Dead Like Me, Season 2, Episode 4: Shallow End

Oh dear, we open with George voice-overing about how everyone wants to know they’re loved – or whether people even like them. This episode is going to be sickeningly twee or very angst laden. Or both. Get your vomit bags ready.

To reassure young George of that question, Joy decided to take the insecure girl to swim day. Reminding us that Joy, bless her heart, tries very very hard but doesn’t always get it right. Still, uncool 10 year old George at least can look down on even less cool Beth-Ann.

And in the present poor Joy is having similar difficulties with Reggie, who also doesn’t fit in, has no interest in doing so and has a razor sharp tongue to go with it.

To the Waffle House where everyone is delightfully random – bouncing off each other so incredibly well covering withholding love to make people desperate for your attention, how Roxy scares people and Mason playing with pepper spray.

And a messy Reap ends up with George going into work covered in bloodstains, much to her work colleague’s consternation. And to her consternation, her computer has been hacked by Neo-Nazis in Oregon now using it to send out mass mailers; she has Ethan, the nice IT guy, to fix it but in the meantime feels the need to convince everyone she isn’t a Nazi. On the plus side she does gain a super intelligent and efficient lackey in Ethan – she tries to figure out why and realises that her keeping him at arm’s length and reacting with panicky violence probably counts as “withholding love” to encourage people to want you.

She revels in the sudden power and popularity that comes from being an arsehole. Especially since being a nice girl never got her anything (though it has to be said the sarcastic George was never what you might consider a fluffy person). And she even laces into Crystal – ooh she’ll regret that.

George starts to have second thoughts about the whole being mean thing, though she’s not sold on niceness; especially when Delores tells her that Ethan just quit.

Meanwhile Daisy has a reap in a plastic surgery clinic, where her self-confidence makes her a little out of place among the enraged fighting women in the waiting room and the trans woman, Stan, waiting surgery who is, alas, her Reap when caught in the cross fire of thrown high heel shoes. Daisy is there to provide lots of comfort and they go to church together. At church Stan rants and curses at god and tries to throw a bible at the cross, incensed by her own exclusion. Stan asks Daisy to throw the Bible, but she refuses. Daisy urges Stan to pray and Stan says “I’m willing to forgive him, but I want him to say sorry first.” The stain glass window breaks and Daisy runs outside to chase off the kids who threw a rock. Stan’s trip to the afterlife arrives in front of the window, in the form of a figure robed in light opening their arms to Stan.

Dead Like Me, Season 2, Episode 3: Ghost Story

Open with George at work giving us a story about someone sinking in a swamp while she sinks under her huge work load (courtesy of her promotion) and Delores is so eager to tell her about the Happy Time Retreat she hasn’t signed up for yet! George is less than eager. In  between being a fluffy bunny, Delores makes a deadly accurate observation – George uses humour and sarcasm to keep people at a distance, pointing out she has no personal objects on her desk, no photos of friends or family at all.

Of course, George reflects part of the reason she isn’t joining Delores’s team is because she’s already been drafted to the dead team. To underscore that, she and Daisy go on a reap of two women speaking Spanish to a Brazilian personal trainer at the gym while George considers ways of making some fake photos of her fictional family. Though post Reap of the vapid stereotypes, Daisy agrees that George does use humour and sarcasm as a distancing technique.

At the Waffle House everyone else gathers around for their random comments about the fake parents picture George has made (I do like how they bounce off each other); and Rube agrees that she doesn’t fit in. Which is fine, George doesn’t want to – but she doesn’t want to stand out either. She even doesn’t join the Waffle House card club to get free waffles, despite every other Reaper joining.

Flashback to her childhood and her parents hiding from carollers with her at Christmas so they wouldn’t be dragged into joining them. (Side note – is this actually a thing in America? People gather on someone’s doorstep and sing at them? Do they even check if the people inside celebrate Christmas first?) Her family has always been loners who didn’t join in.

Back to work and the Retreat Facilitator joins the campaign to make George do stuff with people, he’s very pushy and leaves George feeling like a “loser” for holding down the fort. She goes to the Waffle House and tells Rube she’s going on the Retreat to help stay low – because being on the outside is making her stand out more. Rube still wants her on call though and objects to George’s sarcasm.

George joins Delores on the Retreat, though her sarcasm is very much in evidence. She doesn’t join in the game (saying what animal you are) very well and is snarky and prickly throughout – with added enthusiasm that out in the wild is a perfect place for everyone to truly get to know everyone. Which prompts lots of opening up about people’s secrets and pains and struggles and one recently split up couple starts to bicker. Millie continues to snark and not join in until everyone stares at her and she thaws and says – she’s a cat. Not a housecat, a stray – mean, distant

Rube also takes some time off (I wager to follow George) leaving them with the dire warning not to fuck up – meaning Mason who promptly loses his post it. He freaks out and panics and joins Daisy who is Reaping a biker in a notorious biker bar and discussing poetry (which I love – why can’t you have biker poets?)

At camp, I was right – Rube shows up to see George and give her her post it. Delores notices him so, again, they trot out the Alcoholics Anonymous excuse. George comments how even when she tries to join the circle, death drags her out again

George goes on her walk to find her Reap target while Rube joins the camp for storytime – telling a love story – a story of a man and a woman in love who fell out and he left in anger (I kind of like how Rube assumes leadership of the whole group without even trying) and then got stuck in a swamp trying to get back to her with lots of parables around it. The bickering couple both protest he could have got back to his wife, I imagine indicative of them regretting splitting up. Rube has a message for George about facing fears together and George’s internal monologue praises having a spot in the circle.

Daisy’s idea is to break into Rube’s flat where Mason hits Rube’s booze and they discover a vast supply of post its (hey, Crystal had a vast supply of stolen post its too – and didn’t seem to shocked by helping them work on their paperwork). They sample more of Rube’s booze and, predictably, get rather distracted, covered in post its and dancing. But in between the celebrations, Mason drops a bomb – someone’s going to die alone today and Mason keeps praising how perfect and beautiful Daisy is. Mason goes on with a powerful, despairing question as to just what, in the whole scheme of things, does one more unhappy soul mean. Daisy pushes him to remember the post it – because he always looks at it, always, before he puts it in his pocket. Proving also that Daisy watches Mason, pays attention to him. She lays next to him on the bed and tells him he needs to remember this one, or they will die alone.

