“After Life”

In March, Netflix released a six episode series written, acted, and directed by British comedian Ricky Gervais–”After Life.”  Gervais’s character Tony is a middle-aged reporter for a free small-town newspaper (the Tambury Gazette) that covers very local news–the kind made by locals who call the paper when they have something unusual happen to them, like make a pancake that has an iconic image on it.  Tony interviews the locals with his cameraman, Lenny, who uses a tiny camera to take pictures for the paper.

Tony has just lost his beloved wife, after 25 years of marriage, to cancer and is trying to get on with life or die in response to his profound, debilitating grief, which is expressed initially through nastiness toward others, without the normal inhibitions that control us.  Tony has decided to just do or say whatever he feels because nothing matters any more.  There is lots of dark humor about life and death.  Gervais explains, “My character is like a superhero in a way: he discovers he has this power, which we’ve all got, to say what you want. It goes well, it’s exciting, but then with great power comes great responsibility, and he’s got to learn who deserves it and who doesn’t.”  Often, Tony goes too far as he moves toward a new balance in his life.

The nature of Tony’s relationship with his dead wife, Lisa, is revealed by a series of computer videos she left him to explain chores (like feeding and walking their dog, Brandy) and help Tony cope with his loss.  In one of the videos, Lisa reminds him that he ia a good a person: “You know how grumpy you get when things don’t go your way, but you’ve got such a good heart. You’re born like it, you can’t contrive it, you’re just decent.” 

To Tony, his life had seemed perfect, perhaps better than he deserved, but now it is in shambles as his emotions range from contemplating suicide to being kind to some of the shallow townspeople with whom he interacts.  The videos both compound Tony’s grief and make it possible to cope with the loss of Lisa, a persona who apparently came to terms with her impending death long before Tony did.

Gervais explains, “This isn’t just a knock about comedy imagining a man without inhibitions.  [Tony] is really deeply in pain, this is a wounded animal. He gets drunk every night, he tries heroin, he tries being nasty, he tries therapy, but he just wants to feel better.”

As with all good dark humor, the series is funny, witty, biting, and sometimes painful.  Gervais seems to be using the series as a vehicle to hone his views about his own atheism.  Tony, too, is an atheist.  The following dialogue drives that point home as Tony begins to overcome the worst of his grief:

Kath (co-worker to Tony):  “You’re an atheist and you don’t believe in an afterlife?”

Tony:  “I don’t.”

Kath:  “You don’t believe in heaven and hell and all that.  Why don’t you just go around raping and murdering as much as you want?”

Tony:  “I do.”

Kath:  “What?”

Tony:  “I do go around raping and murdering as much as I want, which is not at all.”

Lenny:  “Cause he’s got a conscience.”

Kath:  “Well, if death is just the end, what’s the point?” 

Tony:  “What’s the point in what?”

Kath:  “Nothing.  Might as well just kill yourself.”   

Tony:  “So, if you’re watching a movie and you’re really enjoying it–something with Kevin Hart–and someone points out it’s the end of it actually, do you just go ‘Ugh, forget it then, what’s the point, and turn it off?’ ”  

Kath:  “No, cause I can watch it again.”  

Tony:  “Well, I think life is precious because you can’t watch it again.  I mean, you can believe in an afterlife if that’s what makes you feel better. . . doesn’t mean it’s true, but once you realize you’re not going to be around forever, I think that’s what makes life so magical.  One day you will eat your last meal, smell your last flower, hug your friend for the very last time–you may not know its the last time, so that’s why you should do everything you love with passion.  You know, treasure the few years you’ve got because that’s all there is.”

Tony visits his senile father in an eldercare home every day and is always perturbed when his father doesn’t know his name, or forgets that Lisa has died.  He has the most normal relationships with his father’s nurse and a widow (“Downton Abbey” star Penelope Wilton) he meets on a bench in the cemetery, where she regularly visits her husband’s grave to chat with him.  Not all of the humor is at someone else’s expense.  Both the widow and his father’s nurse can hold their own with Tony.

The series includes other regulars–the receptionist, the editor (Tony’s brother-in-law), a new intern, Tony’s psychiatrist (Gervais must not like psychiatrists given how inept is his), a lazy postman, a drug-addicted newspaper distributor, and a sex worker, among some lesser characters.

Gervais has reflected on the show, which has received very good audience reactions:  “The thing with grief is that people start getting fed up with you. You can be having a really hard time, but let’s be honest, after a year, people behind your back are going, ‘Fuckin’ hell, c’mon, it’s been a year. At the end of the day, it’s all those little mundane interactions that actually save your life — they’re the variety of life; they stop you from feeling too sorry for yourself. He’s got to take the dog for a walk, he’s got to go to work to make money to get drunk, and after all that, time heals.”

If you are willing to deal with death daringly and with humor, “After Life” can be a mostly enjoyable diversion from what’s left of your life.