Whoever paired Christina Applegate with Linda Cardellini should be given a raise. As the inadvertent crime duo Jen and Judy, the actresses are magnetic—their chemistry simply radiates through the screen. Whether they’re solving a crime or attempting to incite one, you can’t help but root for them. As long as they’re on screen interacting, everything else—the basic mystery, the predictable twists—is forgivable.
Aside from the irresistible pairing, Dead to Me is also very watchable for its precise and sympathetic take on grief and womanhood. Both Jen and Judy have had to suffer through immense loss, and the series reminds us through their different reactions that there is no one way to grieve. They’re also middle-aged women, a fact that the series handles in a refreshingly deft manner. In lesser hands, this could have been trivialized or sensationalized, but under the helm of showrunner Liz Feldman, it’s a simple matter of fact that ingrains itself in every moment.
Dead to Me is both heartwarming and gut-busting, a darkly comic series buoyed by strong performances and principles.
"It is very watchable, in spite of [the] unevenness."
— Kathryn VanArendonk
"It's undeniably exciting to see Cardellini and Applegate, two rock-solid TV veterans who have rarely gotten roles worthy of their skills in recent years, play off each other and rip into material that asks so much of them."
— Caroline Framke
A hotheaded widow searching for the hit-and-run driver who mowed down her husband befriends an eccentric optimist who isn't quite what she seems.
Golden Globes
1 nomination
SAG Awards
2 nominations
WGA
1 win, 2 nominations
