Leaping out of the third season of Max’s Doom Patrol (and originally being created as comic book characters in 1991 by DC Comics’ Vertigo line), the small-screen adaptation of Dead Boy Detectives has already made quite an entrance on Netflix. The eight-episode first season not only boasts the charming George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri in the main leading roles but also holds a continuity to another cosmic DC adaptation (also on Netflix) called The Sandman.
Nevertheless, this supernatural comedy-drama revolves around the ghostly duo of Edwin Payne (Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Revri) who choose to remain on Earth and solve ghost-related mysteries instead of making a final step into the afterlife. Along with their personalities and wistful angst, the two are quickly joined by actresses Kassius Nelson as Crystal Palace and Yuyu Kitamura as Niko Sasaki.
Crystal is a psychic medium who requires the help of our deceased team to (temporarily) exorcise a demon from her mind named David. Niko is an extraordinary anime fan who lives across the hall from Crystal. They both live in rooms above Ms. Jenny Green’s butcher shop. As viewers follow along the eight episodes, themes of fantasy and romance rush through just as fast as numerous important characters and subplots.
For starters, there is the Cat King: the transformative leader of all the stray cats in Port Townsend and also the person who restrains Edwin from leaving town with a magical bracelet (who also finds him attractive). Then there’s the aforementioned Jenny Green, the gothic butcher from downstairs who cannot believe anything that comes out of Crystal’s mouth until she actually sees it herself.
Dead Boy Detectives
4/5
- Release Date
- April 25, 2024
- Cast
- George Rexstrew , Jayden Revri , Kassius Nelson , Briana Cuoco , Ruth Connell , Yuyu Kitamura , Jenn Lyon
- Seasons
- 1
- Showrunner
- Steve Yockey , Beth Schwartz
The Detectives’ Antagonist
While our central detectives encounter all kinds of monsters in their adventures, from David the Demon to the profanity-laced Dandelion Sprites and a human walrus hybrid, the main antagonist of the season turns out to be an immortal witch, Esther Finch. She was on a quest to harvest Edwin’s experiences in order to make herself more powerful while also killing them all.
However, in spite of all this fantastical storytelling, the most shocking moment of this season revolves around Niko when the always perky girl puts herself in the line of trouble to save Crystal. How did this come about and did she come out of this heart-stopping situation alive? Beginning all the way back from the second episode, after Edwin gets the nasty little sprites out of Niko and into a jar by tricking them, the young girl helps out the Dead Boy Detectives any way she can, even though she does so in the most unusual of ways sometimes.
In just the following episode, she arrives at the haunted Devlin house with pots and pans after hearing online that loud noises scare the ghosts away. Next, she chooses to comfort Edwin with an episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? when he is romantically troubled. Unfortunately, Niko is also the one who connects Ms. Green with her secret admirer (who at first seems to be a sincere and down-to-earth flame until the librarian shows her true psychotic tendencies).
An Immortal Witch Causes Havoc
On the other hand, young Ms. Sasaki proves to be extremely useful to the team when warding off the Night Nurse, who is trying to obtain Edwin and Charles’ souls for the afterlife. The high-spirited girl’s most shining moment though (and the question mark that seems to be on everybody’s mind regarding a potential second season) comes in the final episode, which is titled “The Case of The Hungry Snake.” Right before Crystal is about to leave to join her parents back in London, an explosion rocks Jenny’s shop and the girls discover that Charles and Edwin have been taken by Esther Finch.
This is the same witch who has been scheming up a grand revenge plan all season long. After meeting with the Cat King, who tells them about Esther’s origin and her need for young souls in order to keep her young youth, Niko and Crystal approach the witch’s house. There, they discover two points of interest. Charles is tied up with magical iron chains in the kitchen which burn him if he tries to move and Edwin is strapped (from hand to foot) to Esther’s newest invention, a special device that converts the awful experiences of past ghosts into energy which she can consume.
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Does Niko Make it Out Alive?
While Crystal tries to combat Esther with black salt (which does nothing thanks to Esther’s renewed vitality), Charles is freed by Esther’s pet crow (who goes through a pretty fascinating redemption arc) and successfully then defeats her giant snake in a pit which is located deep below the house. Unfortunately, Niko’s fate seems to be sealed when Esther has had enough of Niko’s retaliation efforts and shoots a magic shard straight at her.
The brave supporting character stands in the way of the shot and goes down to the ground, seemingly dead. Her efforts are not in vain though, as this gives Niko enough time to physically enter Esther’s mind and call out the one goddess who gave this sadistic witch her powers in the first place, Lilith, who promptly retrieves Esther, dragging her away to a certain doom.
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Thanks to Tragic Mick (the walrus who was turned into a man), Niko was holding onto a lucky charm in the form of a polar bear this whole time. After viewers are met with conclusive scenes that show Edwin and Charles actually being allowed to continue the investigative work that they are doing, as well as an impromptu memorial for Niko with all her friends, it is shown that she is somehow still alive somewhere in the Arctic with the Dandelion Sprites (who are now human-sized). They are wearing huge over-sized jackets and taking shelter in a small igloo. Fans seem to have a lot to look forward to when this supernatural show returns.
The entire first season of Dead Boy Detectives is now available to stream on Netflix.
