Dead Like Me Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Dead Like Me is a Showtime television comedy-drama created by Bryan Fuller about a group of grim reaperss implied to be in Seattle, Washington. The stories are told through the eyes of eighteen-year-old girl George Lass, who died and became a grim reaper in the pilot episode. The show premiered in North America on June 27, 2003, it has also been shown on Sky One in the United Kingdom; the second season began airing in the summer of 2004.Grim reapers, or simply reapers, are portrayed as an integral part of the cycle of life and death, removing the souls of people shortly before they die and escorting them until they move on into their own afterlife.
The show has strong themes of fate and destiny: people's appointments with death are known somewhat in advance. Mason, one of the reapers, notes that some believe one's appointment is on the books before birth.
The setting in Washington is implied visually by license plates, telephone area codes, airport codes, and maps, but the show is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia. Vancouver landmarks such as the Harbour Centre Tower and the Sun Tower can be seen in the background of some outdoor scenes. Plus, street addresses shown on screen often correspond with real-life locations in Vancouver.
| Table of contents |
|
2 Premise 3 Synopsis 4 Characters 5 Episodes 6 See also 7 External links |
Grim reapers are portrayed, without the traditional black cloak and scythe, as an integral part of the cycle of life and death. They remove the souls of living creatures shortly before they die and escort them until they move on into their own afterlife. Death has a list of who is scheduled to die and when. The foreman gets the list, transfers the first initial and last name of the person, where they are to die, and their estimated time of death (ETD) to a Post-it note and assigns them to the reapers. It is said that death is non-transferrable: each person's soul is assigned to a reaper, and only that reaper can remove that soul.
Reapers collect souls until they reach a quota. Once that quota is reached, the reaper moves on and the newly collected soul takes his or her place (It is unclear how pet reapers are replaced). As such, reapers are undead. Reapers have a physical body and may interact with the living and the dead. They do not age; they remain the same age as they were when they died. Reapers cannot fly, disappear or walk through walls, so they need to find their reap by conventional means of transportation. In fact, the only real power besides collecting souls is an ability to heal quickly, allowing a quick recovery from any physical harm incurred on the job. Reapers also have the same emotional needs and drives as living humans.
To remove a being's soul, a reaper must touch the entity, though direct skin-to-skin contact is not necessary. This is shown with a wisp of light on the reap. When possible, the reap is done before death to minimize mental and emotional harm to the soul, especially "for violent deaths as a courtesy". After the death, the soul sometimes exists for a short time as a ghost. These ghosts retain the physical image of the being as it was reaped. When reaped before death, the ghost does not show any injuries suffered during death. Souls reaped after death show injuries: a man's head was damaged by a flying canoe, a woman was mauled by a captive bear, and many people displayed injuries suffered by a malfunctioning piece of exercise equipment. Also, a woman with Alzheimer's disease retained this condition after her death, indicating that existing conditions remain.
Ghosts cannot communicate with the living, but can communicate with and through the undead reapers. The passage into the afterlife is shown as a bright light, generally something pleasant to the deceased.
Death is divided into various divisions. George died in an accident, so her divison is "external influence"; she reaps people who die in accidents, or of suicide or homicide. Other divisions mentioned and/or encountered are infectious and parasitic disease, circulatory system disease, malignant neoplasms, plague (a virtually unemployed division), and natural causes. Reapers don't get paid and must find other ways to get money, whether by having a day job, or living off the land. Reapers often take things from their reaps, sometimes with permission from their ghosts.
It is important that the living do not figure out that reapers are among them. Although the series has yet to explain this fully, the reapers appear to either turn invisible when dealing with souls, or somehow cloud the minds of onlookers so that they are not noticed (a la The Shadow). However, a small number seem to notice reapers at work, but to date it is unknown how or why. Due to these various factors, it is considered a taboo for reapers to enter into romantic relationships with the living; it is allowed (though frowned upon) for reapers to develop platonic friendships, however. It is likewise frowned upon for a reaper to gain notoriety among the living (for example, when George receives a promotion at work, she is encouraged not to accept it).
To the living, reapers look different than they did in life, though fellow reapers see their original appearances. On Halloween, however, reapers regain their original appearance for the day, which can be problematic for recent recruits such as George, who has to wear a mask to avoid being recognized. Apparently this effect continues into All Saint's Day as well, as George's sister, Reggie, recognizes her on that day (or so it is implied). To date, only George's and Mason's assumed faces have been shown on screen, but it is suggested that Daisy also has an assumed face.
