When Joss Whedon‘s cult classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer went off the air, fans mourned with bittersweet acceptance. The time had come, particularly following the season loaded with all that murky, post-high school angst that left even die-hard fans wondering just what the heck Whedon was getting at. Life after high school stinks? Being an adult is no fun? In my mind, Whedon was trying to take the character to the next level of maturity. The results were not as satisfying as earlier seasons that used high school intrigue as their operating metaphor. Still, when Buffy wrapped, viewers were looking for an heir apparent. Finally, I think there is one in the character of Alison Mundy (Lesley Sharp, Vera Drake, The Full Monty) in the new BBC America series Afterlife.
No, Alison is not a perky blonde with a fabulous fashion sense. There is no entourage of swell friends or even a gaggle of otherworldly creatures with a predilection for martial arts when annoyed. Alison is not here to save the world. Her purpose is much narrower: to stay sane while she helps those who seek her out. That most of those who need her are dead is what keeps Alison on the outpost of sanity. It’s also the thing that keeps her buoyed, knowing that offering a bit of solace to the living, from the dead, is a public service. That all those dead voices keep her up at night and torment her when she least expects or wants to hear them is beside the point. Like it or not, this is her calling. Alison mostly hates it but is resigned to her purpose.
Unlike that other Alli-son (Patricia Arquette), who talks to the dead on Medium (NBC), or that pip-squeak ghost wrangler on CBS, Afterlife‘s Alison is a loner. She keeps a tidy flat, goes grocery shopping, drinks any time of the day or night when she needs to silence the voices, and speaks with childlike reverence when the dead appear to her. This, I think is what Whedon was aiming for in his “dark” Buffy season: the idea that having superpowers weighs on your soul like a lifetime of factory work wears down your body.
As Alison, Sharp is seriously haggard in a way U.S. actresses can’t be without creating front-page news. Every wilted line in her face shows, and her expressive eyes, heavily lined, give her a hardened look. Alison is Buffy at midlife. Even superheroes age, don’t they? And the outcome isn’t always dewy. Bodies and temperaments sag, and friends shrink from posses to a handful of dependable pals. In this case, Alison has a friend, albeit a skeptical one, in Robert Bridge (Andrew Lincoln, Love Actually) a psychology professor. Alison is not much fond of psychologists and others who treat her as a fraud or a freak. So, like Mulder and Scully, Alison and Robert’s early alliance is tentative. This is half of what makes the show so interesting: that two people who begrudge each other are nonetheless drawn to each other. The other is that Sharp herself simply demands that you watch her. Maybe it’s the accent, because the dialogue is not particularly artful, but Sharp makes it all sound like high drama.
Somber, moody, and stoic, Afterlife does not bristle with snappy dialogue garnished with pop culture references. There is no cool band of the week or hunky love interest. Oh, sure, you can still tune into Supernatural or Veronica Mars for your post-Buffy fix. But like it or not, Alison Mundy is what awaits all our superheroes – and us – at midlife. No one said it was pretty. New episodes of Afterlife air Thursdays at 8pm on BBC America. Additional air dates and times occur throughout the week. Check local listings.
What else is on?
An upcoming episode of 5 Takes: USA features Austin. The series sends travelers out with cameras to document their experience of selected cities through film, blogs, and short clips featured online (www.5takes.com). The Austin segment airs Saturday, Dec. 9, 10pm on the Travel Channel.
This article appears in December 8 • 2006.