Netflix “After Life” presents recovery from brink of suicide
source: Netflix
January 29, 2020
He doesn’t care if he lives or dies. He tries heroin and even funds his co-worker’s overdose. He steals a hammer from a mugger then threatens a kid with it.
When he says “Suicide is my superpower,” he means he can do whatever he wants — sometimes with good intent — and avoid consequences by either not caring or killing himself.
In Netflix’s “After Life,” Tony has his life topple down on him. His wife died of cancer, and he becomes severely depressed and suicidal. Every day, he must visit his dad, who is dying of dementia, while laboring to take care of himself and his dog. Tony figures that he can do only what he wants to do and if he decides he doesn’t like it he can just kill himself and it will all be over, so anything he does no longer matters. He lacks a will to live, but he can’t bring himself to kill himself yet, so he gets up, feeds his dog, and goes to work.
In “After Life,” a Netflix series that premiered in March 2019, Ricky Gervais uses his cynical, deadpan comedy to tell a story of Tony finding redemption and seeking happiness in his life once again. From the first episode “After Life” the viewer forms an emotional connection to Tony, since he seems like a genuine person going through a terribly tough time, which makes the show compelling from the start and encourages the viewer to continue watching.
“After Life” is worth watching. It benefits from using dark topics as a vessel for humor as well as how it portrays all the characters as real people with human flaws, even if some are caricatured. It struggles with timing since Tony’s mood changes drastically in the last two episodes, which could easily be stretched to three, but this is a minor flaw that doesn’t detract from the experience of the show too much.
With only six 30-minute episodes, the series could go by in one committed binge, but the heavy subject matter of suicide and depression made it difficult to watch more than two or three at once before I felt like I needed a break. Netflix is expected to release Season 2 this spring, so now is the perfect time to catch up.
Throughout the series, it is easy to root for Tony because he is a good person at heart who has just been horribly hurt. I wanted Tony to be happy again even when he is rude and inconveniences everyone around him. As Tony struggles to find the purpose of living, his cynical and witty humor charms the viewer into wanting him to succeed even more.
The show’s satisfying ending leaves viewers with a warm feeling as they see Tony finally start to enjoy some parts of living again. He is able to pull himself out of the hole he was in and begin living again.
Tony comes to this realization: “If you are a good person, doing things you want to do is the same as doing good.”
