merelyaninnuendo ExtrasThe Extra Special Series FinaleA Golden Globe Winning series; Extras is another one of Ricky's gem that came out from his pot and just as it predecessor it stands out alone on witty humor, practicality awareness and no nonsense sequences that glues this majestic series. Ricky Gervais keeps it true and to-the-ground one of the main reasons why it works everytime when he draws the curtains. The season ended up in an intense point that proves Ricky Gervais's brilliant writing skills and keen towards the art on handling the characters revolving around its amusing world. The development towards his career is projected swiftly not to make look like all hoax but the more interesting and intellectual arc created is on his relation with Ashley Jensen that hopefully will turn out to be entertaining and delight to watch.It was not even for a single moment funny which makes it the best episode of the series for Ricky Gervais has been building up for this intense moment since the first frame of the show and he once again proves his amazing skills on witty writing that resonates with practicality of the nature.

gridoon2018 Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have a unique talent for finding humor in cruelty - and vice versa. This special feature-length episode of "Extras", which is also by default the series finale, is funny, sad and full of surprises - like life itself. The funniest part is imho the "Guardian" interview; the saddest part is Maggie's new life conditions (she decides to quit the extras "business", becomes a cleaning woman and has to move to an even smaller apartment); and the most surprising part is the variety of the guest stars (equally surprising is the willingness of some of them to be portrayed in a very negative light). Some viewers may feel that this episode dwells too much on misery, especially Maggie's, but usually there will be a gag or a joke to undercut it. The Doctor Who crossover is a nice bonus. *** out of 4.

jc-osms It's been a while since I last watched "Extras" and actually wasn't aware of this final extended episode which aired originally as a Christmas Special, I believe. Now "on-top" as a household name TV star with his own inane catch-phrase in an imaginary series which eerily prefigures the awful, but apparently awfully successful "Mrs Brown's Boys", Gervais's Andy can now hob-nob at the best club in town brushing shoulders with other celebs and live in a swank pad, but he's not happy. Frustrated that he might be wasting his potential as a typecast character in an outdated show, he changes agents, spurred by the growing success of old rival Shaun Pye. The show follows his "journey to redemption" taking in some so-called highs and very definite lows, ending up on "Celebrity Big Brother", which is about as low as you can get I would imagine, the last refuge of the used-to-be-famous.Gervais is playing with a lot of clichés here and as ever, many of them are in character form, particularly his new hot-shot agent but as before he manages to mix well the humour and the bathos, the latter we see in particular through his worsening treatment of his down-on-her-luck old chum Ashley Jensen's Maggie.Again as before, Gervais makes use of his A-list contacts to bring in some very funny celebrity cameos, with George Michael lampooning his wastrel image, Clive Owen as an odious, sexist, dismissive leading man and Gordon Ramsey as a loud-mouthed, vulgar social climber, with maybe two out of three of these looking like rather thinly-veiled thumbmail sketches drawn from life. Stephen Marchant and Shaun Williamson (Barry from "Eastenders") are also caught in the fall-out from Andy's rebellion and wind up hilariously working at "Carphone Warehouse".Arguably Gervais overloads his tale with too much morality where a few more belly-laughs might have been welcome, but by the time Andy recovers his soul at the end, I had found much to savour over the intervening ninety minutes and admired his ability to so effectively satirise the lives of the acting community.

bob the moo When the Whistle Blows is still drawing in millions on BBC1 but Andy is closer and closer to breaking point. Seeing his rival successful in Hollywood, Andy drops his useless agent and takes up with Tre Cooper, looking for more. Dropping out of his sitcom to pursue more worthy material however may not be the best move and soon Andy is faced with hard decisions about his goals. Meanwhile, with no work as an extra after a run-in with Clive Owen, Maggie settles into menial work and basic living.Deconstructing Harry. If you're a Woody Allen fan and you've seen it then you'll know why I am referring to it here. In that film I was not only laughing but actively shocked at how personal and aggressive Allen seemed to be towards himself and the theme of the film appeared to be self-loathing. With the last ever episode of Extras, Gervais and Merchant appear to be going for the same thing, using their character to attack the celebrity culture in the UK but also managing to deal with the fact that Andy is wanting the fame just as much as he hates what he has to do to get it. At its best it is a searing watching and quite thrilling with it. Those expecting a lot of laughs will be disappointed though because the special produces sporadic laughs rather than anything consistent. I wasn't overly bothered by this though because to me the focus was rightly on the "message".I want to say "point" but sadly the main weakness of the special is that it is occasionally does get preachy and surprisingly obvious. For example look at the rather clumsy use of music while the characters struggle with their thoughts or situations in a series of clever shots. It will work if you are totally into the moment but for me it just seemed uninspired and flat where so much of it was sharp and insightful. It is the smart writing that keeps the majority from being preachy and it should be commended for this, even if it is still prone to lapses. The cast is starry but Gervais is the star. He shows he is able to do drama as well as comedy and he is genuinely touching at times and credit to him for allowing the writing to damn him and not leave him to one side. Merchant is left to one side although he is funny and entertaining in his sections, working well with the two Eastenders stars. Talking of them actually I was again surprised by how willing everyone was to send themselves up. George Michael and Clive Owen in particular but more cutting were the Big Brother housemates and Hale & pace. Gordon Ramsey was good value too.Overall then an impacting conclusion to the series that goes out on a very sharp and engaging high. It isn't hilarious and here and there it gets a bit too obvious and preachy for its own good (particularly coming from a man who is looking down at the problem rather than up at it) but mostly it is cutting and intelligent and a fitting end to the series.