In life George was aloof and emotionally distant from her family. She shied away from having experiences. After dropping out from college, she takes a job at Happy Time Temporary Services. On her lunch break of her first day, she is hit and killed by a zero-G toilet seat from the de-orbiting Soviet space station Mir. (Mir was actually de-orbited in 2001, two years earlier than the setting.)
She is informed shortly after her death that, rather than moving on into the "great beyond" like most people, she will instead become a grim reaper in the "external influence" division, covering accidents, suicides, and homicides.
Through the first season, George has trouble adjusting to her two jobs: collecting souls, and a day job at Happy Time. By the second season, she has mostly adjusted to her new role in the circle of life, though still has unresolved issues with her life and her afterlife.
George's family is struggling to deal with her death. Joy is depressed but visibly repressing it. Clancy is cheating on Joy. Reggie, for a time, stole toilet seats from neighbors and her school and hung them on a tree. At the start of the second season, the family began to break apart as divorce proceedings began.
Nearly all of the main characters have some form of depression, but cope with it in different ways: Mason resorts to alcohol and drugs, Daisy puts a veneer of perkiness, and Roxy is physically & verbally aggressive. Rube and George are more open about their sadness, as they both tend to be brooding loners. Joy, Clancy, and Reggie are also depressed as they're trying to cope with the loss of a family member and recently, a divorce.
Rube John Sofer (Mandy Patinkin) b. ~1876 d. ~1926. Rube is the "foreman" of the group of reapers. He gets the list of who is to die, when and where, and then transfers the first initial and last name of the person, where they are to die, and their estimated time of death (ETD) to a Post-it note and assigns them to the reapers. Although he comes off as gruff and aloof, he actually cares for his team like a father, and is particularly fond of George calling her 'Peanut', the same nickname he gave his daughter. He is secretive, and his full name was not revealed until midway through the second season, in "Death Defying". In the episode "Always" George asserts that Rube died in 1927, though this appears to be a guess, as it does not fit with him being available to collect Betty on her death in 1926. If he did die in the mid-1920s, his presence at Betty's death implies that he had been placed in charge of his division very soon after he died.
Mason (Callum Blue) b. 1939 d. 1966, drilled hole in head seeking a permanent high. Mason is originally from London (he reaped Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones in 1969), and was transferred to his present location some time ago. He collects money from the dead, deals, smuggles, and uses drugs. He is infatuated with Daisy and has stated that he does not believe in God. He has become an alcoholic in response to the pressures of his job. He's attracted to Daisy, and became jealous when she became attracted to another man; while he is also attracted to anyone who is attractive and female, his feelings for Daisy seem to run much deeper. He claims to have never flown in an airplane. He has an edgy relationship with Rube; they dislike but tolerate each other.
Mason loves George like a sister, and confessed to her that he lost his virginity while he was drunk, and not long before his death. He has confessed his love to Daisy, and was disgusted by her decision to pursue a relationship with Ray Summers, which he saw becoming abusive. This conflict came to a head when Daisy broke up with Ray; Ray grabbed Daisy by the throat and held her against the wall, and Mason bludgeoned Ray to death with a mirror. Wracked by guilt, he later gave away all his possessions and all but asked Daisy to marry him when he was convinced that his next reap would be his last (due to Rube giving him a purple Post-It note). Is presently living with George and Daisy.
Roxanne 'Roxy' Harvey (Jasmine Guy) b. ~1944, d. 1982, strangled with leg warmers after she invented them. Roxy is the only other reaper of the group with a day job; she used to be a meter maid for the city, but entered the police academy at the beginning of the second season. She is no-nonsense with both reaping and her day job, and carried a handgun to keep arguments over parking tickets short. She is the only reaper on the series (to date) who has used her powers in anger, when she temporarily removed the soul from a particularly rude motorist; the man subsequently started a religion around her, much to Rube's dismay. In the second season, doing her duty as a police officer, she shot and killed a woman who was subsequently reaped by Mason. She has confessed to not sleeping because of nightmares. Rube considers Roxy to be his "second in command" and left her in charge when he went away. Assigned to investigate the disappearance of Ray Summers, Roxy knows that Daisy and Mason had something to do with it, but chose to cover for them, claiming that Ray ran off to Portland.
