5 shows that delve into the themes of loss and grief, on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar

We associate TV shows and films with entertainment that distracts us from the realities of life, but how often do we use it to deal with grief? In days such as these, distractions are aplenty, as are despair and sorrow. All of us either know someone who is currently coming to terms with a personal loss, or we are doing so ourselves. In such times, if you find yourself drowning in hopelessness, here's are shows that address death and grief, and will perhaps, help you work through your own emotions.

After Life

In this British black dramedy, Ricky Gervais plays Tony Johnson, a journalist at the Tambury Gazette, a community newspaper covering all sorts of odd personalities. Tony is grieving the death of his lovely wife who succumbed to cancer; he has lost the will to live and often contemplates suicide. To punish the universe for taking away his only love in the world and so that his dog doesn't starve, he decides against suicide and goes around punishing everyone around him with harsh insults and by living every day as his last. He makes known to everyone around him about the pain and hurt that he doesn't know how to process.

Streaming on Netflix

Big Little Lies

Trauma and its resulting grief is a recurring theme in Big Little Lies that boasts of actors like Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley and Nicole Kidman as the main cast. Based on Liane Moriarty’s bestselling book, the perfect lives of three mothers untangle when things take a sinister turn, with a murder and rape. Eventually, it is about how these women grow and accept their new realities, deal with PTSD, and the eventuality of loss and death.

Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar

Fleabag

Everyone handles low-spirited situations in their own way. Phoebe Waller-Bridge plays the titular character of Fleabag who deals with her sadness stemming from the death of her mother, and then her best friend, by obsessing over and engaging in casual sex. Fleabag was conceptualised after Waller-Bridge's 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe one-woman play that won a Fringe First Award. Fleabag's straightforward mini-monologues as she breaks the fourth wall makes this an addictive, yet relatable, watch.

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video

I Know This Much Is True

Based on a Wally Lamb novel, I Know This Much Is True follows 41-year-old identical twins, Thomas and Dominick (who grew up in a tense and severe house), portrayed by Mark Ruffalo. Touching upon themes like guilt and blame, shame and sadness, mental illness and sexual abuse, I Know This Much Is True deals with a lot more than just sorrow as a six-part limited series. An emotionally difficult watch, it also revels in the themes of love and recovery that will, ultimately, engage each viewer.

Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar

Dead To Me

Oscillating towards the comedy spectrum, Dead To Me's protagonist, Jen Harding tries to come to terms with her husband's death caused by a hit-and-run. Portrayed by Christina Applegate, Jen strikes up an unlikely friendship with a woman in her support group and they try to help each other find closure as unimaginably hilarious secrets unravel.

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