Some of us know who we are from a young age while others need a little more time, and a select few need upwards of a hundred years after their death. In the new Netflix show in the Sandman universe, Dead Boy Detectives, both of the main characters undergo a coming of age long after their last breath.
The show follows the lives of two ghosts, Edwin and Charles as they try to avoid the afterlive bureaucracy, including familiar figures like Death. Edwin and Charles avoid moving on so that they can spend their afterlives as detectives who solve supernatural mysteries that would otherwise remain unsolved. The duo are incredibly close and are after-life partners, but Edwin comes to realize he loves Charles in a less platonic way than he first thought. Throughout the first season, Edwin grows to acknowledge and eventually accept his sexuality as well as his romantic love for Charles.
Repressed 1910’s English School-boy
Given how much Edwin changes during the show, it is only fair to start his story from the beginning. In the Netflix adaptation, Edwin Paine is 16 years old when he is ritually sacrificed by his classmates. Consequently, he is dragged to Hell until he escapes 70 years later. It is after his escape that he meets Charles, who attended the same school that he did 70 years ago and is currently dying in the same attic that he did. Edwin spends time with Charles to comfort him while he passes to the other side peacefully, but instead, Charles remembers he wants to stick by Edwin’s side rather than move on. So the two decided to partner up to help other Ghosts move on by solving the mysteries that were their unfinished business, forming the Dead Boy Detective Agency.
His age shows itself from how he dresses to his lack of understanding of anything modern. This carries on to not realizing that he is allowed to have romantic feelings for other boys. This is explained to him by a living girl named Niko and is a huge revelation for him, changing how he acts around his supernatural suitors.
How Many Suitors Can One Man Have?
As many fans like to point out, Edwin is a magnet for attention from every hot supernatural being within a mile’s radius. The thing that kicks off the main plot, being the Dead Boy Detectives being stuck in Port Townsend, is Edwin getting trapped in town by the Cat King. After using a magical spell to trap a Cat for a case, Edwin is punished with a magical bracelet that keeps him inside the towns borders. The only way for the gang to be freed is for Edwin to either accurately count every single cat in town or sleep with the Cat King, who is very open about his desire for Edwin. Although Edwin chooses the former, the Cat King is a figure that awakens Edwin to his desires. He makes him realize, after consultation with Niko, that he can be with a man if he chooses to be. Being seen as desirable by an attractive man ignites a realization in him that he was previously able to ignore.
In the very next episode, Edwin meets Monty, a crow who has been turned into a human boy. Originally, Monty was supposed to seduce Edwin and trick him on behalf of his mistress, who wanted revenge. But, in the process, he falls in love with Edwin and is constantly conflicted about what to do. It is when Monty confesses his feelings for Edwin and then takes his first kiss, thinking that he feels the same way. But Edwin realizes that he internal conflict about Monty was because he did not have feelings for him, which majorly strains their relationship.
This confession causes Edwin to realize that he is in love with his best friend Charles. A moment many queer kids go through, falling in love with your best friend and knowing that it is not reciprocated. Edwin is only able to accept this after 40 years of friendship and still has no idea what to do with that feeling. So, he decides that the only solution is to say nothing and pine from a distance. At least until special circumstances reveal that this situation cannot be fixed by a figurative band-aid.
Hell, Acceptance, and Forgiveness
Expectedly, Hell is a horrible place to be, and Edwin is not too keen on going back when in the seventh episode he is brought right back to it. But it is within his second venture into Hell’s depths that Edwin gets to confront the boy responsible for his death, an old classmate named Simon. At first, he is angry, as Simon’s punishment for his death is paper cuts for eternity. Until he notices that on the corner of each page, the initials E + S are written. Simon cries and confesses that he just wanted to talk to Edwin but he kept ignoring him, that he didn’t mean to kill him and only wanted to scare him a little to get his attention. Edwin forgives Simon, and by doing this allows himself to accept his romantic feelings toward Charles.
When Edwin learns the truth, that there was a reason for his death beyond senseless cruelty, it offers him peace. Previously he believed that his death didn’t matter because no one cared. Simon showing that he cared, allowed Edwin to finally accept the circumstances of his death. It is within that moment that Edwin decides that if he ever gets the chance to see Charles again, he is going to tell him how he feels, no matter what.
What even is love?
When Charles and Edwin are escaping Hell, the metaphorical floodgates break loose. Edwin finally confesses his love for Charles, and Charles says he loves him too and asks to leave until Edwin emphasizes he means romantically. Charles clarifies that
“You, Edwin Paine, are my best mate, that will never change. You are the most important person in the world to me. I can’t really say that like I’m in love with you perhaps, but we’ve got literally forever to figure out what the rest means.”
Charles Rowland played by Jayden Revri
It is exceedingly clear that Edwin and Charles do love each other. Edwin says so himself, and Charles actions alone speak for him, one does not walk through Hell and fight terrifying monsters for just anyone. They may not love each other in the same way, but the intensity and care are reciprocated. They are (after)life partners no matter what happens and would do anything for each other. Edwin being in love does not change their relationship. While some fans may be hoping for a Bisexual Charles Roland, and the pair to get together, how their relationship is defined does not change its significance. What Dead Boy Detectives proves is that love does not have to be simple to be real and important. Love is defined by caring about others despite adversity and change, and neither death, or labels, can stop it.
