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After Life - Ricky Gervais

By koop., in General Chat

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Buce

Buce

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I binge-watched this because of positive comments on here and have to say that I was disappointed.

 

I loved Gervais in The Office but this really exposed his limitations as an actor. He should stick to writing, imo.

 

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The Horse's Mouth

The Horse's Mouth

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I think it started well but my god is it a load of soppy bollocks by the end like, since his split from merchant you can really tell his limitations as a writer, think I preferred it to Derek though. Like the fat lad who looked like a thumb he was quite funny at least

 

 

Also can he do anything without having to bang on about being an atheist? I couldn't care less like, why does he have to work it into everything he does 

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ozleicester

ozleicester

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4 hours ago, The Horse's Mouth said:

I think it started well but my god is it a load of soppy bollocks by the end like, since his split from merchant you can really tell his limitations as a writer, think I preferred it to Derek though. Like the fat lad who looked like a thumb he was quite funny at least

 

 

Also can he do anything without having to bang on about being an atheist? I couldn't care less like, why does he have to work it into everything he does 

Ive only seen ep 1 so i cant judge, but given its a show called "After life" and is about death and loss etc... i guess the atheist thing plays a big part?

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RowlattsFox

RowlattsFox

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It was good, enjoyed it but I think some of the praise as been a bit over the top. Maybe my expectations were raised too high given the positive reviews. Some real funny moments and its heartwarming at times. Glad it was only 6 short episodes so I could binge it in one night because I'm not sure I would have gone back to finish it off. 

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stripeyfox

stripeyfox

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43 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

It was good, enjoyed it but I think some of the praise as been a bit over the top. Maybe my expectations were raised too high given the positive reviews. Some real funny moments and its heartwarming at times. Glad it was only 6 short episodes so I could binge it in one night because I'm not sure I would have gone back to finish it off. 

Same for me. I liked it, eventually. I didn't really "get" the character being a complete arsehole to everyone,  but it sort of came together at the end.

 

It was good - I enjoyed it - but I don't think I quite go along with the gushing praise for it.

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Babylon

Babylon

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1 hour ago, RowlattsFox said:

It was good, enjoyed it but I think some of the praise as been a bit over the top. Maybe my expectations were raised too high given the positive reviews. Some real funny moments and its heartwarming at times. Glad it was only 6 short episodes so I could binge it in one night because I'm not sure I would have gone back to finish it off. 

I think it was entertaining, but also enough in it to make people think about themselves and others and ways they don't usually. So I think that's why it's getting the reaction, as that's pretty rare these days.

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Izzy

Izzy

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12 hours ago, The Horse's Mouth said:

Also can he do anything without having to bang on about being an atheist? I couldn't care less like, why does he have to work it into everything he does 

I get the impression he quite likes animals too :whistle:

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Parafox

Parafox

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5 hours ago, Babylon said:

I think it was entertaining, but also enough in it to make people think about themselves and others and ways they don't usually. So I think that's why it's getting the reaction, as that's pretty rare these days.

I agree here. It's a difficult subject and everyone deals with loss in different ways but the basic initial, emotional response is pretty much the same for every human being. The series did make me think about my own feelings around death, not only of family members, but of the feelings of those I leave behind.

If you're in a long term relationship/married/with children or any mutual commitment that is truly meaningful, the thought of losing the most important people in your life is almost unbearable and I think Afterlife takes that as it's base concept. Of course anyone who has been to pretty much any funeral, even that of a dearest family member or parent will usually have a degree of humour involved once the formalities are over, in that we remember the good things, the funny, obscure and simply daft things about the person who's life we are looking back on.

When my father-in-law passed away, I was in the lead funeral car with my wife and her brother and sister and her husband. We were laughing so hard recalling things and mocking the other members of the family that Reg didn't get on with. Even the driver was laughing and commented that he'd never driven a funeral party that was laughing so much.

That said, the service was utterly respectful and saddening but the thing I think Gervais is trying to get across is that even in grief and loss, there is a kind of black humour that helps one manage their grief.

He talks about suicide in the series but we kind of know it's not a genuine thought, just something that crosses the mind of most people who lose a loved one, particularly at a young age when you expect to spend the rest of your life with them. You're bound to wonder how you move forward without that person in your life and is it worth going on. 

