"Dead Like Me" - Sex & the Single Grim Reaper (Spoilers)
EGTea
aired to date, in cluding the current Sept. 19 ep.:
One of the more amusing features of "Dead Like Me" has been the stories
told by the character Daisy Adair (Laura Harris) about her salacious life
before she became a Grim Reaper. These tales have been so wild and
inconsistent that it is hard to decide if Daisy was/is a world class slut,
or merely a pathological liar.
In the latest episode, Daisy said "I once had sex with the pilot of a
747, in flight. The sex was great, but I was certain we were both going to
die.
One problem with that. Daisy had to already be dead.
In her first appearance, Daisy said she was an actress who died during
the filming of "Gone With the Wind." She told a story of having an
under-a-catering-table tryst with a man she mistakenly thought was Clark
Gable, but she wasn't specific about how this experience had fatal
consequences. As a result, Daisy and group leader Rube (Mandy Patinkin) are
the only Grim Reapers whose circumstances of death have not been revealed to
the audience.
Back to Daisy: Principal photography for "Gone With The Wind" took
place from Jan. 26 through Jul. 1, 1939. The earliest date any couple could
have convened a "Mile High Club" meeting aboard a Boeing 747 would have been
Jan. 21, 1970. So Daisy would have been dead a minimum of 30 years before
she could have had sex with a 747 pilot. It could not have happened.
...unless there is sex after death, and Grim Reapers can get busy with
the living.
George (Ellen Muth), who died a virgin at age 18, has mentioned that
Grim Reapers still have sexual impulses. She has also been warned by Rube
that Reapers must remain on the fringes of society -- the world is for the
living; Reapers just work there.
So far, the undead existence of Grim Reapers has balanced the emotional
trauma of death with an enviable package of perks. If Reapers can enjoy sex
with anyone they choose, death would lose all of its inconvenience.
Speculating out loud, now. I hope "Dead Like Me" establishes some
prohibitive consequences for Reapers having sex with the living. Reapers can
pluck souls from bodies with a touch, so maybe sex with a Reaper is fatal to
the living.
aemilia
>This message contains minor spoilers for "Dead Like Me" episodes that have
>aired to date, in cluding the current Sept. 19 ep.:
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> One of the more amusing features of "Dead Like Me" has been the stories
>told by the character Daisy Adair (Laura Harris) about her salacious life
>before she became a Grim Reaper. These tales have been so wild and
>inconsistent that it is hard to decide if Daisy was/is a world class slut,
>or merely a pathological liar.
> In the latest episode, Daisy said "I once had sex with the pilot of a
>747, in flight. The sex was great, but I was certain we were both going to
>die.
>
yeah but didn't they show Mason in the hot tub with a couple of
beauties a few weeks ago? I'm wondering if reapers can still have sex,
seeing that they have corporal bodies.
aemilia
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axel heyst
aemilia <aemilia...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 06:18:13 GMT, "EGTea" <EG...@spamless.com> wrote:
>
>>This message contains minor spoilers for "Dead Like Me" episodes that have
>>aired to date, in cluding the current Sept. 19 ep.:
>>
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>> One of the more amusing features of "Dead Like Me" has been the stories
>>told by the character Daisy Adair (Laura Harris) about her salacious life
>>before she became a Grim Reaper. These tales have been so wild and
>>inconsistent that it is hard to decide if Daisy was/is a world class slut,
>>or merely a pathological liar.
>> In the latest episode, Daisy said "I once had sex with the pilot of a
>>747, in flight. The sex was great, but I was certain we were both going to
>>die.
>>
I don't know what to make of Daisy's stories. On the one hand it seems
to be sloppy writing but OTOH they're so blatant that you almost think that
it's intentional, though for what reason I don't know, at this point
anyway.
>yeah but didn't they show Mason in the hot tub with a couple of
>beauties a few weeks ago? I'm wondering if reapers can still have sex,
>seeing that they have corporal bodies.
>
Other than Rube and presumably the other higher-ups not liking reapers
mingling with humans there's been nothing to indicate that they can't have
sex. They enjoy good food and in Mason's case good drugs so why not other
physical pleasures?
axel
>aemilia
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sussmanbern
> In article <33hqmv8uqk3foslll...@4ax.com>,
> aemilia <aemilia...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> One of the more amusing features of "Dead Like Me" has been the stories
> >>told by the character Daisy Adair (Laura Harris) about her salacious life
> >>before she became a Grim Reaper. These tales have been so wild and
> >>inconsistent that it is hard to decide if Daisy was/is a world class slut,
> >>or merely a pathological liar.
>
> to be sloppy writing but OTOH they're so blatant that you almost think that
> it's intentional, though for what reason I don't know, at this point
> anyway.
