Ranking the Seasons
Season 2
Season 1
Season 5
Season 3
Season 4
SPOILERS
I love doing this!
Season 2 is also my favorite. It seemed to have the darkest qualities to it, and also retain it's humor and also an incredible final two episodes, including Nate and Brenda's brutal breakup and Nate's brain surgery (with such a heart wrenching scene with Ruth).
Season 1 ranks a strong second. There's a reason the pilot won Alan Ball the Best Directing Emmy- what a way to start a series. Six Feet Under has always been praised for it's amazing finale. I also would argue the pilot is just as strong, if not stronger. So many things happen, and we get to know all the personalities and CARE for the characters - dealing with a major crisis. Season 1 also of course has the humor that started to go away once Season 3 drifted in. I found the first two seasons to have so much abstract moments of laugh out loud moments. As well as harrowing looks at how we deal with death.
Season 5 I liked this season because of it's super fast and intriguing pace. It's over in a blink of an eye. Every episodes gallops on the next one, and is threaded together perfectly. The final five episodes- starting with Singing for our Lives (Claire's maturity and redemption reuniting with art friends she took for granted; Nate's affair with Maggie ending with someone fainting to a coma)- to Everyone's Waiting, with so many wonderful things added to a top 5 finale EVER. All Alone, my favorite of the final five episodes, is so sad and as observers- we feel we're going through the paces the characters are going through because of -SPOILER----- Nate's unexpected death. The funeral, wake, David and Ruth's fight and then bond. Brenda's isolated treatment at the burial, and her inner torment with how to deal with being pregnant with a man who just dumped her for another woman hours before passing, not to mention raising his other child he had with ANOTHER woman.
Season 5, Cont On top of this, Brenda to me matured so much in season 5 (from her earlier periods of sexual lash outs and insecurity) that she was, to me, transformative more then any other character- including David's acceptance of getting over the fear of himself, Claire becoming more lax and grown up, and Ruth letting her hair down- literally, and taking control of her own life and not other people's happiness. Nate was the only one who sadly, didn't change. In fact, his unchanging narcissism is more evident by season 5.
Season 4 Many rank this last, but I defend it. It's definitely empty. I feel sort of a shallow resonance with it, because all the main characters are sort of detached from each other. Still, so much greatness here. "That's My Dog" steers you into hell with David and a hitchhiker with a gun- and the audience has no way of knowing how it will end. "Coming and Going" deals with DRAMA in relationships- from Ruth's confrontation with George- "This is NOT a gas station! You still have a wife", Vanessa and her sister beating the grass out of Rico's mistress, and Brenda getting caught cheating by Joe, who "reads" into her better then anyone had prior. "Untitled" is exceptionally good. From Claire's coked out art show, to Nate finding out the truth about Lisa (and the harrowing results). I loved it.
Season 3 I love all the seasons, but feel Season 3 was weakest. It starts off bizarrely, with Nate having visions after he survives surgery. Then suddenly he's married to the whiny woman that is Lisa, who I couldn't stand. The humor is missing. Catherine O'Hara is a breath of fresh air, as is Kathy Bates, but she is used too little. The final episodes focus on the disappearance of Lisa, and we hardly see Brenda and her family much. It just felt almost like a different series. Still, "Nobody Sleeps" (The amazing operatic funeral, Ruth having a great time at her birthday) was excellent, as was "Twilight" and "I'm Sorry, I'm Lost".