Betty Rhomer (Rebecca Gayheart, first five episodes only) b. 1899 d. 1926, jumped off a cliff into a river without realizing its height. Betty was a spunky woman who "can't sit still for very long", and disappeared after following a soul into his great beyond, not long after befriending George. She was known for sometimes using 1920's jargon. She had conversations with George about using aliases in the past. Her trademark was taking a Polaroid photo of the people whose souls she took, and classifying those people by personality type. Rube was present when she died and thus that they have been reaping together since her death in 1926. Once, Betty was declared dead and found herself trapped in a cold-storage cabinet in a morgue.
To date, it is unknown what exactly happened to Betty.
Daisy Adair (Laura Harris, sixth episode to present) b. ~1912, d. 1938, Reaper paperwork reveals she died in Marietta, Georgia. She claims to have died on the set of Gone With the Wind, which was filmed mostly on Hollywood backlots. In the episode 'Haunted' an elderly man recognizes Daisy as the woman who died "during the filming of" Gone with the Wind. He says she came to the Stork Club most nights, with different men, usually stars, on her arm.
Daisy is an attractive and elitist actress from the 1930s, who frequently tells stories of her alleged sexual escapades with actors and celebrities including Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Errol Flynn, Bing Croby and Babe Ruth. In truth, she is very lonely, and her final thoughts before death were, "Why has no one ever loved me?" She was transferred from SoHo in New York City to join the group after Betty disappeared. It is hinted that she left New York under bad circumstances, possibly involving a con game with the newly dead. As the second season began, Daisy began flirting with Catholicism, though she later appeared to abandon this. She claims to have reaped one of the Andrews Sisters and James Dean.
When they first met, George disliked her, but a friendship has since developed. She and George share a house that once belonged to one of Mason's reaps. She initially rejected Mason's advances, but is gradually warming to him. Daisy was extremely disturbed when asked to reap a young woman who was strangled to death by her lover and actually abandoned the girl's soul at the scene of the crime, leaving a note informing the police of the murderer's identity. She subsequently revealed to Mason that she had a sister, the implication being that her sister died, or at least was attacked, in a similar situation. Mason suspects that the stories of her legendary sexual conquests are just something she made up; he is the only one aware of Daisy's final thoughts.
She was involved with Ray, a television producer, in a relationship that became abusive. When she tried to break up with him, he turned violent on her, and Mason killed him. Following his death was the "birth" of a Graveling from the corpse; Daisy stated that she has seen this happen before. This Graveling, which appears to be different from the others in that it is more malevolent, appears to be stalking her, leading Daisy to confess to George about Ray's death.
Charlie, the pet reaper (Spencer Achtymichuk) b. ~1988, d. ~1997, hit by a drunk driver. Charlie, a young boy, has appeared three times to reap pets. He has encountered both George and Reggie. Reggie has attempted to befriend him. Judging from his clothes, he lives a 'on the streets'. He reaped J.D.'s soul.
Penny (Yeardley Smith) d. 1912 in the Titanic disaster. Penny used to be a member of Rube's group in external influences, and now works for natural causes. She first appeared in "Forget Me Not" when George had a reap at the hospital. In "Always", she showed Rube the Post-it for his daughter Rosie, and allowed him to accompany her to the nursing home where Rosie stayed, giving him a few minutes to visit with his daughter before her death.
Ray, the Graveling. A Graveling apparently created when Mason killed Ray Summers. This Graveling appears to be stalking Daisy (who refers to the creature as Ray) and apparently had vengeful feelings for Mason. He was also particularly malevolent, and in 'Always' he caused the premature death of one man for whom no Post-It note was assigned. In the same episode he was destroyed by George when she simply touched him the same way she would touch a reap. See the entry for Ray Summers, below, for more information about Ray in life.
Clancy Lass (Greg Kean) b. ~1960. Clancy is George's father. He is a tenured professor of English at the University of Washington. Even though he appears emotionally strong, he may be even more depressed about his daughters death than Joy. It is revealed that he is having an affair with Charlotte, which results in Joy suing for divorce as the second season began. Charlotte dumped him before "Be Still My Heart". He has vaguely implied wanting to come back to Joy.