Gervais character, IMO, portrayed a bereft person who didn't know how to cope or understand and had the "why me", reaction which most of us have after a loss. After a significant loss, people try to find someone to blame and as a result of that he became bitter and hostile. He was angry at everything and everyone because he was so utterly hurt by his loss and had no way to rationalise it nor people to fall back on or support him.

The black humour was pretty well portrayed. The response to "peado" was deadpan hilarious.

Edited by Parafox
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murphy

murphy

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17 hours ago, The Horse's Mouth said:

I think it started well but my god is it a load of soppy bollocks by the end like, since his split from merchant you can really tell his limitations as a writer, think I preferred it to Derek though. Like the fat lad who looked like a thumb he was quite funny at least

 

 

Also can he do anything without having to bang on about being an atheist? I couldn't care less like, why does he have to work it into everything he does 

I think he is just padding it with stuff from his stand up routine.  In fact there is quite a bit or regurgitation - care home, office settings, recycled cast members from Derek and Extras, but nonetheless I loved it.  The breast milk rice pudding gag scene had me snorting my tea up my nose!

 

I get the impression that the character is a bit of an extreme example of Gervais himself.  A bit of a misanthrope but without the grief.

 

 

Edited by murphy
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The Horse's Mouth

The Horse's Mouth

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30 minutes ago, murphy said:

I think he is just padding it with stuff from his stand up routine.  In fact there is quite a bit or regurgitation - care home, office settings, recycled cast members from Derek and Extras, but nonetheless I loved it.  The breast milk rice pudding gag scene had me snorting my tea up my nose!

 

I get the impression that the character is a bit of an extreme example of Gervais himself.  A bit of a misanthrope but without the grief.

 

 

I agree with the latter bit, at times I kept forgetting the characters name because it basically is Gervais

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Babylon

Babylon

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1 hour ago, Parafox said:

I agree here. It's a difficult subject and everyone deals with loss in different ways but the basic initial, emotional response is pretty much the same for every human being. The series did make me think about my own feelings around death, not only of family members, but of the feelings of those I leave behind.

If you're in a long term relationship/married/with children or any mutual commitment that is truly meaningful, the thought of losing the most important people in your life is almost unbearable and I think Afterlife takes that as it's base concept. Of course anyone who has been to pretty much any funeral, even that of a dearest family member or parent will usually have a degree of humour involved once the formalities are over, in that we remember the good things, the funny, obscure and simply daft things about the person who's life we are looking back on.

When my father-in-law passed away, I was in the lead funeral car with my wife and her brother and sister and her husband. We were laughing so hard recalling things and mocking the other members of the family that Reg didn't get on with. Even the driver was laughing and commented that he'd never driven a funeral party that was laughing so much.

That said, the service was utterly respectful and saddening but the thing I think Gervais is trying to get across is that even in grief and loss, there is a kind of black humour that helps one manage their grief.

He talks about suicide in the series but we kind of know it's not a genuine thought, just something that crosses the mind of most people who lose a loved one, particularly at a young age when you expect to spend the rest of your life with them. You're bound to wonder how you move forward without that person in your life and is it worth going on. 

Gervais character, IMO, portrayed a bereft person who didn't know how to cope or understand and had the "why me", reaction which most of us have after a loss. After a significant loss, people try to find someone to blame and as a result of that he became bitter and hostile. He was angry at everything and everyone because he was so utterly hurt by his loss and had no way to rationalise it nor people to fall back on or support him.

The black humour was pretty well portrayed. The response to "peado" was deadpan hilarious.

There were so many little bits in it, one that struck me was when he was on the bench talking to the lady who'd lost her husband. She tells him something like it's not just about you, there are people in your world whose lives you can make better even if you're in a bad place yourself. So he ends up doing nice little things for people, when he sees that most have their own problems of some sort. (Marriage trouble, unhappy child, lonely woman in the office).

 

He sees that people who we'd normally consider the "dregs" of society are still people and can be nice people, who found themselves in a bad situation and that they aren't so dissimilar from him, perhaps just a few steps further down the line. It was such a basic and obvious thing to say, but we're all so consumed in our own lives we don't see others being sad or having problems and we're so judgemental. 

 

It certainly made me feel differently, the next day I took my mum some flowers and bought a big issue from someone in town. Little things can make a big difference to people and I hope I can keep thinking like long after watching it. 

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