A growling, snarling World War I soldier -- played by Chris Pereira -- chases two teenage ghosts through the British Museum. The intellectual Edwin surmises that his gas mask is cursed: they'll have to destroy it to restore him to wholeness, so he can go on to the afterlife. They'll need the Minor Arcana, Volume 4, but the athletic Charles can't find it in his magic bookbag.
With the ghost-monster in hot pursuit, they run through a mirror, but end up in a hotel, not back in the office. Edwin explains that it's hard to locate the right mirror-dimension when you're being chased by a gas mask monster.
Flashback to the Dead Boy Detectives office a few days ago: A World War I nurse explains that she's been hanging aroud the British Museum long after her death to help the many lost souls from her era enter the afterlife. But one has been cursed and turned into a monster. She hires the boys to help him.
Left: Chris's butt
Back in the present, the boys rush through the hotel, find another mirror, and end up in their office. The monster follows! Charles manages to tear his gas mask off -- the snarling monster underneath spews blood all over and tries to stab him. Meanwhile Edwin finds the right book, says the incantation, and the gas mask bursts into flames. Back in human form, the ghost is calm, but confused. The boys tell him that he 's dead, still fighting a war that ended over 100 years ago.
Left: Chris's cock. I know he only appears in this episode, but where else are you going to see it?
Uh-oh, Death is coming to guide him to the afterlife. The boys have to hide, or she'll take them, too!
That's a lot of world-building in five minutes, but it comes while the boys are being chased, assaulted, threatened, and zapped about, so it goes down easily.
The Dead Boy Detectives, a paranormal take on the common British "boy detective" genre, appeared in a number of comics and limited edition graphic novels during the 1990s and 2000s, all taking place in Neil Gaiman's Sandman universe. Edwin, the intellectual one, died in 1916, when some boarding school bullies tried to scare him by pretending to offer him as a sacrifice to Satan. The spell worked, and he was sent to hell.
He stayed until 1989, when some of the residents of hell escaped and laid waste to a boarding school. The athletic Charles was killed in the ruckus. He would be going to the Sandman-world version of Heaven, but he decided to wait and hang out with his new ghost-buddy. Now they are detectives, helping lost souls with unfinished business, lost memories, or curses that prevent them from moving on. They must keep a low profile and not perform much magic, to avoid detection from Death and an afterlife "Missing Souls" bureacracy.
Spoiler alert: In the comics, Edwin is gay, and Charles is bisexual. They don't date each other, however: who said any two random gay/queer dudes must automatically be into each other?
I watched the first episode of the tv series to see if the pair, now played by the considerably older George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri, were heterosexualized.
The answer after the break
After the World War I soldier case, the boys take the case of a Victorian-era child whose human medium friend, Crystal, s possessed by a demon. They banish the demon, but it takes all of her personal memories, so she doesn't know who she is or where her parents are. Maybe her ghost friend would know?
Crystal does turn out to be useful as they work on their next case, a witch who kidnaps young girls and drains their life essence so she can stay relatively young and beautiful. "I like many things," she tells Crystal, "But I especially... like.. .girls." Har-har, lesbian joke.
Crystal finds Charles attractive, but doesn't want to date him because of that not-being-able-to-touch thing. She goes into romantic ecstasies over her new female neighbor, who subsequently is infested with supernatural parasites, develops the ability to see ghosts, and joins the team.
Looking forward, I don't see any bi plotlines for Charles, but not to worry, Edwin is identified as gay right off. The first episode has the whole "sacrifice to Satan" story, but here the boarding school bullies specify that they want to punish him for being a "Mary Jane," that is, gay.
In Episode 2, he begins a "wil they or won't they?" cat-and-mouse seduction with one of the series' villains, Thomas the Cat King -- manifesting as a human male, played by Lukas Gage. (cats can see, touch, and talk to ghosts).
Left: Lukas Gage's butt.
Later Edwin begins dating the a crow-turned-human baddie, Monty, played by Joshua Colley, below.
Beefcake: None in the first episode, just Thomas the Cat King shirtless in the second. Ghosts can change clothes -- Edwin died in his pajamas, but manifests in a natty Edwardian-era suit. So let's hope for some swimwear.
Heterosexism: Charles does a little flirting with Crystal.
Gay Characters: Edwin and Crystal confirmed in the first episode.
My Grade: A-
See also: Down Low: Netflix bait-and-switch movie that turns a gay hookup into something dark.
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