After Life - Netflix

Easy Rod

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Don't forget the musical montages of Tony walking around

Sorry yes, coldplay-lite acoustic guitar kicks in so you know he’s feeling glum. For himself mind, not the heroin addict he convinced to kill himself 6 weeks ago.

BelovedAunt

I am still amazed at times that Gervais wrote this show. There are some clever scenes or lines but overall it’s like a really expensive production of coronation street.

Outlaw Pete

https://twitter.com/NetflixUK/status/1258683160428253185

gormdubhgorm

I found these outtakes of Afterlife from season 2.

It seemed odd to me that Gervais found his own stuff he has written, so hilarious.
To be honest I always assumed that laugh he had (with the programme with Karl Pilkington) was a put on forced laugh that was for comedic effect.

Obviously not.

I think the funniest bits in this clip are the ones involving the dog.

Basq

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

It seemed odd to me that Gervais found his own stuff he has written, so hilarious.

Judging from the outtakes, it’s not that he’s finding the writing hilarious... it’s how the actor’s are “corpsing” on dialogue and their general inability to get lines out. Even the bit with the psychiatrist and "Ratty and the Nonce”, he’s letting “The Nonce” be loose with the names he’s making up and finding them hilarious. It’s refreshing to be honest!

poteen

Shockingly poor Season 2. I liked Seaon 1 alot.

In Season 2 Alot of the characters just became unbelievable characatures. He completely lost the plot in the writing. Nothing was funny and his character seemed to regress massively from Season 1.

Awful stuff.

sydthebeat

poteen wrote: »

Shockingly poor Season 2. I liked Seaon 1 alot.

In Season 2 Alot of the characters just became unbelievable characatures. He completely lost the plot in the writing. Nothing was funny and his character seemed to regress massively from Season 1.

Awful stuff.

i think in season 2 the more 'quirky' characters of Pat the postman and Roxy the hooker from seaosn 1 became quite normal in comparison to the complete OTT characters of the Therapist, Brian and the theatre director.

while i enjoyed season 2 in the most, its as if Gervais couldn't trust his writing to be humorous enough without the crass and flamboyance of these OTT characters.

i still think its better than the office, which is solely based on cringe humour.

JP Liz V1

Ricky Gervais Netflix dramedy Afterlife will drop the 3rd ( final ) season on Friday, Jan. 14. Season 3 will span six episodes.

rickis tache

Watched all of season 3 today.

All wrapped up nicely but I was an emotional wreck after the last scene.

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118476659#Comment_118476659

Good to hear. Watched episode 1 today and wasn't overly impressed. Glad to hear it gets better.

I did like the zebra crossing bit. Who hasn't wanted to do this??

anewme

Just starting episode 2. Liked episode 1.

This is more like Season 1 rather than Season 2 so looking forward to the rest of it.

El Gato De Negocios

Watched all 6 this evening. First three were quite poor imo but it really picked up for the final 3. A few scenes across the three had me choking up while others had me lolling. The music throughout, particularly in part 6, was exquisitely picked. Nicely wrapped up and a very enjoyable watch without being saccharine.

Shelga

I just watched them all this evening (didn’t mean to, but that’s the way it goes!)- overall I found it way more gloomy than funny. It could have easily stopped with 2 seasons or even 1, I agree with the review that said this latest batch of episodes didn’t add anything new.

Poor Kath at the yoga though 🥺

Bacchus

Love the new season. Watched the first 3 last night. It probably has taken 1 step back on Tony's journey through grief but I like that it's focusing on how he's trying to create a new relationship and the struggle that brings. Also, it's funny, charming and bittersweet as ever. Great show.

Vicxas

That last scene. Was not ready for that at all

bertiebomber

It was very good great observations and writing and got a nice bit about doggies in there too. Ricky loves dogs all in all powerful in its own way and unlike the first two seasons. I think its a lesson in grief and how to cope well worth the watch all 3 seasons. Derek is another series less known and its very powerful too also still on netflix i think.

Bacchus

Binged the last 3 episodes last night. What a great show. Perfect ending (spoilers ahead).

Spoiler Warning

Part of me hoped he'd end up being able to move on with the nurse but this ending felt more real, with enough room for interpretation to imagine yourself what Tony's future held. The dog disappearing and then him was just.... it's still on my mind. I don't think I ever seen the subject of grief done so well across a show. Gervais deserves every award going for this IMO. Outside Tony's story, the stuff with Kath was well done in the end, you really feel for her situation and I glad she ended with hope. The real kicker this season though was the little girl... "what's your name"... "Lisa". FFS, that was so well done, particularly after the angels conversation. And then how Tony answered her questions about his Lisa... and the whole heaven thing. There's not a lot of shows I go back to rewatch, but this is one of them.

