01-19-2022, 08:47 AM
Ricky Gervais stars as Tony Johnson a recently widowed newspaper writer struggling to come to grips with the death of his wife. Tony is at the bottom of the depression well and it is not pretty. He has embraced the philosophy of not giving a fuck about what people think and doing and saying exactly as he pleases. Which seems to be a tailor made role for Gervais. Maybe Gervais isn't as depressed as Tony. The only thing that keeps Tony barely moving along are his dog and messages his wife recorded from her sick bed to Tony.
S1Ep01 introduces us to Tony and his dog and his job at the free weekly paper he writes for. It's very depressing to see how Tony exists and how terribly he treats his coworkers and his boss, who also happens to be his brother in law. Tony also visits his father who suffers from late stage Alzheimers. The only light and it's not much is when Tony visits a man to get information about his birthday.
S1Ep02 Tony tries drugs to alleviate his pain. More depressing vignettes at the cemetery, at work and interviewing the man playing two recorders with his nose. This episode isn't quite as dark as Ep01 but it's close. I think that might be the trajectory for the show to see Tony crawl out of his wallow. But since they are up to season 3, the journey will be long.
I think Ricky Gervais can be hit or miss. I thoroughly enjoyed him in Extras but I've hated him in other things. He seems very abrasive and cruel but uses the umbrella of honesty to get away with it. He also thinks if you don't get his jokes you just don't understand humor.
I'm intrigued by the show and kind of want to see where it goes. tQ and I tried it because there is a lot of chatter about the show at the moment.
S1Ep01 introduces us to Tony and his dog and his job at the free weekly paper he writes for. It's very depressing to see how Tony exists and how terribly he treats his coworkers and his boss, who also happens to be his brother in law. Tony also visits his father who suffers from late stage Alzheimers. The only light and it's not much is when Tony visits a man to get information about his birthday.
S1Ep02 Tony tries drugs to alleviate his pain. More depressing vignettes at the cemetery, at work and interviewing the man playing two recorders with his nose. This episode isn't quite as dark as Ep01 but it's close. I think that might be the trajectory for the show to see Tony crawl out of his wallow. But since they are up to season 3, the journey will be long.
I think Ricky Gervais can be hit or miss. I thoroughly enjoyed him in Extras but I've hated him in other things. He seems very abrasive and cruel but uses the umbrella of honesty to get away with it. He also thinks if you don't get his jokes you just don't understand humor.
I'm intrigued by the show and kind of want to see where it goes. tQ and I tried it because there is a lot of chatter about the show at the moment.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm