REVIEW: ‘Dead Boy Detectives’ Is Supernatural Greatness

Netflix expands the Sandman Universe with Dead Boy Detectives, an original series adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s comic series. As showrunners, Steve Tokey and Beth Schwartz have created a young adult series that thrives in the supernatural but prioritizes its characters’ humanity first and foremost.

The series follows the titular Dead Boy Detectives Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri), two ghosts who have made it their afterlife’s mission to help the recently departed. They exorcise hauntings, help ghosts tie up their unfinished business, remove curses, and they do it all while avoiding Death (Kirby).

The two are teenagers born decades apart who find each other only in death; the duo solves mysteries, helping right the wrongs of others because their deaths were ignored. They will do anything to stick together, even if that means fighting off witches and Hell. With the help of a clairvoyant named Crystal (Kassius Nelson) and an even newer friend, Niko (Yuyu Kitamura), they are able to crack some of the mortal realm’s most mystifying paranormal cases.

With a case-of-the-week format, the series’ success comes from its astounding character work. It is rare that a series can focus on a character who has gone through great trauma because of his identity as a gay adolescent and not make it exploitative. As much as that is a part of his story, the bigotry he experienced is just that, a part, not the whole. He is stoic in nature and somewhat cold to those he doesn’t know well, but he will fight tooth and nail for those he calls friends. Carrying the weight of literal Hell on his shoulder, Edwin’s resilience makes him stand out.

George Rexstrew’s character is gay, and while he explores that—being teased by the Cat King (Lukas Gage) and flirting with the cute boy (Joshua Colley) in the library—his identity is much more than that. His friendship and kindness define him in a way that makes him a whole character, with his selfish idiosyncrasies adding just the right amount of complexity.

Queerness is a central theme of the series, and it’s a blend of supernatural case-solving and coming-of-age stories. Whether it’s showing Edwin exploring who he is in terms of his sexuality or watching Jenny go on a date with a woman who has been sending her letters, all of it is handled in a matter-of-fact way that makes it feel both banal and special.

Where Edwin is stoic, Charles is propelled by his emotions, his rage, and his grief—a grief for a life that was stolen from him. Charles is who I see myself in the most. In his anger and the fear it invokes. He can’t keep still in the face of injustice. He is aggressive, and it balances the duo spectacularly. But Charles’ hard demeanor covers up a vulnerable core, which we watch slowly slip away, something that only Edwin knows.

In the standout episode of the season, “The Case of the Delvin House,” the boys and Crystal attempt to save ghosts trapped in an abusive time loop. This is where the audience gets to see why Charles is the way he is. And also how that brash demeanor is hiding something else. Jayden Revri plays Charles with charisma and vulnerability that makes him an outstanding character, not just in the Young Adult series but in every series.

While both teens are fantastically developed on their own, their unbreakable friendship is the true star of Dead Boy Detectives. There is empathy, love, and a tender understanding between them that makes every choice they make all the more impactful. Their lives (read: afterlives) mean as much as they do because they have each other to lean on.

Charles and Edwin bring out the best in each other, make up for what the other lacks, and always push each other to grow. Even when awkwardness arises or they fail, it’s the fact that they’re there for each other that makes Dead Boy Detectives hit something deeper than just the supernatural tropes it wields.

As you look at the rest of the ensemble, Crystal is a pillar of strength. Tortured by the demon ex (David Iacono) who once controlled her body, Crystal is a girl living with her trauma. To make matters worse, she has no idea who she was before the Dead Boy Detectives saved her.

Constantly trying to find out who she was before, her anxiety is a weakness, but how she navigates it is a strength. She is living in a world that is just slightly unfamiliar to her while she is desperately trying to find her past. A strong psychic, she isn’t just set dressing to the detective agency but invaluable to their work.

Rounding out the quartet that is the Dead Boy Detective Agency is Niko. Saved by the boys and Crystal at the start of the season, Niko has her own sad story. Keeping away from her mom, who left her in boarding school, Niko is running from her past while Crystal desperately tries to find hers.

Niko is an anime fan, a fujoshi (BL fan), and a little bit of a space cadet, but more importantly, her empathy moves mountains. While some elements of her character feel more like stereotypes, they don’t make up the core of who she is. Instead, her conversations with her jar pixies help showcase the complexity of her character.

But the character work doesn’t just stop with the heroes. The antagonists of the season, Esther Finch (Jenn Lyon), the witch, and the Night Nurse (Ruth Connell), a cross-dimensional being in charge of finding all the lost kids as a part of the afterlife’s Lost & Found department, are iconic. To start, Esther is just plain bad. She’s chaotic, selfish, and mean. Lyon plays this character to the nines with a wardrobe that screams and a cane that threatens. She’s fantastic in her villainy.

Connell’s Night Nurse, on the other hand, is the bureaucratic kind of intimidating. “Everything has its place” is a threat she wields, and Connell does it with a charm. No stranger to supernatural series, Connell makes the absolute most of every minute of screen time, rounding out the cast with style.

Dead Boy Detectives is a stellar series because every single character is dynamic and thoughtfully explored (even with some of the stereotypes that are attached to Yuki). That said, when the ensemble cast comes together, it transforms into a television series that surpasses just about any American series Netflix has put out in recent years—The Sandman included. By achieving greatness with each character separate and surpassing that bar by bringing them into a whole, Dead Boy Detectives is an instant classic.

When it comes to production design and effects work, Dead Boy Detectives is extremely grounded. With clear practical effects applications and stunning CGI work, everything in the series holds weight. This leads to the show’s immersive quality, no matter the location of the ghost story, to be solved. In truth, this series feels like Supernatural in its early seasons, character-driven but always focused on bringing out something new and bigger to thrill the audience.

Dead Boy Detective also sports an expertly crafted narrative. With a case-of-the-week structure, the series also pulls consistent story beats from episode one to episode eight and lands every swing that it takes. Like most Netflix series at this point, Dead Boy Detectives Season 2 would add so much more, and it deserves it. However, the series also works as one story, a tough balance to strike.

The world of Dead Boy Detectives is rich, dark, and beautiful. It captures the Young Adult angst we’ve been missing from television, and I mean that with the highest of compliments. The cinematography, humor, character work, and everything else is firing on all cylinders. Deeply thrilling and intimately tender, Dead Boy Detectives is astonishingly good and leaves me excited to see how much further Netflix can expand the Sandman Universe.

Dead Boy Detectives is streaming now, exclusively on Netflix.