I guess a happy ending is too much to ask for?

It is a show surrounded by death. There is a lot of anger and sadness; it's almost like every conversation ends up with someone crying and/or shouting. Everyone is broken. Why was I still expecting a happy ending?

I had a feeling that Nate would end up dead, but I thought it would be at the very end of the series. I mean, what kind of show kills off its first-billed cast member with three episodes left in the series? It's insane how much I cried during those last episodes. To be fair, it's just Nate who had an unfortunate death; everyone else seemed to lead a long, happy life after his departure. So was he the problem? But what a heart-breaking and unexpected death that was!

As always, with each show I watch, I get attached to one guy (Nate), and one pairing (Nate and Brenda). And, as always, I root for the one relationship that is broken beyond repair, dysfunctional, and toxic. Nate and Brenda were never gonna work. The only time their relationship seems okay is during season one, when they're having lots of sex, with each other. For some reason, just like with all of my favorite relationships in other shows that I watch, I keep hoping that they'd figure it out. Logically, it would never work. I know. I see it. But I want to believe that they can be fixed. I hated Nate by the end of the show. He cheated on his wife who's carrying his daughter, and when she says she wants to work through it, he just says no. I guess that is the right thing to do –– like I said, the relationship is never gonna work –– I just refused to believe it. I maintain that Nate and Brenda should have ended up together. Why did Maggie ever happen?

How fucked up are these people? There's the whole Nate and Brenda relationship that collapsed because they were both screwing other people. Nate impregnated his former fuck-buddy while Brenda was going through a possible sex addiction, just not with her fiance. Nate goes in for surgery for his AVM and the show jumps forward to a year later; somehow he's now married to Lisa. I don't think he's ever loved her; he was just doing what he thought was the right thing to do, as he does. After Lisa's death and the eventual Nate/Brenda reunion, things got even weirder with Claire dating Billy, even when Nate and Brenda are married. Aren't they kinda family at that point? I know they're not related, but that's just...messed up. Not that their family was ever normal. I can't even wrap my head around the craziness that is Brenda and Billy. And then there's Ruth. I couldn't care less about Ruth, so I skipped pretty much all of her scenes. Except for when Arthur was there; his hilarity made the scenes bearable. But her marrying George when they barely know each other, and then getting irritably angry when she finds out that George is actually crazy, is just bizarre. And then Nate cheated on Brenda with Maggie, who's his (former?) step-sister. What.the.fuck?! The most stable and normal relationship in the show is David and Keith's, and I'm glad they got the happy ending with the kids and the continuing of "Fisher & Sons" at the end.

And there's the whole thing about talking to dead people...

I honestly can't pinpoint what it is about this show that I find appealing. I don't understand any of the characters; I don't like any of the characters. There's this very strange, unique vibe that I get from the show that makes it so attractive, I just don't know what it is. I couldn't stop watching, but I wasn't actually watching either since I skipped parts of the episodes. I just don't get it!