Dead Like Me, Season 2, Episode 2: Ledger

We open with George thinking how different she is from normal girls, thinking about death and post its – and having a night time visit with Rube to ask him if he filled out her post it – the one that listed her Estimated Time of Death, the one that a Reaper took and then reaped her. Rube wants to know why that even matters – and George shifts to ask what more information does Rube get? All the other Reapers get is a name and time on a post it, what info does Rube get? And what did he get about her? Which leads to a powerful emotional rant about what it should have said – how young she was and how few experiences she’d had. He tries to distract her with an anecdote about balance, it all adding up and it all working out in the end - which doesn’t work – she wants to be young and silly and live. Rube points out she’s still there, she is still young (and silly)

And, yes, he did write out her post it. And if he had known what a wonderful person she is back then… he would have still written it, because that’s how the system works.

The next day George has an internal rant about nothing adding up or being balanced. It’s all down to luck – and she sees a new element of bad luck, the Las Household is up for sale.

Inside Joy talks about selling the house because she can’t afford to buy Clancy out – something Reggie resents and snarks about Joy being “lazy” for not going back to work; though Joy objects especially since her job as a legal secretary was one she hated and constantly made her miserable (though Reggie points out, not inaccurately, that Joy is pretty much always irritable).

Later Joy reminisces about their family when her kids were young, looking though memorabilia of George. And then goes through Clancy’s things for more sadness.

To contrast selling the house and argument, Clancy arrives with a big shiny new car with some more touching reminiscences before he ruins it all – being Clancy. There follows more squabbling over who gets what possessions when Reggie comes home. Awkwardness.

More of George upset and musing on luck as she joins the gang in the Waffle House who are already being immensely fun bouncing off each other with Roxy’s new job as a cop (and getting free food) and her gun and Mason liking her gun and she threatening to shoot him. And then actually shooting him (he did deserve it, it has to be said). After a bad-luck based Reap Rube joins them in time for Daisy’s new obsession with Catholic saints.

And someone has stolen George’s bike. Given her already bad mood, the news leads to a rather epic tantrum (for some reason the Rube’s wisdom becomes a “whose to blame” with the seeming message of “no-one” and “pretty things just disappear” um… I don’t think theft is a blameless incident)

Dead Like Me, Season 2, Episode 1: Send in the Clown

First episode of a new season – and that means a recap. Actually, it’s a pretty good recap, nicely summing everything up elegantly. Worries for this season? Season 1 was left with no plot hooks and a fairly weak overarching plot itself – I wonder where this season will go and whether the separate episodes can be interesting enough in their own right

We open in the Waffle House and George reading the Obituaries – the Reaper Sports pages – and feeling bitter when people live even to be 50; given her own very young death. At least it was very well reported – she asks Daisy and Mason if there’s was (Mason no – drug death in the 60s wasn’t newsworthy and Daisy’s death was buried since it happened on the set of Gone with the Wind). This leads, because of Daisy, to a conversation of the many men Daisy slept with and questioning of why George died a virgin (George’s reasons don’t impress Daisy). And Mason realises since he’s knocked off the booze & drugs he’s suddenly attracting more attention (aha, season 2 is jettisoning the bizarre fiction that Callum Blue is not hot).

Rube arrives with the assignment including multiple deaths at a farmer’s market (and a discussion about what constitutes a “disaster”. 7 deaths and under is a “crying shame”. I do love their banter). To the Farmer’s Market and the usual game of tracking down exactly who is going to die and putting the Reaper touch on them. Throw in some highly dubious but partially challenged racial banter, a discarded cigarette, a graveling and a gas leak and Booooom. George feels especially bad because she Reaped a flower seller who gave her a flower just before being Reaped. George flees the scene – especially since the disaster zone resembles her own death too much.

Back at the Waffle House, Mason is revelling in his newly awakened taste buds after being sober and drug free for the first time on 40 years. And Roxy has an insightfully cutting note about Daisy and her demeanour and why it doesn’t work on Roxy.

And at the Las household, family life is rocky and Joy continues to try and understand and bond with Reggie.  And a reminder from George that Rube hates her stalking her family – as she returns to the Waffle House, still disturbed and short tempered and guilty; leaving her flower and breakfast going to work (after Rube walks out from more tales of Daisy’s “star fucking” days).

George heads into work – actually relieved since it’s a job where she won’t be dealing with life and death. She has to deal with Delores – and bad news, training the bosses inept nephew Brennan. Well, apparently bad news but the consolation prize is that he’s easy on the eyes. Time for training and, yes, Brennan is not very intelligent. Also, George is pretty creepy when she finds a guy hot. She also gets jealous over other women paying attention to him (already claiming him as her boyfriend) and Delores advises her against office romance – that she’s young and has her whole life to meet someone. Ouch. As George says – she’s a virgin with a death certificate, what is she waiting for?

Dead Like Me, Season 1, Episode 14: Rest in Peace

George thinks the day will be good – and is confirmed by a random $20 bill landing in her bike spokes, that’s a good sign. Of course when she gets to the Waffle House Roxy randomly chews her out apparently for quitting her job the very day after she quit her last job. But it’s George’s day, according to Rube (which George is a little suspicious about) but this means free breakfast, more Roxy snark – and even no assignment from Rube.

Since it’s her day, George decides this is the day she will get her job back with Happy Time. And Delores tells her “no” – because she quit Happy Time to take one of Happy Time’s postings and quit that job after 5 minutes. She has been replaced and Delores – Ms. Herbig - is no longer friendly.

George leaves in an epic huff to wait at the lifts – and Delores comes running, distraught, trying to leave the building because she gets a phone call saying her cat is in dire straits. After tasing a passing arsehole by the lifts, George takes Delores’s keys and offers to drive because distraught Delores is in no fit state to.

