The special is strongest when discomfort about growing older becomes perceptive comedy, especially the bits on waking up, declining health and approaching death. Others find the insights thin or repetitive.
Pros: aging commentary, self-deprecating comedy
Cons: shock comedy execution, humor
Klara’s later decline is explored through a montage that feels dark, eerie and affecting, briefly making her altered experience of time compelling.
Pros: lead performance, visual style
Cons: emotional impact, directing quality
Ali’s middle age makes his delusions funnier for one critic, while others find the revival less convincing than comic portraits of aging and irrelevance elsewhere.
Pros: ending satisfaction, interview and source material quality
Cons: humor, Political satire