Dbda Spoilers - Tumblr Posts
The way Edwin screamed Niko's name. I mean, the situation he was in, and the amount of pain he was already experiencing, and then... the noise that tore out of him. After all he'd suffered, that cracked-in-half howling anguish for her
Not sure I'm ever going to be ok tbh
Guys. Did Edwin and Charles even get buried, or have a funeral/memorial? We know that the school covered up what happened to both of them. We know Edwin’s disappearance was labeled as an “Act of God”. So my question is does Edwin’s body even exist in the moral plane? Or was his body dragged into Hell along with his soul? Or was his body disintegrated when he was dragged to Hell?
And Charles. Was his body ever discovered? He died in the attic of a seemingly random and possibly abandoned shack. If he was found, then his body had to have been buried somewhere inconspicuous by the school. So do his parents know he’s dead? Do Edwin’s parents know he’s dead?
Alright. It is time. Buckle up.
Why you should be watching Dead Boy Detectives: the targeted-specifically-at my-readers edition.
Meet the leads, our two ghost boys:
Edwin Payne: Fussy, repressed intellectual type from the Edwardian era. Exceedingly gay for his partner and best friend. Tortured in hell for seventy years on a technicality because he was ritually sacrificed as a prank gone wrong. Endearingly awful at people and dealing with emotions or his own wants.
Charles Rowland: Impulsive, people-pleasing wildcard from the 80s. Heart eyes 24/7 at his best friend but has zero self-awareness. Badly abused by his asshole of a father. Beaten to death because he saved a kid from bullies. Endearingly awful at sorting his own emotions or talking about his problems.
Some highlights:
/slaps hood you can fit so much trauma in these two
Both leads get sobbing breakdowns that happen on screen. The actors are incredible at crying
Both leads get much-needed hugs
The absolute devotion between the two of them. The shared history that lives in their dialogue and how they work together like people who have been each other's Most Important Person for literal decades
I mean, I'm talking in-canon Orpheus and Eurydice reference level of devotion here
The protective way Charles puts himself physically between Edwin and damn near every threat in the show
They're just fun together. Their interactions and banter and how they work as a team is a delight
Their shared plot arc literally involves them learning to talk to each other and communicate more so that they can be there for one another about their respective issues
The symbolism. God. They are metaphorically and literally one another's light in the darkness
But what about stuff that isn't the main duo? Just wait, there's more:
This show is unabashedly, unapologetically queer. It's there in the text and the subtext. The whole show lives and breathes it
So many good, complex, well-written female characters. The Bechdel test gets blown straight out of the water in episode one and they never look back. Headstrong amnesiac psychic learning to be a better person! Quirky meta commentary matchmaker! Cynical lesbian butcher! Delightfully sadistic witch! They are all amazing.
[audience voice] But I'm here for the hurt/comfort. How can I whump ghosts? Worry not, my friends. Canon has you covered. Not only are there ways, there are ways that happen on-screen. The hurt/comfort and rescue are also on-screen. Yes, it is amazing
Absolute chaos, really cool supernatural cases and creatures, a surprising amount of humor, charming writing, and a cast that absolutely nails it on the acting and chemistry
There is an extremely suggestive trickster type who is also the king of cats. He's a cat in human form. He hits on Edwin nonstop. Charles gets blisteringly jealous
All of the leads have well-thought-through, fully developed, emotional character arcs. They're all messy and flawed and sometimes lash out in their pain, but at turns can be incredibly supportive and kind and loyal
A character who is a crow who is also a boy, who is tortured by his witch/creator and also is crushing hard on one of the leads
There are so many incredible details in the setting, costume choices, prop decisions, etc. that you only catch after you know what it's laying the groundwork for. The level of care that went into this show is phenomenal
It's only eight episodes. The time investment barrier to entry could not possibly be lower
Anyway, tl;dr, if any of this sounds appealing to you, you should give this show a watch.
Dead Boy Detectives is well worth your time. It's easily my favorite show in years.
I nattered on about this a while back as an addendum to one of my other posts, but it got a little lost since it was a reblog, and the idea of it's stuck with me, so I wanted to come back to it again and expand on it a little.
One of the major themes of Dead Boy Detectives is that the good you do comes back around.
It surfaces and resurfaces throughout the series. The instances in the final episode are the most spelled out for the viewer, but there's one example that lives at the very heart of the show that isn't quite so obvious on first glance.
When Charles dies, Edwin is newly returned from hell. The show doesn't specify the timeline aside from that he escapes hell in the same year he meets Charles, 1989, but overcoming that much trauma within a year is a big ask any way you slice it. He's spent seventy years in survival mode. He's got to be a wreck, still.