Reggie Lass (Britt McKillip) b. ~1993. Reggie is George's younger sister, largely ignored by George before her death. After George's death, Reggie developed a fixation with the way her sister died. She's intelligent and well-read but rather difficult and emotionally complex. She collected toilet seats and put them in a tree. Now past this stage, she is fast growing away from her mother, and is in danger of becoming even more disaffected with life than her late sister. She is opposed to Joy's decision to sell the family home: she told prospective buyers, "George visits me here" — which is, in fact, true as she has spotted George (as Millie) spying on the house from time to time. Despite her stressed relationship with her mother, she is very protective of her and scared away one potential suitor by claiming that George was murdered in her own home. In "Ashes To Ashes", she experimented with the goth lifestyle, adopting the nickname "Spider". When J.F. the frog was left on her doorstep following the death of J.D., she became convinced that George was responsible. She used to believe that George was a ghost, but has abandoned that notion (or pretends to have). Even though she is unsure of George's whereabouts, she (correctly) believes George is still "living" somehow, and in "Haunted" her beliefs were apparently confirmed when she saw George face-to-face.
Phyllis (Barbara Barrie). 'Grandma Phyl', Joy's mother, is constantly at odds with Joy. Whereas Joy is a compulsive, constantly worrying neat-freak, Phyllis is laid-back, worry-free and seems to live day to day. She practices Buddhism. Reggie appears to be fascinated by her, and Phyllis was apparently very close to George. Phyllis and Joy have a confrontational relationship.
Delores Herbig (Christine Willes) "as in 'her big brown eyes'". Delores is George's boss at Happy Time. She displays a high appreciation for "Millie", both professionally and emotionally. She occasionally mentions things from her past, such as having a cocaine habit in the 1980s, having tattoos removed, and having restraining orders against her. She runs a webcam show from her apartment called "Getting Things Done with Delores". She seems very happy and positive but is in fact quite sad and lonely, and is looking for a long-term relationship. She believes Rube is George's Alcoholics Anonymous counsellor. In a conversation with Joy, she described George as being "difficult, but smart and with potential", which is why she hired her. In "Always", she colluded with George to falsify George's personnel records for Joy's benefit. Ironically, Delores based the forgery on George's 'Millie' persona.
Crystal Smith (Crystal Dahl). Crystal is the receptionist at Happy Time. She can be very strange, and George initially finds her intimidating, though the two eventually establish a rapport. In "Vacation", she actually helped the reapers complete some long overdue Reaper-related paperwork, giving no indication whether she understood exactly what it was all about. She has a lookalike boyfriend at Happy Time. In "Always" it was revealed that she is fluent in Spanish, French, Russian and Swahili, and that she was also a member of the Special Forces. In "Haunted", she was caught snooping around the Happy Time office on a Sunday, and was apparently looking up files regarding Georgia.
Kiffany (Patricia Idlette). Kiffany is the reapers' regular waitress at Der Waffle Haus, and meets the odd goings on among the reapers (bizarre conversations; Roxy shooting Mason; Mason committing a 'lewd act' with a coconut slice) with extraordinary savoir faire. She has shown sympathetic interest in the characters, but never pries. She described Rube as a special customer, perhaps because he gives a $2 tip on a $7 breakfast. In the episode 'Always', banned Mason from Der Waffle Haus for stealing tips, relenting after he apologises and giving him money. Has evidently worked there for some time, as she knows Penny.
Thomas "Trip" Hesburgh III (Robin Dunne). Journalist; George's first serious relationship. George thought that Trip was her reap, when it was Trip's father instead. He seems very unhappy despite being raised in a wealthy family, and seems tired of the social superficialities of his wealthy upbringing. He is often nagged by his older sister Ashley. He became George's first lover and called her his girlfriend, but it is uncertain whether any sort of relationship will actually develop. He knows George by her real name (rather than by her Millie alias).
Angelo (Peter Williams). Angelo owns a loft apartment that Joy and Reggie looked at in "In Escrow", and is Joy's recent love interest. He is smooth-talking, urbane, and artistically talented but seems very mysterious. Angelo is apparently the only male suitor for Joy that Reggie approves of.
