The Reel Review
Season 2 of this Netflix dramedy series has wine-swilling Californians Jen (Christina Applegate) and Judy (Linda Cardellini) stumbling from one awkward situation to the next, as they try to cover up Jen’s script-flipping killing of Judy’s ex-fiancé at the end of Season 1. (Sweet-natured Judy, you will recall, had become besties with Jen after accidentally killing Jen’s husband in a hit and run.)
Featuring a dizzying array of plot twists and binge-baiting cliffhangers at the end of each episode, show creator Liz Feldman (2 Broke Girls, The Great Indoors) also loads up this season with a slew of new characters – enlisting TV series heavy hitters Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under), Natalie Morales (Parks and Recreation), and Katey Sagal (Married with Children), to give the show added depth. James Marsden is also back, as the kinder, gentler twin brother of Judy’s dead ex-fiancé, in a fun homage to all those crazy daytime drama storylines of decades past.
Applegate and Cardellini have terrific onscreen chemistry and comic timing, with clever, funny dialogue that, oddly enough, adds an element of believability to an insanely off-the-wall storyline. But even with their stellar performances and all the plot twists, this season, while entertaining enough, is still a bit stale, compared to the more believable and more original Season 1,
REEL FACTS
• Applegate and Cardellini have each played love interests (in the Anchorman and Daddy’s Home film franchises, respectively) to Dead to Me executive producer/actor Will Farrell.
• All five directors of Season 2 of Dead to Me are women.
• 2011 Golden Globe winner Katey Sagal (Sons of Anarchy), who plays Cardellini’s mother in Dead to Me, played Appelgate’s mother in Married with Children from 1987-1997.
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