Series / My Dead Ex

Teenager Charlotte (usually called Charley) is an ordinary high school girl, having a crush on a boy and a best friend, Wren. At the same time however she's pursued by Ben, whom she once "dated" as a pre-teen, which Charley's annoyed by. Ben dies accidentally however while trying to impress Charley with a love note spray-painted onto a sign. However, he then comes back from the dead inexplicably, and is somehow bound to Charley. Together, they must both find out what to do about this, and their true desires.

Tropes:

• Affectionate Nickname: Charley is the nickname everyone uses for Charlotte, except Wren. In her case she calls Charlotte Charles as an affectionate personal quirk.
• Ambiguously Bi: Wren is definitely attracted to girls, pursuing Bethany over the series until the finale. She also makes comments about some men being handsome too, though it's not entirely clear if Wren finds guys sexually desirable or just recognizes their good looks.
• Attending Your Own Funeral: In a variation, Ben attends a celebration of his life at the school after coming back undead. He's initially miffed at how few people attend. After they all praise him in speeches though, he's warmed by this considerably.
• Best Friend: Charley and Wren are this for each other. They both give each other constant support and advice.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Charley kisses Ben in the finale while choosing him over Luke.
• Black Comedy: Ben is killed while spray-painting a love note for Charley onto a sign. Afterward, they use the last blurred selfie he took right then in his memorial at school, which he complains of. Later, he gets shot repeatedly (with his wounds healing instantly) to his annoyance. He feared telling people about being undead, thinking he might be experimented on off in a secret lab somewhere. Then when he's outed as undead, a doctor openly admits that they indeed would have done this if it was the 80's, and misses those days.
• Blackmail: Charley gets Vice Principal Kelly to accept Ben into their school under an alias with the threat of posting a photo she took of him while he left an adult store.
• Boy Meets Ghoul:
  • The show's basic premise is Ben, Charley's would-be boyfriend, accidentally dying and coming back undead while he continues attempting to win her over. In the finale, Charley decides to date him.
  • Madame Fortuna is also undead, it's revealed, and has been involved with a living man for decades now.
• Closet Gay: Bethany, Wren's love interest, isn't willing to admit she's attracted to girls after they make out, saying she isn't as brave like Wren being open about this. She does come out in the finale.
• Coax Them Out of the Closet: Wren and then Charley encourage Bethany about coming out as a lesbian. In the finale, she does.
• Coming-Out Story: Bethany is a closeted lesbian at first, and afraid to come out. Wren, her love interest, and Wren's bestie Charley, both encourage her to. Bethany at last comes out in the finale.
• Curse Cut Short: Charley is saying the f-word when she's cut off at "Fu-".
• Deadpan Snarker: Wren is a cynical girl who constantly makes dry sarcastic remarks.
• Disappeared Dad: Charley's dad died in the past, with her shown nostalgically keeping his clothes and in the past wearing his paint shirt.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Ben is a sweet boy who absolutely commits himself to winning Charley over. However, when he crosses lines (like sniffing her clothes, posting a drawing Charley made without asking, or lying to her) it's made clear that is definitely not okay.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Dennis got stuck with "Eleanor" as a result of being mistaken for aroused by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in history class.
• Endearingly Dorky: Ben is very nerdy and charming because of it, for instance being genuinely surprised about scrapbooking not being a common pastime among fellow teenage boys.
• Erotic Dream: Charley is surprised when she has one about Ben, and realizes she's attracted to him as a result afterward.
• Gay Conservative: Bethany is a Republican and closeted lesbian. After coming out, she makes a remark about caring for the US while her love interest Wren lives in a liberal fantasy. Wren's apparently unbothered.
• Gaydar: Wren could apparently clearly tell Bethany liked girls and reciprocated her attraction to her before the latter kisses her or comes out.
• Genre Savvy: Ben is quite familiar with pop culture, and he's a fan of 80s movies. He's wary of going public about being undead, due to the result in such movies being very bad. Later as well, he's very disappointed after the school dance doesn't fit with 80s teen movie tropes.
• Healing Factor: Ben gets shot multiple times, with the wounds simply healing up in a moment. He doesn't appear to feel pain at all from them.
