TV Show: Dead Like Me

Shame that this tv show has been cancelled by the network that spawned it.

I don't know the reasons, but regardless, I'm disappointed. Its one of the more distinctive shows I've seen so far, and its pretty rich as far as the content goes. Its not merely drama, nor is it merely comedy, its got mystery, but not too much. There's a little bit of horror, but it can't be called in as a horror genre either. When you're like me, who have been watching shows that attract you just because of the twists and turns of the plot without ever having to learn anything from it except that the good guys always win, Dead Like Me would be an interesting change. Its similar to CSI where in CSI you get to learn how mystery deaths are investigated to be able to ferret the truth, but here you get to learn how life should be taken on and find out what's the truth in living.

The premise of the show is the existence of soul reapers. It reminds me a lot of Terry Pratchett's version of death.. there is the Discworld Death, and there is Azrael. Except in this one, instead of having one Death per world, death would actually have mini minions of souls doing his deed. And they're called reapers.

Unfortunately, getting to be a reaper has one important requirement: You have to be dead.

Meet George Lass, college drop out by choice, forced by her mom to wear "funeral clothes" and hoping to find work before the day is out. She gets a job, takes a lunch break, and ends up being snuffed out and blown to bits by a debris (a toilet seat no less) from a Russian space station.

She gets up, finds out she's been chosen by the powers that be to become a reaper. So just by being dead, she gets a new job. She's also joined by 4 veteran reapers set to teach her the ways of the undead world.

The team is headed by Rube, the father figure. Others include Mason, an undead that attempted to savor the experience of getting high while while boring a hole into into head with a heavy duty drilling tool, Roxy, the undead sassy ticket placing police, Daisy, an actress who seem to have slept with countless of famous people during her time. Its a weird jumble of people from all walks of life.

Mind you though, they're not Shaun of the Dead's undead zombies. They don't mindlessly pluck out souls. Instead they get their death assignments from Rube. They're taken in the form of a written post it note with the unfortunate person's first name initial and last name, place of death, and together with the E.T.D; Estimated Time of Death. Pretty organized system, if I say so myself. Of course, it would help if there was a picture of the person going to be reaped; Instead, these reapers go around the city trying to ask people in a non chalant way "Hi, you're really great with these guitars, mind if I take a look at your name? is it A.Simmons?" imagine you were in a concert with a 3 person band that's made up of siblings that all have the same first name initials. "We're actually a band. Hi, I'm Andrew. This is Adrian, and he's Arthur. We're the Simmons brothers." Hehehe. Perfect.

The actress that plays George Lass is Ellen Muth, dubbed the toilet seat girl by her fellow reapers, and she's a change from the fancy characters we all see in tv. She pretty much hits home for being extremely sarcastic, pessimistic and unlikeable. She does actually look extremely average in a weird way, unglamorous to the point of getting near the edge of becoming ugly. The casting definitely hit home with her. And despite the unlikeability, you cant help but be attracted towards her, only because you can simply relate with her situation and her outlook; What's surprising is the way she goes into a transformation from that ugly duckling to a graceful swan. She can morph, and she definitely is right for the role.

Being a show that centers on death, of course there will be deaths. And this show pretty much shows them in its various circumstances; Some die by the gun, some by the accidents, some by mass murders, some by something as innocent as choking, and my favorite, by the swordfish doll that hangs by the corner pub. Everything is played in a deadpan way, "When it happens, it happens." There's no fairness in death, but only (probably) in the afterlife.

Now while death is your day job, the pay really sucks. Fine if there was an afterlife money to spend it with, but while you're still in earth, you'll be living an earthly life. Its pretty much basically the same for a reaper before and after death, except the fact that you get a facial makeover (so people dont recognize you and be scared shitless when they see you across the street) and the capacity of reaping souls. So some reapers end up taking up jobs, and some prey on the people they reap and take over their belongings. But you still get to be evicted if you don't pay rent.

The whole concept is fresh, and despite that it may seem like it will turn out to be a drama of reapers, the show is presented in such a way that you can't help but be interested. Its deadpan humor and wrenching angst between the life the characters had and the afterlife they now lead gives its living viewers the hope to take their chances on the living as much as possible as well as a looking forward for a greater life ahead.

Now death and living doesn't seem so bad, after all.