TV, COMEDY
’Dead to Me’ Is Perfect Background Television
Jen and Judy are back to spice things up.
If somebody were to ask me to tell him about what happened in the first season of Netflix’s dark comedy, I’d scratch my head for a few seconds, and probably just jump to the cliffhanger in the finale. But instead of that spoiler here is an overview of the show’s concept:
“‘Dead to Me’ is about a powerful friendship that blossoms between Jen (Christina Applegate) and Judy (Linda Cardellini). Jen is a recently widowed real estate agent trying to come to terms with her loss through therapy, exercise, and other methods. She uses anger and resentment as an outlet for her grief.”
So I had a little bit of catching up to do, but the show’s creator made sure with consistently repeated tiny flashbacks in the first episode that I’m up to speed.
The Big Secret is Freezing to Death
Not that it really matters what’s the actual plot is as long as it’s squeezed in between rants, cock-ups, romances, and BIG secrets. The bread and butter of Liz Feldman’s creation.
I can’t avoid a big spoiler here, so consider yourself warned.
The second season continues right after the murder. Jen and Judy rush to cover all tracks that could tie them to the killing. They are very lousy about it, but miraculously they get away with every situation no matter how obvious that they had something to do with it. It’s like Feldman is not even trying to make the cover-ups believable. Ironically, that had become the series’ trademark in a funny and weird way.
“Maybe you enjoy “Dead to Me” because it’s as juicy as it is silly, or maybe you connected with the two friends’ raw emotional struggle.” — Ben Travers, Indiewire
Argue, Rant, Curse, Repeat
Without Christina Applegate, the series would flat out suck. She was born to play the widowed mother, raising two boys and working in real estate on the side. She is tough as nails, and direct like an Eminem diss.
Even with a friend like Judy, annoying and irritating as hell, she can’t hold herself back. The chemistry among these two is still amusing and hilarious. F-bombs and insults are blowing up on cue, and there’s no shelter for anyone.
I’ve found myself cracking up far too often just watching them stumble through their difficulties. They cover murder clues, solve public issues, nurturing children, meanwhile emotional burdens weigh on them heavy. If the genre would be painfully realistic drama, they would crack in every other episode, bordering on a mental breakdown. But since this is a dark comedy, they just drink and smoke their feelings away. Woosh, they are gone, until shit happens — again.
Most of the jokes and gegs waving at you from 3 miles away, but as long as they work and help you forget the daily problems, who cares? Just get a glass of wine before you sit down on the couch.
Always Keep a Ridiculous Twist Handy
Normally this worn-out formula is my least favourite of all because it’s cheap and tends to drag on forever. But honestly, I can’t remember the last time I saw this many predictable, but hilarious twists enter the screen so often that it could be a drinking game. Feldman uses every existing soapy trick to have our attention. At this point, it’s kind of an indispensable component to the show’s dynamic.
However, after we’ve seen way too much of it, the strength becomes a weakness. Towards the end, those silly twists never stop coming, pushing us to a tipping point when we can’t laugh at their ridiculousness anymore. But hey, the show must go on.
‘Dead to Me’ isn’t particularly good nor does it makes sense to continue with another installment, but no doubt that it’s still vastly enjoyable, and sometimes manages to drop some wise nuggets about life such as this one:
“Scars show that you went through something hard, and you survived. And it’s your story.”
Dead to Me is streaming on Netflix.
If TV shows made you a junkie, you should give a read on this one, too:
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