"Dead Boy Detectives" is part of the "Sandman" universe, specifically based on a pair of ghost characters who were introduced in one of my least favorite issues of the comic. I didn't have any particular beef with the characters, but the story itself was bleak and unpleasant, and it was a digression from a really interesting main storyline that I was anxious to get back to. Fortunately the ghosts, Edwin and Charles, went on to have more adventures in other comics, eventually becoming the self-proclaimed Dead Boy Detectives, who help other ghosts with their unfinished business.
Because I never read anything about these two beyond that introductory comic, I'm not sure how faithful the new show is. There seem to be a lot of liberties taken. Charles (Jayden Revri) and Edwin (George Rexstrew) are supposed to be teenagers, but are played by actors in their mid-20s who clearly don't pass. The actors also look oddly alike, which is initially very distracting. Their detective agency is based out of London in the first episode, but after an amnesiac psychic, Crystal Palace (Kassius Nelson), ends up in their care, they pursue a case to Port Townsend, Washington, and get stuck there for the rest of the season. Lots of interesting characters come into their orbit, including a manga-loving shut-in named Niko (Yuyu Kitamura), their Goth landlord Jenny (Briana Cuoco), and a troublesome Cat King (Lukas Gage) who likes to take human form to hit on Edwin. Antagonists include a local witch, Esther (Jenn Lyon), her crow Monty (Joshua Colley), Crystal's demon ex-boyfriend David (David Iacono), and the Night Nurse (Ruth Connell), an agent of the Afterlife's Lost and Found Department.
Created by Steve Yockey and Beth Schwartz, and produced by Greg Berlanti's outfit, it's no surprise that this feels like one of the CW's DC shows, albeit with better production values than most. "Dead Boy Detectives" is aimed at the young adult crowd, with all the main characters juggling crushes and traumatic pasts, and a lot of showy supernatural powers. The nice thing here is that the pace is very quick and the mood is very light. Nothing ever feels dragged out, with every episode closing out its own individual mystery, and the whole season wrapping up the bigger storylines nicely by the end of the last episode. The characters are also appealing, though the quality of the writing has some significant ups and downs. This is the kind of show where people have a bad habit of shouting exposition at each other in a crisis, and you're expected to just accept ridiculous things like giant killer mushrooms and an Indian guy living in the stomach of a sea monster. Because of the high degree of comic book absurdity, the show I kept wanting to compare "Dead Boy Detectives" to was "Legion," though they have almost nothing in common.
If you're a "Sandman" fan, there are minimal ties between the two shows aside from a couple of cameos. I don't think some of the rules for supernatural business quite match up either. If you're not a "Sandman" fan, and not familiar with the universe, "Dead Boy Detectives" sticks close enough to well-worn detective tropes that most viewers shouldn't have too much trouble keeping up. The young cast is very talented, and able to compensate for some of the iffier dialogue. Kassius Nelson and Jenn Lyon get my votes for MVPs, because they both manage to add some shadings to characters who are built out of very stale tropes. Briana Cuoco and Yuyu Kitamura also help make a good case for why this show would probably do just fine without its title characters. That said, these versions of Charles and Edwin did grow on me eventually, and I was able to appreciate Jayden Revri's and George Rexstrew's efforts. They still look way too much alike for a ghost boy from the Edwardian era and his best friend from the 1980s, but maybe that can be fixed if "Dead Boy Detectives" gets a second season.
I say "if," because the show is very niche, and I'm not sure it would have become a series at all if it weren't part of the "Sandman" universe. The humor is very specific and the romantic sensibilities are aimed at a young, LGBT-friendly, probably more female audience. It also takes a few episodes to get through some bumpy introductory material, and for the show to find a pleasant working status quo for its characters. Edwin's initial hostility toward Crystal, for instance, takes some patience to see him through. However, the back half of the series is legitimately a great watch, and all the payoffs are worth waiting for.
And I just can't help rooting for the weird ones.
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