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March 28, 2024, 03:13:48 PM

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Ricky Gervais's After Life series 3 [split topic]

Started by Cursus, July 23, 2020, 09:33:21 PM

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Video Game Fan 2000

Quote from: paruses on January 15, 2022, 07:00:18 PMI think Gervais has not understood that there is a difference between a single person's vision and having an editor or script consultant.

Didn't he get the meaning of "a giraffe is a horse designed by committee" wrong in one of the podcasts? "there's no vision"

checkoutgirl

Quote from: paruses on January 15, 2022, 07:00:18 PMI think Gervais has not understood that there is a difference between a single person's vision and having an editor or script consultant.

It doesn't help the quality when you know Netflix will pay you 10 million for your first draught. Why would he bother honing it when he gets paid the same even if he doesn't? Other than for professional integrity or pride in your work which he has clearly demonstrated he doesn't have.

He used to do an anecdote about trying to get on a football team as a kid and when he failed to do so he vowed to never try at anything again in his life. I always thought that was just a funny little anecdote but Derek, After Life and his stand up comedy means I can consider that story with a different, more straightforward perspective.

wrec

Quote from: BritishHobo on January 15, 2022, 03:44:35 PM
Spoiler alert
Tony meets a cancer kid with the same name as his cancer wife, and this is supposed to spark a realisation about his behaviour,
although it's not clear what this is, as he's had realisations about his behaviour in basically every episode, and he doesn't actually appear to act any differently  after this occurs. He then goes to a village fete where all the other characters are, and they all have a lovely day, but it's not really because of him, even though it feels like the show thinks it is. It's sort-of played that he pairs up all the lonely female characters with lonely male characters, but it's all so half-hearted it doesn't really matter. Anyway, he leaves the fair, gives Tony Way a sad salute that implies "I'm off to kill myself", and wanders across a field. The ghost of Cancer Wife appears and they walk hand-in-hand, until she fades away. They keep walking, and then the dog fades away, and then Tony. All dead, happy ending.
[close]

Thanks for that. Fascinated by the "sad salute". Kind of strange that there's not a backlash about it being flippant about suicide and mental health.

I can see why lowest common denominator stuff like Mrs Brown's Boys appeals to people but I'm freaked out by the reaction to this. https://twitter.com/search?q=gervais%20genius%20masterpiece

idunnosomename

I think he encourages this cultish behaviour because theres a chance he might retweet you to his 14.5M (!) followers

JamesTC

Lost my dog to gout, my girlfriend and unborn child died in a car crash and my whole family were lost in a house fire but After Life Series 3 has to be the saddest thing I've seen all year. Gervais has done it again!

Ferris

Quote from: dead-ced-dead on January 15, 2022, 06:46:57 PMYou had me going for a bit.

I tried to make it halfway believable but it took some doing

neveragain

Quote from: wrec on January 15, 2022, 07:24:15 PMThanks for that. Fascinated by the "sad salute". Kind of strange that there's not a backlash about it being flippant about suicide and mental health.

The ending doesn't imply he commits suicide, it's more that he just lives for a bit then dies like everyone else (hence Gervais' comments about the fair and life going on and etc etc). The salute confuses this but I really don't believe the character took his own life. His wife fading away then the dog then him just suggests the passing of time, as far as I see it.

Ferris

Maybe he saw Detectorists and was trying to crib the ending time lapse bits.

JamesTC

If only Fred West had of seen Ricky Gervais' After Life Series 3.

wrec

Quote from: neveragain on January 15, 2022, 07:39:11 PMThe ending doesn't imply he commits suicide, it's more that he just lives for a bit then dies like everyone else (hence Gervais' comments about the fair and life going on and etc etc). The salute confuses this but I really don't believe the character took his own life. His wife fading away then the dog then him just suggests the passing of time, as far as I see it.

That's also pretty much the ending of Still Game, but in that you have all the long running elderly characters disappearing in a poignant reminder that they'll all be gone in a few years, not just one messianic bully and his fucking dog.

Quote from: paruses on January 15, 2022, 06:52:43 PM- I genuinely laughed at the camp theatre agent and his Taxi Driver number. Another bit that really felt like it had been written by someone else or at least in collaboration with someone else.

T'was a good turn from the actor, it felt like he was channeling his inner Reece Shearsmith though.

Spoiler alert
Hi Reece
[close]

TheQueensboroBridge

#731
I wonder if deep down there is a seething bitterness inside Gervais about the switch in his audience.

Im pretty sure, whilst he would boast about the DVD sales etc, that he used to take the old indie band 'We make it for us, if anyone else likes it then thats just a bonus' attitude towards things and he struck me as a comedy snob and quite anti-populist.

