The
best description of my favorite character from Dead Like Me would be “all of them (except Clancy,)” but I can’t do
justice to them all in one post, can I?
So today, we’re only focusing on Mason, easily the best undead druggie
to ever grace the small screen.
Oh,
Mason, Mason, Mason. He’s George’s
buddy, a screw-up for Roxy to keep in line, Daisy’s would-be suiter, and an
eternal thorn in Rube’s side. He died in
the ‘60s trying to chase a permanent high, and while his decades as a grim reaper
have matured him a little, he hasn’t
made much headway. Mason’s reaps are
often haphazard and last-minute, and they’re frequently accompanied by a little
petty larceny among the effects of the dear departed. Roxy and George use day jobs to pay for their
afterlifestyle, but not Mason. He’d
rather break into parking meters, smuggle drugs, and have little old dead
ladies teach him their signatures so he can collect their social security.
In
other words, Mason is an incalculable narrative presence. He’s always stirring things up and getting
into trouble, which opens up plenty of entertaining plot possibilities. It offers clashes with Rube and Roxy, it’s
part of what makes Daisy just string him along, and it means he tends to play
the devil on George’s shoulder. This
last point is especially fun since, particularly in season one, he’s a sort-of
mentor for George, and his lessons on the ways of the reaper aren’t what you’d
call entirely reliable.
And of
course, many of these antics are hilarious. The best is, naturally, the episode in which
Mason gets accidentally high from the drugs he’s muling. His paranoia and rambling non-sequiturs are
priceless, and his wild, almost-tearful admission “I’ve got illegals in my bottom!” might be the
funniest line uttered on the show. But,
great as it is, it’s in excellent company.
There’s also pepper-spraying his eggs and holding a yard sale in someone
else’s yard, along with countless others.
While
comic relief obviously = a good thing, it’s not all there is to Mason. Sometimes his cavalier attitude and reckless
behavior have serious consequences, and more importantly, we get just enough hints of Mason’s serious
side to see that he has deeper qualities.
He has an awesome subplot where he reaps one of his aging rock idols;
eventually revealing his true nature to the front man, he confesses that
immortality “isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
Another great story comes when he’s forced to really think about the
possibility of moving on and tells the people in his life what he thinks about
them. For once, his advice to George
(while disjointed) is dead-on, and his genuine affection for her is utterly
sweet.
And
every now and then, he actually makes good.
I love the episode where he reaps a gay couple and, after a lot of
insistence that he’s not supposed to, gives in and relays a message from the
first man killed to his still-living partner.
Even though it’s against reaper protocol, it’s compassionate and
emotionally sound. And then there’s
giving a final moment of happiness to a soon-to-be-dead little boy. These scenes are always fantastic – Mason brings
such warmth to them and shows you who he can be beneath the substance abuse,
the stupid decisions, and, the years stuck on earth taking souls. In moments like these, I root for him to find
his way more often. Not all the time, though!
Foolhardy Mason is comedy gold.
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