At the vets, George stays with Delores. And she starts staring at a boy in the waiting room – he has a post it in his comic. One that looks a lot like the post-it’s the Reapers get. She assumes he’s a pet Reaper hassles him. George is a massive support for the panicky and upset Delories and her elderly cat. She finds words of comfort in trusting that the universe will ensure that everything will be ok, eventually – words she’s not sure she believes but gains confidence from saying and, in some way, making things ok.

And it turns out the kid is an animal Reaper – but he’s there for a rabbit, not Delores’s cat. The cat is fine. George offers to stay longer with Delores but she says she’ll be fine – and gives George her job back. She catches up with the Reaper kid and they both share death stories. Finding that the kid is pretty much homeless, she gives him the $20 she found at the beginning of the episode.

Roxy, Mason and Daisy go their merry way with Roxy guessing various people they meet are Reapers, Mason whining about whether he’s an attractive man (yes yes he is) and that he hasn’t had sex in 15 months (Roxy: Jesus, pay for it!). There follows Daisy trying to teach Mason to get a date and the writers trying to convince us someone who looks like Mason finds it impossible to find a woman who likes him. Until he finds a Goth who is into Reapers, that works.

And Rube’s appointment takes him to a yoga studio and he gets roped into joining in and then dies trying to show off to one of his female students. And is immensely frustrated by the fact she was flirting with him and eager to be with him and now he’s dead. He encourages Rube to be less on the edges, that he needs to know how to live. Until he passes on to the first overtly religious afterlife we’ve seen.

Dead Like Me, Season 1, Episode 13: Vacation

George is facing family issues again – every year the Las family used to go on holiday and, of course, George used to be sullen and pouty about it because she was far too cool for family holidays. And now, separated from her family preparing to go on the first holiday since her death, she wants to go with them. She wonders if she haunts her family – especially her sister (while hiding in her sister’s cupboard to spy on her). Rube has an excellent insight – haunting is all about envy. George’s envy for the family she no longer has.

That family is, of course, full of lots of bickering between Joy and Clancy. And the phone keeps ringing then ringing off whenever Joy answers it – but there’s someone there when Clancy picks up. Uh-huh. Clancy also seems less than thrilled by the whole thing.

When they arrive at the cabin, Clancy is still not happy – and he’s brought a mobile phone with him. Joy tries hard to make the holiday good for Reggie in the face of Clancy’s indifference; which contrasts sharply with George’s happy flashbacks. Including an awesome in observation from Joy about not needing to work so constantly for stuff that makes them happy when the simple life in the cabin brings them such joy.

The next morning Joy asks Reggie if she’s ok and she says no – Joy admits she isn’t either. Reggie talks about missing George and going somewhere else on holiday next year.

At the Waffle House there are no assignments – the Gravelings are taking the day off (and also enjoying the Waffle House). No-one dies today – and no-one knows why (I’m going to go for “convoluted story twisting so you can force a holiday plot).  But no time off – it’s filing time! Filing time which consumes most of the Waffle House much to Kiffany’s annoyance until Rube orders food for all the piles. And the empty booth full of Gravelings (and, yes, Kiffany has seen enough that the Gravelings don’t phase her).

And George has actually learned things by working in filing and actually has useful things to add – Roxy also has useful things to add “shut up and get on with it.” Especially since the filing system includes the arcane “last thought” storage. (Regrets about pets are more common than regrets about spouses it seems). All around people do many many risky things that don’t make them die for once, while George is still having sad flashbacks of past family holidays. Mason flirts with Daisy, as always and Kiffany hovers around as well, trying to draw Roxy in conversation and further pad this episode.

George leads a rebellion against the manual copying and demands they use actual data entry methods and actual computers – everyone agrees with her and after Roxy puts her foot down, Rube caves and they sneak to Happy Time with the keys George still has.

Dead Like Me: Season 1, Episode 12: Nighthawks

We open with George suffering from amnesia – the toll of taking the souls of the living and watching them die is bothering her and she can’t stop thinking about death. She does the insomnia work through the town, hating everyone who is maliciously sleeping while she can’t (oh I’ve done that a few times)

Everyone else was sleeping just fine – unfortunately – because Rube has called them in for a 1:00am meeting at the Waffle House. It’s time for their joyful self-assessment forms (which everyone complains about – Daisy tries to weasel out of it, Mason needs more drugs, Roxy glares at the waste of her time)

George’s wandering brings her to the Waffle House where everyone is grumbling through their exams and is bemused why she’s not involved and what people are actually doing. Rube grabs George and pulls her away and gives her a wonderfully cryptic non-answer about why she’s not taking the test in between talking about his desire to learn how to paint. George is almost offended that she isn’t taking the test.

For some reason art and George whining leads to lots of flashback clips about Rube and food. That’s the second lot of rather convoluted flashback clips that have been shoe-horned into this episode.

Which is when we switch to Roxy doing her test and get a series of clips of her as well.

Really? Really Dead Like Me? A clip show? You are actually having a clip show? A clip show on episode 12 of your first season? You don’t have enough material for a clip show!

On to Daisy – and her clips. Really? Daisy hasn’t even been in the show that long yet I get a clips recap? Mason’s recap follows before George and Rube discuss art and, seeing a picture that looks like Daisy, George corrects Rube’s opinion of her shallowness and tells him she thinks Daisy is sad. Oh, and Mason and Daisy torment the poor waitress Kiffany for test answers. She even offers to help Roxy. Rube also keeps focusing on a couple eating in the Waffle House.

And George learns Rube has a job – a soul to Reap, that morning, at her old house. George, naturally, freaks out a little while Rube lays down the law – she cannot interfere. Rube tells her it’s not about her and tells her she has a problem with rules (excuse me – one of her family could be potentially about to die and he brings it down to a “problem with rules”? That’s grossly off base for Rube). This convoluted segue leads us to a set of George flashback clips.