Even though he was sorely out of his depth you could tell he loved it when he was doing roundtable dissections about 'what is comedy?' with the likes of Seinfeld and Chris Rock and was knocking about with Louis CK and Larry David and Sarah Silverman. Critics mostly liked his works. It was Baftas and Golden Globes.

Post-Merchant it's been very different. He is now reviled by most of his old audience, critically tolerated at best and is reduced to pandering to Pet Twitter and the kind of people who vote for the NTA's and read TV Quick.

So now he has to cling to all the unverifable Netflix viewing numbers and all the nice tweets he gets as proof of how good his work is.

Not that there's anything wrong with being populist but I think Gervais probably hates the fact that whereas 13 years ago he was being wined and dined by Americas finest and was something of a critics darling he is now reduced to appealing to people who have despite being fierce advocats of living, laughing and loving taken 20-30 years or more to discover the concept of something being sad and happy at the same time.

From Seinfeld to Youtube banter merchants like Jaaackmaaate or whatever the fuck hes called is quite the decline. 

Basically he must know that all his old industry pals and probably two thirds of the cast of his own show think it's complete shite?

TheQueensboroBridge

Quote from: checkoutgirl on January 15, 2022, 07:21:37 PMIt doesn't help the quality when you know Netflix will pay you 10 million for your first draught. Why would he bother honing it when he gets paid the same even if he doesn't? Other than for professional integrity or pride in your work which he has clearly demonstrated he doesn't have.

He used to do an anecdote about trying to get on a football team as a kid and when he failed to do so he vowed to never try at anything again in his life. I always thought that was just a funny little anecdote but Derek, After Life and his stand up comedy means I can consider that story with a different, more straightforward perspective.


It's like in that video critique of S2 someone posted the guy points out that in the same interview Gervais tries to intellectualise the choice of such a bland, cosy, comfortable village as the setting because it proves that 'you can be unhappy anywhere' or some such shit.

But then a few minutes later he's cackling like a Hyena about the fact that it was shot as close to his house in Hampstead and his house in the country as possible because he's fucking lazy and it was easy. So zero effort, haha I didn't bother and just wanted an easy time of it.

It's obvious which is the genuine explanation.

He just takes the laziest route possible and then tries to come up with a fancy explanation for it afterwards. Like the fact he uses the same old boring cast playing such similar characters. It's not because he's a lazy cunt! Oh no! It's because he's built up a trusted team of people he knows he can work with during his time in the industry. Of course.


dead-ced-dead

Quote from: TheQueensboroBridge on January 15, 2022, 08:13:22 PMBasically he must know that all his old industry pals and probably two thirds of the cast of his own show think it's complete shite?

It's absolutely this. I think that's what his Golden Globe hosting gigs were about, too.

After The Office and Extras he tried to make a stab at America loads of times. Not just the round tables as you mentioned, but cameos in Ben Stiller movies and other such things.

The hosting gigs - for as much as he was "telling it like it is," we're as much about reclaiming what he had lost.

Which is why I'm enjoying seeing Merchant being so warmly embraced by Hollywood.

TheQueensboroBridge

Quote from: dead-ced-dead on January 15, 2022, 08:26:20 PMIt's absolutely this. I think that's what his Golden Globe hosting gigs were about, too.

After The Office and Extras he tried to make a stab at America loads of times. Not just the round tables as you mentioned, but cameos in Ben Stiller movies and other such things.

The hosting gigs - for as much as he was "telling it like it is," we're as much about reclaiming what he had lost.

Which is why I'm enjoying seeing Merchant being so warmly embraced by Hollywood.

And there was no danger in what he was doing. Despite the excruciating 'I dont care, ill never work in this town again (until next year when they invite me back)' showboating it was pitifully safe. He didn't end up sitting at the table with De Niro etc like he probably thought he should be and knew his niche was as mildly contentious Court Jester who could still get on the chat show circuit and get a nice cheque from Netflix.

I've noticed a definite correlation between those who think his GG 'roasts' were searing examples of speaking truth to power and those who find Afterlife to be a work of tragi-comic genius. 


Blue Jam


dead-ced-dead

I'm on episode six now, and it opens with Deatchcab for Cutie's I'll Follow You Into the Dark.

I lost it.

"OH FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING HACK!"

Or the use of Radiohead or Sufism Stevens or Cat Stevens. Great music picked by a hack with no taste beyond the obvious.

TheQueensboroBridge

Quote from: dead-ced-dead on January 15, 2022, 08:48:37 PMI'm on episode six now, and it opens with Deatchcab for Cutie's I'll Follow You Into the Dark.

