In matters of life or death in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Universe: You get what anybody gets. You get a lifetime. But there are also times when one life—especially a short one—isn’t enough. That is the case for the Dead Boy Detective Agency: Edwin, the buttoned-up boy from the early 1900s, and Charles, the tough punk kid from the 80s. These boys haven’t had the chance to live, so they make dying a little easier for everyone else.
Minute one of episode one, Dead Boy Detectives stands on action. We met Edwin (George Rexstrew) and Charles (Jayden Revri) while they’re running from a maniacal ghost in a gas mask. We quickly get to know their personalities and a few of their powers. This is good world-building—hidden exposition, all action, all context. The opening scenes are also a metaphor for decades of hiding from Death (Kirby from Sandman). As I mentioned, a short unfulfilled life wasn’t enough for these lads, so they chose to stay together to do something good with their afterlives.
They’re not just playing detectives. Edwin and Charles have the skills and the resources needed. No matter where they are the lads get “dead mail.” A phantom Postal Carrier brings them hints about cases and, of course, dead letters. They also have office hours, where other ghosts and the occasional living person can hire them to solve ghostly issues. This leads to the case of Crystal Palace (Kassius Nelson), a living girl with psychic powers and a bad case of amnesia—brought on by her demon ex-boyfriend. If only she’d forgotten the ex rather than her family.* [see note below]. Charles and Crystal immediately connect but, feeling threatened, Edwin has to face his feelings. Thus a classic YA love triangle. Also, a good reason to team up. Crystal’s abilities as a medium give the boys a reason to expand the business. It’s a trifecta.
Rounding out the cast is Yuyu Kitamura as Niko, our neon anime girl with a gothic infusion, Briana Cuoco as Jenny the goth butcher, Jenn Lyon as Ester the Real Housewives-styled neighborhood witch, Lukas Gage as the slinky Cat King, and Ruth Connell as the strictly by the rules Night Nurse. Michael Beach is here as the lovable but grumpy Tragic Mick, a landlocked walrus. And Joshua Colley makes your chest hurt as the softly sensitive crow-boy, Monty.
Along the trip into this darkly quirky paranormal world, we make stops in London, travel by mirror to small-town America, and visit the Afterlife Lost & Found Department when “possessing the living sets off alarms.” Unforgettably, we take a short although horrific trip into ACTUAL hell. So very Orpheus and Eurydice, relationships like that mythic one are the core of Dead Boy Detectives. How Edwin and Charles change as their found family grows, balanced against the secrets they keep. Abusive relationships like Crystal and her demon, Charles with his father, or Jenny with her secret admirer are many. Yet each character, including the clients, has space to deal with those issues. Even when the resolutions happen too quickly. The cases build on themes of teens defining themselves in new ways, reflecting problems real teens face. The perpetual drain of attention-seeking on the internet, bullies presented as something to be endured rather than fixed, or family dynamics that feel like torture.
Intermingling the paranormal with the psychological and winking at you about the terror of it all is where Dead Boy Detectives sings. I’ve been trying to figure out how to describe the style and tone of the series. How about Beetlejuice (1988) x Supernatural (2005). After you watch season 1 (bingeable right now) let me know if I’m right. With a touchstone of bittersweetness, according to the DBD showrunners, “Happy endings still have sad parts, sad endings still have uplifting parts.” Dead Boy Detectives mirrors teenage life but the monsters aren’t figurative, they haunt in the flesh. That set-up works for me and I’m betting you’ll get into it too.
In the end, do something good with your (after)life: join the Dead Boy Detectives for paranormal escapades, sad romance, and solving issues of Death while dodging her.
* Note: Don’t date a demon, friends, unless they’re in a Kimberly Lemming romantasy novel.
“Dead Boy Detectives,” Netflix fantasy series, Neil Gaiman, Charles Rowland, Edwin Paine, supernatural detective series, Crystal Palace, Niko, The Sandman Universe, Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death, George Rexstrew as Edwin Payne, Jayden Revri as Charles Rowland, Kassius Nelson as Crystal Palace, Briana Cuoco as Jenny the Butcher, Ruth Connell as the Night Nurse, Steve Yockey, Beth Schwartz, DC Comics characters, paranormal mysteries, supernatural horror detective comedy-drama, Sandman characters, HBO Max to Netflix series, April 25 release date, Warner Bros. Television, Greg Berlanti, Sandman spinoff, Doom Patrol connections, Dead Boy Detectives Omnibus, Vancouver filming location, Port Townsend, Washington setting, supernatural show, teenage ghost duo, undead detectives, evil witches, Hell, Death, clairvoyant character, 8-episode series, Sandman Presents: Dead Boy Detectives, Toby Litt, Mark Buckingham, The Sandman Universe initiative, Dead Boy Detectives agency, London, Westminster Bridge filming, ghostly heroes
