A Lively Comic Inspired
Detective Drama |
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(080124)
Dead Boy Detectives is an appealing and suspenseful mystery show with many
elements of horror and macabre comedy thrown in. If Tim Burton and Guillermo del
Toro collaborated on supernaturally themed procedural Hardy Boys-like TV series
it might look and feel like this.
The show is aimed at the same youthful demographic as the
Wednesday
and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina streaming shows. Hopefully, this show will
manage to be more consistently good than those shows. The program is based on
characters created for Vertigo Comics by Neil Gaiman (Sandman). The characters also previously appeared in the recent Doom
Patrol show, but there they were played by different actors,
Dead Boy Detectives is also connected to the excellent
Sandman
show, and the
incarnation of Death from that series appears in the first episode, and Despair
shows up later in the series. But this is not up to the level of excellence of
that series (more episodes of that Netflix series are coming soon.) The reason
that this show is not as high quality might be that Gaiman was not directly
involved in the Dead Boy Detectives as he was in
Sandman. The person in
charge here is Steve Yockney best known for producing the CW's Supernatural, which could
be quite good although it went on too long and the more recent The Flight
Attendant.
At the risk of sounding like a mature comic snob, it seems like the TV shows based
on characters from DC spin-off imprints such as The Boys (which originated at
DC), Doom Patrol, Preacher,
and Swamp Thing have all usually been smarter and more outstanding than the CW-TV
programs more rooted in the main DC Universe like The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow. An exception
are the DC animated shows like Batman: The
Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited which captured the spirits of the
comics perfectly.
Dead Boy Detectives has ten episodes so far and I would not be surprised
if it got a second season. Each one’s title begins with “The Case of…” and
revolves around a different mystery although it also develops subplots often
involved the love life of the characters spanning several episodes.
Edwin (George Rexstrew) and Charles (Jayden Revri) are specters, and their dress
style, thinking and speech patterns are antiquated because they both died long
ago. The more modern Charles passed in the 80’s but the Edwardian one Edwin
expired over a century ago. Charles is interesting because he was into the
culture of his time and still has punky green hair and wears punk and ska
patches on his jackets. Both characters are affected in their afterlives by
their previous lives and deaths. Edwin has perished in a hazing accident, and he
still has flashbacks of his torture at the hands of his sadistic school mates
who could not accept that he was different. Part of this might be because they
notice his homosexual orientation or perceived femininity. Conversely, Charles
who is usually more upbeat was killed in a prank while all his friends laughed
at him. He explains that he is always smiling and upbeat despite his pain he
must make up for his dour partner and he wants to hold everything together.
Like other great mystery solving couples like Holmes and Watson or Mulder and Scully, the two are opposite in some ways. Edwin is cerebral,
morose, proper, and formal while Charles is more spontaneous and action
oriented. It’s like putting together a punk and a dandy.
The third main member of the cast who is introduced early on is Crystal Palace
(what a great name) who is a still alive psychic who has a demonic stalker
ex-boyfriend, David (played by David Iacono) who possesses her and occasionally
comes out to advise her or annoy her. But he is not totally evil.
At first Edwin resents Crystal’s presence and how she disturbs the dynamic
between the brothers, but David instantly likes her and wants her to join their
team. This turns out to be a good thing because her psychic abilities and the
fact she is still alive prove useful in some cases.
Crystal complains a lot because she must pay rent, and the crew does not make
much money. Like the Detective Agency in the Buffy spin-off Angel, they are more into
helping people than making a profit. A recurrent joke is that the agency’s
clients often want to pay with only marginally useful magical objects. One
client pays with saltwater taffy and a Magic 8 Ball that's cursed and provides
only useless information, such as telling you when
you will die which is useless to already dead ghosts.
The show throws fan culture people a bone when they introduce the fourth member
of the crew, Nico (Yuyu Kitamura) who the others are not eager to accept, She is
charmingly wide eyed, innocent and optimistic and feels she is qualified to
solve mysteries because she has watched every major Asian anime detective show
and played crime solving game. Sometimes she talks like she is in a fun video
game. She hopes that she can teach him some new detective tricks by getting him
to watch Scooby Doo cartoons.