I lost it.

"OH FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING HACK!"

Or the use of Radiohead or Sufism Stevens or Cat Stevens. Great music picked by a hack with no taste beyond the obvious.

Now you mention it the soundtrack is the only aspect of the entire thing where they seem to have spent some money. Licensing 'Rocketman' for season 1 probably blew the entire budget.

Nothing will ever beat 'Fix You' in Derek for such a painfully obvious and trite choice of song. And so fucking lazy.

Ron Superior

Quote from: TheQueensboroBridge on January 15, 2022, 08:13:22 PMI wonder if deep down there is a seething bitterness inside Gervais about the switch in his audience.

I've often thought this too. Whenever he's RTing ridiculous praise from morons, I think about the bit in, I think, his first stand-up special where he recounts a fan shouting to him "BRENT!" and he goes off going "wow that's original, can we be friends" etc.

That's now what all his fans are. It's like a reverse Stewart Lee, accidentally shedding all the fans he wants and just keeping all the ones he thinks are beneath him.

It feeds in to the not bothering beyond first draft either. No point in even trying to get that critical acclaim back, and his fans will lap it up whatever.

I've just seen Afterlife series 3 and... nothing prepares you for this. I cheered, I shouted, I fist pumped the air, I cried, I stood and cheered, it's absolutely everything you hoped it was going to be

dead-ced-dead

I never finished The Outlaws, so after finishing After Life season three, I'm catching up where I left off from episode three.

It's not perfect, but Merchant's writing is very tight (especially in comparison to After Life). A lot of the storylines are genuinely compelling, if sometimes a little cliche riddled (not necessarily a bad thing; a well executed cliche can make for decent storytelling).

checkoutgirl

Quote from: Ron Superior on January 15, 2022, 09:33:59 PMhe recounts a fan shouting to him "BRENT!" and he goes off going "wow that's original, can we be friends" etc.

I think he does a bit about autograph hunters, something like "They're a mess, and I don't mean their hair, I mean their DNA". Now those same types are just on Twitter. The difference is a retweet from a superfan is arguably usable for marketing/hype purposes whereas someone standing outside a gig with a pad and pen is less so.

It's all very cynical from the boy Gervais.

g0m

Quote from: olliebean on January 15, 2022, 06:57:57 PMSo many forum posts about something so insubstantial.

This is a good all purpose post for any thread on any forum anywhere

Blue Jam

Quote from: checkoutgirl on January 15, 2022, 09:51:37 PMI think he does a bit about autograph hunters, something like "They're a mess, and I don't mean their hair, I mean their DNA". Now those same types are just on Twitter. The difference is a retweet from a superfan is arguably usable for marketing/hype purposes whereas someone standing outside a gig with a pad and pen is less so.

It's all very cynical from the boy Gervais.

Quote from: Ron Superior on January 15, 2022, 09:33:59 PMI've often thought this too. Whenever he's RTing ridiculous praise from morons, I think about the bit in, I think, his first stand-up special where he recounts a fan shouting to him "BRENT!" and he goes off going "wow that's original, can we be friends" etc.

That's now what all his fans are. It's like a reverse Stewart Lee, accidentally shedding all the fans he wants and just keeping all the ones he thinks are beneath him.

It feeds in to the not bothering beyond first draft either. No point in even trying to get that critical acclaim back, and his fans will lap it up whatever.

Don't forget his appearance at the Concert For Diana where he almost said "Shut the fuck up" in front of the live audience of a family show in response to them chanting "DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!"


It's like people shouting "OI! MONTY! DO YOUR FUNNY WALK!" at John Cleese, except Ricky literally had no other material.

BritishHobo

Quote from: dead-ced-dead on January 15, 2022, 09:45:54 PMI never finished The Outlaws, so after finishing After Life season three, I'm catching up where I left off from episode three.

It's not perfect, but Merchant's writing is very tight (especially in comparison to After Life). A lot of the storylines are genuinely compelling, if sometimes a little cliche riddled (not necessarily a bad thing; a well executed cliche can make for decent storytelling).

Right? I cannot imagine Gervais having even the basic insight necessary to write the dynamic between Darren Boyd's right-wing Daily-Mail-reading businessman and Clare Perkins' furious, impassioned activist. He's so trapped in his own broad, stupid ideas about what the world is like, he wouldn't be able to even begin to approach that.

dead-ced-dead

Quote from: BritishHobo on January 15, 2022, 09:57:24 PMRight? I cannot imagine Gervais having even the basic insight necessary to write the dynamic between Darren Boyd's right-wing Daily-Mail-reading businessman and Clare Perkins' furious, impassioned activist. He's so trapped in his own broad, stupid ideas about what the world is like, he wouldn't be able to even begin to approach that.

