Comedy
Dead Boy Detectives
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
Sarah Fenn is a good little witch. In her many years of service as a registered witch in the small UK town of Sanctuary, she’s helped women with uncertain pregnancies, cast spells to guarantee promotions, and even brought a boy back from the dead.
Unfortunately, that last one was supposed to be under the radar. She’d be banned from practicing magic and go to prison for life if the Moot (a sort of magical authority) ever found out. But there were extenuating circumstances: the boy was the son of her best friend, Abigail, his death was an accident, and she revived him only a few minutes after his heart had stopped beating.
That little miracle gave Abigail another six years with Dan. But now, he’s gone once again before his time—the result of another accident.
Or was it?
At the time of Dan’s death, everyone thought it was a tragic accident. A fire had erupted at a party—probably the product of faulty wiring at the abandoned warehouse where it was being held. Teenagers panicked and started running for the exits. And Dan, likely in a drunken stupor, fell down the stairs and broke his neck.
But then Jake, one of his best friends, produces a video of Harper, Sarah’s daughter and Dan’s ex-girlfriend, seemingly casting a spell on him.
Her hand gestures certainly look suspicious. But Harper isn’t a witch. That gene skipped a generation in the Fenn family.
But Abigail isn’t so sure. After all, nobody can prove Harper can’t use magic. And Harper was angry at Dan for the circumstances surrounding their split.
Sarah insists that Harper is innocent. But if Harper didn’t kill Dan, then who did? Because there were definitely traces of dark magic at the scene of the crime. And Sarah’s alibi is unshakable (she was with Abigail at the time of Dan’s death).
Detective Chief Inspector Maggie Knight is on the case. But she’d better work quickly, because Abigail is determined to have Harper (who produces some accusations of her own against Dan) convicted. And if that happens, archaic laws regarding witches will sentence Harper to death.
AMC’s Sanctuary has a lot of content concerns. Each episode has its share of foul language (including the f-word). A teenage girl reveals she was raped (and a video of the assault is posted online). There are extramarital affairs, LGBT romances and a character referred to as “they.” People are physically assaulted, we see some domestic abuse and, of course, a teenage boy is murdered.
And then there’s magic.
Sarah says she steers clear of “dark” magic, using potions, spell charts and incantations to only do good for her community. (She also uses the hair of her clients and her own blood on occasion.) And we’re told her magical abilities are inherited, not conjured. But clearly, that’s not a creed every witch adheres to.
An official investigation reveals that dark magic was involved the night of Dan’s murder. Someone draws a satanic pentagram on Sarah’s door after Harper is accused. And the fact that the death penalty, while no longer in effect in the rest of Great Britain, still applies to witches at least shows that the common folk aren’t quite as tolerant of witchcraft as Sarah might hope to believe.
Who murdered Dan and why remains to be seen. But discerning families probably won’t want to clear this TV-MA show of all charges.
Detective Maggie Knight begins a routine investigation of a teenage boy’s presumed accidental death. However, she soon finds herself in the midst of a literal witch hunt when someone accuses the local witch’s daughter of murder.
We see Sarah use potions, incantations, hair, blood and spell charts to conduct magic. She uses that magic to light candles, turn book pages, siphon energy from her coven (her three closest friends can’t do magic, but donating their energy helps Sarah) and even bring a boy back to life.
A pregnant woman asks Sarah to give her something that will ensure her baby will live (she lost a previous baby in childbirth). Sarah says the law prevents her from doing so, but she is able to create something to calm the woman’s nerves and give her confidence in her body’s ability to birth a healthy child.
In a flashback, Dan falls from a balcony, breaking his neck. Sarah cuts her hand with a knife and uses the blood to conduct a spell that revives him. In the present, firefighters put out a fire and carry a body inside a black bag. Later, the victim’s parents identify his body in a morgue. We hear that witches were executed for simply practicing magic (regardless of how it was used) until new laws legalized its use.
A teenage girl is called a “slut” several times after someone projects a video of her and her ex-boyfriend having sex at a party. Knight notes the unfair discrimination against the girl rather than the guy. And she points out that projecting the video without consent is an illegal act. (In later episodes, we learn that the filming of the video was nonconsensual as well and that the girl was raped.)
We learn that a couple divorced after the wife came out as gay, and while she’s still on good terms with her ex (whom she shares a daughter with), she’s now married to a woman. There’s a nude painting of some women in the background of a scene. Some teenage girls wear revealing outfits. A man kisses his wife on the neck.
Teenagers drink at a party. (We later learn some did drugs as well.) And although most of their parents are aware, they do nothing to stop it. (Some parents naively believe their children won’t imbibe, and one dad even drops his daughter off.) Adults have champagne.
Kids lie to their parents. A family is rude to Knight while she’s investigating. A woman is furious with her husband for continuing to work even when their son passes away. A reporter is insensitive to a grieving family. A priest presides over a funeral.
We hear the f-word three times, as well as “h—” and the British expletive “arse.” God’s name is misused six times and Christ’s name is abused once.
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.