Nico is the most down to earth and hopelessly romantic character who publicly
declares two starfish must be in love because they are next to each other, But
Edwin who is a bit of a party pooper correctly tells her that creatures that do
not have brains cannot feel passions or love. She responds that lovers are
always seen as brainless by outsiders.
As the series progresses, they gradually keep introducing more supporting characters that hang
around. Hopefully, the show will not end up like Supergirl focusing to its
determent on a thousand supporting characters no one cared about rather than the
Woman of Steel.
But so far, the added characters have proven interesting, and some are even
worthy of their own episodes or shows. The Cat King (Lucas Gage) is a lord of
felines who is a cat in human form. He wants Edwin to be his lover (they are
both gay) and schemes to connect with him, the other side characters are
similarly weird and wacky including an older witch Esther (Jenn Lyon) who keeps
kids prisoners to feed off their youth and Tragic Mick (Michael Beach) a walrus
who has been transformed into a man and wants to reverse the spell.
There are also two mischievous magical sprites that the detectives kept in a
fishing bowl which taunt the main characters and provide comic relief. they
are reminiscent of Doctor Pretorius' miniature humans in James Whales’ Bride of
Frankenstein.
Like many Vertigo Comics and the shows derived from them, the show features some
gay themes and characters. Edwin still understandably represses his homosexual
urges because this was such a big taboo which he was still alive (look what
happened to Oscar Wilde.) With this added layer the romantic subplots are extremely complicated. David grows increasingly
enamored with Crystal and she still has emotional ties to her stalker/possessor.
Also, Edwin clearly has a crush on David and the evil Cat King who has romantic
designs on Edwin and at one point turns into David so he can attract Davis.
The show is sometimes hard to follow, and it feels overstuffed-with more ideas
and characters than necessary. It would probably be helpful for prospective
viewers to read some of the comics. I know that is a lot to ask from some of its
post-literate youthful audience members. But Dead Boy Detectives is a lively
escapist romp focused on dead characters. If it stays focused on the main three
characters and does not lose its way, it should continue to be a fun if not
essential viewing experience. It is hard to resist a show with caustic talking
cats that comment on the action and ferocious killer dandelions.
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Episodes Directed by:
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Lee Toland Kriager (episode 1), Glenn Winter
(episode 2 and 6), Cheryl Dunya (episode 3), Alex
Armaganian (episode 4), The Case Amanda
Tapping (episode 5), Steve Yockey (episode 7),
Pete Chatmon (episode 8) |
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Episodes Written by:
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Steve Yokney, Soshana Sachi, Ian Weinreich,
Kristy Lowrey, Josuah Conkell, Kristin Tucker,
Beth Schwartz, and Ross Maxwell |
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Starring:
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George Rextrew, Jayden Revitt, Kassius Nelson |
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Length: |
The Season is made up of 8 episodes, 52 to
56 minutes each |
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Rating:
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TV MN for language violent, smoking, suicide, and
violence |
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Available On:
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At press time the series was streaming on Netflix |
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For more
writings by Vittorio Carli go to
www.artinterviews.org and
www.chicagopoetry.org.
His latest book "Tape Worm Salad with Olive Oil for Extra Flavor" is also
available.
Come to the New Poetry Show on the first Saturday of every month at Tangible
Books in
Bridgeport from 7-9 at 3324 South Halsted.
This is now a monthly show featuring Poetry/Spoken Word, some Music, Stand Up
and Performance Art and hosted by Mister Carli. For more information e-mail:
carlivit@gmail.com for details
Upcoming features at the Poetry Show:
August 3: Adrienne Davis, Erren Kelly, Kway La Soul and Kara Trojan
Special Bonus Show on August 17: Andrea Change and Janet Kuypers plus Others to
be Announced.
September 7: Katherine Chronis and Jacqui Wolk
October 5: College Night?
November 2: Robin Fine, Lynn West and Sid Yiddish
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DEAD BOY DETECTIVES
© 2024 Warner Bros Television
All Rights Reserved
Review © 2024 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
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