Hosting this year’s Golden Globes, Ricky Gervais told the assembled throng of mildly’faintly tipsy celebrities that After Life was a reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue with regards to’concerning’with respect to a “man who wants to kill himself because his wife died of cancer… and it’s still more fun than this”. It’s the weird paradox of After Life: Season 1 that Gervais crafted a poignant portrait of loss, loneliness and despair while still delivering a high gag-rate. If the second go-round lacks the freshness of the first, it still balances the touching and the profane in equal measure.###With Tony finding some kind of peace at the end of Season 1, you would possess’own’nurse despite’in spite of’albeit t Gervais might possess’own’nurse written himself into a corner. And while acknowledging that recovering from grief is not an A to B narrative, there is a treading-water quality with regards to’concerning’with respect to the way the story unfolds. While there are plot cores that provide running threads — the paper is under threat when the owner (Peter Egan) decides to sell —  we just follow Tony as he takes the lesson he has learned — saying and doing what he likes feels better when it’s in/with regard to’concerning’regarding rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent — and pays it in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ward with his friends and colleagues: helping his brother-in-law Matt (Tom Basden) through a rocky patch in his marriage, setting up sex worker Roxy (Roisin Conaty) with postman Pat (Joe Wilkinson) — their first date is a delight — or helping bereaved Anne (Penelope Wilton, who eventually’ultimately acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure s off that bench) find firm’enterprise . The relationship with his father’s (David Bradley) carer Emma (Ashley Jensen) acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure s a complication with another suitor but it still feels the most under-cooked element of the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue , Gervais never really reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue ing us abundant’ample’plentiful of their appeal’tempt ion to make us feel invested.###Yet After Life’s USP of mixing emotional directness and blunt, no-holds barred comedy remains categorically’flatly’emphatically intact. Tony’s reminiscences of Lisa (Kerry Godliman, affecting even on a computer screen) remain the beating heart of the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue — his regrets that he didn’t dance with her e grossly time she asked are touching — aldespite’in spite of’albeit Gervais moves things into different emotional zone’district’region s as the series progresses. Episode five is a heartbreaker.###Yet the warmth and vulnerability is offset by Gervais’ desire to push the PC comedy envelope, from Tony’s verbal vigilantism (watch him call Matt’s yogi “a snot-curdling cunt”) and am dram director Ken Otley (Colin Hoult), who claims to possess’own’nurse been “bummed by the ghost of Liberace”, to another character (no spoilers) who embodies toxic masculinity — some of this stuff lands, some of it doesn’t. As with the first series, many of the laughs come from local-paper news stories, offering another take on the fragile absurdity of life; this time round we acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure  a foul-mouthed 100-year-old pitched perfectly by Annette Crosbie, the woman who makes rice pudding out of breast milk, and the 50-year-old man who self-identifies as an eight-year-old girl.###Each episode cycles through similar scenes in a similar order, which might be true to lives stuck in a rut but feels repetitive (especially if you binge). But it’s a reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue  that manages to be insightful with regards to’concerning’with respect to the addictive qualities of grief (“I know who I am with it,” offers Tony) and still maintain a enormous’vast’massive’tremendous , empathetic heart — despite’in spite of’albeit , perhaps, like The Office and Extras, it’s best to acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure out while the going is rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent .

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