TV Show Review - After Life (Season 3)

Season: 3
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Number of episodes: 6
Year: 2022
Starring: Ricky Gervais, Tom Basden, Tony Way, Diane Morgan, David Bradley, Kerry Godliman, Ashley Jensen, Penelope Wilton, Joe Wilkinson, Roisin Conaty, Ethan Lawrence, Jo Hartley    

Description: After Tony’s (Ricky Gervais) wife dies unexpectedly, his nice-guy persona is altered into an impulsive, devil-may-care attitude; taking his old world by storm.  

Review: “After Life” is one of the most beloved series on Netflix. I know it’s one of my personal favorites. And the third season from and featuring Ricky Gervais as the grieveing Tony does not disappoint at all.
Gervais tries to hardest thing with “After Life”: make a series about death that is also funny. The first season in particular succeeded wonderfully. We all laughed at one moment and felt tears roll down or cheeks the next.
In “After Life” Gervais plays Tony, a journalist for the local newspaper who has just lost his wife Lisa to cancer. For Tony, life doesn’t have to be after that. He’s unkind to everyone he meets and would prefer to die as soon as possible too. The only thing that stops him is his dog Brandy.
Over the seasons, through people who come his way, he comes to repentance. He finds a little more happiness each day. He helps others and finds meaning again. And all this without losing his morbid and hard-hitting sense of humor.
This was also the case in season 2 and the third season is pretty much a repeat of what we saw in the second series. But that does not take away from the fact that as a viewer you often laugh and cry at the same time. And that remains extremely clever. “After Life” is still a warm blanket that you want to wrap around you when life is not so great. Because there is always hope.
Even though it’s a repetition of movies, the final season focuses on side characters as well. With that “After Life” remains a series to love, mainly thanks to the great writing by Ricky Gervais and his excellent humor.

TV Show Review - After Life (Season 2)

Season: 2
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Number of episodes: 6
Year: 2020
Starring: Ricky Gervais, Tom Basden, Tony Way, Diane Morgan, Mandeep Dhillon, David Bradley, Kerry Godliman, Ashley Jensen, Paul Kaye, Penelope Wilton, Joe Wilkinson, Roisin Conaty

Description: After Tony’s (Ricky Gervais) wife dies unexpectedly, his nice-guy persona is altered into an impulsive, devil-may-care attitude; taking his old world by storm.

Review: Ricky Gervais has some undeniable talents. He can be considered the best in mocking Hollywood and its celebrities, like he showed us at the Golden Globes. But also has a lot of self-mockery, which you can see in his TV series “Extras”. And Gervais is a master in shamelessness, as he proved with “The Office”.
“After Life” was written and directed by Gervais and he managed to create a perfect mix of familiar elements from his previous work and newer elements. His character, Tony, is a widower and works for the local newspaper. He is cynical and sarcastic, but he himself is the one that eventually gets hit in the head. It has comical and dramatic effects, because the heart of the series lies with Tony and his love for his deceased wife and how he learns to deal with such a great loss.
Season one showed how Tony changed from a suicidal cynic to a more pleasant man, who found reason to live through the people around him. Season two makes clear he still has a long way to go to make life just a little more bearable. Even if the nice nurse that takes care of his father likes him, Tony misses his wife to much to start a new relationship. And whenever something slightly bad happens, he starts drinking.
The paper Tony works for is also struggling and his boss, who is also his brother-in-law has maritial problems. And the nurse he likes, got her eyes on another man, when in the meantime his postman wants to date Tony’s friend Roxy.
Like the first season, the humor is dark, the series has drama and the characters are great. I feel that the dramatic part overshadows the comedy a bit more in this season, that final episode made me cry so hard. But there is still enough humor there, that Gervais is known for.
“After Life” Season 2 doesn’t do anything different then its first season and I’m very okay with that. Because that was great and so is this season. I simply love Ricky Gervais and his show “After Life”, so much love for it.

TV Show Review - After Life (Season 1)

Season: 1
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Number of episodes: 6
Year: 2019
Starring: Ricky Gervais, Tom Basden, Tony Way, Diane Morgan, Mandeep Dhillon, David Bradley, Kerry Godliman, Ashley Jensen, Paul Kaye, Penelope Wilton, Joe Wilkinson, Roisin Conaty

Description: After Tony’s (Ricky Gervais) wife dies unexpectedly, his nice-guy persona is altered into an impulsive, devil-may-care attitude; taking his old world by storm.
Review: British comedian Ricky Gervais is know for his work on “The Office” “Extras”, “Derek” and his pessimistic stand-up shows. Gervais created, directed and stars in “After Life”.
Here he plays the depressed Tony. His wife died of cancer. The only thing left is a video message she made and their dog Brandy. Taking care of his dog keeps Tony from killing himself. But it’s clear he’s done with life. He is cynical about everything. His job at the local free newspaper doesn’t bring him any joy either, only bizarre stories.
But with all this darkness, there is a little hope. Tony finds a little bit of joy in his life. For instance a drug addict and his prostitute friend. He shows he’s has a human side. Him meeting a widow in the cemetery shows a different side of Tony as well. Since they share the feeling of grief. When Tony visits his dementing father, the nurse gets his attention. And a new co-worker brings a little light to Tony’s dark light as well. But his gloom and self-destruction stand in the way to making any progress.
It all sounds like a very dramatic series with dark themes. But the power of this series lies with Ricky Gervais and how he tackles it all with humor. It’s not a light series, it manages to move you, but has a constant dark humoristic side. Gervais is best in roles like this.
“After Life” has only 6 episodes in this first season, which are all about 30 minutes long. And it managed to tell a story that you care about and it’s super strong. I can’t wait to see season 2.