Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale (2007)

That was an excellent one.

Pretty Good

Perfect cast and a good story

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

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.

This was the worst ever episode of Extras and a particularly feel-bad Christmas special. Gervais appears to be able to set up a series which is brilliant and then let it disintegrate well before the end (the second series of The Office was many times worse than the first). Although constantly watchable, this was dismal stuff. Extras is meant to be a comedy – this wasn't funny and barely tried to be. What was the point of having the characters' lives collapse? What was achieved by it other than to be depressing? How bad it looked to have Ricky Gervais, a rich and famous person who hangs out with the Heat crew and loves wealth and fame, to tell us how awful it all is. His criticisms carried no weight at all. He came across as a whining, joyless, navel-gazing, self-indulgent misanthrope.One other thing that should be noted about Gervais shows is this: his characters do not act like normal people would in terms of considering others' feelings. People, particularly the English middle class, are incredibly sensitive to how the other person feels and go out of their way to not offend. In Gervais shows they do the opposite. To cite just one example, the Clive Owen character saying what he said in front of that female extra is simply not credible. No one is that nasty to another's face. When so many of your characters behave in non-realistic ways, the show is robbed of its verisimilitude and ability to make us laugh through tapping into our everyday experiences. That and the fact that there were no virtually no jokes in it made Extras a show which ended with a miserable whimper.

I have been a huge fan of this side-splittingly hilarious series since it first aired on HBO in 2005 and have always admired the writing, the acting, and the outrageous situations created by the ingenious minds of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.I didn't think anything in the show's finale could possibly top what I'd already seen in prior episodes, but Gervais and Merchant managed to take the show's screwball concept, turn it upside down, and deliver an incredibly moving and heartfelt dramatic ending. It was a big gamble to toss aside the comedy and go for the serious stuff, but it paid off.The episode begins lightly enough, with Gervais' character, Andy Millman, struggling to adapt to his sudden fortune and fame. No longer an extra scraping to get by and dreaming of making it big, he's now the star of a hit sitcom on the BBC, he has his own catchphrase that's bigger in Britain than "You ARE the weakest link" - he even has a doll in his TV character's likeness. Trouble is, being famous isn't at all how Andy envisioned it. He feels like a sellout - a one-trick pony who will never be able to rise above the sitcom cesspool he now finds himself in.And this is where the show takes a dark turn. Andy becomes increasingly embittered, jealous, and egotistical, to the point where he fires his inept agent and literally pushes his best friend Maggie out of his life. Ashley Jensen delivers the single finest small screen performance by an actress this year as Maggie Jacobs, the long-suffering, not too bright, yet unwaveringly loyal best friend of Andy. In a pivotal scene featuring Clive Owen as himself, Maggie comes to the sad conclusion that she can no longer continue to work as an extra. The scene is played for laughs, but it's uncomfortable to watch, because although we're witnessing the ongoing degradation that Maggie has always suffered as just another warm body on the movie set, it's really the first time Maggie herself realizes what's happening to her. Jensen brilliantly plays it out through nothing more than her facial expressions, and her pain is palpable.Maggie's despair continues as she becomes more distant from Andy and ends up taking jobs as a maid and a dishwasher just to survive. The scene in which she begs Andy's former agent for a job at his new workplace, Car Phone Warehouse, is particularly heartbreaking. Why Jensen was denied a Golden Globe nomination this year is beyond me.Meanwhile, Andy discovers that his new affiliation with a hip and sexy talent firm isn't all it's cracked up to be. Andy wants to be a "serious actor," but all he's offered are throwaway roles in "Dr. Who" and "Hotel Babylon." His new agent stops taking his calls altogether, and Andy realizes the only way to get work is to throw his legitimate acting aspirations out the window and go exclusively for the fame and fortune. He winds up as a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother - something he swore he'd never do - and it's here that the realization of what his life has become finally sets in.In what's probably the most poignant and moving scene in television this year, Andy bares his soul to the watchful eye of the Big Brother camera. Here, Gervais shows he's just as adept at drama as he is at comedy.Just when you think it can't get any worse for the show's characters (Andy's sunk to the lowest of lows, Maggie's living in a run-down, one-room flat, and Andy's agent is a cell phone salesman), Andy has an epiphany, and ultimately, a redemption. What better ending could you hope for than watching Andy and Maggie drive away in her beat up little car, headed for Heathrow airport, the promise of new hope and new adventures in front of them? When a brilliantly executed series ends after such an abbreviated run (see Gervais' "The Office"), I usually feel cheated and longing for more, but not in this case. "Extras" takes us to the place we know these characters need to be, then fondly waves goodbye and doesn't look back.

80 Minutes Special (contains general overview and basic commentary): Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) in the Series Special is at a crossroads in his life and career. The former movie extra turned successful, albeit self-deprecating, TV actor must decide whether to further compromise his artistic integrity and continue shooting his unsophisticated, obnoxious, and lame-demographic television series. The special literally chronicles the ardent behavior that comes with fame, how one becomes affected, and how one can see past fame by putting oneself outside the joke. The most intriguing moments in the episode's entirety are when Ricky Gervais ponders the general state of being in society, in what is as close to an effective "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore"-moment as you're likely ever to get on television. Maggie is as unsinkable as ever and at her best as Millman's closest friend. Written and directed by Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the Special manages to touch on issues of philosophy, fame, sexuality, and societal behavior in its story's subtext while not detracting from its impressively diverse story arc. For a show that restores one's faith that modern media can produce original, prodding, yet hilarious material, "Extras" at its end is unwittingly at its best (except maybe for Kate Winslet's performance).