Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Telly addicts

Related: Film discussion forum.

Original poster

Unpopular opinion- Afterlife

38 replies

crochetmonkey74 · 16/04/2023 21:59

So I know it's critically acclaimed and for context, I'm a massive Ricky Gervais fan (The Office is my favourite ever TV xhow)
But I find Afterlife so overrated. It's heavy handed. Anyone agree?

OP posts:
SergeiL · 16/04/2023 22:00

Nope

BingoLingFucker · 16/04/2023 22:00

I agree. I watched the first season, can’t bring myself to watch the rest.

NecklessMumster · 16/04/2023 22:01

I agree. One note. Not as bad as Derek tho

JamSandle · 16/04/2023 22:01

I enjoyed it but it was just okay.

PizzaPastaWine · 16/04/2023 22:01

Elaborate more on what you mean heavy-handed.

I loved it.

StrictlyAFemaleFemale · 16/04/2023 22:02

No I think it's brilliant and beautifully observed.

Gothambutnotahamster · 16/04/2023 22:02

I absolutely loved it.

Original poster
crochetmonkey74 · 16/04/2023 22:13

PizzaPastaWine · 16/04/2023 22:01

Elaborate more on what you mean heavy-handed.

I loved it.

So there are bits of The Office that are so beautifully observed and really moving, but in Afterlife I find it more in your face. Nothing to discover, it's all just there on the top surface. A specific example would be the Peter Egan character is going for a cuppa with the penelope Wilton character. Straight away he says "this doesn't mean we don't love our late partners' to Tony. This is directly connected to him struggling with feeling that he isn't connected to Emma. It just seems clunky

OP posts:
IcanandIwill · 16/04/2023 22:18

As a young widow I found it beautifully done. Sobbed my heart out through the first series. Haven't loved it as much since but still he just seems to nail the complex nature of being widowed young.

Blossomtoes · 16/04/2023 23:01

StrictlyAFemaleFemale · 16/04/2023 22:02

No I think it's brilliant and beautifully observed.

Me too. It’s a real insight into bereavement.

Offthexmaslist · 16/04/2023 23:05

Honestly one of the finest bits of TV I have ever seen. But I lost a parent in early teens and I think you may have needed to experienced heart wrenching grief to really appreciate it for its genius.

BotherThat · 16/04/2023 23:08

I hated it. Honestly didn’t care about the character and ended up not watching the last episode of the first series because I couldn’t stop rolling my eyes at it. I had 3 bereavements in a very short space of time so I have definitely experienced heart wrenching grief.

User0610139736 · 16/04/2023 23:09

It affected me deeply and was one of the moments on the journey to leaving my husband.
i knew it was fictional but I realised that I didn’t love him the way Ricky’s character and his wife loved each other. And that if I was in her position I would not want my husband with me on my death bed or by my side during treatment, that I couldn’t be real with him and that love wasn’t there. I cried and cried through it.

HeyDemonsItsYaGirl · 16/04/2023 23:09

I enjoyed it but it does have big problems, most of which would be solved by stopping at one series.

Tony goes through a big character arc in series 1 then completely regresses for series 2. The videos of Lisa make sense in S1, but by S3 we're meant to believe every conversation they ever had was filmed for... reasons. And the frequent insertion of gross-out humour just feels bizarre beside all the themes of grief.

Watching Afterlife and Outlaws shows why Gervais and Merchant produced such brilliance together. Gervais has the heart that Merchant lacks, and Merchant is very good at the subtle/understated and tones down Gervais' heavy handedness.

Coffeeandbourbons · 16/04/2023 23:09

I thought it was fantastic. The end scene where the dog, and then Tony, fades from the screen is incredibly bittersweet

otherwayup · 16/04/2023 23:10

Loved the first series but the rest weren't great, don't really get all the fuss?!

Original poster
crochetmonkey74 · 16/04/2023 23:10

Me too with bereavement. I have had several in a short space of time and one was very traumatic but I don't recognise my experience at all in it

OP posts:
Original poster
crochetmonkey74 · 16/04/2023 23:11

HeyDemonsItsYaGirl · 16/04/2023 23:09

I enjoyed it but it does have big problems, most of which would be solved by stopping at one series.

Tony goes through a big character arc in series 1 then completely regresses for series 2. The videos of Lisa make sense in S1, but by S3 we're meant to believe every conversation they ever had was filmed for... reasons. And the frequent insertion of gross-out humour just feels bizarre beside all the themes of grief.

Watching Afterlife and Outlaws shows why Gervais and Merchant produced such brilliance together. Gervais has the heart that Merchant lacks, and Merchant is very good at the subtle/understated and tones down Gervais' heavy handedness.

I agree with this .

OP posts:
Michellebops · 17/04/2023 05:53

I don't like Ricky gervais shoes normally but I loved after life.

jay55 · 17/04/2023 09:42

I loved it. Especially the Tony and Anne chats, different stages of grief interacting.
A lot hit home for me, dads dementia, the loneliness of the creepy postman, work dissatisfaction.

JuneShitfield · 17/04/2023 09:45

I thought the first series was great, the second was OK and the third fairly weak.

The Tony and Anne chats were the best thing about it and I suspect that Gervais's genuine admiration for Penelope Wilton had something to do with that; those scenes felt honest and real, and (for once) like he was stepping back and letting her own the scene.

Diane Morgan was also criminally underutilised.

I8toys · 17/04/2023 20:13

Loved series 1 and parts of series 2 but series 3 I disliked with the obnoxious male sterotypical behaviour and innuendo constantly.

sweatervest · 17/04/2023 20:39

i was watching it for the ever decreasing circles thing at the end.
plus i watched it as i loved the house he lived in
but i thought he was so rude to people in it. and i get it that he lost his wife but i thought he was rude to her in the videos and i know it was meant to be funny but i found it horrible tbh.
also i wish he'd stop dying his hair but that hasn't got much to do with it.
also, if he's watching, he looks as though he's been sweeping the leaves when he goes on graham norton. just makes him look like he doesn't care.

AlwaysGinPlease · 17/04/2023 20:40

Wonderful show

UWhatNow · 17/04/2023 20:49

I was sympathetic to it because I think Ricky Gervais is a genius but by series 3 I’d had enough. The filth spouted by the character played by David Earl (‘Brian’) took away any pathos for me.

And the constant pranks he plays on the wife in the flashback videos makes him look like an complete irritant. When he throws water over her at the beach or a fog horn when she’s sleeping I started to think that death was probably sweet relief for her from the annoying prick.

Totally at odds with the sweet old lady chats on the bench and the depth of his supposed grief. So nah - by the third series I was over it…

Swipe left for the next trending thread