Afterlife
reviewed by Fiona Broome, Hollow Hill founder ©2006
click play button to hear fiona's comments
The BBC America series, Afterlife, is an interesting addition to British ghost-related programming.
It's a drama; it makes no pretense of being a documentary. That's refreshing.
Afterlife is also loaded with pathos and it challenges traditional approaches to closure at the end of each episode.
I especially like the sense of genuine distress by the lead character, Alison Mundy, played with
compassion by Lesley Sharp. She's not sure what to do with the spirits that she perceives, and she'd generally
prefer them not to visit her.
In the first episode, Alison is a slightly over-the-top character who "sees dead people."
The clips from later shows indicate that some of them will clearly be "dead" as shown in the popular move,
The Sixth Sense.
(In real life, apparitions usually appear as they think of themselves,
and that's rarely dead or gruesome.)
Dynamic tension, and perhaps some sexual tension, are provided by Robert Bridge a skeptical, college-level psychology lecturer,
played by actor Andrew Lincoln.
Dr. Bridge's scathing sarcasm belies his fears that his own son, who died in childhood, may be
visiting--or lingering in--our world.
The stories are interesting and only slightly predictable. Can the writers sustain this level
of writing? Only time will tell.
The show presents us with stereotypes that rarely occur in real life, especially Alison, who can't always
discern the difference between the living and the dead. I'm hoping that the show won't lapse into
horror stereotypes.
But, I am enjoying the complexity of these episodes. This show promises
to present new, challenging views of the paranormal and those who perceive--and reject--that world. I hope
that ITV1 (for BBC) continues filming beyond the initial five episodes.
Hollow Hill grade: B+
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