Dead Like Me, Season 1, Episode 11: Bicycle Thief

Add to the list of things George hates is public transportation which gets George to the Waffle House smelling of oranges. We have another anecdote of someone Daisy had sex with and Mason advises George to steal a car. Rube has a lot of patience; though not so much when Mason starts whining. And rather than stealing a car, Rube pushes the idea of getting a bike.

On to George’s work where she discovers bikes are very expensive and Josh, her co-worker, keeps talking to her; though apparently he saw a job that pays well she may be interested in – which she gets! Rejoice… except Delores who is very very upset about George leaving; George is nice about it but makes an excellent comment about needing a job more “living wageish”.

She may be sorry to see George go but Delores is determined to throw a massive going away party. George tries to stop her, but Delores is determined – and really really angry about George leaving (since she considers Happy Time home), repressed under all those disturbing smiles. George looks around at their colleagues and realises how many of them have personalised their work space and turned it into a little home and co-workers she’s never met before are suddenly really upset that she’s going.

The party begins – and anti-social George instantly hides from her own party and her newest super-duper friend, Stephanie, offers her drugs. And Delores looks awfully jealous. As the party progresses, Josh says how important George must be to get such an amazing party – but George says it’s all Delores so Josh assumes Delores must really care about her – but George says she cares about Happy Time; which Delores over hears and she very pointedly gives George the silent treatment. I think I had a boss like her once.

George tries to get back into Delores’s good books and fails badly – and then realises Stephanie’s casual “look out for each other” statement meant far more in Happy Time, when she finds her under the table tearing up paper looking for… blue and having to save yellow.

After rescuing Stephanie, Delores makes a tearful speech about George leaving.

Daisy’s Reap is a tortured artist, complete with artsy speak he doesn’t sell his art, that’s not why he paints – besides things don’t see until after the artist dies. Yes, Daisy was quick to pay attention to that one. One Reap later and the artist has drunk something he really shouldn’t have. She collects a painting she likes and heads off – followed by the ghost of the dead guy. She takes him to the Waffle House and hands him over to Rube where the ghost objects to her painting theft. Rube tries to point out the man is dead – but the artist insists. (So Rube doesn’t necessarily disapprove of stealing from the dead just conning the bereaved).

Dead Like Me, Season 1, Episode 10: Business Unfinished

Today’s theme seems to be business and eternal to-do list and Delores giving George a massively repetitive task which she thinks is soothing and zen. Delores can find a bright happy side to everything ensuring that, if I knew her, I would have to kill her. George seems to agree with me on that score. Increasing the chances of murder, George also works enough hours to qualify for their health and pension benefits – which means lots of deductions so she takes home less money

Ok, this seems like a very odd system

This means she only orders toast at the Waffle House and is most unhappy. Unlike Roxy who comes in with balloons and good will for all. She must be ill. She even wants to buy George breakfast she feels so blissed out; Rube gives her 2 days off. See, I’m not the only one who thinks she’s ill. Daisy complains, of course, because she’s Daisy and someone needs to axe murder her. She also succeeds in ruining Roxy’s mood.

Daisy goes to reap a snobby racist woman surrounded by her rich fellows who gets set on fire by the flambé, not helped by her friends trying to put her out by throwing alcohol on her. Unfortunately for Daisy, rich snobby dead lady isn’t co-operative (but she has manners enough to get Daisy to tip the bus boy who tried to put her out).

So what does Daisy do? She takes the ghost to see Georgia at work – even calling her real name rather than the one she uses (Millie) at work. She has a plan to use her very rich ghost to get money –oodles of it. George is tempted but it’s just wrong to use dead people to make money. Very moral but it has to be said that both Mason and Betty regularly stole from dead people. This moral quandary lasts a few minutes before George decides to fake a dead relative to get time off. And Delores is such a happy dappy person she even helps George abuse the rules to get more time off.

They take their scheme – and ghost – to see Mason and she looks around a very nice house and asks if it’s a slum (she thought George’s work place was a sweat shop). She wants to communicate with her son. And for Daisy’s plan to work she needs Mason out of his house – which requires negotiation based on Mason’s creepy attraction to her resolving at 15% of the money and him getting to see her breasts. Mason, invest in porn and get your creepiness off Daisy, you can see breasts there and easily negotiate and extra 5%

Dead Like Me, Season 1, Episode 9: Sunday Mornings

The theme this week is George and good memories she looks back on. And speaking of things we look back on - Roxy’s back! Thank you – and her first line is pointing out an annoying habit of Daisy’s! Is this why they got rid of her for a while? Because there’s no way Roxy would tolerate the newly arrived Daisy’s shenanigans? Anyway, Daisy accuses George of being “internal” which is why she has no friends. Roxy snarks more at Daisy (deservedly) I think Roxy is going to make Daisy far more tolerable.

In other things getting better, it looks like the Las household may be heading up with Reggie being much happier and brighter with JD the dog with even Joy and Clancy bonding. Things are looking up

Less so for George going to a college for her death appointment (accompanied by Mason for the usual skeevy reasons), reminiscing about their families and how George was so close to her dad as a child but they drifted apart. George goes all internal with the stress presence of the college while Mason, of course, finds some drugs (and declaims his theory that colleges are invented by bacteria). She finds her target – a ridiculously enthusiastic college student with big big hopes that are now very much dashed. And Mason’s peeping Tom ways let him see an attempted rape, to which he promptly clonks the guy on the head with a fire extinguisher.

Afterwards, George and the woman Mason rescued talk about reaction in crisis and how they think they’re ready but then have a brain freeze; and George bonds over how alike they are. Goerge sees a friend and actual friend – and Mason develops a crush. And more than just he-wants-to-have-sex-with-her crush. To which Daisy, seeing Mason with some vulnerable feelings, promptly stomps all over everything.

The problem with undead characters is you can’t wish them dead.

And Roxy is being given grief on her job, as usually – and then he touches her. Touches her when she told him not to. This is where we learn that a pissed off Reaper can rip the soul out of your body, hold it above their head and give dire warnings before putting it back.

