This review is written after having watched through the series for the 4th-ish time.
The big catching-up-on-series project that I'm now concluding was supposed to end with watchthroughs of two series I had seen before and loved, "Dead like me" and "The mentalist". The latter disappointed me by being much worse than its remembrance in my head, so I'm absolutely elated that this series holds up. It's difficult for me to be unbiased about 'Dead like me". It's my default answer to "What's your favourite series?", and it's shaped a significant chunk of my personality and worldviews. If I could maximise my neutrality, I'd possibly rate the first season "good" rather than "great". On the other hand, I've mustered enough neutrality to rate the second season as only "great", not "excellent", so on balance I feel like I'm being rather fair.
Now, to some it might sound a bit reversed - usually it's S1 that's considered the better one, and some loss of quality is alleged for this series' second half or at least the 4th quarter. I beg to differ, and have observed how at least some of these opinions tend to base themselves on a mistaken belief that the original showrunner had left the show halfways in, or three-quarterways in - in reality, it was 5 episodes in, so his contribution is rather limited all and all. I think S1 is somewhat more philosophical and profound (and I happen to love this series' philosophical ramblings, which hardly ever happens to me elsewhere) and quirky, whereas S2 is a touch darker and more story-driven with more cohesive themes. Now, being more story-driven is not always an improvement in the series: as proven by the rather lame arcs of Georgia's relationship with Trip, or Daisy's with Ray. They have their moments, but often feel boring and ill-conceived, much like the relationships themselves. There are also occasional lasier writing moments throughout the series, but mostly writing is very high-quality. It's firmly set in its location and era, so you'll have the impetus to learn what that "Lotus" was that is now no match for this newfangled "Excel", or what it means to "Kazaa" something, or what "FICA" is.
"Dead like me" is many things at once. One, arguably the main, element is the narration by George, who in her beautfully-low voice muses about peculiarities of life and death, positing profound thesis or drawing unconventional metaphors. Sometimes these tie in with the ongoing scene, sometimes they advance a cohesive theme of an entire episode in an example of brilliant writing, and sometimes they're just a stream of consciousness. The plot and atmosphere are excellent, as we see a variety of situations that explore life, death and the various glitches in the system that may interfere with a reaper's job, or be the result of a reaper's interference with the natural, preordained chain of events. George's reaper division handles accidental deaths in particular, and we get a variety of legitimately bizarre comedic deaths - although to be honest, the show has rarely worked for me as a comedy, and I especially loathe the toilet humour it commonly contains. I kind of get their reasoning with that, the same as why George was killed by a toilet seat and not any other part of the deorbited space station (beyond the absurdity humour value) - in a series so thick with the pathos of death, it serves to ground life in comparison, show that it involves not only happiness or opportunities but also certain not-so-elevated problems.
The characters are oftentimes great and played by charismatic and capable actors, starting from the undead reapers themselves, whose conversations can be absolutely fascinating and fun even when talking about nothing much in particular, to the (however temporarily) living. In my previous watchthroughs at a younger age I really hated the character of Reggie, and thought that she was brought from a legitimately crazy person in S1 to an entitled brat in S2 a bit too sharply. This time around, I've been able to sympathise a lot more with Reggie and haven't seen such discrepancy, although I still feel like her parents let her get away with way too much, even taking her trauma into account. I've also been able to appreciate some finer points such as Daisy's catholicism arc a lot better - I have an incredibly in-depth essay on its conclusion posted on the relevant episode's ("Rites of passage") review page. I think I've been a bit more annoyed at George for not sticking to her and the reapers' rules as well.
The series' philosophy is highly deterministic: fate can only be averted by actions of reapers, and even then there are likely to be "reapercussions" - yet fate must still be written by some sentient beings, such as whoever brings Rube the information on deaths. It is also delightfully, softly nihilistic. I would argue that the main theme of the series is not simply death, and not even simply life, to which death gives urgency, and not the society with its ritualised enforced behaviours, but the difficult, fruitless search for meaning. In her life, Georgia saw no meaning, refusing to live by the boring, unreasoned canons and milestones the average person lives by. She then tried to recover some of that unfound, unexperienced meaning in her undeath, but found the barrier too great now. The other reapers tend to live more by the rules, and yet Daisy's catholic arc, for instance, is yet another example of a search for meaning beyond that which life or undeath offer, a hope to peek at a cosmic truth that has shaped the world and humanity such as it did. Yet the informational void is too vast - like George not knowing whether her family is OK even while standing at their porch in one episode, the reapers standing at the gates of wherever the souls go to have literally no idea who plans lifetimes and deaths, and what is beyond the lights. Rube knows a bit more than others, but withholds that knowledge. Whatever christian angels or hindu deities shape the universe of "Dead like me", even if they live among the living, they remain a great mystery, and as such the true, cosmic meaning of life and death remains unknown, and just a matter of uninformed speculation.
Just like in the real world, perhaps there is nothing there after all. Or at least, nothing beyond what we decide for ourselves, based on our own reason and values.
