Dead Like Me/Reapercussions

Reapercussions
Season 1, Episode 4
Airdate	July 18, 2003
Production Number	103
Written by	Dan Fesman & Harry Victor
Directed by	Peter Lauer
Stream
← 1x03 Curious George	1x05 → Reaping Havoc
Dead Like Me — Season One

Reapercussions is the fourth episode of the first season of Dead Like Me. George hears that sometimes people miss their appointments with death and attempts to save her next reap by forcing him to miss his time of death, but discovers that causing a hiccup in the system creates more issues than it solves.

Starring: Ellen Muth (Georgia Lass), Callum Blue (Mason), Jasmine Guy (Roxy Harvey)

With: Cynthia Stevenson (Joy Lass)

And: Mandy Patinkin (Rube Sofer)

Guest Starring: Britt McKillip (Reggie Lass), Christine Willes (Delores Herbig), Mary Ann Mobley (Herself), Gary Collins (Himself)

Co-Starring: Forbus Angus (Large Framed Man), Kwesi Ameyaw (Airport Security Guard), Nancy Robertson (Monroco Secretary), Peter Hanlon (P.J. Monroe), Crystal Dahl (Crystal), Robin Mossley (Taxidermy Instructor), Kenneth McIntyre (J.H. Arnold), Ian Bolton (Boy), Landon Hansen (Boy), Rebecca Gayheart (Voice of Betty)

Plot Overview

When Roxy's appointment doesn't show up for his scheduled death, Rube informs George that sometimes these things happen and that the death gets rescheduled, but George starts to harp on how completely unfair it is that she was killed by a toilet seat when this guy narrowly avoids death by not showing up. George gets to thinking that if she couldn't save herself from her unfair death, then maybe she can help out her next appointment: P.J. Monroe.

While she plots her latest scheme, Rube and Mason pop the souls of a bus load of elderly gamblers headed down to Las Vegas to play the slots and are forced to take a plane back to Seattle. Their flight doesn't go off without any hitches, however. Mason attracts a drug-sniffing dog and is cavity searched for the drugs that he's smuggling in his colon while Rube is questioned by security when he threatens a crying baby as a joke. Both wind up getting out without major incident until the condom containing Mason's drugs breaks.

George manages to get into Monroe's office by claiming that his son drugged her and had homeless people have sex with her unconscious body, all while filming it. She gives this elaborate lie to Monroe himself so that he'll cancel his 2:00 appointment, thus preventing his death. He also gives George some money to make the whole thing disappear. She goes back to Happy Time with hope that karma has racked up on her side, but instead she finds that everything's about the same. She's asked to work on Tuesdays and suddenly finds, much to her horror, that she's becoming a team player at Happy Time.

Also to her horror, George is given a stack of Post-Its by Rube and tries to slip in that her guy didn't show up for his appointment during the chaos, but he sees through her immediately. Rube pulls her aside and tells her that she needs to stop trying to beat the system and grow up. He sends her with Mason to reap a soul since he's incapacitated. When she gets there, she realizes that saving P.J. Monroe set off a chain of events which killed far more people. For instance, the man who Mason is supposed to reap who was killed using Monroe's ab exercise machine. It seems that Monroe was too distracted by his son's alleged rape of George to consider the safety testing results. The reason why there was such a sudden rush of Post-Its was because the ab machines weren't recalled and dozens died using them.

Because George caused the hiccup and she's showing no signs of doing her job like a normal reaper, Rube washes his hands of her and the gravelings declare war. They spend the night antagonizing George while she tries to sleep. All around her, bridges are burning and Rube is pissed. He leaves the table at Der Waffle Haus so that his day won't be ruined and Mason suggests that George remain on his good side, because Rube will likely be mad at her for months.

A little later, Roxy shows up and her week has been even worse than George's. When she's talking about what happened, it's that moment that George realizes that J.H. Arnold didn't miss his appointment by accident, he missed because Roxy interfered and now the gravelings are exacting their wrath on her as well.

In the end, George forges some kind of relationship with both Roxy and Crystal, Joy and Reggie bond over a vaguely creepy taxidermy class and Rube proves to be a bit more curious about who delivers the list than he lets on.

Notes

Deaths

• Exercisers: The only deaths in this episode were of the dozens who were electrocuted by the exercise belts made by Monroco. It was discovered that when people who used the belt sweat, the drops of sweat would make their way to the belt and electrocute them because the power wasn't properly grounded out. The electricity would shoot through the wearer and would also cause the belt to burst into flames.

Trivia

The Show

• M.I.A.: Rebecca Gayheart is credited as the voice of Betty in this episode, but Betty does not appear. She is, apparently, trapped in a drawer at the morgue.

Behind the Scenes

• Abandon Ship: This episode is the last in which series creator Bryan Fuller is credited as head writer. Fuller, frustrated with fighting with the studio and the low budget given to him, left the production in order to work on Wonderfalls, which had been given a season order by FOX.