The always cheerful Fisher brothers, David (left), played by Michael C. Hall, and Nathaniel, portrayed by Peter Krause.

It's tempting to write an obituary to mark tomorrow night's 75-minute series finale of Six Feet Under (The Movie Network/Movie Central, 9 p.m.). The five-year-old drama was such an original (especially that brilliant first season) as it explored life and death with those dysfunctional California funeral folks, the Fisher family.

Never has a family been so beaten with hammers on network television. Every possible theme -- depression, adoption, narcissism, murder, religion, homosexuality, incest, dementia, and, of course, death, death death -- was fodder for creator Alan Ball's muse.

The series was Knots Landing on crack, the most lurid and unsettling soap opera ever. The finale finds the Fishers at their lowest ebb. This is a black time, even for these freaks.

SPOILER STARTS HERE!

Some Sun readers were peeved a week or so ago when we reported that one of the key characters on this series up and died. If you are holding out a few more years until Six Feet Under concludes on the freebie specialty tier, stop reading now.

You probably didn't pay for this newspaper anyway.

Also get rid of your radios, TV sets, neighbours, co-workers and, while you're at it, that horseless carriage in the driveway. We also apologize for reporting who won the Stanley Cup in 2003. Just go be Amish and we'll get back to you in 2007.

Not that we're gonna spill all the beans anyway. HBO burned critic's initials into each and every screener they sent and fixed the following label to the cassette box: "Please kindly refrain from writing about the last 10 minutes of this episode."

There is a neat twist at the end of the finale I won't spoil. All I will say is that it is fitting that a series about life and death ends with a leap of faith.

Besides, this show really ended a few weeks ago with the death of its central hero, Nathaniel (Peter Krause). He hangs over this finale like a bad stink, haunting the surviving characters with nothing but bad news. Like father, like son.

The rest of the episode sets up some very loose ends. Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) delivers her baby early. David (Michael C. Hall) and Keith (Matthew St. Patrick) seem on the verge of calling it quits. Rico (Freddy Rodriguez) tries to muscle the Fishers out of the funeral business. Ruth (Francis Conroy) grows more and more despondent. Clare (Lauren Ambrose) grows more and more negative.

The Fishers have been on a five-year slide and the relentless sadness has turned Six Feet Under into one of the biggest drags on the air.

What was once fascinating has become boring and depressing. Like many of the stiffs in their morgue, the end can't come soon enough.

It comes tonight, with Ball over-reaching to turn grief into joy. Like in his Oscar-winning movie, American Beauty, he tries to make a hard-right turn at the very last second, pulling five years of angst and bitterness out of the ditch with an uplifting, hopeful finale.

It is a sweet message and anything that stops the suffering for this family is welcome. But like Nate Sr. (always wonderful Richard Jenkins), we can't help but be a little cynical at the end.

Pain equals life -- we get it.

Six Feet Under is out of its misery.

May it rest in peace.