After Life - Season 2
AFTER LIFE - NETFLIXAfter Life burst onto the scene last year with a strong first season that ranked up with some of the best work Ricky Gervais has produced, or at the very least, it was the best thing to his name since Extras. The tragic story of Tony (Ricky Gervais), a man who loses his wife, Lisa (Kerry Godliman), to cancer and decides to take it out on the world is a heartfelt, humorous one, with a genuinely emotional core. Its only problem is that the story feels wrapped up with the first season’s final episode. Tony has learned to live with the power of saying anything that came to his mind and try to make things better for people around him, when he realises he will eventually have to move on from the death of his wife — leaving a huge question mark as to where a second season could go.
Sadly, this follow-up season to After Life succumbs to the problems predicted. It does not go any further, and feels like a relentless rehash of everything the first season did, but with very little in the way of nuance or care that Gervais once showed prominently. Season two goes in circles around itself, which has a diminishing impact. The show explores the same pseudo-philosophy on life, death and grief we saw last year, without expanding upon it in the slightest.
Even Gervais’s usually sharp writing is very sloppy here, as most of the laughs seem to fall to the lowest common denominator with an overabundance of swearing in place of actual jokes and the main attempt of getting emotion out of the audience is Tony breaking down, saying “I miss Lisa so much” no less than twice an episode. That would be necessary once or twice throughout the season, but playing that card so often grows old very quickly to the point it becomes more annoying than emotionally impactful.
Season two does at least make more use of the ensemble cast this time around, as every character is given more to do, though to mixed results. Matt (Tom Basden), Tony’s brother in law, and boss, is dealing with his separation from his wife, and seeking a new purpose in his life. Postman Pat (Joe Wilkinson) attempts to start a relationship with sex worker Roxy (Roisin Conaty), and Tony and Matt’s psychiatrist (Tony Kaye) is just there being awful. After Life is certainly Ricky Gervais’s vehicle, however at the very least it is refreshing for the viewer to get more out of a talented supporting cast, which is the only improvement on the first season.
As uninspired as this season was, it is still surprisingly watchable viewing. The six thirty-minute episodes are straightforward to get through, and the joke rate is just high enough to make it bearable. While the emotional impact is diminished, it does hit some highs towards the end, both thematically and comedically. Ricky Gervais’s performance as Tony is also still solid. Although the writing is poor, Gervais still manages to balance Tony’s suicidal depression to a believable degree, making for some occasionally uncomfortable, but impactful drama. It is said that Gervais only plays the same character in everything he produces, but After Life proves him to be a capable actor who can do much more than rehash David Brent repeatedly.
Gervais has, more or less, announced through social media that he is working on a third season of After Life, which is a great shame. This season has shown the concept should have just been a miniseries, as unless the show goes through a serious revamp, it is looking to be another run of episodes that fails to build on its original season.
AFTER LIFE SEASON 2 is streaming exclusively on NETFLIX
