Comedy
Dead Boy Detectives
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
In 1735’s England, there’s a severe “highwaymen” problem (robbers who stop carriages often by killing the driver and looting everything from the wealthy people inside). And rising the ranks of highwaymen is Dick Turpin, the vegan child of a butcher who turned to the outlaw life simply because he was “just too inspiring.”
You’ll need a bit more context: you see, Dick’s not the best at analyzing social situations. It’s how he accidentally got himself volun-told by famed highwayman Tom King to help Tom’s gang rob a passing carriage. It was Dick’s first heist, and it ended with him killing Tom with a surprise shot to the face.
The rest of Tom’s gang? Well, they were more than pleased. None of them very much liked the man. And with no leader, they begged Dick to fill the role. After all, Dick has a certain charisma about him—an aloof charm that makes many quick to flock to him.
Dick accepts, but that choice opens up a whole new dangerous world for him. Other gangs of highwaymen compete for the same carriages. Corrupt government officials conspire with highwaymen for loot—and send any robbers who refuse to the gallows. And, of course, we haven’t even mentioned the various magical threats that Dick and the rest of his gang encounter, from cursed carriages to demonically affiliated witches.
But remember what I said earlier about Dick being aloof? Yeah, none of that magical humbo-jumbo really bothers him. He’s just got one goal in mind:
He wants to be the most famous and dashing highwayman of all time.
Prospective viewers might look at The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin in a similar way as they might Monty Python. It plays very loose with history and quite silly with its comedy. And though the threat of death is real, even these are treated with light-hearted guffaws rather than stone-faced seriousness.
But though it’s all played for laughs, content is still content, which is why families may want to know that plenty of people are killed—albeit they typically collapse without any blood or gore. Sexual jokes are somewhat frequent. And a number of characters unintentionally use Dick’s name in a sexual way.
Along the way, viewers will also be treated to a variety of magic-wielding people, including a “witch who works with the Devil himself” and a friendly druid-looking warlock named Craig. And to round out the content, swearing and misuses of God’s name are present, too.
The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin aren’t meant to be taken seriously—that much is clear. But some might find the content within to be no laughing matter.
While being escorted to his hanging, Dick Turpin recounts to his fellow prisoners his tale of glory and woe.
We’re told of a man who killed 26 members of his own family. Meanwhile, Dick claims he shot a man’s face off. We do see Dick kill this man, though we don’t witness any such gore. A man is shot a few times, and another man is shot off a carriage. (Though no blood is ever seen as a result of any violence.) A man is hanged, but he is soon cut down and remains alive. Another man is hit by a rogue carriage wheel, which leaves him in a neck brace.
One male member of Dick’s new gang, Moose, desires to wear a dress since he thinks it’ll be more comfortable, and Dick tells him that he wore a dress for nearly a year without any underwear. We later see Moose wearing a dress. Likewise, the female Nell briefly dresses as a man in order to be seen as an equal amongst her predominantly male highwaymen. Dick kisses a woman. Something is described as an “absolute ball-ache.”
People drink alcohol. A gang orders “five glasses of killgrief.”
The official tracking down Dick’s crew is a crooked man named Jonathan Wilde. He wants them to steal things for him to resell back to the owners in exchange for a share in the profits.
God’s name is used in vain five times. We hear one use of the s-word, and we hear one instance of “p-ss.”
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
An elf mage contemplates on connection and regret as she watches her human friends grow old and pass away.