Mike Litoris

I'm an absolute mess after that last episode.

razorblunt

That was a fantastic series, I really didn’t enjoy the second but this more than made up.

AdrianG08

Actually can't believe Gervais wrote that. Watched it all, nice show but by God does he really lay it on thick.

Sad piano when he's feeling sad, trying to get a tear out of the viewer is just so forced, don't want to sound like an arse but there was little to no subtlety to it.

The fact he clearly wrote this show for himself aswell, zero depth in the writing of supporting characters.

Merchant stopped collaborating him I believe because he didn't agree with the need for Gervais to appear in everything they wrote, it seems to be a pre-requisite for him.

The content on Netflix seems to be so one dimensional, young people nowadays seem to be blown away with some awful shite.

sydthebeat

Definitely the best thing Gervais has done.

Its power is in its simplicity, which is the result of a lot of hard work.

The whole season has both laugh out loud moments, cringe moments, angry asshole moments, and compete lip trembling heart ache in just about tolerable enough measures.

That last scene.....

jo187

After life is a strange one. I feel with season 1 that it ended nice enough if he didn't get to do or wanted to do another one.

Then we get season 2 and we have to reset everything and feels like going through everything again just to get us back to where we were at the end of season 1.

Now we had to do it again for season 3. The benefit this time is we didn't get to much of him and nurse. Also she never seems that busy in the nursing home and just leaves whenever she feels like it. I'm glad they ended it as Friends and let her off with someone else.

Odd to mention covid but not really deal with it. It might have been better just not to bring it up, unless this town just can't be bothered with masks and social distancing.

Ultimately it could just been one season and left it at that. How many bloody scenes do we need of him and the old lady at the cemetery and her telling him how great he is.

Wasn't blown away by the ending.

The erotic fiction writer was fantastic though, it takes skill to deliberately write that kind of ****. 😂

Xavi6

Loved it from start to finish. Sure, it had its flaws but overall it was great television that deals with an important subject. The ending was superb.

From a comedic perspective, Ken was my favourite character. His rant comparing Aids and Covid had me in stitches 😂

kerry_man15

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118477939#Comment_118477939

Watched all of Season 3 in one night, found it dragged quite a bit and very few funny scenes. Don't think it really added anything. The final episode was the best one of the new season.

Thecageyone

Yeah ... just as expected, half way through I just wanted to get it over with. It wasn't bad, some eps were enjoyable enough, but this forcing of already oddball characters to be more extreme and his continuous moping and whining was getting a bit much. Good series overall but it had run out of steam by S2 tbh, can see why he only did 2 seasons of his other hits [Office, Extras]

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118492419#Comment_118492419

More spoilers. Guess I should just unsubscribe from the thread

eviltimeban

I was in bits in the last episode. In fairness, you could play Both Sides Now over footage over people laughing and being happy and it would still make you cry. :-)

Spoiler Warning

In terms of the ending, the way they faded out... was that just to show that eventually everyone dies? A part of me felt like it was showing Tony was an "angel" as the lady told him. He had help people, sorted things out, helped Kath get a date etc. His work was done. :-)

Oh I didn’t like the final episode at all. It’s almost as if Rick had written something sadder and executives told him to rewrite it a bit lighter, so he took the piss and went overboard. He wrote an English summer fair where everybody couples off with everybody. Literally anybody who could breathe - regardless of their sociability and/or body odour - paired off in 5 minutes to the tear jerking sounds of Joni Mitchell being ambiguous about clouds.

jo187

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118493062#Comment_118493062

Sorry mate, don't spoilt anything really. It's basically just the first two seasons again.

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118494926#Comment_118494926

You revealed the outcome of the relationship with the nurse.

There are spoiler tags that can be used for this exact purpose.

I should just stay off the thread until I am finished the series

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118494976#Comment_118494976

In fairness that is the general rule on the forum when it comes to a streaming series. Because the full season might be released in one go and people will watch at their own pace (binge or every few days etc), spoilers can't be contained that well and so people shouldn't enter the thread if they don't want to be spoiled.