It may well be that Daisy, besides being dead, is (and maybe was) a
pathological liar about her sexual exploits. For example, she makes a
big deal of having been in the cast of Gone With the Wind, but the
latest episode (the one where they were all cataloging last words)
revealed that she had died in Marietta, Georgia, in 1938. GWTW was
filmed entirely, except for a few landscape shots, in Hollywood, not
in Georgia, and according to the IMD, the filming of GWTW didn't begin
until mid-December 1938. So it would appear that Daisy is lying about
having been in that movie production. Maybe her other tales of sexual
and cinematic celebrity are also lies.
There are a number of questions about the Reapers. Evidently they
can interact with the living, and they have a certain amount of
mobility and autonomy. But can a Reaper choose to move to another
city or country? If so, whats-his-name could go back to England,
Georgie could put some distance between herself and her family, etc.
Are Reapers so specialized that this particular crew only deals with
sudden death by accident, not even slow death after an injury, not
death from age or sickness (altho the young man once dealt with an
elderly lady who apparently had a fatal heart attack in her kitchen).
Are there other Reaper crews in the same vicinity who handle sickness
and natural causes, and if so, will our crew bump into them (and would
they recognize them as Reapers)?
Evidently Betty and Daisy have been Reaping for more than 60 years,
and Rube for much longer. Will we ever get Rube's story??
MarcColten
grates at me, but I'm living with it.
As for Daisy's stories I was actually wondering if (when the English guy) saw
her "Last Thoughts" that it might be "Why am I dying a virgin?" :-) But her
last thought actually went some way to verify her stories. They still sound a
bit inflated though.
As for her time and place of death - sounds like poor research by the writers.
EGTea
"sussmanbern" <sussm...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:9d95e4ee.03092...@posting.google.com...
Rube once told Daisy that death has unique qualities depending on location
(he compared it to the difference between a Chicago-style hot dog and a New
York Nathan's) George seems to be the only member of this Reaper crew who
lived in the Seattle area, so maybe she's needed as a sort-of cultural
liasion ("Rube, we can't do that. It isn't *Seattle.*").
EGTea
> death is given as December 13, 1938, at Marietta, Georgia. According
> to the Internet Movie Database, filming on Gone With The Wind started
> on Dec. 10, 1938 - but it doesn't say where; almost all of the movie
> was shot in Hollywood. So it would appear that Daisy is spinning
> yarns about her intimate connections with movie stars.
> This week's episode (the season finale) did clarify or raise some
> issues: There are other Reapers working the same turf, but our crew
> cannot recognize them automatically. And some Reapers are assigned to
> animals, at least pets; in this case we didn't see the pet
> accompanying the Reaper nor what sort of lights the pets sees. And
> evidently Reapers can have sex with the living.
> One small point: When we were introduced to Daisy, she made it
> clear that she was an actress and was busy auditioning and applying
> for acting gigs, but she apparently is never hired. We have not yet
> seen what Daisy looks like to the living (the way we have seen
> George's rather dowdy Millie persona). Perhaps to the living Daisy is
> not at all attractive looking??
>
We saw Daisy hitch a ride by flashing. Evidently, she can stop traffic with
her breasts, if nothing else.
sussmanbern
jayembee
> yeah but didn't they show Mason in the hot tub with a
> couple of beauties a few weeks ago?
That wasn't real, it was in George's imagination -- showing
us what she thought would happen by leaving the dog in
Mason's care. Later in the episode, she slaps Mason, and
makes a comment about having the dog in a hot tub, and he
looks at her, obviously having no clue as to what she's
talking about.
-- jayembee
jayembee
>> I don't know what to make of Daisy's stories. On the one
>> hand it seems to be sloppy writing but OTOH they're so
>> blatant that you almost think that it's intentional,
>> though for what reason I don't know, at this point anyway.
> =============
> It may well be that Daisy, besides being dead, is (and maybe
> was) a pathological liar about her sexual exploits.
I don't think there was any question about it. I took her
at face value when she was introduced, but as each episode
went by, and she kept talking about blowing this guy and
blowing that guy, it became obvious to me that she was
making it all up -- especially when Mason started making
fun of her ("Did you blow a Dwarf?").
The penultimate episode, in which we find out where and
when she died, just puts a nail in this particular coffin.
Given her dying thought, it seems obvious that her way of
dealing with her loveless life was to make up a fantasy
one in which she was Slut to the Stars.
> There are a number of questions about the Reapers.
Which really don't bear thinking about too closely, or it
all falls apart.
> Evidently they can interact with the living, and they
> have a certain amount of mobility and autonomy. But can
> a Reaper choose to move to another city or country?
Probably. We know that Daisy was a transplant from New York.
Rube intimated that she was forcibly transferred, but there's
no reason to believe that a Reaper might not be able to move
voluntarily.
