Streaming on: Netflix
Episodes viewed: 8 of 8
The Dead Boy Detectives are defiant in the face of death — it’s their whole shtick — yet it’s still a miracle that their show lived long enough to reach this stage. Starting out as minor comic-book characters in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, the ghostly duo eventually guest-starred in TV’s Doom Patrol, but their proposed spin-off was then shunted from HBO Max to Netflix, and the boys themselves were recast too, replacing Ty Tennant and Heartstopper’s Sebastian Croft with newcomers George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri.
Yet, despite all that and a weak first episode apart, Dead Boy Detectives is incredibly sure of itself. Once the idea is established, the program masterfully combines each supernatural case-of-the-week with ongoing threads that probe deeper into the greater world it shares with Netflix’s Sandman, as well as the interior world of each key character. There are cameos and name-drops that will thrill devoted Gaiman fans, but the show doesn’t rely on all that by any means. Instead, it’s the chemistry shared by the central trio that lends life to our departed heroes, who are locked in a beautifully handled LGBT love triangle. Supporting characters like Lukas Gage’s lustful, abs-fuelled Cat King and Jenn Lyon’s camp pleasure of a part as Esther Finch also get a shoutout for chewing up scenery in the greatest way possible.
It’s simply a shame that other supporting cast-members don’t fare quite as well. The kind of lackluster writing typical to more generic YA material does occasionally surface, and as is common, some episodes suffer from streaming bloat in terms of length. But at its most innovative, Dead Boy Detectives nevertheless mixes banter and gloom with plenty of fun, tossing anything from sassy, talking kittens to a big doll-head spider our way without forgetting the guys at the center of all this. Let’s only hope Netflix doesn’t murder them off too young.