Dead Boy Detectives: The Case of Crystal Palace

April 26, 2024 5:15 AM - Season 1, Episode 1

Edwin Paine (d.1916) and Charles Rowland (d.1991?) spend their afterlife solving cases for the dead (and sometimes the living) and dodging the Lady herself, Death. When they meet psychic Crystal Palace, unlife gets a lot more interesting...

Based on characters created by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner.

posted by Kitteh (19 comments total)

IMO, this was fun, frothy, and silly spooky. Sometimes you need a little levity in a dumpster fire world. I don't expect anything deep and I am here to have a good time.

Sure, there is a heavy expositional dump within the first five minutes but I think the cast is having fun. And it's super queer. Prissy Edwin Paine is savage with his little comments; Shepherd and I loved that.

Anyway, fun! Cute! Fun!
posted by Kitteh at 5:17 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]

Based on characters created by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner.

A note for Sandman nerds: you probably recognize the names Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland from the Season of Mists storyline, from the issue shortly after Lucifer has shut down Hell and the dead are returning to Earth - the one where a boy at a boarding school is killed by some released-from-hell demons and befriends a ghost boy his own age. Death comes for him at the end of the issue but he balks, and Death is too busy so she leaves him saying she'll get to him later; the ghost boys then head off together on an adventure.

This is them. And I'm loving that they cast Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death, just like from the Sandman series.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:28 AM on April 26 [8 favorites]

you probably recognize the names Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland from the Season of Mists storyline, from the issue shortly after Lucifer has shut down Hell and the dead are returning to Earth

If I had a nickel for every time they spun a television series out of the Lucifer-Retires-From-Hell arc, and that series involved supernatural beings who fight crime … well, I’d have two nickels. But it’s weird that it’s happened twice.
posted by gauche at 6:40 AM on April 26 [5 favorites]

I didn't think I'd have to clarify the Sandman link!
posted by Kitteh at 7:14 AM on April 26

So looking at the cast list, is this a wholly new adaptation and not spun off of their brief appearance on Doom Patrol, right?
posted by Kyol at 10:40 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]

The Doom Patrol appearance was supposed to be a backdoor pilot, IIRC, and Max passed on it. By the time Netflix said yes, new cast! (Which is a pity as I quite liked Ty Tennant and Sebastian Croft.)
posted by Kitteh at 2:07 PM on April 26 [1 favorite]

I didn't think I'd have to clarify the Sandman link!

Nah, I was just excited about the connection and wanted to squee a bit, that was on me.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:14 PM on April 26 [2 favorites]

Neat, so far. I like that the characters really are just (still? forever) boys.
posted by porpoise at 9:43 PM on April 26 [1 favorite]

The dialogue felt very Exposition Heavy. I didn't finish the first episode after the third or fourth time it felt like these two ostensibly long-time friends were for some reason explaining ostensibly familiar topics to each other as if it were brand new information, but I'll probably give it another chance.
posted by wakannai at 12:58 AM on April 29

I absolutely love Sandman and the Netflix Sandman adaptation, but I was decidedly underwhelmed by the first episode. The dialogue is just so clunky and exposition-heavy, and I am finding it difficult to warm to the characters. It seems to have that issue for me which most Gaiman adaptations have apart from, notably, Sandman: they all seem to me excessively self-conscious and stylised, in a way that works with Gaiman on the page but not for me on the screen.
posted by unicorn chaser at 1:50 AM on April 29 [1 favorite]

The casting just didn't work for me. IIRC in the source material the boys are twelve-ish, here they've apparently been aged up to older teens, and they're played by actors in their mid-20s... and I can really tell that they're in their mid-20s. I watched most of this episode, but there's a point at which Edwin has a meltdown which would make perfect sense coming from a young teen, but is absolutely unbelievable coming from a dude who looks like he's 25, and my suspension of disbelief just burned out.

As a crotchety old person I'm not super keen on teen drama in the first place, but teen drama portrayed by adults is uncanny valley territory.
posted by confluency at 2:33 AM on April 29 [1 favorite]

I've watched the first two episodes and find it entertaining enough to finish the series.

Anyone else creeped out by the Cat King?
posted by Julnyes at 12:32 PM on April 29

Anyone else creeped out by the Cat King?

By creeped out do you mean fascinated? He is being a creep. But I'm fascinated.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:13 PM on April 29 [3 favorites]

Interesting, I just find him unappealing full stop.
posted by Julnyes at 2:56 PM on April 30 [1 favorite]

The dude who plays the Cat King is Lukas Gage who is also in the final season of You.
posted by miss-lapin at 8:53 PM on April 30

This post is just for the first episode, right? Please no comments about other episodes! Really bummed about the spoilers above :(
posted by silverstatue at 5:09 PM on May 12

Mod note: A couple deleted. Please make sure to check whether a series post is about a single episode or the whole series, and comment accordingly; this one is just for season 1, episode 1!
posted by taz (staff) at 10:22 PM on May 12 [1 favorite]

If I had a nickel for every time they spun a television series out of the Lucifer-Retires-From-Hell arc, and that series involved supernatural beings who fight crime … well, I’d have two nickels. But it’s weird that it’s happened twice.

If I had a nickel for every time Matt Wagner armed a character with a magic bat...
posted by Parasite Unseen at 3:55 PM on June 3

I'm afraid I have bad news. The show has been cancelled.
posted by miss-lapin at 9:07 PM on September 1