Dead to Me: I’m going to miss Jen and Judy
I have finished the third and final season of Dead to Me and I’m so sad that we won’t see any more of Judy Hale and Jen Harding.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
To be clear: I’m satisfied with where the story ended. The narrative has been exhausted to its full potential and we don’t need any more story-wise. But I love spending time with Judy (Linda Cardellini) and Jen (Christina Applegate) and watching two actresses I adore riff off one another.
In season one, their dynamic was extremely different (to put it mildly) and I doubt any of us could have predicted where it would end up – that these enemies (Judy did kill Jen’s husband after all) would end up as ride-or-die best friends. That description doesn’t do their relationship enough justice – they love each other to bits, live together and are basically like a married couple, with Judy being a second mum to Jen’s kids Charlie (Sam McCarthy) and Henry (Luke Roessler).
I don’t think I’ve seen such a close, loving, supportive – and platonic – relationship between two 40-something women before and it’s such a joy to watch. Also, Judy and Jen are hilarious. I could watch them figuring out if the world “spatula” was onomatopoeic all day! Their conversations are really well written, often very funny and sometimes quite moving. They have such a fantastic back-and-forth and the contrast between Judy’s sunny disposition and Jen’s potty-mouthed anger is exploited to great effect. I thoroughly enjoyed just watching them chat – so much so that I could ignore the more improbable twists and turns in the story.
I’ve seen some people criticise the ending and I get it. Judy was an angel and she didn’t deserve it – but it offered a definitive conclusion to the series and it was handled beautifully. I did not expect Dead to Me to ever make me cry! I support the decision to kill off Judy but I don’t support the tease at the very end because it makes it sound like there’s more to come.
Cardellini and Applegate put in extraordinary work this season. Cardellini offers such a layered, emotive performance. The moment when Jen tells Judy she’s pregnant is a prime example of how brilliant she is. But Applegate is on a whole other level – she was diagnosed with MS halfway through and pushed ahead to get it done. You would never know – Jen is as tough and feisty as she ever was. I also want to give a shout-out to James Marsden for doing terrific work this season as Ben Wood. Episode five particularly shows off his range – he has fun at the beginning and a full-on breakdown at the end.
I really love Dead to Me and the central friendship of Judy and Jen. They always say to leave them wanting more and the show certainly did that with those two.
All seasons of Dead to Me are streaming on Netflix now