Dead Like Me, Complete Series
May. 17th, 2013 11:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroGeorgia Lass was and 18-year-old college dropout on her first day at Happy Time Temp Agency, when she was hit by a toilet seat from a falling space station and instantly killed. But that wasn’t the end for her—she was to return as one of the undead, a Grim Reaper who stays on the periphery of life and shepherds others to their final reward.
Having watched all of Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies, honestly, I think Dead Like Me is the weakest of the three. A lot of that is witty writing, or lack thereof—Wonderfalls was brilliantly written and snarky; Pushing Daisies less so but still with its moments, mostly anytime Chi McBride opened his mouth. Dead Like Me felt like because they were on Showtime and could use profanity, they fell back on that rather than write a lot of dialogue that was worth our time. A major problem was that George was unquestionably the main character, but Ellen Muth can’t carry a show by herself. (Neither can anyone from Pushing Daisies, but that’s much more strongly acknowledged as an ensemble show. Caroline Dhavernas can.)
Delores had some great off-the-wall bits, but they never really knew how to use her—was she George’s foil? Friend? Mentor? Crystal was obviously a breakout character that either the writers or the producers decided was awesome, because she started off as a bit background character named after her actress, and kept getting bigger and bigger spots. (There was a tease in the final episode that she knew more than she let on, which would explain why she was so blasé about helping do the data entry for final thoughts a season earlier; heck, I would have loved to see it revealed that she was part of “upper management” and was monitoring George to eventually take a higher-level job. But that was not to be.) Mandy Patinkin was underutilized as Rube, occasionally getting to do a funny accent but barely singing and getting remarkably little of the personal pathos he does brilliantly elsewhere.
It’s also interesting that they kept Joy and Reggie as major characters even after George stopped interacting with them, especially in the second season. On one hand, I think there was some storytelling value in following George’s family after her death, to see how the repercussions continue. (And by that point, they were “main characters” as much as the reapers were.) On the other hand, they then try to come up with excuses for then to interact with Reapers and the rest of the cast independent of George, creating coincidences that strain credibility. If they’d had more seasons, I’m certain this would have gotten worse. I’m not saying they did a bad job with the plotline—Joy is humanized as she recovers from George’s death, Clancy gets some layers, and Reggie eventually makes friends and cracks a smile. But the split focus meant less of the series’ mysteries actually got addressed.
Fairly early on, the writers obviously forgot that reapers look different and “unGeorge” isn’t actually pretty. Every guy she interacts with seems to think she looks like Ellen Muth. They try to play off of it in the last episode of Season 2, but by that point, it’s kinda forgotten and too smoothed over. (In the movie, they remember and swap in a new, prettier actress.)
None of the three series got into their mythology, but this one was the worst about it because it kept teasing that there was something more—there was a mysterious figure who left notes for Rube, there was a place beyond that Reapers weren’t told about, there was a celestial hierarchy we never see, etc. etc. (I wonder if someone caught on to that and decided they could at least reveal something about the nature of the gravelings…though even that was a tease, because it was never indicated whether Ray was a special or typical case, why George could reap him, etc.) Wonderfalls never gave us anything to answer “Why do you talk to me?” beyond “Because you listen,” but given the short length of the series and the focus on other things, it didn’t need to. Jaye could have been crazy, or psychic (or both); or being directed by God, Satan or the Goddess of Fate; but it didn’t actually matter, because we cared about her connection to the supporting cast. George’s connections are often either immediately broken or kept antagonistic, and that’s continuously blamed on this mythology that’s never fleshed out.
I also recall reading a theory that the three shows take place in the same universe (particularly because Happy Time appears in Pushing Daisies at one point), but I don’t think that’s actually feasible with the mythology. Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies could be the same world because the only supernatural happenings are the protagonists’ superpowers…but Wonderfalls is in a moderately realistic Niagara Falls and Pushing Daisies is in the colorful and unrealistic Coeur d’Coeurs. Though Fuller had apparently first envisioned Pushing Daisies as a spinoff to Dead Like Me, Ned’s powers don’t really make sense given the soul-taking mythology of the Reapers.
The series ended on kind of a lame note—it’s pretty clear they didn’t think Season 2 would be the end until too late, so they only kinda wrap up Rube’s family plotline and a lot of things are left vaguely unsatisfactory. A few years later, they made a made-for-tv movie to wrap things up, which only sorta-kinda did better: It gave a real resolution to the family plotline, which George finally coming out to Reggie and them properly severing connections. It resolved the “growing up” plotline for George, showing that five years later she was an adult, capable and responsible. And, if you were desperately concerned about Delores and Murray, that got a worthy sendoff. But it doesn’t answer any questions about the mythology (it only addresses the “if reapers screw up, bad things happen” issue, which first season tackled repeatedly).
Also, on a catty note, they obviously couldn’t get Mandy Patinkin (hence his character having suddenly moved on), and the women who was subbed in as Daisy was…not very good. Honestly, the fact that “excerpts” of the movie were apparently done by four different writers really shows, as a few parts are really good and others are just…flat.
