Dead Boy Detectives – Episode 1 Recap & Review

The Case of Crystal Palace

Dead Boy Detectives episode 1 begins with a bang – quite literally. We meet Edwin Paine, the brain, and Charles Rowland, the brawn, of the Dead Boy Detectives Agency solving a case of a world war I ghost in the museum on the request of a client. They think that the ghost’s mask is cursed but Charles have forgotten to bring the book of exorcisms in his bag of infinity, ironically exclaiming that he though they wouldn’t need it.  

Charles an Edwin are able to transport using mirrors but comically, Edwin miscalculates and they end up in a different location before getting back to their office, where the ghost follows them and catches Charles on a chokehold. Charles grabs his cursed mask, passed it to Edwin who exorcises it. The two then hide as Death comes to take the ghost to afterlife.

Some time later, a girl who looks like she belongs to the 1800s asks the two for help since her psychic friend is acting unusual – certainly eating a fish out of a trash can is unusual. When they discuss payment, the girl tries to trick them citing her age, but Edwin clearly lays out that she’s older in supernatural terms and also has knowledge of the arcane, “demonstrated by your glowing magical squid as a pet”. She gives in and they take on the case.

The two teenaged ghost detectives disguise themselves and rescues the psychic Crystal Palace who had been possessed by a demon named…David. Yes, you read that right. She doesn’t remember anything else about her and so Charles offers her to stay with them, much to a grumpy Edwin’s dismay. You see, Charles is a fun-loving, free dead soul but Edwin is careful and prudent. On top of that, he’s very sulky and doesn’t like people interfering very much. Well, he doesn’t have an option since Charles has his mind set.

Together with Charles while getting a coffee, Crystal learns that the two has been friends for 30 years now and that the two willingly stayed behind after their death, and that ghosts don’t need to eat since food tastes like sand anyway. Charles likes the fact that there’s someone their age who isn’t dead.

Back at the office, Crystal as a sighting upon touching a missing girl’s flyer and she somehow convinces them to take up the case, after fighting Edwin’s nagging, of course. They fly to American, along with Edwin’s grumbling about mirrors would have been faster, but because Crystal is human, they had to take the longer route.

Crystal manages to get a room and they visit the girl’s parents. Charles and Edwin disguise as officers while Crystal read their minds, hiding around the corner. Later, she comments that the police found her shoes and if they could have them, she can see where they were last before the girl disappeared. Edwin jumps mirrors and gets the shoes and they visit near a house. Edwin asks a cat passing by about the house but before Crystal could comment that cats don’t talk, the cat sassily says, “F*ck you. I’m not telling you nothing about that house or the witch inside” and goes away. Charles comments that cats don’t talk…to humans. Now, that they determined that the house belongs to a witch, it gets complicated because witches are dangerous.

The three discuss about the case in a bar before Crystal goes to the bathroom to avoid others staring at her, since she appeared to have been talking to herself. In the bathroom, Crystal finds herself in a dark place where she meets the demon David and realises that it’s him who has stolen her memories. David refuses and says that she’s “special” but before anything more could happen, Charles pulls her out and it seems she was having a demonic conversation in the middle of the room, so Crystal leaves.

After Crystal leaves yelling at the two for some space, Charles tries to make Edwin understand that she’s scared and Edwin retorts that he’s been in hell for 70 years. We see Edwin’s story in black and white in the 1916. He was in the boarding house and was sacrificed to a demon. When he asks it to leave him alone, the demon replies casually, “Sorry. Technically, you’re a sacrifice. So technically, I’ve gotta take you to Hell”.

Edward then meets the same cat and offers him a fish, trapping him and binding him. When he asks him about the witch, the cat sighs and says, “Eh fine. But using magic on a cat means trouble”. Simultaneously, Crystal tells Charles that she’s angry about not remembering and not being able to go back to her home. Charles shows her his parents and says that he can understand what it feels like.

Crystal finally tells the two the truth. 3 months ago, she fell in love with a man she met in a pub. He turned out to be a demon but since she thought it was love, she let him possess her. Very smart, Crystal. Anyway, Edwin of course loses his patience listening to this story. He mentions how his and Charles’ deaths never mattered and were brushed off, and that is why their cases matter to them. Crystal makes them understand that it does matter to her and they finally move on with their plan.

The next day, Crystal has the witch, who looks like your typical sexy witch, busy with a problem at the post office while the two boys visit her house. Edwin tells them the information he gained from the cat, that the witch every so often takes a girl and sucks the vitality out of her so stay youthful. Inside the cupboard, they find a magical void and Edwin is sucked. In heaps of clothes and shoes, he finds the girl, puts her in Charles infinity bag and Charles pulls him up.

Meanwhile, the witch returns to find Crystal on her doorstep. She paralyses Crystal with pipe smoke when the two boys come to rescue Crystal. But she easily flings them away with her iron cane, since iron burns ghosts. Crystal somehow grabs the witch’s legs and peeks into her memories. Charles then posses the witch, which is not good since possessing is not taken lightly in the afterlife and has many complications. The witch removes him by banging her head though. And as she goes inside her house, tired, she retorts to her cawing pet crow, “Monty, Jesus. I’m trying to threaten some kids” and bangs the door shut.

Crystal hypnotises the girl so she doesn’t remember anything and they take her back home. Case Closed. However, because of Charles possession incident, the Afterlife Lost and Found Department receives their whereabouts and location. Whoops, someone’s in trouble. 

The Episode Review

Dead Boy Detectives episode 1 was charming, amusing and fun! The oddball comedy is on point with the cat and the demons talking like they’re your next-door neighbours. It Keeps the episode enjoyable.  

The characters are interesting and well portrayed. The chemistry between the group is noteworthy with interesting and eccentric mysteries. The show as a Sherlock meets Ghostbusters meets Beetlejuice with a dash of Halloween horror vibe and it’s very refreshing. Overall, a great beginning.