Dead Like Me – Life After Death

Okay, this is a new release so technically it has not had time to get "lost."

However as Dead Like Me: Life After Death is a straight-to-DVD follow-up to the prematurely cancelled TV series there is a chance it might pass unnoticed.

Dead Like Me followed the adventures of George Lass, an underachiever killed by falling debris from the Mir Space Station. Instead of crossing over to the other side, George found herself working with a team of not particularly grim Grim Reapers. Despite being undead, they still face the same problems as the living; finding a place to stay, a job, and money. There's Daisy, an actress killed on the set of Gone With the Wind. Roxy, an 80's fashion victim; she was strangled by a pair of legwarmers. Now she works as a parking meter maid and warns drivers who complain when they get a ticket, “I will fuck you up.” Later, she becomes a cop. Mason checked out in the swinging 60's, after drilling a hole in his head to see if it would get him high.

The world-weary Rube (Mandy Patinkin) is their boss. Each reaper receives a yellow post-it note with the name of a person destined to die. Souls are removed by touch, ideally before the moment of death to spare the dying from pain. Then the reaper must guide the departed towards the light. George initially tries to break the rules, by saving the life of a young girl, then making a businessman miss his appointment with death, but she learns the hard way things must be as they are. Dead Like Me dealt with mortality, grief and what George refers to as “the great…whatever,” with intelligence and humour. Naturally enough Dead Like Me got cancelled.

Life After Death sees the reapers afterlives turned upside down by the arrival of new leader, Cameron Kane. Rube has apparently seen the light and crossed over, though this plot development was forced on the producers by the unavailability of Mandy Patinkin. Ditto Laura Harris, whose character Daisy is recast with Sarah Wynter in the role. Thankfully Callum Blue (Mason) and Jasmine Guy (Roxy) are back, as is the strikingly pretty Ellen Muth (George).

There are enough TV shows to have been dusted down after a few years, away the magic is no longer there. Yes, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, this means you. Or worse, it can make you wonder why you ever liked it in the first place. Amy Jenkins pissing all over This Life fans with the excruciating This Life +10 is a perfect example. It is pleasing to find Life After Death works pretty well. The explanation at the beginning is a bit of a chore for those who are well acquainted with the show’s back-story, but this section is necessary for newcomers.

While Rube held meetings in a waffle house, Cameron Kane (Henry Ian Cusick, Desmond from Lost) hosts them in an upmarket restaurant. A slick businessman in his mortal life, Kane has carried these practices over into his duties as a reaper. Kane also encourages his new team to start living for the moment and not worry about the consequences. Everybody is happy about the new arrangement, especially Mason, who gets two trophy girlfriends, each called Tiffany. George however, has her suspicions about Cameron when her reap goes wrong.

There are a couple of problems with Life After Death. The most glaring one is the re-casting of Daisy. Laura Harris suggested there was a lot going on under Daisy's shallow exterior, but Sarah Wynter's performance is a caricature. She turns Daisy into a monster. Also the repercussions of neglecting your duties as a reaper formed the basis of the first few episodes of Dead Like Me. Even the otherwise irresponsible Mason understands this. It seems wrong having them suddenly forgetting the importance of their work, although it does emphasise how much they miss Rube’s guidance.

What makes the film is the relationship between George and her troubled younger sister Reggie. George is sent to reap a High School quarterback and finds herself drawn back into Reggie's life. Reggie has never recovered from George’s death. An outsider at school, she has been secretly dating the quarterback, without the knowledge of the popular kids. Reggie is also engaged in a battle of wits with her mother, the inappropriately named Joy, whose brittle edge hides the hurt she feels over losing one daughter and being unable to reach the other. These elements could easily tip Life After Death into the realms of the soap opera, but they are sensitively handled and well acted.

Despite its flaws Dead Like Me: Life After Death is a decent farewell to a much-loved show. There is always the chance of another DVD movie, but given that learning to live with loss is a recurring theme of Dead Like Me, maybe it is best we learn to let go.

Kevin S