• Heel Realization: Ben realizes he's done wrong by lying to Charley about having no leads on how to undo his curse, confessing it.
• Hot Witch: Madame Fortuna, who put the love spell on Ben and Charley's necklaces, is revealed to be very attractive, with a young appearance. Charley notes this isn't what she had expected, guessing she'd be an older woman from her name (she actually is though, but just doesn't look it).
• Immune to Bullets: Ben is unaffected from being shot multiple times, as he just heals, though a shotgun knocks him down temporarily.
• Insistent Terminology: Ben and Charley are insistent he's not a zombie, just undead (he's never once eaten human flesh, nor had any desire for it). However, most people simply label him as a zombie, seriously or not, in spite of this. Ben's even assigned to have a police escort for safety at school in case he really does eat humans.
• Internal Reveal: Charley learns Ben lied about not knowing where Madame Fortuna is long after the audience had seen this.
• Jewish and Nerdy: Ben is a Jewish boy who's endearingly dorky, with interests like cooking that aren't typical of teenage boys, and charmingly awkward.
• Lipstick Lesbian: Wren is a feminine girl with long hair who likes to wear revealing tops and leggings just like Charley, her straight best friend, though Wren's slightly more into chapstick territory as a result of her sarcastic, mildly tomboyish personality. She's openly pursuing another girl at school (but possibly bisexual) who is if anything even more feminine than her.
• Love Triangle: Charley has a crush on sweet jock Luke, while her friend and former "boyfriend" Ben is also obstinately pursuing her. She chooses Ben at the end.
• Mistaken for Gay: Ben is thought to be gay by the owner of an adult shop who he tells his romantic woes, due to the guy mistaking Charley, understandably, for being a boy's name.
• Nice Guy: Luke is always kind and never says an unkind word to anyone. Everyone admits this. He even has Ben ask Charley out, which Luke had been planning, after seeing how much Ben's trying to win her over.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Charley is only occasionally called Charlotte, her full name. Wren, her bestie, calls her Charles along with this.
• Perverted Sniffing: After she sticks him in her closet to hide, Ben instantly sniffs Charley's clothing in there. She's disgusted by this (mildly).
• Puppy Love: Ben and Charley had once "dated" as pre-teen kids. Even now that it's years later and Charley's drawn to a different boy, Ben is still into her.
• Really 700 Years Old: Madame Fortuna relates that she was born in World War Two. After she'd died while around thirty however, Fortuna came back and stayed the same age ever since (though she uses makeup to disguise this too).
• Sarcastic Confession: Charley sarcastically tells her mom about planning a huge party at their house when she's gone. This makes her mom think it was a joke and ignore this before Charley does so.
• Secret-Keeper: Charley and then Wren keep the secret of Ben being undead until it gets out due to other people discovering this.
• Secret Relationship: Bethany tells Wren they can only be together secretly, as she isn't brave enough to come out. Wren isn't happy with that, and encourages her to come out. In the finale Bethany does.
• They Would Cut You Up: This is one reason Ben didn't tell the world of his being undead at first. He was afraid he'd end up in a secret lab somewhere as an experimental subject. After it gets out, a doctor who tests Ben quite openly admits this would indeed be what they'd do back in the 80's, but human rights groups won't allow it now, exclaiming how those days were so much better.
• This Is Reality: Ben complains of how the school dance fails to match tropes in the 80s movies he likes, and is naturally told this isn't a movie.
• Tomboyish Name: Charley (full name Charlotte). She's perhaps a slight tomboy with her style.
• Transparent Closet: Bethany was not out as a lesbian, though her love interest Wren saw it despite this, clearly realizing even prior to them kissing.
• Twofer Token Minority: Wren is the only person of color in the main cast, a girl with unclear ethnicity but clearly not white (her actress Medalion Rahimi is Iranian-American) and also a lesbian (or maybe bisexual).
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
  • Wren, after seeing Ben inexplicably came back from the dead, just comments how you can't keep him down after expressing extremely mild surprise.
  • After people learn Ben is undead, it's briefly a story on the news, he's tested and then sent back to school with nothing more than being called a zombie regularly afterward.
• Wig, Dress, Accent: Ben puts on a wig with glasses, passing easily as a fictional cousin of Charley's even with other people who knew him though he doesn't really act much differently aside from this.

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