Watching: Dead Boy Detectives

2024, Netflix

What 100. I don't remember the characters from the comic, but that they were 12ish and dressed in British boarding school uniforms. In this TV series adaptation of the Neil Gaiman comic characters, they are older, teens, but played by people in their late 20s, at the very least. Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew, debut) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri, The Lodge) are ghosts living in London, making a "living" investigating things for other ghosts, mainly helping them find their locus, and pass into the beyond. That means they often have to avoid Death (Kirby, Sugar), as she comes for these ghosts, and that single scene directly connects the series to The Sandman.

1 - Great. The character mix. If there is something I like, its quirky characters. Here you have the dead boarding school kid, killed before he "came of age" so not really sure of his sexuality. And the "punk kid", always happy and irreverent. And Niko Sasaki (Yuyu Kitamura, Expats), the perky displaced Japanese girl who is all bubble gum & anime amidst an entire show of drab grays and blacks. Bespoke butcher shop owner Jenny Green (Briana Cuoco, The Flight Attendant), classic sourpuss goth chick annoyed by everything and everyone. Tragic Mick (Michael Beach, Third Watch), a walrus cursed to live as a man, who runs a curio shop -- his jean jacket is covered in barnacles! A pair of dandelion faeries as belligerent as the comments section of a recipe site. A witch (Jenn Lyon, Claws) who looks like she runs Portland, Oregon dive bar. Alas, the least interesting character is the main character with the bestest name, Crystal Palace (Kassius Nelson, Hollyoaks) the medium with memory loss.

1 - The Good. I like me some episodic shows. Each episode is a case, but there is always the under running main plot of them trying to find out what happened to Crystal Palace's memories, and to keep the boys from getting picked up by the Underworld's truancy officer, called the Night Nurse (Ruth Connell, Supernatural). There is a ghost driven time loop, a side trip to Hell, Niko's faeries kept in a jar, fighting the witch's giant snake under the kitchen sink, the creepy predator vibes of the Cat King, etc.  It was light but dark, if that makes any sense. And always quirky. 

Record Scriiiiitch. The Night Nurse, and the Dead Boys, first appeared in an episode of Doom Patrol ?!?!? So, that officially ties that series to The Sandman?!?! I really have to rewatch/finish that series!

1 - The Bad. For me, I never got over that these were all supposed to be kids around 16. They present as 20sumthins, in action and maturity and independence. Sure, there are reasons why each and every one of these "kids" are by themselves, without parental control, but it all felt like after-the-fact purple suit meddling where someone said, "Wait, aren't these all supposed to be teenagers?" and they scuttled to do some post-shots to add in some of said supporting details.  Sure, we live in a world where 20sumthins play teens all the time, but here it felt like they were playing 20sumthins but had cast 30sumthins.