Glebee

Spoiler Warning

Am I reading too much into the ending where they are walking across the park. She disappears meaning she died. The dog disappears mean he/she dies and the Rickey disappears meaning he died..... Maybe im looking too much into it but thats the first thought that I got.

marklazarcovic

everybody dies is its point

Mike Litoris

I thought it started poorly. Eps 1 and 3 weren't great at all but it picked up in the last 3. I missed Roisin Conaty and Paul Kayes characters. I thought the whole story around Brian and his ex wife was hilarious. I nearly choked laughing at the scene with him telling the receptionist about her, the 2 gypsies and the smell! 😂

Thecageyone

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118501052#Comment_118501052

I thought that was the try hardest to be controversial BS the show ever did, wasn't funny, wasn't even remotely amusing, just pathetic tbh. And I say that as a fan of most of what Gervais puts out, even when it gets down and dirty - that character was just @ss overall - not one ounce of anything approaching interesting

colmpigeon

I enjoyed the third series, however I did miss some of the missing characters, and how they impacted on the show. The Postman's role felt pretty diminished by the lack of Roisin Conaty, reduced to just complaining about her. (To be honest I thought it was a bit of a betrayal to both the postman's and roxy's characters).

Penn

I thought it was awful. Incredibly forced, overly saccharine and the humour was just sh*te. Nobody in the show was a real character, they were only ever there to feed Gervais a setup line for him to go off on a tired tirade, to insult them, or to say something so profound and wise. It's one of the most masturbatory shows I think I've ever seen.

Thecageyone

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118506820#Comment_118506820

Yeah I'd have to agree mostly, even the small part characters were incredibly ott [a couple of Kath's dates for example] cringe. It's a pity, it could have been so much better if they pulled back a little on the silliness, most of the cast seem like they were brain fart ideas for Gervais stand up routines.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118506945#Comment_118506945

So much time was spent throughout this season with James and his ambitions, including getting p*ssed at his agent for wanting him to be a jester at the fair. And the resolution at the end? James prancing about happily as a jester at the fair. It was only done to have scenes with the f*cker with the beard and glasses, and show him in the bath and stuff because Gervais thought it'd be funny.

Similar happened with Matt last season when he broke up with the wife, mainly because Gervais wanted to keep the therapist character in the show so Matt would go to the therapist that season instead of him (he's someone I definitely didn't miss this season). And the resolution at the end? Matt's wife comes back to him because she gets jealous at the idea of Matt going on a date with Kath. No growth, no development, no actual plot. Just it didn't matter any more, so it's done.

Even the girl who sat beside Tony in the office for the first two seasons, she was only ever there because Gervais needed a reason to have Tony try to be kind. And the photographer for the newspaper (I can't even remember his name), just there for Tony to make fun of when talking to other people, and then take one very quick picture for the paper while barely even looking at the camera.

None of the side characters had any sort of actual character. They were just so Gervais could say what he wanted to say, or put them in cringy situations regardless of whether or not those scenes actually added anything to the show. Even the last episode where Matt has spent all season trying to be better at Tony at some sport, he steps up to be goalie against the two d*ckheads, and... he's still sh*t. That could have been a moment where he's actually good, blocks their shots and shows them up, and ties in with his story over the season. Kath finally breaks down and reveals she's lonely, and ends up getting a dog. Perfect. But then the postman comes along and straight away it's like wedding bells are ringing. No need for it.

Ted Lasso can be very overly saccharine too with quick and easy resolutions, and wise grandiose speeches, but it works because the strength and development of the characters can carry that. Gervais aimed for similar but used the side characters for his flights of fancy and just whatever amuses him rather than what works for the show, and the show has been a mess because of it right from the start.

The White Wolf

I think the show has a good heart and Gervais did an admiral job in portraying the reality of bereavement, and the ensuing crushing depression, for a lot of people.

Having said that I would have been curious to see the version where maybe he didn't play the central character himself.

Hyperbollix

I wouldnt class any season of After Life in the same league as The Office or Extras but I did enjoy S1 and 2. He really should have left it at that. This third season was really poor imo. After Life was always a bit shallow and not very subtle but my God it excelled itself this time. As has been said many times, overly saccharine, preachy, monologues with the subtlety of a sledge hammer. The characters have reduced from 1 dimensional to half a dimension in some cases.

If this didn't have Ricky Gervais' name over the title, most people would be slating it. He's getting away with murder at this stage. It really had the smell of a self indulgence. He's let himself go in more than just the waist size measurement. I can imagine he really enjoys meeting up with those actors and having mighty craic shouting "CÚNT" at the top of his voice, but a bit more than that is needed to make a decent series. It just felt so lazy.

