Comedy
Dead Boy Detectives
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
Ten years ago, Katherine came to the United Kingdom with the intention of seducing Shep Knight, the lead singer of her favorite boy band. She did just that, and her daughter Olive was the result of that encounter. But while she loves the girl to pieces, things just didn’t work out between her and Shep.
Now, Katherine is a single mom and owner of a pottery company (Kiln’Em Softly). She takes joy in shocking people with her vulgarity, displays nude art around her home and cares for an insane number of dogs.
She also practically lives to please her daughter. And that comes with a downside.
Olive, while generally a good kid, is also pretty precocious. Her mother’s lack of boundaries has led the girl to believing that she is somehow Katherine’s equal. Olive insists on sharing a room (and bed) with her mom. When they look at moving into a larger house, she assumes the master bedroom will be hers. And the thing she wants for her 10th birthday is a sibling.
Again, Katherine lives to please Olive. So, she agrees.
But when a trip to the fertility doctor reveals that her donor options are limited, she decides she’d rather take her chances through other avenues. Which pretty much gives her two options: She can try to conceive with her loving boyfriend, Evan (whom Olive hates), or, she can try to convince her biological dad, Shep (whom Katherine now hates) to help her create a fully DNA-sharing sibling for Olive. After all, they got pretty lucky with Olive, so who’s to say they can’t do it again?
Although many would consider it a good thing to put your child’s needs before your own, Katherine isn’t prioritizing Olive’s needs so much as she is her wants. As a result, she puts her relationship with Evan at risk, sends nude pictures of herself to a parent at school (as a form of blackmail) and tries having sex with a man she can’t stand.
Clearly this is a woman who needs to rethink how she’s raising the kid she has before bringing another into this world.
That being said, Katherine does have her moments of good parenting—such as when she refuses to let the 9-year-old get an Instagram account due to online predators and when she stops Olive from being bullied at school. She also does her best to protect Olive from realizing that Shep is…well, kind of a loser. (He takes pride in the fact that he’s beaten syphilis twice). Because even though the guy clearly has some issues of his own, he’s still Olive’s dad. And Katherine doesn’t want to take Olive’s respect for her pops away from her.
But again, these small positive aspects don’t make up for Katherine’s (and the show’s) total lack of boundaries. People have sex and there is some brief nudity. We frequently hear the f-word, s-word and c-word, along with a variety of other profanities. And as I said before, Katherine takes joy in shocking people with her vulgarity. This sometimes results in her talking graphically about sex in public, insulting children and calling them names, and even telling people she had an affair with a married man in order to manipulate his wife.
Katherine explores her options to have a second baby after Olive asks for a sibling for her birthday.
Katherine sends nude pictures of herself (which are briefly seen) to another woman’s husband, and she pretends to be having an affair with the man. She then accuses the woman of bringing pornography onto school property. People talk about sex, masturbation, male and female genitals and sperm. We see pottery carved with male and female genitals (and one piece with both). Some women wear revealing shirts. A couple kisses. A woman wishes her son were gay.
A young girl pushes Olive to the ground. Katherine tries to go after the girl, but Shep stops her. Katherine knocks a woman’s coffee to the ground in anger. Someone talks about a character drowning in a movie. A woman says her psychic promised a man would be dead two years ago. Olive asks Shep if they can blow up trout after he gives her dynamite. Later we hear she shot a squirrel in its face with a gun.
When Shep forgets Olive’s birthday, Katherine lies to cover for him. People drink wine at dinner. Shep accuses Katherine of being a drunk. Katherine calls Shep a “crackhead.” A man spouts conspiracy theories. Someone gives Katherine meat that turns out to be stolen. People talk poorly about immigrants. Katherine repeatedly talks about her desire not to be tied down to a man. We hear about a boy urinating in a bucket. Someone talks about flatulence.
We hear multiple uses of the f-word, s-word and c-word, as well as “a–,” “b–ch,” “p-ss,” “tw-t,” “d–k,” “pr–k,” “bloody,” “p-ssy” and “wanker.” We also see the word “p-ssy” on a shirt. God’s name is misused several times, as is Christ’s name. People also make some rude hand gestures. Katherine insults a child, saying she is “evil” and has a “demon mouth.” She calls her other names as well, some of which are sexually driven.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
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.
