Clare Sellers
Balancing love, life, and laughter, season three of After Life is a fitting end to the meaningful story of loss and living on that resonates with so many people all over the globe.
Ricky Gervais composes After Life‘s final season so flawlessly, integrating comedy with such sorrow and taking the chance to reflect on all his character has learned since the loss of his wife Lisa.
Spreading love
Still struggling with the grief he has carried since season one, Tony is learning to try and enjoy life once more, from competitive exercise sessions to the output of good deeds around his town, he has healed considerably since the first season through acts of kindness.
Though he owns his reputation of being rude, mean, and always hysterical, Tony has had tender moments in previous seasons, specks of a golden heart just shining through. But in this finale, he subtly finds ways of making other peoples’ lives better and finds that the best way to start feeling good about himself is to first make others feel good.
“he seriously comes into his own this season.”
In doing so, Tony learns the greatest way to keep himself going is to help others along their own journeys. Generously donating money to friends, attempting to set up his co-worker with her potential soul mate and spreading joy among sick children, he seriously comes into his own this season.
Kath
By taking a closer look into the life of marketer Kath, After Life continues to explore the idea of problems behind closed doors. Feeling lonely in life, Kath begins to date different men in this finale, aiming to find her true love. However, she seems to be unlucky in love having found no suitable prospects, and begins to feel lonelier than ever.
Enter Tony, offering a coffee and a shoulder to lean on when Kath needs it most, he finds himself attempting to cheer her up and eventually helps her to get the very thing that kept him going during his darkest days.
“the need to find one’s place in the world”
There’s an evident shift this season, it is still primarily a show about grief and the grip it can have on people, but now it stretches for more. It explores loneliness, the need to find one’s place in the world, and the inevitable idea of moving on- as well as what this can mean for different people.
Having been possibly teased by the idea of Tony and care worker Emma striking up some kind of romance, the finale solidifies the context of this relationship and I don’t think fans will necessarily be surprised with the outcome: Tony being severely stricken with grief and refusing to entertain the idea of ‘replacing’ love of his life Lisa should have acted as a hint from the start.
Laugh after laugh
Those who watch for Ricky Gervais’ easily concocted humour can rest easy in the knowledge that this season is just as funny as the previous two. Watch Matt and Tony battle it out to be crowned the superior athlete, see Tony throw his father’s ashes at a surprised bartender and laugh as Tony once again judges and curses at anyone who dare annoy him.
“amazing balance of comedy and melancholy”
Though the ending left fans slightly confused about Tony’s fate, the finale of After Life is still a wonderful tale of love and loss with epic highs and serious lows, it is an amazing balance of comedy and melancholy that Gervais has been perfecting for years. Frankly, the worst part of this season, is that it had to end at all.
Featured image courtesy of Annie Spratt on Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.
claresellers
I am a 20-year-old multimedia journalism student in my final year studying at the University of Salford