That was some very good writing. Also the dynamic between Merchant's clueless lawyer and Eleanor Tomlinson.

It's also obvious that the Tim and Dawn relationship came from Merchant. There's a really sweet will-they-won't-they romance between the lead two teens.

Again, no cliche left unturned, but the man knows how to use 'em.

I like how he's using the tropes of the western and applying it to the British comedy-drama.

BritishHobo

Quote from: TheQueensboroBridge on January 15, 2022, 08:19:40 PMIt's like in that video critique of S2 someone posted the guy points out that in the same interview Gervais tries to intellectualise the choice of such a bland, cosy, comfortable village as the setting because it proves that 'you can be unhappy anywhere' or some such shit.

Does he actually? Jesus christ. If so I think that's a perfect example of what I mean. Everything he does is based in subverting his own inaccurate view on what he thinks other people think. He has no idea how the world works, but he's seen cosy villages on TV, so he thinks we all unquestioningly think that a cosy village is the happiest place you could possibly live. He thinks we're all going to go 'jesus christ, he lives there, and yet he's unhappy?! But HOW?!" As if there aren't countless books and TV shows and perspectives about how small town/village life can be isolating and miserable and insular. As if one of the best UK comedies of recent times (This Country) isn't all about that dead-end feeling of living in some closed-off rural community. He thinks that we all think of lovely small towns with village greens and a nice local bobby, and we're all to have our minds blown when a boring rich cunt turns up to his job at the local paper and goes 'god life is shit'.

It reminds me of a quote he said when the David Brent film came out. He said his reasoning for not getting any other Office castmembers back, and not returning to Wernham Hogg, was that it wouldn't be believable to see people still working in the same office fifteen years later. I thought, you really don't have a fucking clue about anything, do you?

He fundamentally doesn't understand any of the topics he covers, because he's spent decades having smoke blown up his arse in the celebrity world, and yet he approaches every single one as if he's shattering long-held truths. Same with Derek, the idea that the viewing public would be blown away to discover that Derek, a man who looks and acts odd, is capable of being kind!!!!!!

the science eel

Quote from: g0m on January 15, 2022, 09:53:50 PMThis is a good all purpose post for any thread on any forum anywhere

But this is as good an example as you'll find.

You're obsessed

McChesney Duntz

Quote from: TheQueensboroBridge on January 15, 2022, 08:13:22 PMI wonder if deep down there is a seething bitterness inside Gervais about the switch in his audience.

Im pretty sure, whilst he would boast about the DVD sales etc, that he used to take the old indie band 'We make it for us, if anyone else likes it then thats just a bonus' attitude towards things and he struck me as a comedy snob and quite anti-populist.

Even though he was sorely out of his depth you could tell he loved it when he was doing roundtable dissections about 'what is comedy?' with the likes of Seinfeld and Chris Rock and was knocking about with Louis CK and Larry David and Sarah Silverman. Critics mostly liked his works. It was Baftas and Golden Globes.

Post-Merchant it's been very different. He is now reviled by most of his old audience, critically tolerated at best and is reduced to pandering to Pet Twitter and the kind of people who vote for the NTA's and read TV Quick.

So now he has to cling to all the unverifable Netflix viewing numbers and all the nice tweets he gets as proof of how good his work is.

Not that there's anything wrong with being populist but I think Gervais probably hates the fact that whereas 13 years ago he was being wined and dined by Americas finest and was something of a critics darling he is now reduced to appealing to people who have despite being fierce advocats of living, laughing and loving taken 20-30 years or more to discover the concept of something being sad and happy at the same time.

From Seinfeld to Youtube banter merchants like Jaaackmaaate or whatever the fuck hes called is quite the decline. 

Basically he must know that all his old industry pals and probably two thirds of the cast of his own show think it's complete shite?

Oh man, it's the Bowie episode of Extras come true, isn't it? Embracing the equivalent of a night at the pub with Count Fuckula and his mates after all the cool people have rejected him. Albeit with an utterly obscene amount of money to cushion that particular blow.

idunnosomename

Quote from: Blue Jam on January 15, 2022, 08:44:23 PMIsn't that salute the Benny Hill salute?
Benny Hill's salute is palm forward, which as far as I understand is English army

American military is diagonal, which is what he's doing

Navy is palm horizontal, traditionally because sailors hands were dirty from tugging at ropes (and wanking) and you didnt want to show them to an officer (dirty boy)

some squaddie can correct me if I am as usual, totally wrong