25 of the most heartbreaking TV finales that make us cry every time

Six Feet Under

In a show about death, should we have been surprised that it ended in death? No, but the finale for Six Feet Under destroyed audiences nonetheless. Every episode started the same. A death and then the subsequent preparations by the Fisher family and their own drama.

We were obsessed with how these characters died and how the family managed to make them look their best for their funerals. So when the finale started with the birth of Willa, it already felt like a different kind of episode.

The actual episode went on like normal and the show felt as if it was just continuing the story we had come to love. Watching David, Nate, Claire and the rest of the Fisher family had been a norm for so long, and we watched them deal with countless deaths. But to see their own deaths in the future as Claire drove away from her family? Not really something we could be prepared for.

It was a revolutionary way to end a television show. By flashing forward, we knew exactly what life had in store for the characters. From David’s future heart attack to Brenda’s death of old age, the characters we grew to love died just as every episode started, and it was a beautiful way to end Six Feet Under.