Extras - Series Finale - A

Originally aired on HBO December 16, 2007. Preview.

Creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant struck gold with their BBC hit, The Office, and limited it to 2 seasons and a season finale. They've duplicated that formula with Extras, if not the greatness of their original work. On the whole, the Extras series has been consistently good with a few great episodes mixed in (Sir Ian, for one), and I would rate the overall series a B+. With the 81! minute series finale, Gervais and Merchant were able to again tap into greatness as with The Office finale. Oddly enough, the words I would first describe this finale with are dark, depressing and funny. Click below to keep reading "Extras - Series Finale - A"

The show picks up with Andy (Gervais) still loathing his successful but 'broad' sitcom "When the Whistle Blows" and his catch-phrase "Are you havin' a laugh?", and Maggie still an amazingly unsuccessful extra. Andy's hapless agent, Darren Lamb (Stephen Merchant) is still dimwitted and accompanied by sidekick Barry. Andy is famous but not respected and he begins treating people horribly, including Maggie, his most loyal friend. After firing Darren for a more traditional flashy agent, he ends "When the Whistle Blows" abruptly and demands better work. What he gets is less famous and no work but an 'alien slug'. Ultimately he ends up on England's Celebrity Big Brother, stuck in a house with a slut, the mother of a highly publicized murder victim, an aging dancer and various other pathetic types. After being driven to the brink, he delivers an on camera rant against celebrity culture (including himself).

Ha, ha, right? There are several funny bits involving Darren and Barry, especially their sales technique at the Carphone Warehouse. Multiple laugh out loud items there. The finale shifts all previous perceptions from the series about Darren, Barry and Andy. During the series, I felt sympathy for Andy and probably agreed he should fire Darren, but during the finale I was on Darren and Barry's team as the goofy but loyal friends. There are great cameos from George Michael, cruising the park for male prostitutes (great self-deprectation) and Clive Owen as a cruel and egotistical star "I'm Clive Owen, I can get better than that".

The final act is the most effective, with Andy's final speech worth printing here in its entirety if I could find it. The show is almost long enough to be a movie, and has several shots using film stock and techniques throughout, including several beautiful overhead shots of the Thames river. The writing on films like Juno is funny, but the writing on this show is 'my kind of funny'. One of the year's best.