At work, George tells Delores she has lunch plans – and Delores very kindly, very patiently tells George it’s fine to say no to her without having to lie. Which shows again how Delores is both kind and annoying – and how insular George normally is. Of course she does have lunch plans this time and she and Charlotte continue to enjoy each other’s company; Charlotte complains about how the guy trying to rape her also hit her joy of the sonnets she was reading at the time – joy George used to share because her dad (a university professor) used to read them to her. In fact, Charlotte invites her to a seminar about them lead by – yes, Clancy Lass, George’s dad. And she’s struck by how engaging and entertaining and clever he is in the lecture hall – completely different from how he was at home. George reflects on how Clancy changed and realised she changed and became a teenager and started avoiding him so stopped seeing Clancy as he was.

Dead Like Me, Season 1, Episode 7: Reaper Madness

George – as Millie – is at work, musing sarcastically about brain cells and not doing a whole lot of anything when Delores drops in with a super new job for her! Fiona is a new employee and Millie/George gets to mentor her! (Which, as George notes, is like a promotion but without the pay raise). Still George takes to it well, despite Fiona’s eccentricity, telling her the various pointlessnesses of the job (filing paper no-one cares about into boxes no-one even bothers to label)  of the job and for a brief, horrible moment it looks like George may become responsible and Delores mark 2! Until she tells Fiona where the good pens to steal are.

Her snark reflects on how she did very little for the first 18 years of her life and her regrets  - not big hopes and dreams regrets, but little regrets: like Reggie and her toilet-seat tree who she barely even noticed when she was alive.

Which brings us to George’s reap – apparently a schizophrenic, Ronnie Dobbs, and right next to Mason’s reap – and she’s stopped just in time by a call from Rube calling her to the Waffle house; there’s been a clerical error and Ronnie’s not meant to die – not yet anyway. Oops. Daisy continues to be a headache to everyone (now freaking out about cottage cheese. We also get another order of “look we should hate her” slut-shaming). And George is slightly uncomfortable about Ronnie because she’s sure he was looking at her significantly

Cut to Ronnie in his psychiatrist’s office, scolding him for going off his meds  - and Ronnie can clearly see the graveling that causes the death of Mason’s reap, a window-washer. He goes downstairs where Mason plans to get high with the ghost (of course) and he, again, sees the gravelings, notices Mason – and focuses on George.

At work, George finds Millie has utterly failed to do the job she gave her, because George had inspired her not to care by describing how pointless it was. George is strangely proud of this – she had inspired someone! She was a role-model! This flashes some more memories of George’s – including regrets; her mother, Joy, didn’t give her money or treats when she lost her teeth as a child, she gave her little notes with inspiring messages like “you are loved.” Awww, of course being a child means she screwed it up and threw it away because it wasn’t money and Joy found it in the bin. Awwwww, now I definitely feel sorry for Joy. I’m not quite sure how inspiring the slack-assness of Fiona prompted the memory, but I’m willing to leap along. So began George’s disillusionment when Joy didn’t try next tooth – and so did George imagine the same for Reggie, and so George left her a gift basket tied to her toilet seat tree.

George goes on to her next reap in the park – and sits on the same bench as Ronnie. Who tries (awkwardly) to flirt with her – and she tries to responds (equally awfully) confirming that “undead” doesn’t mean “dead”. In between the flirting – Ronnie predicts a death, seeing the Gravelings (he predicts the wrong death, but still).

George reports this to Rube who just puts it down to him seeing George too many times; calls her sloppy and tells her to live on the fringe more. Which, as George snarks, is ironic because she spent her whole life living on the fringe.

Back at the Lass household, Reggie opens the box with lots of clippings from George of fun, inspiring activities to try including horse riding. While Joy and Clancy argue about what to do with Reggie, Joy is flailing around and suggests moving her to a private school. Joy’s frustrated by Clancy’s unwillingness to make a decision or confront the issue that Reggie may be different and may not get the best education suited to her individuality in a large public school. And Reggie comes in and says she wants to ride a horse.

Dead Like Me, Season 1, Episode 6: My Room

George’s sister, Reggie, is still being kind of creepy with her taxidermy raven and George and Rube are still moping in the Waffle House over Betty. Until Mason arrives anyway, I don’t think Mason is that capable of moping. And it seems that George isn’t talking to Rube, Rube’s not a 100% sure why but is guessing that she’s blaming him for what happened to Betty. While George practices her passive aggressive funk, Mason desperately tries to flirt with an uninterested woman behind them who is not only uninterested but far far too busy being picky and difficult with the waitress.

Mason’s pathetic and very creepy flirting attempts don’t impress George either, but it turns out that the blonde woman is Daisy – the new Reaper to replace Betty. And Daisy’s first act is to decide she’s going to call George by her full name, Georgia, because she finds it prettier. George declares instant loathing. I kind of agree with George. That hatred backs down a little when Daisy pours her drink down Mason when he continues to creepy flirt with her. Again, I find myself agreeing with George.

At the Lass household, the tension is thick in the air as Joy, in her bath, tries to get her husband Clancy to open up, pay attention to her or express some interest. That failing she turns to Reggie, who has missed school again because she is still have problems over George’s death. Joy again tries to raise the idea of therapy – something he nixed before – but he’s keeping his head in the sand and wants to just talk to her, see how she’s going. To which Joy, with perfect accuracy, points out “we” means her, since Clancy is never there. Healthy relationship it is not.

George, meanwhile, is adapting to living alone and really loving the quiet that comes with it. And she should know better than to say things like that – because Daisy knocks at the door. Guess who has a new room-mate! But she brought potpourri. Yay – y’know you could probably have summed up that entire character with “she brought potpourri” and you’d know there’d be absolutely no hope of you ever liking her.

Let’s seal that – Mason brings up her luggage being a creepy fool who thinks creeping around after an uninterested woman will make her pay attention and, I kid you not, a homeless man called Raol she picked up off the street for booze to carry her bags. I know they’re trying to make us hate Daisy – but really? Why not just have her kick some puppies and have done with any pretence at subtly

We get some of her backstory – she was an actress in Gone with the Wind and she regales George and Mason with a wonderful; tale about how she thought she was giving oral sex to Clark Gable under the table but it turns out she got the wrong guy. I think this is supposed to add to our hatred of her because sexual woman = evil.

