This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
I watched this with some trepidation, because I lost one of my closest friends to cancer last year, and anything that even vaguely touches on that topic has a tendency to reduce me to blubbering mess--Which is why I was surprised at how little this series affected me. I shed a couple of tears here and there-- but the emotional beats of this series felt off somehow.
That isn't to say I didn't enjoy elements of it, but I felt it skated over the surface of the issues at times without ever really plumbing the depths?
But I'll focus on the good stuff first: I thought the relationship between Tony (Ricky Gervais' character) and his wife was beautifully portrayed through a series of flashbacks and video footage. And I really enjoyed Ashley Jenson as the nurse who is caring for Tony's father, she exuded warmth and compassion. Those two characters and their relationships to Tony stood out to me as the most well realized. I also enjoyed his interactions with Anne, an older woman who he meets at the graveyard who was recently widowed, and with whom he developed a good friendship.
However, the series starts with the premise that Tony now feels he has a 'superpower' where doesn't have to care about anything any more. This is set up using a series of situations that felt progressively more and more contrived. The situation in the cafe where a waitress refuses to serve him a child's meal, and the postman who refuses to deliver his mail, were just two examples-- both of which had me frowning and saying, "People aren't really this petty, are they?" And if they are, it isn't something you come across three or four times a day.
Diane Morgan is woefully underused as a one dimensional character whose only purpose seems to be to allow Ricky to insert long rants about why atheism is amazing. He seems entirely uninterested in examining why people might draw comfort from faith or the thought of an afterlife at all, and while that's his prerogative, having such a one dimensional character represent that side of the debate lent a lack of balance to the whole thing-- and created a hollowness that didn't ring true. It would have been braver if he'd had a character who he could really engage with on it-- who challenged him-- even if he still 'won' the debate.
Then there's Tony's brother in law, who is tirelessly supportive of him, but who is revealed (predictably) to have problems of his own as the season progresses. My biggest problem with the way that character was written is that we never got to see any of the grief he must feel for the loss of a sister who he seems to have been very close to.
There were a strange mixture of supporting characters including a drug addict and a sex worker-- and while their arcs were fine-- the absence of other significant supporting characters, like inlaws (other than the brother), and close friends, for a widower who has lost his wife of 20+ years, really struck me. It seemed like an odd choice to include such random supporting cast members but not even mention in passing people who they would have presumably been close to, too? His wife was portrayed as a warm, kind woman-- and we are constantly told that Tony is nice even though there's precious little evidence of it. They must have had people in their life who would still be looking out for him? If they're not there, then why aren't they? That needs to be explained, even if it's just in passing.
Don't get me wrong, there were some beautiful poignant moments, but there were times when things felt heavy handed. Dialogue that was a little too on the nose. And I frequently felt I was being told rather than shown. It felt sincere, but also saccharine, and occasionally even preachy.
I'm glad I watched it, but I don't feel the need to watch it again. And, honestly, if you're interested in a TV series that examines how grief can turn you into a selfish, floundering **** than Fleabag is probably a better bet. It's sharper and more uncomfortable-- but it's also funnier and the emotional beats and story telling are ultimately better imo.… Expand
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