'After Life' Will Pull at Your Heartstrings if You Let It

I had day off from work last week and so decided to spend three hours of that precious “me” time watching the latest Netflix offering by Ricky Gervais, After Life. My intial pronouncement about this dramedy series is that it’s legitimately bingeworthy and, I contend, entirely worthwhile - but only if you get past the misery-laden beginning.

As is customary for Mr. Gervais, he wrote, directed and stars in his newest venture. After Life tells the sad tale of Tony, a features journalist working for a local newspaper, who has recently lost his beloved wife Lisa (Kerry Godliman) to breast cancer.

Depressed and bitter, Tony desperately holds onto the memory of his late wife through a series of videos she’s left behind to help him cope without her and by making daily pilgrimages to her grave accompanied by the couple’s exceptionally devoted dog, Brandy.