Confirming that, the next day Daisy, who doesn’t work, monopolises the bathroom when Georgia, who does, is waiting to get ready for said job. Is Daisy going to be a regular character, because at this point she’s pretty irredeemable.

At the Lass house. Joy tries to talk to Reggie about skipping school, running into Reggie’s lies and tripping up trying to find a nice way to talk about it. Poor Joy. When Reggie refuses a lift to school, Joy follows her to see where she’s going – and is lead to her tree. The tree Reggie has decorated with many many toilet seats. Poor Joy.

At work, George finds more things to annoy her – a broken photocopier and Delores. Delores seems to exist to be annoying and is currently battling a work drama about Jimmy being transferred, George looks as confused and indifferent as I am; Jimmy’s leaving is apparently going to cause problems for the Happy Time bowling team. George continues to have a bemused look on her face. Of course, with someone missing on the team, Delores instantly hones in on a replacement – her favourite Millie (George). At this point if I were George I’d find the nearest window and jump out of it – sure if it’s an upper floor it’ll hurt but it’ll be less painful in the long run. At least her rehab lie is biting her in the arse; I heartily approve.

Dead Like Me Season 1, Episode 5: Reaping Havoc

Begin with a brief flashback of how Betty died – jumping off a cliff, before hitting the present hard, in the Waffle House, with George still finding Rube mad at her and telling her not to meddle with fate. Even angry he tries to be nice to her – and she heads off to her work with the sudden realisation that she has no friends – only co-workers.

She briefly considers Delores for the role – but then we’re all reminded how very very very annoying she is. Delores questions also required George to invent a jet pilot brother for “Millie” (I would have gone for only child myself) and suddenly being dragged along to a scrap booking meeting. As George puts it, the lengths she goes to for free food. Delores shows off her work related scrap book which promises to be a read several times worse than anything we’ve DNFed. George contemplates her own work related scrapbook – body parts and bones and mementos of terrible accidents! Yay!

What is scrapbooking? And how is it a social activity? Do people actually do this? Really? Do they come with warning signs?

To the Waffle House to spend time with Betty, talking about guys, cheese and how she thinks George is beautiful – definitely friend potential. Oh and they’re sharing a table with a very confused complete stranger  - who is actually dead and doesn’t quite realise it yet (they’ll get to that once George finishes telling Betty about her fictional brother)  and George remarks on how alive Betty is – for the undead.

Back Betty’s her actual life – and death – being reaped by Rube after that jump which she did for the thrill – and isn’t impressed by her boyfriend not joining her. She extolls the joy of jumping to Rube, the will and courage it takes and plans to do it again – then sees her body floating downstream. And we learn that Betty takes polaroids of every soul she reaps and sorts them into sacks – her signature.

To the Waffle House with George wondering about order and Betty preparing to go “shopping” – which means lots of items for removing tags. And Mason arrives with news about a dust storm in China and an awful comment about “yellow people” that makes even cynical George speak up. They quickly divert to foreign travel and Betty tells a wonderful tale of how she went to terrible devastating volcanoes alongside sandy beaches. Rube suggests taking George to the next running of the bulls.

Much as I loathe Mason’s comment, I do like the casual way they’re referring to death in the conversation. Is it insensitive? Sure – but how jaded would these people be by now? They get their appointments, George and Mason snipe about the fruit and Betty calls Rube an asshole for the way he treats George (since she’s a kid). I do love their banter.

Mason goes on a job reaps an old woman’s soul then has tea with her ghost listening to her memories (and she won’t let him use her cup – that’s her cup, she has other cups for guests). She’s definitely a character, refuses to let him call anyone because if it takes them a while to find her that’s their fault for not checking on her more often. And leave the door open – if the coyotes eat her it’ll make her kids feel terrible! Mason starts looking for valuables and even he comments on her racism.

Yeah – what is this, random racist comments for shits and giggles so people can call them out? What’s the point? It doesn’t even serve as a way of dating them by showing supposed “archaic” language because they haven’t been living in a tomb.

Back to Betty and George – since Betty shows up at George’s with all her sacks and Betty talks about her aliases (see, she’s sensible, she goes for “only child” and how she changes them to stop people being suspicious and to shake things up). She also gets Betty’s cynically accurate assessment of people – and how she can so easily split them into bags – like the “reiterator people”, people who take other’s thoughts and personalities and convince themselves they’re their own – and there’s only so many personalities in the world; she’s met them all

And there’s a method to her actions – she’s brought the sacks to show George that people aren’t snowflakes. Oh and she needs more storage space. George takes the lesson with her to work and hopes it’s not true but can’t help but notice the common types among her colleagues and how everything you love or hate is loved or hated by a gazillion other people – each colleague she can picture going into one of Betty’s sacks.

That’s depressing, the dead old woman is much more fun – she’s teaching mason how to forge her signature on social security cheques. And Mason reassures her about crossing over, telling her what she will see (something bright and lit up –something wonderful tailored to her) while lamenting that he never got to see one – only other people’s

Alas we can’t remain with those fun folk because George is still stuck in Millie hell. Delores and Mike try to drag her to a social outing involving stationery and George dodges it by saying she’s celebrating being 1 month sober… Is George incapable of telling normal white lies? Delores, being Delores, gushes pride and admiration. And talks about her cocaine addiction. That’ll teach you George!

She’s rescued by Rube – well is rescued is the word – who Delores assumes is Millie’s sponsor. Delores praises Millie to the hills and back – which Rube has trouble believing (can’t think why) and they head out, joined by Betty who is obsessing over Crystal’s hair (don’t ask why, it’s Betty). As to why she’s really going to the park –it’s the Bowers’ family reunion and an M J Bowers is due to die. Given the number of Bowers, the surname and initials isn’t that helpful.

Especially since there is a difference between “an M J Bowers” and “The M J Bowers”.  Especially with several to choose from in various perilous situations.

