oung Georgia "George" Lass (Muth) is a college dropout who doesn't seem to care about anyone or anything. She has no ambition, goals or plans. Since she has no job skills, the temp agency can only find her a job as a file clerk. However, during a lunch break, her brief working career and life are cut short when a toilet seat from the MIR space station lands on her head and strikes her dead.
However, what should be the end of George turns out to be only the beginning. She meets Rube (Patinkin), a not-so-grim reaper, who tells her she's dead and that she'll feel better after she sees her autopsy. Oddly, she does. But when he takes her to her funeral, she becomes disturbed by the fact that she can't comfort her grieving mother, Joy (Cynthia Stevenson).
Feeling ready to take the next step, George is shocked when Rube tells her she is going to be a grim reaper, too. Members of the undead get certain perks, like having physical bodies and being able to interact with people. Unfortunately, there's one disturbing duty she must perform. She has to take people's souls and guide them to the afterlife.
As George begins her training with the help of Betty (Gayheart) and Mason (Blue), she begins to learn the ropes of being a reaper. Dubbed "toilet-seat girl" by her new co-workers, George learns that to the living, her appearance has changed, so no one will recognize her. She'll need to find a place to stay, usually by squatting at a recently deceased person's home, and she'll need to get money, usually by taking cash from the pockets of the dead or by getting a day job.
Each morning, Rube hands out the group's assignments for the day. George tags along to observe a couple of "soul-takings." However, when Rube gives her an assignment of her own, George isn't sure she's ready for her new job. And when she discovers to whom her first soul belongs, that first soul may be her last.
Death becomes her
Showtime's new original series Dead Like Me is a darkly irreverent comedy that works on several levels but seems an odd choice for a series. The 75-minute pilot episode is an excellent introduction to the world and the characters. It's just hard to know where George and her friends will go once the series gets cooking and stops revolving around the lessons she needs to learn about doing her job.
Bryan Fuller has created a fascinating world that embraces death as necessary but not necessarily as the final part of the journey. To that end, he doesn't provide all the answers. Even the reapers don't know what happens when the souls get to the afterlife. George's newfound existence is full of distinct characters and bizarre developments, and the series just doesn't feel like anything else on the air.
Taking on the character of George is Ellen Muth, who balances the depth of the role quite well. However, it is Mandy Patinkin who is the gem here. Every time he's on the screen the scene is funnier, the drama has more depth, and we get sucked into whatever is happening. The fact that Muth can hold her own with Patinkin in their scenes together says volumes about her ability as an actress.
While this is an entertaining pilot for the series, it's hard to see where this series will go over the long term. The reapers can't save anyone. They're just doing their job. Will the series focus on the reapers, their interaction with the dead, or some other aspect of the series? There are very promising possibilities, but it's also a series that could take a wrong turn and become Touched by a Reaper.
