Dead to Me review – come back Desperate Housewives, all is forgiven!
Netflix’s deathly dull dark comedy will make you pine for the soapy, snarky thrills of Wisteria Lane
Netflix’s new 10-part series Dead to Me reminded me how much I miss Desperate Housewives – that perfect soapy, shiny, comic confection anchored by four great female performances and just enough dramatic heft to keep it from floating away.
Dead to Me is anchored by two fine female performances. Christina Applegate is the affluent, uptight Jen, recently widowed by an unidentified hit-and-run driver. She spends her time looking after her kids and calling in the number plates of any cars she sees with “person-sized dents” in them. When she reluctantly attends a grief support group, she meets generous-hearted Judy (Linda Cardellini, who can do this sort of thing in her sleep), who explains that she is trying to come to terms with the loss of her fiance, Steve, a few months before. They bond during sleepless nights on the phone watching TV and discussing John F Kennedy Jr’s hotness. But Judy is harbouring a Dark Secret in exactly the Wisteria Lane tradition.