Netflix's "After Life" casts a funny and empathic look at his grief

Despite the difficulty with which Ricky Gervais tries to appear online as a hardened and rude iconoclast, he can not help but let a little sweetness show through when it comes to making television. In social media and public life, Gervais portrayed himself as an anti-PC truth-teller, complaining about how people are easily offended and about the number of taboos among the millennials. But in his narrative work, Gervais offers something you do not often see in his public personality: empathy and kindness. Since the beginning of his career, this powerful combination of bitter strikes against society and underlying kindness has evolved a lot.

The most recent effort of Gervais, After life, fits perfectly into his existing television work, but contrasts sharply with his Twitter timeline. As he did with the original version of Office and ExtrasGervais offers vicious and hilarious doses of cruelty, but only to hide his insecurities and dissatisfaction with the world. As is often the case in Gervais' work, goodness ultimately prevails in this story of a man embittered in a world that has taken him so much.

After life follows Tony (Gervais), a bitter end that mourns the death of his wife Lisa (Kerry Godliman), who recently died of cancer. Not the kind of maudlin or melodramatic, Gervais (who writes and directs the six episodes) begins the series with Tony not in sorrow, but in this numb period where the pain begins to fade and you do not know what to say . do next. We meet him while he is just starting to think about coming back to the world: to work, go out together, to the pub and all the rest.

As Office was a study of the monotony of work and Extras was a keen look at the stifled ambition, After life 's grief attack. As in these previous efforts, Gervais takes an existential pose here. Through Tony, he asks what we owe to society after it has taken so much. The small town, with its churches, old houses and cemeteries, gives a more pastoral atmosphere to the debates. A melancholy sweetness permeates every episode.

At the beginning of the series, Tony decided that, thanks to the terrible hand that life has inflicted on him, he no longer has to worry about anyone. Life has taken away his wife, so why should he respect his rules? But almost immediately, it becomes clear that this approach will not be sustainable. Tony's bitterness cracks at the kindness of his faithful dog Matt and his brother-in-law Matt (Tony Way) before the pilot reaches his half-way. The series does not deal with how Tony will change his point of view, but the moment he decides to let people in, even if it means hurting himself again.

Tony's journey from a member of the existing society to a rudimentary civil servant is almost emotionally complete at the end of the pilot project. He had a touching encounter with a man who believes that the banal fact of having received the same birthday card five times makes him worthy of interest. . (Tony and his coworkers work for a free, failing local newspaper, resulting in many of the best gags of the season.) The rest of the first season is to admit to the people around it that it's wants to reintegrate society without reprimanding them. sarcastic comments.

After life plunges into rude comments about Tony's misery: it's a Ricky Gervais project, after all. When a colleague asks innocent questions about Tony's dreams, he says, "For now, I'm not dreaming because I'm not sleeping. But, even if I did, I would not tell anyone because nothing is more boring than telling someone the dream you had. He says to his therapist: "Some people are nice and the thing is to find who is nice and who is an asshole. But the assholes pretend to be nice, they pretend to care about you. You are a jerk. "

Although Tony spends a lot of time criticizing his colleagues, his family and the aliens who eat their chips too loud in the pub, After life is ultimately a brief story of a man who cautiously reintegrates into the world after a deep and significant pain. Although the series may have a hard time balancing its bitter spirit with the sweetness that can come after grief, you can not help but admire this attempt. Even though the show contains fewer jokes and more thoughtful glances over the distance we usually see at Gervais, it never becomes disgusting or overworked.

If there is a hit on After lifeit is that it advances more slowly than that of Gervais on television. That makes sense, but Gervais's charm lies largely in his coarse beards, and there is room for less of them by the minute in a story that requires more contemplative introspection than usual. Even if After life is an admirable effort, it's hard to call it a perfect fit for Gervais' special talents.

But as often with the work of Gervais, which raises After life is his empathy, and a real wish that the world can be a little less cruel. Even if Gervais tries to hide this feeling behind Bravo macho, anti-PC, it still surfaces in his last series.

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