To think the finale to ‘This Life’ (on BBC iPlayer) was in fact fine? *SPOILERS*

[ThatNimblePeer]

I’ve been re-watching ‘This Life’ as it’s currently free on BBC iPlayer, and it’s still such a classic. Was holding off re-watching the ‘This Life + 10’ finale/follow up that aired (I presume) 10 years after the show originally ended, since I remember it being pretty much universally panned in reviews, that it didn’t capture the magic of the original, and also I had a memory of finding it underwhelming myself.

But - I finally caved in and watched it last night. And - this time around, I actually think it’s fine? Where all the characters are makes sense to me, of course Milly and Egg would still be together but with tensions, of course Anna would be a successful lawyer single and wanting to have a baby on her own. Yes they do make Miles and Egg too successful at first and I can see how that maybe took people out of it when the original was so relatable. (Miles’s house is definitely too much). But that’s been resolved by the end of the episode. I think some of it is quite acute, the tension between Milly and Anna over their different life choices. Really the main things that annoy me is that they don’t tell us what happened to Ferdy (or Francesca), and also the whole fact that Ferdy dies at all is way too ‘bury your gays’.

This time around I was much more aware of how they leave quite a bit still unresolved, so that there could still conceivably be another follow-up if they wanted to - Anna says she wants Warren to be her baby’s father/donor and co-parent, but in fact she does sleep with Miles, so could she conceivably get pregnant by him? Which I also liked in the sense of it being in the spirit of the original series.

AIBU to think that the poor reviews when the finale came out were undeserved, and it’s actually decent enough and in the spirit of the original characters?

Yeah I thought it was ok. Better than many things on TV. I think people were just projecting and distressed to see the sane characters being older, as it reminded them of how much they had aged themselves.

I think the implication was that Ferdy died of The AIDS. Francesca was always a bad idea - even though I loved her in the series and thought she was far too stunning and sophisticated for miles - so that they’d broken up was inevitable.

I think the implication was that Ferdy died of The AIDS.

Possible but would seem a bit surprising, antiretroviral therapy for HIV was introduced in 1996 which was the year This Life premiered (before Ferdy arrived in season 2), so deaths in the UK dropped dramatically after that, and the finale wasn’t till 2007. I remember the writers also saying in relation to the original series that they didn’t want it to be the kind of show where if someone had gay sex they would automatically die of AIDS. They did always seem a bit more stereotypical in relation to Ferdy rather than Warren though (untrustworthy shady bisexual man).

I liked Francesca but yeah that relationship moved very fast and they didn’t really know each other and he was 26 and she was 10 years older, wasn’t a massive surprise it didn’t last. I didn’t find it very realistic though that Miles would keep putting himself out there emotionally for Anna to keep shooting him down (and why does she when she loves him?!) Seemed a bit like wish fulfilment on the part of the writer, who said Miles was based on all the posh arrogant blokes she fancied but never got anywhere with.

There were several references to HIV in the first series, though, with Miles having a scare after being with Delilah re her and her ex partners drug use, so it was definitely a theme. And Ferdy was very much in denial that he even was gay so it’s a possibility he avoided anything like tests.