Back to the Waffle House with Betty’s wonderful way with the dead and the dead MJ asking why they won’t deliver last messages (postage, it adds up) and George repeating her complaint that they’re not paid to Reap.

Back to work where George finds herself actually talking to Delores and wanting to do so – before heading to a bar with Betty (who makes a brief comment about being restless, unable to sit still) where there’s a drunken Irishman, a birthday party and dancing on the bar. Betty takes the happy man’s picture, with everyone around him laughing and clapping and George reaps his soul, touching his foot –before the mounted sword fish impales him.

Dead Like Me, Season 1, Episode 4: Repercussions

We open with some joyous George snark about sweets. Honestly, I would watch this show just to hear the voice overs – normally voice overs annoy me, they’re clumsy writing at its worse, but George’s sarcastic commentary is a joy to hear.

The sweets in question are being eaten by Roxy whose deadpan demeanour still leaves George questioning whether she likes George or not. And they’re waiting and waiting – and the guy they’re waiting for doesn’t show up

To Der Waffle House to report to Rube. Apparently it happens and the guy will be rescheduled – much to George’s annoyance because it has been rammed home in the last 3 episodes that she can’t change fate, she can’t save people. She complains at how really unfair it is that there’s all these consequences when she interferes, but people can escape through random chance. Rube pretty much chalks it down to it is what it is and hands out his post it – including one that sounds like a dream for Mason. Oh and Betty is locked in a morgue drawer/guerney thing (what do they call those things? The big body filing cabinets?) for some reason.

George continues to stalk her family and watches the fraught relationship between her mother (Joy) and her sister (Reggie) remarking that they’re exactly the same conflicts she and her mother had and how little she knew her sister. And how… odd her sister was.

At work posing as Millie, the nauseatingly saccharine Delores wants to give “Millie” some more responsibility!  She has to pick someone for a position – and prioritise the list. And in looking through the people Delores considered “the dregs” she found her old file – Georgia Lass. And she thinks again on her appointment – again considering whether she can cheat death, whether she can miss an appointment. She decides to move her lunch, changing her excuse with Delores which includes a completely unwanted sharing moment about pap smears!

Mason and Rube are heading off on their gambling trip (it’s a reap, honest) and it seems Rube is taking it waaay more seriously than Mason (the gambling, anyway. The rest kind of goes without saying) which turns out all to be a metaphor for George screwing up and Rube venting to poor Mason.

George, meanwhile has to watch a painful, agonising infomercial, trying to see P.J. Monroe, her ETD (she’s 11 minutes early – but 2 miles from the place). She tries to get to see him at his office but the assistant won’t let her near him. So she makes up a story of being drugged by his son and being raped while unconscious.

What? No – this is not something to joke about. This is not remotely funny and I have no idea why Dead Like Me decided to include this ridiculous, awful line.

George keeps up this awful lie, throwing tears into the mix while Monroe looks utterly horrified. Her reason? If she can stop Monroe going where he needs to be at 2:00 – his ETD – then he hasn’t shown up for the appointment and he gets to live. He cancels his appointment and, as a bonus to George, gives her some money. As George leaves, the assistant apologises profusely to her, offers her sister’s card who is a lawyer to help her sue Monroe’s son and makes a gesture of solidarity with her.

Mason and Rube are in an airport, having reaped a bus full of gamblers and are now returning home. Rube is annoyed by crying babies muttering about killing them which excites one of his fellow passengers and Mason is nervous about the sniffer dog. Very very nervous because he’s smuggling drugs in… body cavities.

Dead Like Me, Season 1, Episode 3: Curious George

Another day another reap – and today finds George and Rube outside a petrol station that keeps a real live bear in a miserable small cage as a tourist attraction. This is being protested by some warmly wrapped people with signs holding hands and trying to convince people not to buy petrol. George claims not to need a chaperone but, given her last two performances, Rube decides otherwise – and gives her some other hints as well, like makeshift plastic covers from binbags for when the deaths are messy. He unveils his not-very-cunning plan for finding out who the person is (calling their name) and she gets to reap his soul with a simple handshake.

It’s how they simplify things without convoluted, difficult plots that really makes it seem more like a daily activity for them more than anything else.

Then the graveling moves in – and the guy gets mauled by a bear, spraying them with blood. Nasty. Which is when Mason arrives (with his own plastic slicker), late, to tell the bloodstained George she really needs one. Ok what really makes it seems more like a daily activity for them is how gloriously  casual they are around violent horrible death. Rube points to another of the dead protestor’s – Mason’s target – whose ghost now has graphic facial scars. This is why souls are reaped before death. Time to lead the souls away with both of them lamenting how they never told the other how hot they were in life – all that time they could have been having sex. Ah, wasted opportunities.

George goes to work – apparently working for the temping agency – and has some wonderful snark about office politics she doesn’t care about, office events she’s indifferent to and office cliques she doesn’t understand and forming little groups so they can demean and attack people who aren’t members. And she has some extra insightful snark about how she feels disturbed by Delores being in her cubicle – disturbed at her in her territory and disturbed by how quickly she felt territorial about a cubicle! She’s late but covered in blood – which lets her play on Delores’s sympathy for the day off! Except she doesn’t get paid if she goes home. Time to work in borrowed clothes – but at least she got to bond with Delores by explaining her password, “rimjob.”

Of course, because Dead Like Me snark has to have some depth to it, George has gone from “silly cliques” to wondering which group she actually belongs to when she arrives at the Waffle House and Roxy and Betty have their usual awesome dinner conversation. And Rube still tries to draw her in, awww. Mason has hockey tickets – from a dead person’s widow of course. I kinda love how they fit in their casual grave robbing into the conversation so easily.

At George’s old home, Joy is wrangling George’s little sister Reggie who wants to go to school on picture day wearing the dress she wore to George’s funeral. And in her wardrobe are George’s pyjamas.  Poor Joy makes a desperate attempt to talk to Reggie with a her shaky relationship with her own mother. George is watching outside as Joy tries to give Reggie a sweater and ends up dropping it in the drive when Reggie refuses to take it. And even while acknowledging what a bad idea it is, George lets herself in to her old home, finding old pictures and toys precious that once she had casually ignored. And she does Reggie’s maths homework for her, since she knows she hated Maths (one of the few things she learned about her).

