A comedic and serious exploration of grief
Dead to Me follows the story of two women, Jen (Christina Applegate) and Judy (Linda Cardellini). Jen’s is dealing with the fact that her husband has recently died in a hit and run and she has now suddenly become a single mom to two boys. Judy, however, is dealing with a different problem, after befriending Jen she ends up living with her despite everyone around Judy warning Jen about her.
The show plays out with a similar feel to its great trailer, its funny, it is emotional and it’s also quite dark and surprising in many parts. Dead to Me isn’t just an average show that sets up its main characters with a problem and continues on with it. No, instead Dead to Me explores the issues people have in their lives after the tragic death of a loved one.
In Dead to Me’s case, you have Jen who is fighting a battle on all fronts. Jen is attempting to keep her house in order by being a good mom, she is trying to solve who killed her husband in a hit and run and she is trying to come to terms with his death. The show’s focus on grief and how it not only affects you but also the people around you makes the show stand out from the crowd.
Dead to Me’s great mixture of comedy, exploration of grief and engaging acting will surely make it a stand out hit for Netflix. Applegate and Cardellini create a great duo that are relatable and their comedic timing is always feel on point and perfectly match one another, especially Applegate. The two create a rare best friend couple that the best of TV shows have. A great main cast always helps a show shine, take shows like The Office for example, and it is something that this type of show needs to have and achieves greatly.
With the recent cancellation of Santa Clarita Diet, fans of that show can and most likely will flock over to Dead to Me. Dead to Me has a little less of a comedy feel to it, as it focuses a lot on its serious subject matter, however, both shows have similar dark humour which is always welcome and feels more realistic than other comedy shows. Never does the humour misstep or feel out of place and it’s real life context creates a feeling of familiarity and you can actually see people thinking and acting like the characters in the show in real life.
The only question that really remains now is the future of the show and if it can continue past its first season. With enough twists and character development, Dead to Me is a show that I can see continuing and gaining fans for a few seasons. Netflix has been known to give shows a few seasons as a given chance but a show like Dead to Me which is funny, emotional, dark, caring and a joy to watch has a shot of being at the top of Netflix’s vast growing originals library. I can easily say that this show is easy and enjoyable to binge.