Dead Like Me 1x01-1x06

[oyceter]

I actually started watching this because of campfuckudie's toiletseat_girl. CFUD is a multi-fandom RPG, and while I started reading it for the Saiyuki characters, I found I really like George's usually sarcastic attitude that hid a squishy marshmallow heart.

Anyway, Georgia Lass is 18, dropped out of college, has a filing job she hates and a family life she's not much interested in. Actually, she's not much interested in anything in her life. Even so, she's pretty pissed off when a flaming toilet seat falls from the sky and kills her. But instead of dying properly, George gets the chance to be a Grim Reaper.

Unfortunately, the job's not much more glamourous than her old one. She doesn't even get paid. Instead, she squats in apartments, gets a day job to pay the rent, and in general tries to weasel out of having to take people's souls before they die. Her local Grim Reaper crew consists of Rube, the boss; Mason, a skeezy guy who seems to hit on anything that moves; Roxy, a no-nonsense woman who also doles out parking tickets; and Betty, a fun chaser.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, George's mother Joy is having some of her own troubles. George's younger sister Reggie has taken to stealing toilet seats and generally not being well-adjusted.

The first few episodes have been setting up the universe and the rules George operates under. I was arguing quite a bit with the show at first -- why aren't the Reapers paid? Shouldn't they have some sort of magical hand-wavy thing? How do they get jobs when they are fake people? Do they have fake social security numbers? And if someone could set that up, why not just give them an income?

After a lot of the worldbuilding episodes end, things got better, and I just pretended that the rules made sense.

One of the problems that I first had with the show was how sarcastic it was. You can tell the writers were trying to avoid the saccharine and the sentimental; people die by slipping on banana peels and having pianos dropped on them, and George goes through life with a perpetually raised eyebrow and sneer. But thankfully, the characters soon start to get a little heart, and I started sympathizing with them more, particularly with George. She stops being "I don't care" girl; or, well, she stops thinking that she really is and starts realizing that her attitude was more of a defense than anything else. And Rube just rocks.

On the other hand, I keep wanting to strangle George's mom. I know she feels guilty about George, but it drives me crazy watching her trying to reach out to Reggie, because she's doing everything wrong. That's the point, of course, but it is still crazy-making.

I wasn't sure if I was going to keep watching after the first two or three episodes, but by the time it hit the fifth episode ("Reaping Havoc"), I found that I really liked George, Rube, Reggie and Roxy, though I still want to slap Mason and Joy on the side of their heads for being stupid.

Comments

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

why aren't the Reapers paid?

Yeah, that annoyed me too. The Reapers should form a union with the Slayers.

[oyceter]

They really should.

Also... it makes no sense!

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

Oh, Joy and Reggie break my wee heart. I think I'm more sympathetic to Joy than you are, maybe because it was such a relief to see the, er, somewhat-tightly-wound mother depicted with some sympathy, you know? She's doing it wrong, but she's trying.

Actually, that's something I liked about the show as a whole. Even when people are getting it wrong, or being dumb, or even being malicious, I feel like the show's attitude is "...people. Huh. We're weird." It's actually very warm, in its own bitter, sarcastic way.

(On the minus side, they do keep circling around to some of the same issues with Georgia, which got old. It probably would have helped if I hadn't been watching it in multiple-episode gulps.)

[oyceter]

Hee, I am in fact quite certain that my Joy-antipathy comes directly from my own personal issues.

I really do like that the show is getting more sympathetic toward people; at first I was a little put off because it seemed to make more fun of people. Particularly Dolores, who does annoy me.

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and it will continue to do that--I mean, make fun of some of the characters, including Dolores. But it never forgets that they're people, you know? The audience is expected to laugh at Dolores some of the time, but it's never invited to spit on her.

[oyceter]

Yes, I am very glad of that! I was a little in doubt for the first few episodes, but the tone has settled down somewhat into something that I like a lot better.

[the_rck]

There are some excellent Dead Like Me fics in the Yuletide archive.

My husband and I really enjoyed the series, both seasons. We got it from Netflix.

[oyceter]

Oh cool, thanks for the tip!

[loligo.livejournal.com]

Oh god, yes, the desire to slap Joy. She's right up there with Angela's mom from My So-Called Life on the list of mothers who mean well but irritate me so much I can't give them credit for their intentions.

She grows, though. Everyone on the show does. You'll love them all by the end.

I started watching the Sci-Fi Channel reruns right after Clark was born, and I watched the whole first season without feeling particularly passionate about the show -- it was just an amusing diversion. But I really fell in love with the second season.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

She's right up there with Angela's mom from My So-Called Life

Don't the two shows have common creative talent? I wonder if that explains it.

I like Rube very much, which is why it disturbs me to see him without his PostIt notes and hawking prescription drugs.

[oyceter]

Oh, I know! Joy does mean well, but she gets it so incredibly wrong that I just don't sympathize with her at all. Of course, these are my own personal issues speaking.

[canandagirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, James likes watching that show. I don't know...I find George too annoying.

[oyceter]

I wanted to whap her on the head when she kept trying to break the rules, and for not getting a job.

But then, the other side of me was there before, so I actually sympathize with her a lot too.