Subscribe in a readerExtras - Series Finale / Christmas Special
Got to catch this last night. Completely forgot how good this series was. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant did an amazing thing with the original ‘The Office’ and followed it up with the absolutely stellar ‘Extras’.
The finale was a lot darker than I expected, but that worked to make it even better. The quick and dirty on the show has been essentially Andy Millman (Gervais) starts out as an extra trying to get his big break to become a rich and famous Hollywood star. Throughout the series, he bumbles and fumbles his way to the status of “Top C-level” actor, complete with a hit show in which he has to wear a silly wig and utter Britan’s #4 most popular catch phrase…
This is where we join things for the Xmas special. His inner battle with his status, his sense of underachievement and his sense of having ’sold-out’, is coupled gracefully with the impending decline of those around him from his past. There’s some real sad moments that come to a head when his “on-Air” breakdown inside a Celebrity reality show of B & C grade stars actually boosts his ’star status’… The series wraps on a happy note, but in a good way (not in a cheesy “American” sort of happy ending-way…)