Dead to Me (2019) s02e06 – You Don’t Have To

So, first things first. Let’s get the negative out of the way; Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum does a poor job of directing. Not quite as bad as a first season episode, but definitely a return to the bad frame composition to cover for some of the actors not being very good. Like Sam McCarthy; I noticed Rosenbaum’s composition during a McCarthy and Christina Applegate scene and the show really just needs to acknowledge it’s not going to do anything special with the two characters.

It seems to come to that realization in the happy night out finish, where everyone—not Max Jenkins thank goodness—hangs out at an arcade and bonds. By everyone I mean, Applegate, sons McCarthy and Luke Roessler, and Linda Cardellini and her genuine, bonafide love interest, Natalie Morales. Out of nowhere, “Dead to Me” gets the major points for Bi-Inclusivity; first with Cardellini and Morales’s smoke out conversation about Cardellini’s relationship with Applegate, then with Morales meeting Applegate. It’s amazing how good sincere nonplus makes something seem when it’s really just not being bad.

The episode’s basically split with Cardellini and Morales and then Applegate and new James Marsden. The Marsden stuff turns into this fantastic T-800 situation; in the insane world of “Dead to Me,” obviously new Marsden is going to be the only one who measures up.

The show’s trying to make McCarthy more likable, giving him an awkward sex conversation with Cardellini and then he’s empathetic to brother Roessler at just the right time. But it’s still blah.

There’s also some more with Diana Maria Riva, who brings Cardellini for some questions and takes the opportunity to manipulate her. It turns out Riva is about to figure into the plot in a very forced “it’s all connected” way, which is a bummer. Though at this point you wish the good cast members—Marsden, Cardellini, Applegate, Morales—would just jump ship to a new series. The first season broke this one too hard.

Oh, and Brandon Scott’s back. He sadly didn’t bring his charm along.

Dead to Me (2019) s02e05 – The Price You Pay

Rat murderer John Ennis is back for the first season, which starts this “Dead to Me” out on a high point. The only time it really weakens from there is when Suzy Nakamara and Sam McCarthy show up. Annoying neighbor Nakamara feels like a leftover bad idea from season one; she’s just there to let new James Marsden guy know Christina Applegate is a liar about old James Marsden. He already should be suspicious because Linda Cardellini let something slip, which led to her beating the shit out of her self in the bathroom in an almost too real for this show moment. And Applegate was already suspicious when he met her at her office.

But he’s not because he’s a lovable dope. In fact, if it weren’t for McCarthy at the end of the episode screwing up royally yet again, I’d have thought new Marsden and Applegate might hook up. They do end up on a date of sorts, where he bares his soul regarding his missing brother. Meanwhile, Cardellini is on a date of sorts of her own, with 420-friendly retirement home resident’s daughter, Natalie Morales. It’s unclear if Cardellini knew it was a date but she’s not surprised when Morales talks about a girlfriend. As long as it’s not queer coding. “Dead to Me” has got enough problems without queer coding.

There’s some fun stuff with—okay, when I say fun, I mean it’s miserably awkward stuff—with Valerie Mahaffey. Applegate’s just now finding out mother-in-law Mahaffey on the deed to her house, something the husband neglected to tell her. Marsden’s a delight. He’s a chiropractor, which is just perfect. Plus he dances. And he had a heart defect so he’s real sympathetic.

Morales is awesome. I need to watch “Middleman.”

“Dead to Me” season two, even with McCarthy sucking the life out of it both as a character and as a petulant teen actor, is a lot of fun. A lot of it is because it’s more fun to watch Applegate try to cover up a crime than to solve one.