> Are Reapers so specialized that this particular crew only
> deals with sudden death by accident, not even slow death
> after an injury, not death from age or sickness (altho the
> young man once dealt with an elderly lady who apparently
> had a fatal heart attack in her kitchen). Are there other
> Reaper crews in the same vicinity who handle sickness and
> natural causes,
Yes. It was explained in the pilot that there are basically
three divisions. One handles death by heart attack (presumably
because it's such a major killer that a crew is needed to
deal with just that one problem), a second handles other
natural causes, and Rube's crew deals with unnatural deaths.
> and if so, will our crew bump into them (and would they
> recognize them as Reapers)?
They do interact. In the pilot, Betty brings George to an
apartment that a friend of her in the "heart attack" crew
told her was vacated, only to find out that the friend was
off by a week.
And in the one where Daisy was doing the psychic con game,
it seemed obvious from the dialogue between Rube and the
"cops" that the latter were Reapers from another division.
> Evidently Betty and Daisy have been Reaping for more than
> 60 years, and Rube for much longer. Will we ever get Rube's
> story??
Presumably. I'm patient, though. Just as long as they get
to it before Patinkin decides he wants to leave the show. :-)
-- jayembee
jayembee
> The whole view of Reapers being dead but needing jobs
> and apartments still grates at me, [...]
I don't know why. The only thing that bothers me is that it
seems to conflict with Rube's attitude that Reapers aren't
supposed to get too involved with the living. And yet, that's
exactly what George has been doing at Happy Time (and Rube
even seemed to encourage her to, or at least not DIScourage
her from, joining the bowling team).
The way they've set it up is that Reapers aren't exactly dead.
They still have physical bodies, ones that need the same things
that the living need: sleep, food, etc. To have sleep, they
need a place to sleep. To have food, they need money to buy
the food.
> As for Daisy's stories I was actually wondering if (when
> the English guy) saw her "Last Thoughts" that it might be
> "Why am I dying a virgin?" :-) But her last thought
> actually went some way to verify her stories.
Yeah, I suppose you could look at it that way: that her life
was full of sex because it was so loveless. But as I responded
earlier, I see it as the other way around: she wasn't loved
at all in life, and so in death, she created a fantasy world
full of sex.
> They still sound a bit inflated though.
"Blown up", you could say. :-)
> As for her time and place of death - sounds like poor
> research by the writers.
Only if you assume that her stories are true. It's more likely
that it's evidence that her stories are *not* true.
-- jayembee
axel heyst
jayembe...@snurcher.com (jayembee) wrote:
>sussm...@hotmail.com (sussmanbern) wrote:
>
>>> I don't know what to make of Daisy's stories. On the one
>>> hand it seems to be sloppy writing but OTOH they're so
>>> blatant that you almost think that it's intentional,
>>> though for what reason I don't know, at this point anyway.
>> =============
>> It may well be that Daisy, besides being dead, is (and maybe
>> was) a pathological liar about her sexual exploits.
>
>I don't think there was any question about it. I took her
>at face value when she was introduced, but as each episode
>went by, and she kept talking about blowing this guy and
>blowing that guy, it became obvious to me that she was
>making it all up -- especially when Mason started making
>fun of her ("Did you blow a Dwarf?").
>
>The penultimate episode, in which we find out where and
>when she died, just puts a nail in this particular coffin.
>Given her dying thought, it seems obvious that her way of
>dealing with her loveless life was to make up a fantasy
>one in which she was Slut to the Stars.
>
I agree with this posting, and what's more, I think it is a very clever
idea on the part of the writers.
Really good comments, jayembee. Thanks.
axel
>> snip but if you like the show read this poster's comments
Mitch Wagner
> marcc...@aol.com (MarcColten) wrote:
>
>> The whole view of Reapers being dead but needing jobs
>> and apartments still grates at me, [...]
>
> I don't know why. The only thing that bothers me is that it
> seems to conflict with Rube's attitude that Reapers aren't
> supposed to get too involved with the living. And yet, that's
> exactly what George has been doing at Happy Time (and Rube
> even seemed to encourage her to, or at least not DIScourage
> her from, joining the bowling team).
I think some of the things that Rube says are actual supernatural rules,
other things are just things he's making up.
The bad things that happen if a Reaper fails to do his duty -- soul getting
trapped in the body, etc. etc. etc. -- that's real. The dictate against
getting involved with the living, that was Rube's idea, it's the way he
chooses to live his un-life and he thinks all Reapers should to the same
thing.
And I think the Reapers are recruited from the ranks of people who stood at
the periphery of life, who didn't get involved or make commitments.
--
Mitch Wagner * http://www.internetweek.com *
http://WagBlog.internetweek.com * http://blog.mitchwagner.com/ * Asked by
agents if he had anything else to tell them, Cusack responded: "Yes, I've
got monkeys in my pants." -- CNN.com, Dec. 19, 2002