Dead Like Me

Synopsis

Georgia Lass was aloof and emotionally distant from her family and shied away from having experiences. After dropping out from college, she took a job at Happy Time Temporary Services. On her lunch break of her first day, she is hit and killed by a zero-G toilet seat from the de-orbiting Soviet space station Mir. (Mir was actually de-orbited in 2001, two years earlier than the setting.)

Related Topics:
Zero-G - Toilet - Mir

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She is informed shortly after her death that, rather than moving on to the "great beyond", she will become a grim reaper in the "external influence" division, covering accidents, suicides and homicides.

Related Topics:
Great beyond - Suicide - Homicide

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Through the first season, George has trouble adjusting to her circumstances: collecting souls, while holding a day job at Happy Time. By the second season, she has mostly adjusted to her new role in the circle of life, though still has unresolved issues with her life and her afterlife.

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George's family is struggling to deal with her death. Joy is depressed and visibly repressing it, while Clancy is cheating on her. Reggie acted out ? stealing toilet seats from neighbors and school and hanging them on a tree ? before being sent for therapy by Joy. She clings to the belief that George visits her, but is starting to lie to cover this up. At the start of the second season, the family began to break apart as divorce proceedings began.

Related Topics:
Cheating - Therapy

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Nearly all of the main characters have some form of depression, but cope with it in different ways: Mason resorts to alcohol and drugs, Daisy puts a veneer of perkiness, and Roxy is physically and verbally aggressive. Rube and George are more open about their sadness, as they both tend to be brooding loners.

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