Sadventure Completed #20: After Life
I have absolutely no idea why someone suggested I watch this. I knew I would hate it the minute it started because it clearly warns: suicidal references, drug use, bad language (actually I'm cool with that) and strong sex references (meh).
In short, Ricky Gervais, or rather the character whose name I forgot to note, lives in a very pretty town, which I am similarly clueless about. Ricky's wife is dead but she's left him some 'How to do life' instructions for him to follow. Ricky, being the one alive, instead does the exact opposite. For example, he is told to feed the dog daily with dog food then take it for a walk. Instead he offers the dog a choice of baked beans (vom) or cold, tinned curry (double vom), and then takes it for a walk.
Upon leaving the house he insults, offends, argues with and otherwise antagonises just about everyone he meets. Everyone he meets is practically someone I recognise from any series of 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, bar the tax-dodging one with the ridiculously white teeth.
"If I become an arsehole and do what the fuck I want....I can have a superpower," seems that's his objective. And that is pretty much all that happens for the next five episodes, interspersed with Ricky doing his day job as a newpaper hack following up on absurd stories - the kid who plays the recorder through is nostrils, the man with six identifical birthday cards and so on.
Along the way he befriends a sex worker, who he pays to clean his house; a drug user, who he scores drugs with, robs him, and ultimately kills himself having overdosed on heroin paid for by Ricky; meets his dad's care assistant and falls out with them both frequently, and an older woman grieving for her husband, buried in the spot next to Ricky's wife. Well-meaning colleagues and in-laws give the usual advice for those suffering from reactive depression - depression brought on by grief, loss or abandonment: go to a comedy show, go dating, go for a fecking walk!
In Episode 6, he has an epiphany: That being an arsehole isn't all it's cracked up to be. His depression miraculoulsy vanishes and he goes on a date. That his job, and his colleagues, are actually decent enough people. At least, I have hope the fecking dog is going to be fed now.
It's been commissioned for a second series. I assume that it will also be six episodes long - five of Ricky being guru-tastically happy and serene, and one where he's run over by a truck with any luck.