Ray Summers (Eric McCormack) d. 2004. Ray was a Reality television producer who struck up a romantic relationship with Daisy when she met him during an assignment in "Death Defying". He came off as extremely obnoxious and overbearing and was disliked by Rube, George, and especially Mason. He provided Daisy with an acting job, working on a sleazy TV series that exposes cheating husbands. Ray disliked Mason, identifying him as a rival for Daisy's affections. He was manipulative and abusive towards Daisy, and, unknown to her, had a criminal record, including assault and fraud charges. In "Forget Me Not", Mason killed Ray when he attacked Daisy. There was no Post-It for his death, and a graveling emerged from his body. This may be because he died before his destined time, he possessed an evil soul, he was not reaped on time and his soul rotted in his body, or that he was a graveling all along. This graveling began stalking Daisy. Gravelings have harrassed reapers before, although it has not previously been 'personal'. See "Ray the Graveling", above, for more information.
Misty Favreaux (Meghan Black). Misty is a promiscuous co-worker of George's (or Millie's) at Happy Time. She has no inhibitions and is willing to have sex in the office. She said she works 35 hours a week, spends 34 of those hours thinking about sex, and the other hour having sex. She was a fan of a rock singer that George reaped in "Rites of Passage". Has two children named Jordache and Sassoon. Is married in the states of Louisiana and Kansas. (Meghan Black also played a bank teller in "Pilot".)
Charlotte (A. J. Cook). Charlotte is a university student. She and George met in "Sunday Mornings", after Mason saved her from being raped. They became friends, and she took George to her course on the sonnets taught by Clancy. She and Clancy had an affair, which precipitated the Lass divorce, though by "Be Still My Heart", she had broken up with him.
J.D., d. 2004. One of George's reaps left behind J.D., a Golden Retriever in "A Cook". George agreed to take care of the dog and tried to keep him, but passed him on to her family. Reggie decided that J.D. stands for 'Just Dog'. He seemed fond of Clancy. In "Last Call", he was killed by a car, and Charlie reaped his soul.
J.F. formerly known as "Mr. Frog", is a yellow frog that belonged to George's first reap, a young girl, and who subsequently came into George's possession. Following the death of J.D., George secretly left the frog with Reggie, who dubbed it J.F. for 'Just Frog' and is convinced the frog came from George.
This is an Article on Dead Like Me. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Dead Like Me Cast
Undead
Living
Premise
Synopsis
Characters
Undead
Georgia "George" Lass (Ellen Muth) b. 1985 d. 2003, hit by falling zero-G toilet seat from de-orbiting Soviet space station Mir. George dropped out from college mid-semester, and died on her lunch break from her first day at Happy Time Temporary Services. In some interactions with the living, she goes by her "undead name", Mildred "Millie" Hagen. The living see George with a different appearance - a somewhat plain-looking girl who is known as (but not referred to on screen as) "UnGeorge" (played in Season One by Laura Boddington).Living
Joy Lass (Cynthia Stevenson) b. ~1962. Joy is George's mother. Was a history major in college. She is organized, neurotic, and a bit foul-mouthed. Hates the word "moist" and is afraid of balloons. Her name is ironic, as she is a very unhappy person. Or, perhaps her name is literal in describing her: "Joy Lass" is a homophone for "joyless". George's death threw her into a deep depression made worse by her husband's infidelity and her inability to communicate with her remaining daughter. She is profoundly unsatisfied and frustrated with her life. She has recently started dating Angelo, but reacted strangely upon learning that Clancy's lover dumped him, and has started to make subtle overtures at reconciling. She is very disturbed by Reggie's fixation over George's death, and is starting to worry about Reggie's sanity. In "Forget Me Not", she applied for job placement through Happy Time.Others
Gravelings. The gravelings are mischievous gremlin-like creatures that help preserve the balance of life by causing the accidents and mishaps that kill people. Make their home in graveyards. The living cannot see them, though one schizophrenic man seemed to be able to. Reapers can see them, but only 'in the corner of the eye'. Reapers can also apparently communicate with them to some extent (Daisy once shushed a graveling). George, however, appears to be able to see them more clearly than the rest, and it has been implied that she encountered them at least twice as a child. It has recently been revealed that they are produced from either evil or rotted souls, or possibly from the un-reaped soul of a person who dies before their destined time. Episodes
Season 1 (2003)
Season 2 (2004)
See also
External links