Claire's relationships with men have been sort of disastrous. As a viewer, there have been so many times -- especially with Gabe and Olivier, but Russell and Billy too -- where I just wanted to pause the scene, step onto the set, and shake Claire, and say "What are you doing? You're too smart to be falling for this shit!"

Yeah, that was actually frustrating for me at times. And sometimes I had the same impulse you describe, but I tried not to focus on that and just play this other person. Having her go from one boyfriend to the next was boring for me at times. But television is so bizarre -- it's such a strange little medium, for a drama especially, because the writers are trying to come up with story lines that are interesting and will keep people coming back and the actors want it to be totally organic. But that would mean you might have an hour of people eating breakfast, which would be a drag. So there has to be some kind of middle ground, and it becomes the actors' job to smooth out any inconsistencies and follow the trajectory that is handed us and just make it work.

That's actually been a really fun challenge, once I melted into it and succumbed to it, rather than being like, "Oh my god! What are you doing?" I guess the control freak part of me was like, "Where is this going? What are we doing?" but then after a few years of that, it was like, "Oh, who cares, that's the job -- if it doesn't make sense, figure it out." Unless something was really glaring, and if something really didn't make sense, it was always a really nice collaborative environment, and no one would bristle or be upset if there were questions asked or anything.

You looked very different at the beginning of this season. Have you lost a lot of weight?

I lost a few pounds, nothing dramatic, but even my friends are like, "You look totally 'ano.'" I think it just showed up in my face. When we were on hiatus I did a Sam Shepard play, "Buried Child," in London at the National Theatre, and I was just working, working every night and working onstage and walking, and I think I just burned a lot more calories than I do in L.A. Also, the food in London was really bad. I didn't want to eat it, so I was cooking for myself and eating really healthy stuff like salads and chicken breasts, and I felt good. I'm also contrary by nature, and so when I'm in London seeing people shove candy bars in their mouths and smoking millions of cigarettes, it makes me want to be really healthy. But in L.A. all I want to do is go to In-N-Out Burger.

Does being in Hollywood -- and having the pressure to look a certain way, to be thin and flawless -- ever mess with your head?

When I was a lot younger, I was out here doing a screen test for "Can't Hardly Wait." It was a hard job to get and I was up against all these other actresses, but I got it. One day we were rehearsing, and the director came in and told me they wanted to get me a trainer. And I thought, "Oh, fuck, I'm getting fired, they want to get me an acting coach! I can't believe this! What I am I going to do?" I said, "I haven't gotten much direction, but if you can just tell me what you want, I'm sure I can adjust the character..." An exercise trainer was just the last thing on my mind. So they got me some trainer and I said, "Oh yeah, yeah, I'll do that" but kind of ignored it.

So you didn't do it?

Yeah, I mean I was really skinny then, too. I just have a baby face. Some of these girls now are really emaciated -- it's an epidemic. But I'm Italian. I love food; it's a point of joy in my life. I love eating and cooking for others and eating with them, and my dad is a cook, so I have a pretty good relationship with food.

So, the name of this column is Scene Stealer. If you had to pick one scene in all five seasons of "Six Feet Under" that you think you really nailed, or stole, what would it be?

Well, there's some stuff coming up at the end of the series that I'm really proud of. But the first thing that comes to mind are the fantasy numbers because they're just so outrageous and fun, and getting to sing and go into a recording studio and record the music and then do the choreography and then lip sync -- it's like making a little music video. And then there's one scene in the first season, an episode that Kathy Bates directed of me and Peter Krause [Nate] that she just let us do in the master. I was upset about some boyfriend and it was an emotional scene about my father's death, and instead of going in for the traditional coverage, she just let it play as a two-shot, let it play in the master, and that was pretty rewarding. It's like a play -- it couldn't be fiddled with, couldn't be edited -- that was all we shot. It was pretty cool.

Has working around death for all these years made you think about your own death at all -- and what you might want done to your body when you die?

I'm not interested in being embalmed and set out on display. I think the Jews have it right, you know, stick 'em in the ground. But we learned about this kind of funeral process: It's a "green" funeral. You're buried in this very idyllic setting -- sort like a park -- and there aren't markers and there aren't even coffins. You're just in a shroud, a beautiful shroud. I'm not really interested in being pumped full of chemicals and painted with salmon-colored lipstick.

So what's next for you now that the show is over?

I'm going to go to my little house in New England to chill out for a while. I was going to do a play, but the last episode ended up being so enormous and cut into rehearsals so badly that I had to drop out of it, which was fine. It was worth it to have this really cool, enormous final episode

Are loose ends going to be tied up, or is a lot going to be left to our imagination?

Kind of both. I mean, there ain't going to be a reunion.

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