SummaryCreated, directed and starring Ricky Gervais as a widower, who decides to say and do anything he wants, no matter the consequences, to punish the world in this dark comedy.
SummaryCreated, directed and starring Ricky Gervais as a widower, who decides to say and do anything he wants, no matter the consequences, to punish the world in this dark comedy.
Throughout the six-episode season, we see Tony slowly cope with his pain. The process is done so organically that it feels authentic. But what makes this series truly memorable is how brilliantly Ricky Gervais injects humor into such complex subject matter. Touching, poignant and humorous, this is some of the comedian’s best work yet.
After Life finds its own pulse mostly when Gervais is doing riffs that wouldn't be at all out of place in his standup, podcast or other performative routines. ... It's harder to feel much in the repetitive loops of Tony lamenting the squalor of his life, meandering around town criticizing people for mundane behavior or staring at the endless movies that his wife left him so that, in the afterlife, she could be remembered as a plot device and not a character of her own.
While there’s something undeniably charming about the world of After Life, its final season is bland and forgettable, weighed down by cliché dialogue and a muddled tone.
Gervais’s sharply honed comedic timing and delivery are undeniable, even when he’s working with such tiresome or obvious material as this. ... Still, the cumulative effect of these interactions and the countless others in which Tony berates or belittles the people in his life is ultimately numbing.
Series 1 is excellent throughout. Series 2 starts and ends well but the middle episodes are somewhat pointless. Series 3 has a few great moments but is mostly offensive and rudderless
Ricky seemed to have learned from the first two seasons and added more character development -however hasty and aimless that was. The other characters seem to exist only to give Tony pep talks, reminding him that he's a good guy. We the viewers don't see the proof of this til the last episode where he is sappy and In my opinion, uncharacteristically giving. If Gervais wanted to prove he could write or direct or star in something other than a comedy, then he has. I Just don't understand the need to do all at once, with such heavy handed sentimentalism. I finished the show, but Good Grief, I'm glad it's over.
I thought the storyline was weak, as well as being irresponsible & naive. Apparently, according to Ricky Gervais, grief & depression is wallowing if it goes on for more than a few weeks & the way to get over mental anguish is to simply stop being a selfish, whiny **** & start doing good deeds for people. This is the answer! And all from someone who has said several times publicly that he doesn’t know what depression feels like.
Tears at any cost.
After Life is ridiculously heavy handed. Walking around, head hanging low with over sad despondent poor me face is not a profound insight into grief. Drug dealers, prostitutes and fellow grievers shoehorned in to a middle class village whenever the character needs to evolve a smidge at a time is crass at best. Like Gervais says everybody has had someone to grieve for, no-one that has grieved does it with a wide spectrum of colourful overwritten strangers. There were signs from the start of Gervais leaning towards cheap tears over laughs. It was indulged hugely in Derek, a show an unknown could not have made with their own money, nor should it have been, to this contrived point scoring for tears melodrama. Gervais is a comedy actor that knows he can wring no further mileage from Brentisms, but should not delude himself into thinking that moving the line towards his broad-stroke emotional drama makes him a credible dramatic actor. Try something subtle Mr Gervais with no prostitutes hanging around a common in the middle of the day, no quirky endearing smack dealers that will conveniently die for main character development, no second tier cast members with late on reveals of comparable hidden tear-jerking life problems. Brent was at his zenith when we first saw him, unexplainable how he ever got there, but as time proved was self deluded enough to not cling to the windfall that landed in his lap. After life is the dramatic next chapter of When the whistle blows.