She goes into her old room - now all packed up – to claim some of her old clothes, and falls asleep on her bed, smelling her old scene (another comment on things you miss). Which means she’s still in, losing track of time, when Reggie, Joy and Clancy return (Clancy talking about missing dinner again – and he makes an unfortunate comment about letting the “girls” use his office before catching himself).  George sneaks out a window and throws the discarded sweater to the house – meaning Reggie sees it has moved.

Dead Like Me, Season 1, Episode 2: Dead Girl Walking

A week after being dead, George snarkily recaps the last episode. Much as I hate recaps, I have a soft spot for snark. She sums up her less than ideal life and how she’s continuing to live in a dead guy’s awful, filthy house. Which gets worse when the dead guy’s family show up. While she’s on the toilet no less. She manages to pass herself off as his girlfriend, briefly – before they get more suspicious and things become awkward. She should never have tried to claim the TV

Of course, squatting isn’t her only worry, it seems her little sister, Reggie, has been telling the neighbours that her mother won’t let her go to the bathroom for a reason she just can’t explain to her mother who is already a little frazzled after George’s death. And, to be fair, was pretty frazzled before as well. Frazzled seems to be a default setting for her.

Roxy is busy earning her living as a traffic warden (with Mason looking on and slacking). And she gets grief for writing a ticket and chews the guy out masterfully. Standing ovation for Roxy. When things seem to be escalating she slams it down by flashing a gun and making it clear (as politely as possible) that she will fuck him up. Well that ends any objections he might have.

We get a hint of how the appointments work – Rube gets an envelope put under the door from an anonymous figure and from that he writes out the post-its of all the deaths. Which he hands out at his next breakfast meeting where we have their awesome group interactions (including excellent TMI sharing over various deaths. Seriously, Roxy and Betty could be a stand up act on their own). Rube asks for volunteers for extra work but George asks what they get – which sums up what everyone’s thinking. Also, because George did that whole intervening thing which was naughty, she has to work with Betty today.

Which leads to them hitchhiking out of town to their location because there’s no bus and George doesn’t have money for a taxi. She’s also wary of hitchhiking but Betty very politely insists she get in the damn car – designer shoes are not meant for 10 mile hikes, but it turns out the man is their target. Betty charms the man with skill George admires (admittedly George isn’t the most charming of people) before George does the soul claim – though Betty has to nudge her. George still considers it akin to being an accomplice to murder. For a brief moment she thinks Betty also wants to save the man’s life – but she watches as he dies in a car accident.

After his instructional day with Roxy, Mason tries to pick the lock of a parking meter for the money inside. That failed, he pulls out a baseball bat. It knocks it off the pole – but doesn’t do much else.

So to the café with George and Roxy where he disgustingly distracts them both by eating the gum from under the table (ew ew ew) and manages to sneak Roxy’s key off her ring. After that moment of disgusting food arrives and George ends up eating chips that Mason scrounges – Roxy tells her to get a job. Poor George, she can’t keep up with their banter either.

Back with George’s family, poor Joy (George’s mother) has to go to the school because Reggie has stolen a toilet seat. No, really.  At dinner that night she reveals that Reggie took all the toilets seats in the school and sends her to bed before telling her husband, Clancy, that she’s interviewing child psychologists. Clancy dismisses the idea.

Back in the Waffle House, George whines to Rube about how she hates her life et al and he gently and nicely tells her to, basically, suck it up and deal. And hands her a post it telling her to reap their server; after a gremlin, kids with a cherry bomb and heavy sign combine to kill the poor man. George also gets impaled with a fork – but Reapers heal awfully quickly.

Even if she does have to cough up the tines of the fork later that night. George decides she’s done – afterall, they can’t make her.

So the next morning in the Waffle House, she’s missing (and Mason pays his bills with a surprising amount of coins – and other pieces of traffic meter). After banging on George’s door, he slips the post it under it. And a mysterious wind blows it closer to George’s feet. She tries to ignore it for the day while it preys on her mind – what exactly happens when you have a date with death and death doesn’t show up? She misses the appointment – and the note gets even closer, impaled on one of the springs in her awful mattress. And a graveling visits her – she begins to worry if death gets penalised.

Dead Like Me, Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot

In an interesting way to introduce the protagonist, George (Georgia) Lass narrates a myth about how death got into the world – with lots of fun snarkiness.  Then shows us her and her cynical, too-cool-to-care, but definitely sarcastic view of the world, being good, caring et al. Bad people are punished by society’s law (we see an armed robber get gunned down by the police) and good people are killed by murphy’s law (we see a woman trying to coax a cat from a tree, falling and dying).

Georgia is sat in a waiting room when Delores, her Happy Time Career Councillor (who is very happy indeed), comes to collect her. Georgia has a… thin CV with little experience or education (she has Food Management experience –apparently a fast-food worker). Delores comments on how less-than-sunny Georgia is especially since being so happy got Delores so far and Georgia returns with her cutting observation of how not very far that is.

At home we get a sarcastic run down of her family, her mother playing the “I told you so” game about Georgia quitting college and Georgia being snarky and passive aggressive and wilfully using the word “moist” which her mother thinks is pornographic.

Sarcastic commentary begins the next day when her mother chivvies her out of bed to go to the new temp job (with Georgia being lazy and fighting all the way). Her mother lays out clothes – Georgia says they’re funeral clothes and her mother says “there’s going to be a funeral if you don’t move it.” As the snarky narration informs us – those are the last words her mother ever says to her. Boy is she going to be sorry.

Turns out the temp job is the one Delores gives to people she hates and it involves spending all day in the bowels of a warehouse barcode scanning piles and piles of files. She quickly begins to slack to spite Delores but, even as she tries her best to do very little, everyone else was doing a lot less. And she drops a file down an elevator shaft – which takes talent. She faces the fate of spending the rest of her life in a dead end job. Literally. Though the rest of her life is only 30 minutes