Ellen Muth is one of the harder to categorize actresses out there. As George Lass — the audience-surrogate reaper on “Dead Like Me” — she went around with a depressive look all the time. Of course, that’s why I and other viewers liked her: She looked like we felt on our worst days. She also sounded like an old-woman smoker sometimes (I hope Muth doesn’t actually smoke).
On the other hand, Muth is a cute 20-something actress who should’ve really smiled more over the course of the two-season show, even though it wasn’t called for by the premise — freeing people’s souls from their bodies before they are killed in some tragic (but divinely ordained) accident.
“Dead Like Me,” which aired from 2003-04 on Showtime, was Bryan Fuller’s mostly successful, but clearly experimental debut as an executive producer. He later produced his masterpiece, “Wonderfalls” — a warmer, but equally sarcastic, answer to “DLM” — and the unfortunate misfire “Pushing Daisies.” (Even more unfortunate, Fuller is now collecting a paycheck on “Heroes” — I can’t blame him in this economy, but I wish he’d make another show about a girl with a guy’s name.)
“DLM,” despite George’s perpetual sourpuss face and the New York-style dryness of head reaper Rube (Mandy Patinkin), actually had some warmth to it. (Although, truthfully, I first watched the show on the Sci-Fi Channel, so when I watch my curse-filled DVDs, I might get a colder impression of the show.)
Part of it was George’s reflective voiceovers, which delivered some bittersweet observation about how life sucked but maybe wasn’t entirely bad. Part of it was the storylines following the dysfunctional Lass family in the wake of George’s death-via-toilet-seat-from-space. Younger sister Reggie was just as withdrawn as George, but you could tell Mama Lass really loved her daughter and she was trying desperately to relate.
Fans of the non-reaper portions of the series will enjoy “Dead Like Me: Life After Death,” the movie that came out on DVD in February but which I just watched yesterday. It’s set five years after the series, and Reggie has gone from being a withdrawn 11-year-old to a withdrawn 16-year-old.
On the supernatural side, everyone’s still reaping souls — and George, in her Millie guise, is still working her soul-sucking desk job — except that Rube disappears (into the world of “Criminal Minds?”). In his place is a new head reaper (played by Desmond from “Lost,” for some reason) who takes a relaxed approach to the job which Mason, Daisy and Roxy embrace, but which George can’t get in the spirit of.
The 90-minute movie ranks as an above-average episode. It’s great to return to the “DLM” world, and even though “Life After Death” is missing Rube, it does get at the heart of the Lass family (and George even interacts with them — a big no-no when Rube was calling the shots).
And in an open-to-interpretation dénouement, George actually has a reason to smile, and it’s a nice, all-too-rare thing to see.
