Comedy
Dead Boy Detectives
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
Stella Sandell was a normal teenager.
She played sports. She hung out with friends. She loved her parents.
But when she turned 15, everything changed.
Stella attended a sports camp that summer, where she found plenty of competition, tons of fun, and an attractive, older assistant coach by the name of Robin.
After an evening of swimming together, Stella and Robin made their way to a secluded shack. And although Stella liked Robin, she had no intention of sleeping with him. Robin had other plans.
On the way home from camp, Stella told her father that Robin had raped her.
Her father, a pastor, wanted to press charges. Her mother, a successful defense attorney, told him that these cases never favor young women. It was pointless to go to the police, she argued. Stella cried.
Now, four years later, 19-year-old Stella and her parents try to pretend like nothing ever happened.
Yet, it’s impossible to ignore trauma. It forces you to take notice, everywhere you turn.
Take Stella for example. She barely completed high school, has no desire to go to college and wants to travel the world to escape.
Until she meets a guy on the night of her birthday–a charming, handsome, cultured older man named Christoffer Olsen.
On the surface, Christoffer is everything that Stella has ever wanted. He is intrigued by her, he is patient and he respects her boundaries.
What could go wrong?
That’s the question Stella’s parents ask themselves when they hear that Stella has been arrested and will be tried for murder.
The murder of Christoffer Olsen.
Love. Murder. Jealousy.
Netflix’s Swedish-language miniseries, A Nearly Normal Family, has it all.
This TV-MA show, based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Swedish author M.T. Edvardsson, intertwines law, love, loss and death.
It’s part thriller, part murder-mystery, part drama, and it walks viewers through how the life of each member of Stella’s family has disintegrated since her sexual assault.
Stella feels disconnected, lacks motivation and blames herself for the horror that happened to her as a teenager. Her mother, Ulrika, has become an alcoholic who cheats on her husband to find comfort in a decision that has haunted her. Stella’s father, Adam, is overly protective of Stella and has shrunk away from his wife and daughter over the years, in shame.
This complex series also examines the lives of others in Stella’s orbit, including her best friend, Amina. It psychoanalyzes the decisions made by the main characters and even asks how things would have been different had Stella’s parents pressed charges when she was a teen.
But the majority of the series takes place in the present. And the present is grim and full of content issues you need to know about.
At the beginning, a scene includes rape. While it’s not as graphic as it could be, it’s enough to wince at, and it will certainly be triggering for those who have experienced sexual assault.
We also hear a lot of discussion about women suffering sexual assault, including men drugging women and raping them. The show comes with plenty of sexual innuendo, references to sexual acts and–in one scene–Stella is completely nude, we see her from the torso up. A graphic sexual scene includes Stella’s mother and the man with whom she’s having an affair.
In one scene, Stella goes to a nightclub filled with pole dancers and men in drag, and many people drink alcohol and dance.
There is, of course, violence, along with some harsh profanity scattered throughout a few episodes.
This series has most certainly been given its TV-MA rating for good reason. And just because it’s one of Netflix’s most popular shows, that doesn’t mean it’s something that’s suitable for you or your family.
Stella, a 15-year-old high schooler, goes to a summer sports camp and is raped by her assistant coach. Her parents’ choice to not report the incident to the police continues to wreak havoc on Stella’s life four years later.
Stella sports a bikini as she goes swimming with her shirtless coach. Afterward, they make out in a shed and it quickly turns to more. Stella tells her coach she doesn’t want anything more to happen, but he forces himself onto her and rapes her. (We see Stella’s bikini bottoms drop to the floor and we see both people, torsos and up, paired with movement.) Although this scene isn’t as graphic as it could’ve been, it is sexually violent and will be triggering for anyone who has experienced sexual assault.Stella received a medical exam to confirm that she’s been raped, and we see her thighs as she’s dressed in a medical gown. Later, Stella overhears her parents saying that they will not take Stella’s case to the police as her mother, a lawyer, reasons that these cases often don’t win, and the girl is blamed instead.
Stella’s father realizes that his wife is cheating on him after she lies to him about an evening outing. She cheats on him in quite a graphic way.
Two men, dressed in drag, dance around a club. Stella asks if one wants to switch dresses with her, so they do (we see Stella’s underwear and backside as she puts on a new dress). Men in drag and women pole dance at a nightclub. Stella makes a reference to a crass sexual activity. Girls wear crop tops and cleavage-baring tops. A woman’s nipples are visible through a silk nightgown.
Stella’s father stumbles upon a murder scene at a park (including a body bag) and later finds out that Stella has been accused of murder
Stella’s mother shares with a friend that she’s embarrassed of her daughter’s lack of ambition and drive in life.
Stella’s best friend, Amina, asks if they can watch a horror film together.
Men and women alike consume beer, wine and champagne.
Jesus’ name is misused once. The f-word is used three times and the British vulgarity “bloody” is heard once.
Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).
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.
