The Annotated Afterlife

2. Neither Here Nor There

Quote
This line comes straight from "Bollo" on The Mighty Boosh, and is said to Howard when he reaches the Afterlife.

The Structure of the Afterlife
The eschatology of the Afterlife in Between Life and Death has been strongly influenced by the 1991 romantic-comedy fantasy film Defending Your Life, written and directed by, and starring, Albert Brooks. I have a particular love of whimsical light fantasy films which focus on the Afterlife – they are sometimes called films blanc ("white films") as opposed to film noir, which is dark and cynical.

The setup and world building of Between Life and Death is very similar to the film, but to the best of my recollection, there are significant differences when it comes to characters, dialogue, and plot. However, I haven't seen the film for quite a while (I didn't rewatch it, in case too much of it got into the story), so if you view it, let me know if I unconsciously copied more than I thought I did.

The Waystation
This is the place Julian is brought to, somewhere where the recently deceased spend after death so that they might receive healing, rest, and recreation. It is also where they will be assessed to decide what the next stage of their spiritual journey will be. 

It is the equivalent of Judgment City in Defending Your Life – except that while Judgment City was American, and specifically Californian, in nature, the Waystation is conspicuously British. The Waystation is also the equivalent of Limbo in the "Bollo" episode of The Mighty Boosh, but the Waystation is much nicer than either of these Afterlife waiting rooms.

Forward
What we would call Heaven, although Marcus indicates it may very well be different to what we imagine. In Defending Your Life, this is alluded to as a higher plane of existence where growth and learning continue – I don't think the film gives it a name that I can recall. We can feel confident that it is a place of bliss, joy, and love.

Back
Much more common than going Forward is being sent Back to Earth for another lifetime, in a system very much like reincarnation. There is no Hell, and there isn't really any punishment, even though it might feel like it. It is made clear that going Back is simply so that further lessons might be learnt. 

This is the case in Defending Your Life too, except that in the film, the Universe destroys souls after a certain number of reincarnations, impatient with their lack of progress. This seemed wrong to me, both morally and against the laws of physics/metaphysics, so in Between Life and Death, every soul will eventually go Forward, no matter how many lifetimes it may take.

Sideways
The equivalent of what we would call Purgatory. Those who are not ready for Forward may be sent Sideways, in order to learn the lessons that they need. However, they are guaranteed to go Forward from Sideways; they cannot be sent Back to Earth from that point. 

There is no Purgatory state in either Defending Your Life or The Mighty Boosh. It seemed like something that Julian, as someone with a Catholic background, would readily understand, and I was greatly impressed by an article I read by a philosopher. Although an atheist, and not believing in any kind of Afterlife, he said that the entire concept of Heaven made no sense at all, unless there was also a Purgatory. This he demonstrated simply and mathematically, to my complete satisfaction. Unfortunately, the internet seems to have eaten it.

Julian Reality Check
Mary brings Julian a perfect mug of tea, very strong, just as he likes. Julian does enjoy strong tea, and uses two teabags per mug, which he refuses to apologise for.

Julian's surname is Pettifer – he uses his middle name of Barratt professionally, as there is an award-winning television journalist named Julian Pettifer. In real life, I think Julian would have been Julian Pettifer for at least a few of his early comedy gigs, he didn't change it immediately, so this is fictionalised for the sake of the story. If you think this is a clue, write it down. If you think it is a red herring, put a question mark after it.