My ratings by season: S1: 7 S2: 7.
The big catching-up-on-series project that I'm now concluding was supposed to end with watchthroughs of two series I had seen before and loved, "Dead like me" and "The mentalist". The latter disappointed me by being much worse than its remembrance in my head, so I'm absolutely elated that this series holds up. It's difficult for me to be unbiased about 'Dead like me". It's my default answer to "What's your favourite series?", and it's shaped a significant chunk of my personality and worldviews. If I could maximise my neutrality, I'd possibly rate the first season "good" rather than "great". On the other hand, I've mustered enough neutrality to rate the second season as only "great", not "excellent", so on balance I feel like I'm being rather fair.
Now, to some it might sound a bit reversed - usually it's S1 that's considered the better one, and some loss of quality is alleged for this series' second half or at least the 4th quarter. I beg to differ, and have observed how at least some of these opinions tend to base themselves on a mistaken belief that the original showrunner had left the show halfways in, or three-quarterways in - in reality, it was 5 episodes in, so his contribution is rather limited all and all. I think S1 is somewhat more philosophical and profound (and I happen to love this series' philosophical ramblings, which hardly ever happens to me elsewhere) and quirky, whereas S2 is a touch darker and more story-driven with more cohesive themes. Now, being more story-driven is not always an improvement in the series: as proven by the rather lame arcs of Georgia's relationship with Trip, or Daisy's with Ray. They have their moments, but often feel boring and ill-conceived, much like the relationships themselves. There are also occasional lasier writing moments throughout the series, but mostly writing is very high-quality. It's firmly set in its location and era, so you'll have the impetus to learn what that "Lotus" was that is now no match for this newfangled "Excel", or what it means to "Kazaa" something, or what "FICA" is.
"Dead like me" is many things at once. One, arguably the main, element is the narration by George, who in her beautfully-low voice muses about peculiarities of life and death, positing profound thesis or drawing unconventional metaphors. Sometimes these tie in with the ongoing scene, sometimes they advance a cohesive theme of an entire episode in an example of brilliant writing, and sometimes they're just a stream of consciousness. The plot and atmosphere are excellent, as we see a variety of situations that explore life, death and the various glitches in the system that may interfere with a reaper's job, or be the result of a reaper's interference with the natural, preordained chain of events. George's reaper division handles accidental deaths in particular, and we get a variety of legitimately bizarre comedic deaths - although to be honest, the show has rarely worked for me as a comedy, and I especially loathe the toilet humour it commonly contains. I kind of get their reasoning with that, the same as why George was killed by a toilet seat and not any other part of the deorbited space station (beyond the absurdity humour value) - in a series so thick with the pathos of death, it serves to ground life in comparison, show that it involves not only happiness or opportunities but also certain not-so-elevated problems.
The characters are oftentimes great and played by charismatic and capable actors, starting from the undead reapers themselves, whose conversations can be absolutely fascinating and fun even when talking about nothing much in particular, to the (however temporarily) living. In my previous watchthroughs at a younger age I really hated the character of Reggie, and thought that she was brought from a legitimately crazy person in S1 to an entitled brat in S2 a bit too sharply. This time around, I've been able to sympathise a lot more with Reggie and haven't seen such discrepancy, although I still feel like her parents let her get away with way too much, even taking her trauma into account. I've also been able to appreciate some finer points such as Daisy's catholicism arc a lot better - I have an incredibly in-depth essay on its conclusion posted on the relevant episode's ("Rites of passage") review page. I think I've been a bit more annoyed at George for not sticking to her and the reapers' rules as well.
The series' philosophy is highly deterministic: fate can only be averted by actions of reapers, and even then there are likely to be "reapercussions" - yet fate must still be written by some sentient beings, such as whoever brings Rube the information on deaths. It is also delightfully, softly nihilistic. I would argue that the main theme of the series is not simply death, and not even simply life, to which death gives urgency, and not the society with its ritualised enforced behaviours, but the difficult, fruitless search for meaning. In her life, Georgia saw no meaning, refusing to live by the boring, unreasoned canons and milestones the average person lives by. She then tried to recover some of that unfound, unexperienced meaning in her undeath, but found the barrier too great now. The other reapers tend to live more by the rules, and yet Daisy's catholic arc, for instance, is yet another example of a search for meaning beyond that which life or undeath offer, a hope to peek at a cosmic truth that has shaped the world and humanity such as it did. Yet the informational void is too vast - like George not knowing whether her family is OK even while standing at their porch in one episode, the reapers standing at the gates of wherever the souls go to have literally no idea who plans lifetimes and deaths, and what is beyond the lights. Rube knows a bit more than others, but withholds that knowledge. Whatever christian angels or hindu deities shape the universe of "Dead like me", even if they live among the living, they remain a great mystery, and as such the true, cosmic meaning of life and death remains unknown, and just a matter of uninformed speculation.
Just like in the real world, perhaps there is nothing there after all. Or at least, nothing beyond what we decide for ourselves, based on our own reason and values.
My ratings by season: S1: 7 S2: 7.