AMMAN: Ricky Gervais has built a career out of balancing acts. With David Brent in “The Office” he dug beneath the character’s cringeworthy lack of self-awareness to reveal the loneliness and longing for love that enabled audiences to connect with a man who could easily have been impossible to root for. In “Extras,” as Andy Millman, he turned an unattractive longing for fame and fortune into a realization that other things were more important. And in his standup, he regularly crosses the line of what is socially acceptable, but keeps audiences onside by — for the most part — being uproariously funny.
In “After Life,” the third and final season of which is now streaming on Netflix, Gervais turns the bleak story of Tony, a middle-aged man who loses the love of his life — and the will to keep on living — when his wife Lisa dies of cancer, into a powerful and moving exploration of grief, friendship, love and more.
The third season follows a similar trajectory to season two. (YouTube)
The third season follows a similar trajectory to season two, in which Tony realized that his presence was still valued by family, friends and colleagues and began to rethink his suicidal tendencies. There are those who will argue, with some justification, that the finale veers into mawkishness — attempting to neatly tie up circumstances that are often, in reality, too messy to ever be neatly concluded. But there’s an equally strong argument to be made that the show is so clearly heartfelt and genuine that the finale couldn’t go any other way: Yes, it’s idealistic in many ways, but it’s also the outcome the audience wanted and needed for the lovable bunch of misfits who surround Tony.
There are several truly heart-breaking moments in this final series — in which Tony’s loyal dog Brandy once again is his main reason to keep getting up in the mornings. But they mostly stem from Tony’s desire to do good and an optimism that that is possible, rather than — as in the first series — his utter devastation at losing Lisa. And there are several belly-shaking, laugh-out-loud moments too. It takes a special kind of talent to pull this off, and Gervais is once again ably assisted by his pitch-perfect ensemble cast.
For anyone who’s ever lost anyone they loved, there is comfort and reassurance (and plenty of much-needed humor) in seeing grief — in all its stages — portrayed so convincingly and empathetically on screen. And, yes, most importantly, there is hope in it too.