Overall: This is the weakest of Bryan Fuller’s shows for a lot of reasons, but it’s certainly not bad—it’s got some interesting ideas and likeable characters, and a few witty moments. Watch Wonderfalls and/or Pushing Daisies first, and if you like them both, then watch this.
Having watched all of Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies, honestly, I think Dead Like Me is the weakest of the three. A lot of that is witty writing, or lack thereof—Wonderfalls was brilliantly written and snarky; Pushing Daisies less so but still with its moments, mostly anytime Chi McBride opened his mouth. Dead Like Me felt like because they were on Showtime and could use profanity, they fell back on that rather than write a lot of dialogue that was worth our time. A major problem was that George was unquestionably the main character, but Ellen Muth can’t carry a show by herself. (Neither can anyone from Pushing Daisies, but that’s much more strongly acknowledged as an ensemble show. Caroline Dhavernas can.)
Delores had some great off-the-wall bits, but they never really knew how to use her—was she George’s foil? Friend? Mentor? Crystal was obviously a breakout character that either the writers or the producers decided was awesome, because she started off as a bit background character named after her actress, and kept getting bigger and bigger spots. (There was a tease in the final episode that she knew more than she let on, which would explain why she was so blasé about helping do the data entry for final thoughts a season earlier; heck, I would have loved to see it revealed that she was part of “upper management” and was monitoring George to eventually take a higher-level job. But that was not to be.) Mandy Patinkin was underutilized as Rube, occasionally getting to do a funny accent but barely singing and getting remarkably little of the personal pathos he does brilliantly elsewhere.
It’s also interesting that they kept Joy and Reggie as major characters even after George stopped interacting with them, especially in the second season. On one hand, I think there was some storytelling value in following George’s family after her death, to see how the repercussions continue. (And by that point, they were “main characters” as much as the reapers were.) On the other hand, they then try to come up with excuses for then to interact with Reapers and the rest of the cast independent of George, creating coincidences that strain credibility. If they’d had more seasons, I’m certain this would have gotten worse. I’m not saying they did a bad job with the plotline—Joy is humanized as she recovers from George’s death, Clancy gets some layers, and Reggie eventually makes friends and cracks a smile. But the split focus meant less of the series’ mysteries actually got addressed.
Fairly early on, the writers obviously forgot that reapers look different and “unGeorge” isn’t actually pretty. Every guy she interacts with seems to think she looks like Ellen Muth. They try to play off of it in the last episode of Season 2, but by that point, it’s kinda forgotten and too smoothed over. (In the movie, they remember and swap in a new, prettier actress.)
None of the three series got into their mythology, but this one was the worst about it because it kept teasing that there was something more—there was a mysterious figure who left notes for Rube, there was a place beyond that Reapers weren’t told about, there was a celestial hierarchy we never see, etc. etc. (I wonder if someone caught on to that and decided they could at least reveal something about the nature of the gravelings…though even that was a tease, because it was never indicated whether Ray was a special or typical case, why George could reap him, etc.) Wonderfalls never gave us anything to answer “Why do you talk to me?” beyond “Because you listen,” but given the short length of the series and the focus on other things, it didn’t need to. Jaye could have been crazy, or psychic (or both); or being directed by God, Satan or the Goddess of Fate; but it didn’t actually matter, because we cared about her connection to the supporting cast. George’s connections are often either immediately broken or kept antagonistic, and that’s continuously blamed on this mythology that’s never fleshed out.
I also recall reading a theory that the three shows take place in the same universe (particularly because Happy Time appears in Pushing Daisies at one point), but I don’t think that’s actually feasible with the mythology. Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies could be the same world because the only supernatural happenings are the protagonists’ superpowers…but Wonderfalls is in a moderately realistic Niagara Falls and Pushing Daisies is in the colorful and unrealistic Coeur d’Coeurs. Though Fuller had apparently first envisioned Pushing Daisies as a spinoff to Dead Like Me, Ned’s powers don’t really make sense given the soul-taking mythology of the Reapers.
The series ended on kind of a lame note—it’s pretty clear they didn’t think Season 2 would be the end until too late, so they only kinda wrap up Rube’s family plotline and a lot of things are left vaguely unsatisfactory. A few years later, they made a made-for-tv movie to wrap things up, which only sorta-kinda did better: It gave a real resolution to the family plotline, which George finally coming out to Reggie and them properly severing connections. It resolved the “growing up” plotline for George, showing that five years later she was an adult, capable and responsible. And, if you were desperately concerned about Delores and Murray, that got a worthy sendoff. But it doesn’t answer any questions about the mythology (it only addresses the “if reapers screw up, bad things happen” issue, which first season tackled repeatedly).
Also, on a catty note, they obviously couldn’t get Mandy Patinkin (hence his character having suddenly moved on), and the women who was subbed in as Daisy was…not very good. Honestly, the fact that “excerpts” of the movie were apparently done by four different writers really shows, as a few parts are really good and others are just…flat.
Overall: This is the weakest of Bryan Fuller’s shows for a lot of reasons, but it’s certainly not bad—it’s got some interesting ideas and likeable characters, and a few witty moments. Watch Wonderfalls and/or Pushing Daisies first, and if you like them both, then watch this.