I've always believed that Steve Merchant was the real brains behind what made the early stuff great. His own series Hello Ladies had all the charm and depth of the likes Extras, something Gervais has never managed to replicate since they've parts ways. It's as if Ricky was the master at the caustic wit, the cringe factor and vulgar humour, while Steve seemed to bring an understanding of social awkwardness and being an outsider. Maybe combined, they managed to give the stuff they did real emotional punch.

Mike Litoris

Some of the out takes have dropped 😂

https://twitter.com/i/status/1485659551500161024

https://twitter.com/i/status/1485659257987076097

AdrianG08

These shows are vanity projects for Gervais at this stage. As previously mentioned, the supporting characters have absolutely no real point, or depth.

The guy who took the photos with him on house visits, actually felt bad for the guy playing the role, he was purely a prop, its imperative that everything is set up to make Gervais shine. What annoys me is he has an extremely shallow pool of actors he uses, they have all appeared with him at some stage. Sure he trusts them, but its also down to the fact that they are probably happy taking on roles with literally no development in them. I'd say its probably the reason Roisin Connaty left it after season 2.

The guys who plays Brian, played a similar character in Derek, just crass and vulgar, there was no humour or charm and the filth he spouts was just so forced to even serve that purpose.

He literally writes stuff for himself. I think this was why Merchant stopped working with him.

https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a864690/stephen-merchant-ricky-gervais-oxford-union/

NIMAN

I think it was a series too far for the show.

Definitely not as good as the other 2. Seemed to be a series made just so the word "cnut" could be used as often as possible.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118539209#Comment_118539209

Completely agree. Same with Paul Kaye's therapist character in the first two series, and his two friends who popped up a few times this series. It's not about what's good for the show or how it fits into the show, it's just about what makes Ricky Gervais laugh. So he gives them a rough idea of what he wants, lets them improv and take it to extremes, it makes Ricky laugh on set, so it ends up in the show regardless of how much it completely plays against everything else he's trying to do with the show.

It has worked for him in the past, but I think without Merchant and without a stronger supporting cast of actual characters and stories he's gone completely overboard with it.

cozar

I would love to read that book "open wide" its so bad it would be hilarious.

murpho999

I’m surprised at earlier posters saying it was great and emotional wreck at the end.

I thought the season was awful and probably the worst work Gervais has done. 

Ridiculous characters of no consequence. Foul language just for the sake of it and if you keep saying it over and over again then it’s just not funny any more.

This show had serious potential to explore grief, depression and relationships but Gervais just decided to use the show to create wacky “characters” with storylines of no real interest and then play his own main character as an obnoxious krank who takes pleasure in belittling people.

His “redemption” by handing out cheques was very predictable and unemotional and the ending with a  coming together of all the characters was just over the top and unniteresting. 

It’s a pity as I really like Gervais and he has a great track record but he clearly needs somebody like Steve Merchant to bounce off and to hone his act as I really feel this show was a missed opportunity.

greenspurs

Stopped watching after the second (maybe third?) episode of series 3.

Just found myself losing interest. The same old, same old really wore thin

Sick of his non stop maudlin over his wife - the cringey home videos ,

Sick of the non stop , and pointless foul language that served no purpose at all...

Similar with the weird sexual stuff that just seemed to be added in to give someone a couple of lines to say ..

It did have some very funny bits, but for me , it just didnt have the charm of the first 2 series.

It will make him lots more money, but i think he shouldnt have bothered.

AdrianG08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118539259#Comment_118539259

Completely agree with you in relation to it being about what makes Gervais laugh, rather than whats good for the show. And there is an arrogance in Gervais work where "if it makes me laugh, then it must be hilarious". This is why its important to have competing voices/opinions as part of the creative process.

I find it actually hard to invest in his later stuff as its the same old faces time and time again, it shows that he has no interest in elevating the talent around him, its all about his own performance of his own idea. Supporting characters will never get the chance to flex their acting chops in Gervais later stuff, and theres an arrogance in that do as i'd say he believes the elevation they will get will be by merely being a prop alongside him.

Merchant's comments from 2018/2019 have pretty much been proven to be bang on the money.

I'm wary of anything on Netflix to be honest, find it very one dimensional, glossy television, even the production, just seems so colourful and lacking in character/atmosphere, its completely dumbed down content. And everything is drawn out beyond reason, they often take the premise of a film and turn it into a 7-8 parts series, 70% filler. Reflection of the younger generations interest maybe!