Dead Like Me: Life After Death (2009)

Dead Like Me: Life After Death is a slightly darker reprise on the beloved, quirky two-season hit series Dead Like Me. It's uncertain whether it was a farewell bouquet or a final death knell to the series. I liked it well enough, though not as much as the nuanced, well-written, and well-acted original series (5 stars). The obvious flaws are two: Rube (Mandy Patinkin) has disappeared at the same time as Der Waffle Haus is burned down, and Daisy has been replaced by a less-talented minion. The four reapers have a new boss in a mysterious and unctuous rogue who is apparently leveraging loopholes left and right. (He pitches Rube's Post It notes, passing out Palm Treos to modernize operations and double productivity.) He lives the high life and is presciently manipulative. Eventually, the reapers decide to explore a few loopholes on their own. George's boss, Delores Herbig, is dealing with her cat's mortality and George's sister, Reggie, finally faces down her loss of George (Ellen DeMuth) and resentment of her mother. It's a good wrap-up for the original series that wrestles with a number of similar issues, though not as expertly. 4 stars. (4-16-2010, posted 7-2-2016)