving Lisa (Lili Taylor). With Brenda heading down another destructive course, Nate is at more than one crossroads by season's end. For fans who groove with the wild, serio-comedic world of the Fishers (and let's face it, many didn't), the second season goes down like a fine meal of fusion cuisine. The show shares an unfortunate family trait with its HBO big brother: although both were lavished with multiple Emmy nominations the first two seasons, both took home only token awards. But then there's always next year. --Doug Thomas

Product Description

When death is your business, what is your life? For Nate, David, Ruth and Claire, the world outside the Fisher & Sons Funeral Home continues to be at least as challenging-and far less predictable-as the one inside.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentaries with Alan Ball, writers and directors on Episodes 1,7,10,12,13
Episodic Previews
Episodic Recaps:Season 1 Recap
Featurette

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great season of one of the best dramatic TV shows, February 20, 2005

By 

Ron Cronovich "Ron" (Kenosha, WI) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Six Feet Under - The Complete Second Season (DVD)

If you haven't seen Season One, stop reading this right now and go watch it. You're in for a real treat, as 6FU is one of the most well-written TV dramas ever.

If you watched Season Two when it originally aired and are considering purchasing this set, you should know that the DVD extras are not plentiful. Several of the 13 episodes have optional commentaries you can listen to while you're watching the episode; I find this is a big investment of time for a small payoff, but that's just me. Plus, the last disc contains a short documentary "anatomy of a stiff," which is worth watching once, but not really that compelling. Another factor that might affect your purchase decision is that the episodes themselves are rich and stand up to repeated viewings, unlike most of the tripe on television. Plus, watching the episodes on DVD - on YOUR schedule - makes for a much better experience than waiting a week or more between episodes as they are aired on HBO.

If you've seen Season One but not Season Two yet, the best indicator of whether you'll like Two is how much you liked One. Yes, it's true, fans disagree over which of the first two seasons was better. But the overwhelming majority that liked One a lot also liked Two a lot.

I think both of the first two seasons were EXCELLENT, but a bit different. Almost every episode of the first season was very good or excellent. The second season had the same average quality as the first season, but more variability - that is, a few episodes or storylines were a bit weaker than what we typically saw in Season One, but other episodes and storylines were even better than those in Season One. The last two episodes of Season Two rank among the best television I've ever seen.

I will try to set up the events of Season Two without giving anything away. At the end of Season One, Nate was coming to grips with a newly diagnosed brain condition that could cause seizures, or even a stroke and death. Nate and Brenda had declared their love for each other, despite a fairly complicated and sometimes rocky relationship. David was single and struggling in his love life, and coming to terms with being "out." He and Keith were still friends, and it was clear that they still had feelings for each other. These storylines are developed further in Season Two, with many interesting twists and turns along the way. Of course, there are also storylines involving Ruth and Claire. Ruth's growth in Season Two is nonlinear - she seems to make progress in one episode, but then reverts back to her depressed, repressed, controlling self in the next. Claire has interesting relationships with different people, each of which shapes her in some way, good or bad, and she gets a bit of direction in her life toward the end of Season Two.

One of the things that makes 6FU so great is that it's so real. The characters are 3-dimensional, flawed, and (mostly) likeable. Whenever I watch the show after not having seen it for a month or more, it's like getting together again with old friends. I also respect the show for taking seriously the issues of religion and minority sexual orientation (Amazon.com has previously censored me for using the word that begins with "h"). Half of the main characters are religious, and their views are treated very respectfully. One or two of the main characters are g__ (again trying to avoid the censor) and they are portrayed as real people, with the same joys and sorrows and problems as straight folks.

Bottom line: If you haven't seen 6FU season two yet, you are in for a real treat. Be patient through the first two episodes, though, as their slightly lower quality is not representative of the rest of this outstanding season.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Could the wait be any longer???, February 23, 2004

By 

Moises Contreras (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Six Feet Under - The Complete Second Season (DVD)

I am seriously displeased with the way HBO has been scheduling the releases of their shows. The first season was released Feb. 2003...and now we get the second season June 2004!!!....oh man...on this rate if the show would to go off the air next season...we have to wait till 2008 to get it!!.

Anywho, the set includes some great episodes and further develops all the members of the Fisher family. In this season, the show begins to depart with basing its entire show around a particular death...and develops some more uniformed and intriguing storyline within the characters themselves. It promptly picks up where the last season ended off with Nate's impending surgery. I'll be first to admit that the first episode is kind of a clunker...but the show never looks back from then on. The last two episodes in particular reach almost unbearable depths of dramatic height especially with all the trails and tribulations concerning the relationship between Nate and Brenda. An engaging, quirky show which truly shows you the emotional levels that a television show can still have on the average viewer. I cant tell you how much I honestly love this show. Highly Recommended!!!

and you know what???...Season 3 is even better! ;) (mb...dec 2005 this time??....ugh....get it together HBO!)

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Characters -- and viewers -- get addicted!, July 25, 2004

By 

Dr Cathy Goodwin (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Six Feet Under - The Complete Second Season (DVD)

Like many viewers, I don't get HBO, so I got hooked watching Season 1's episodes all at once, on video. The DVD presentation adds commentaries of mixed quality. Writer Jill Solowey opens by wondering why anyone would spend an hour listening to her talk. "You must not have a life if you're here," she says. Unnecessarily demeaning to viewers, as commentaries add a whole layer of enjoyment to the viewing experience.

Other commentators pointed out the old-fashioned Addams family quality of the Fishers, which I hadn't noticed -- but now I see they have an avocado-colored refrigerator! And I see the contrast between the timeless, stifling ambience of the funeral home and the free-spirited world that the family encounters outside.

Season 2's writers faced a major challenge because plots need conflict and at least two sources of conflict have disappeared. Nate has now firmly committed to being a funeral director -- he gets his license early in the season -- and he's firmly allied with his brother's interests. And David, now officially out as a gay man, has a choice of nice dates before ending up (as we always suspected) with the charismatic Keith.

The Christmas episode was my favorite, although it was more satisfying than suspenseful. A group of Harley Davidson riders gathers to honor a fallen comrade, while the Fishers remember their last moments with their father. The biker funeral was a treat. I'd like my own funeral to be a big party too, although I hope my heirs have the sense to demand a cheap cremation rather than a ten thousand dollar box.

As other reviewers have noted, Nate takes the lead this season, possibly because his character seems least controversial and most sympathetic. He's grown into a compassionate, caring person, even befriending a young man dying friendless with pancreatic cancer. Pushing the cremation button seems an odd but sincere act of friendship.

At the same time, I found it hard to like either of Nate's girlfriends -- the neurotic Brenda and the needy, vulnerable Lisa. Nate deserves someone he can respect.

And I disagree with those who call this family "dysfunctional" and "repressed." While the rabbi in Season 2 preaches the importance of total honesty, in fact research shows that marriages often stay together more by what's not said than by openness.

Compared to most families, the Fishers are not bad! Rememer they see each other every day and support one another through tough times. And they do show mutual respect. Ruth may be controlling but she gives her children a lot of space. She even seems a little intimidated by Claire, who was born after the boys were almost grown.

The commentators suggest that the show goes to great lengths for realism. However, in a contemporary police department, Keith would not be on duty while under investigation for killing a citizen. He'd turn over his gun and badge and be off duty with pay. He would also be required -- not advised, required -- to see the police psychologist. These steps probably would have prevented the next tragedy, where Keith lashes out during a domestic violence call.

Seasons 3 to 5 are out, I hear, so we know Nate will recover and go on to more adventures. Other reviewers have suggested issuing Season 3 on DVD as soon as possible. I couldn't agree more!