Dead Like Me

I've finished season 1 of Dead Like Me. I liked it, but it's not something I'll dwell on very long.

Things I liked:

• George. She's snarky, which is always a plus. I liked that the first few episodes were about her learning lessons on being dead and being a Reaper, and the family dynamic of the Reapers is cute. As with most teenage characters, I am torn between being older and wiser and finding their teenage angst juvenile and at the same time feeling sympathy for them because I was just like that when I was that age. Ellen Muth seems young for an 18-year-old, though - I know she's not (I looked her up on IMDB and she was 22 when Dead Like Me was on), but she looks young.


• Mandy Patinkin!! You know how someone can play an iconic role, and then forever after it's impossible to see them in anything else without thinking of that character? This is like the opposite of that. It probably helps that he's older and heavier and has better hair, so he doesn't really look much like Inigo Montoya anymore, but every once in a while, he'll say something or make a facial expression that reminds me of Inigo, and it makes me happy.


• Mason. He's cute and British, need I say more? He seems kind of David Tennant-ish, but dumber and with poorer hygiene.

Things I disliked:

• The excessive quirkiness. Now, I like dark humor (I did just watch Dexter, after all), but this seems too over-the-top sometimes. Like the wacky and ridiculous accidents that kill people. It's funny once in a while, but when it happens every episode, it starts to get old. The same joke will only be funny so many times. I also thought George's family was too OTT, like Reggie's toilet seat obsession (and honestly, killing George with a flaming toilet seat from space was one of the most ridiculous deaths of all. It would be funny if it were unusual, but it seems that in this 'verse, it's an everyday occurrence).


• The inconsistent world-building. I mean, if you're gonna make up rules, at least stick to them! I realize that there were issues and Bryan Fuller left and so things changed, but it's really annoying when they've established something and then contradicted it in a later episode.


• Daisy Adair. I kind of hate her. This is partly because I'm bitter that they replaced Betty, and partly because I have loathed Laura Harris ever since she played the whiniest terrorist ever on 24. As with quirkiness, a little bit goes a long way, and Daisy's self-centeredness and her stories about her sexcapades got old really fast. (I minded her a lot less in the last couple episodes, where she was being less obnoxious and played off Mason and his issues instead.)