'Dead Boy Detectives' Finds New Life on Netflix
by EG
Dead Boy Detectives, a new supernatural series based on Neil Gaiman comic books, has landed on Netflix after being passed on by Max. The new series is a spin-off of Sandman, even though it was originally meant to be a spin-off of Doom Patrol. Did all the reconfiguration end up spoiling what was orignally a good idea, or is the new product better than it might otherwise have been? Read on for details.
In theory, Netflix’s Dead Boy Detectives should be a feast for the misery wraiths, faceless creatures who feed on pain and suffering. The ghostly protagonists, Edwin (George Rexstrew) and Charles (Jayden Revri), are both teenagers bullied to death at the same British boarding school seven decades apart. They spend their time finding closure for other lost souls, like a pair of high schoolers cut down in their prime or a family slaughtered by an abusive patriarch. And they’re constantly on the run from the agents of Death, who would condemn Edwin to Hell on a technicality.
Yet the duo only ever encounter one such monster over the eight-episode first season, and perhaps that’s because despite its gloomy-sounding premise, Dead Boy Detectives is the furthest thing from dour. Dark, sure; bittersweet, sometimes. But it’s never less than entertaining, thanks to an appealingly quirky lead cast and a cheeky sense of humor.
In tried-and-true TV fashion Dead Boy Detectives splits each of its eight episodes between monster-of-the-week procedural storylines (or whatever we’re calling them in the Netflix era) and serialized teen drama. The first case of theirs we follow is both: After the lads take on an assignment to rescue Crystal (Kassius Nelson) from her demonic ex (David Iacono), she becomes the third member of the crime-solving team. Ostensibly, her psychic powers make her an ideal liaison between the boys and the living, who cannot see or hear them.
But it doesn’t hurt that Charles, a punkish charmer from the 1980s, has the hots for her — to the irritation of Edwin, a World War I-era bookworm whose affection for his best mate has grown more than friendly. And so, in a room rented from a surly goth butcher (Briana Cuoco’s Jenny), the now-trio take on all manner of spooky supernatural adventures while sorting out their feelings about each other and themselves.
Originally conceived of as a spinoff to Doom Patrol, then rejiggered as a Sandman spinoff when Max turned it down, Dead Boy Detectives has inherited from both of its spiritual parents a sensibility that’s a little bit melancholic, a little bit spooky and a lot bit irreverent. Its world seems perpetually cast in green and purple shadows, but the details are less creepy than kooky. Creator Steve Yockey conjures a version of small-town Washington where a shopkeeper (Michael Beach) might secretly be a walrus and cats might speak in salty Jersey accents. Its afterlife runs on a strict bureaucracy, enforced by functionaries like the harried Night Nurse (Ruth Connell, reprising her Doom Patrol cameo). The supporting cast tend to go big, and their swings pay off in memorable figures like Esther (Jenn Lyons), a vengeful witch with the breathy voice, bitchy quips and wine-drunk sway of a reality show villainess, and the Cat King (Lukas Gage), a purring shapeshifter whose new favorite toy is Edwin.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.