At this point, he hasn't had time to develop any complicated leniency schemes to keep himself out of hell. Certainly their detective agency hasn't been formed yet. It comes later, in 1990.
For the entire rest of the series, Edwin has a least a partial ulterior motive for the good he does. He takes on cases and tries to make an impact for their clients at least in part so that he can build himself up such a shield of decency that if he ever gets dragged back to hell, he can try to plead his case. He's so ashamed of this that he doesn't admit it out loud until he's forced to by magic.
But when he meets Charles, none of that plan is in place yet. Here he hasn't taken the time to sit down and work out a plan at all. Here the agency doesn't even exist.
He sees this boy in the attic, beaten and freezing and huddling in a corner, and he comes to offer the only thing he thinks he can: light.
And when he realizes he can give more than that – when he realizes that Charles can see him, and what that means – he stays and gives more. Comfort, and kindness, and company, in the very darkest hour of all.
He takes one look at how battered Charles is, and he tells him, "I shan't hurt you."
And it is a big deal.
Arguably this one line is the very best thing he could have said to Charles in this situation, and Edwin, who struggles with people, who has spent seventy years in hell, who is still trying to sort through his own trauma, takes one look at this boy who has been beaten soon-to-be to death, and he knows that intuitively.
And to Charles? It must have meant everything. Charles has spent his entire life trying to be good enough. He smiles and struggles to please. He does the best he can for whoever he can, and for his entire life, it has never been enough. He's been hurt, over and over again, for failing to live up to his father's impossible standards or guess at his impossible rules. His so-called friends turned on him and murdered him for trying to keep them from hurting someone else.
He's on the verge of tears, alone in the dark, dying.
And then Edwin steps up carrying the metaphorical and literal light in the darkness, and one of the very first things he ever says is, "I shan't hurt you."
That's the baseline. That offer comes when Charles isn't putting on a show. He's not being brave, or strong, or charming. He's hiding in a corner, quietly freezing to death. But here comes this boy anyway, with a light in the darkness and a promise not to hurt him.
It's a moment of simple, honest kindness – of Edwin doing good because he sees someone and he wants to help.
And to Charles, it makes such an impact that he gives up his afterlife for this boy. He spends the next thirty years stepping in front of things that would do him harm. He keeps the lantern and brings it with him, when he comes to save Edwin from hell.
It's that very first moment of kindness, in the attic, that sets into motion the events that result in Edwin's rescue.
That one moment of genuine good, with no furtive selfish side intentions, comes back around to save him. He only knows Charles at all because he stopped to help. Charles only didn't pass on to his afterlife because Edwin was there for him.
And then, all those years later, Charles sets out like Orpheus down into hell to get his best mate back.
That good has come around again. That light in the darkness, literally and figuratively both, is there for him in his lowest moment because he offered it to someone else when they desperately needed it.
And that's beautiful.
Like everyone else in the fandom, I have been listening to the soundtrack all morning, and it has spurred a realization.
You know that final scene in episode 8? Where the boys hug, and Charles mirrors the hand-on-heart gesture?
This scene?
The background music is variations of I'm in Love With You.
That is all. I shall now gnaw on a table.
I think it's so funny that Charles wants to call the Night Nurse "Charlie" because that's literally a nickname for the name Charles
Why hello, Edwin. That is some very specific knowledge about what happens if a Misery Wraith gets ahold of you.
Followed up by Charles spotting two of them while he's in the Doll House coming to retrieve Edwin from hell.
The fridge horror of this throw-away line early on and then that two-second glimpse later in episode 7 is incredible, honestly. Those two tiny things, and you can put the pieces together.
Because these things aren't fast. Creepy, sure, but it takes one of them five whole minutes to walk down a hallway in the Case of the Devlin House.
So let me set the scene:
Edwin has been running. He's been running for years, or maybe for decades already. Hope has slipped away. He's tried everything he knows how to try. If he just sits here, maybe the demon won't chase him anymore. Maybe it will spare him a little bit of pain.
Yes, it means that he's giving up. Yes, if he stays he's never going to get out. But trying just means terror, and agony, and he's done that so many times already. He can't do it again.
So he sits himself down, tucked up against some wall somewhere, and he stays perfectly still, because if he stays very still, he won't be hunted.
And the Misery Wraiths come closer bit by slow bit, drawn by that loss of hope, until they're finally upon him. And then, somehow, no matter how much he thought it couldn't get any worse, it gets worse.