Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
While it was a long, hard road to get there, the final episode of After Life Season 1 finally saw Tony (Ricky Gervais) coming to terms with his grief. It wasn’t that he didn’t realize all along that the loss of his wife, Lisa (Kerry Godliman), had upended his life but rather that he couldn’t come to terms with what came next or even that there was a next at all. Seeing him embrace the concept of an altered future felt important, well-earned, but certainly not the end of Tony’s story.
Some have questioned a second season of whether After Life was really necessary, and it’s worth noting that on many networks, it wouldn’t have happened. Thankfully, Netflix seems to understand Gervais’ vision and the importance of the message he’s trying to send, which is that grief doesn’t end immediately upon acceptance of its existence. To abandon Tony now, when his journey through to the other side is only just beginning would be cruel. After all, this is where the hard stuff really starts.
Simply admitting that you’re in pain and that you’re scared you’ll never not be in pain and you don’t even know if you want to live without that pain because what if you forget how much you loved the person you lost or what if they’re out there somewhere and they feel like you forgot them and what if that makes you a bad person isn’t a solution unto itself. It’s simply a catalyst for growth, for processing, and for beginning to cobble together something resembling not just an existence but a living, breathing, thriving life.
There’s also the fact that saying goodbye to After Life right when Tony is ready to confront his pain and use it for more constructive purposes would be to miss out on the pot of gold at the end of the proverbial rainbow, the reward that is the return of the ability to laugh, to love, to feel things bravely without the need to numb them. It would mean being deprived of the missteps along the way, the bad days when Tony feels like, “Ah, screw it!” and decides to go back to bed, the outbursts and breakdowns that are sure to accompany the journey. And, because this is a dark comedy written by Ricky Gervais we’re talking about, the jokes as well.
Of course, After Life is a lot more subtle and less explicitly navel gaze-y than all this. The series doesn’t beat you over the head with deep philosophical thoughts or let the episodes be weighed down by the heaviness of what Tony has experienced. While his sadness and anger aren’t hidden in any way, they’re tempered by his sarcasm and his quick wit, making him all the more relatable even when he isn’t particularly likable.
Tony said at the end of Season 1 that he wanted to start helping those who have helped him, and Season 2 will follow him on that journey. With the help of his friends, from Matt (Tom Basden) and Lenny (Tony Way) at the Tambury Gazette to Emma (Ashley Jensen) and Daphne (Roisin Conaty), he’s surrounded by plenty of people who know just how much of a bastard he can be but just how good of a heart he has as well. With them around, how can Tony possibly fail?
That’s not to say that the process will go smoothly, and it would be boring if it did. Tony might be highly motivated to turn his life around right now, but those bad days in which he experiences those setbacks will definitely come and when they do, they’ll likely be incredibly dark. Those scenes are as painful to watch as they are for Tony to experience, but they also lend After Life the emotional depth that takes you by surprise with how powerful it is and how much it stays with you. Frankly, I would have been sad to have been robbed of that.
Jennifer Still is a writer and editor from New York who cares too way much about fictional characters and spends her time writing about them.
