The series follows the three friends as they take on jobs at local amusement park Phoenix Park, discovering its shady secrets along the way as they come face-to-face with numerous demons - and some of their own as well.
A second season was released on October 13, 2022.
On January 13, 2023, Steele confirmed that the show has been cancelled
, but plans to conclude the story with a third Dead Endia novel which is slated to be released in 2024.
Tropes:
- 0% Approval Rating: Pauline's fanbase has this for her former stuntwoman Barborah, thanks to a book where Barborah claimed to have performed as Pauline for years without anyone noticing. It's true, because the dead Pauline's ghost was possessing her body, and thanks to the fans no one believes it. Norma in particular treats the woman's name like a curse.
- Abstract Eater: The Night Hag eats people's sleep, rendering them so sleep-deprived that they become feral thralls.
- Adaptational Gender Identity:
- Courtney the demon is non-binary and uses they/them in the DeadEndia comic, but uses she/her pronouns when being referred to in-universe for this iteration (although according to Hamish Steele the crew continued to refer to Courtney with gender-neutral pronouns).
- In the original "Dead End" short, Barney is implied to be a gay cis man, while here he is an overtly trans man.
- Adaptational Villainy: Courtney becomes quickly friendly with the main characters in DeadEndia, but here is plotting to fully reform her master (if solely to get back home). Some of this is driven by feeling not understood by their human friends, but they're still very lacking in empathy and willing to drop the gang at a moment's notice until they actually get to the Lower Planes and realize they miss their friends after all.
- Again with Feeling: After witnessing the kids at Patrick's birthday try to summon a Night Hag, Courtney teaches them to do it properly, resulting in them summoning an actual monster who turns the kids into the Sleepless. Watching the chaos unfold, Patrick delightedly exclaims the ritual worked, then repeats himself as it dawns on him how much danger they're in.Patrick: Oh, wow! It worked! Oh, no, it worked.
- Almighty Janitor: Played with regarding Barborah the custodian. She's the only one who knows what's really going on with the disappearances thanks to her own experience, but she has no concrete proof and her attempts to tell her story in the past are dismissed by Pauline's fanbase as lies. She's also very handy with a giant axe.
- Amusement Park of Doom: Phoenix Park is a fully operational theme park with actual demons in its haunted house and a history of staff members going "missing".
- Ambiguously Evil: Downplayed. Barney's grandmother is implied to have made hateful comments to Barney, which his parents did not defend him from, causing him to run away from home. However, the most that is shown of Grammy Gram is a Nightmare Sequence, where her words are replaced by a horrific wail, and the most the audience knows of what was said comes from the perspectives of Barney (who was hurt and scared), Puglsey (who says Barney sounds "just like Grammy Gram" when he says Pugsley should hide his ability to talk), and his parents (who initially chalked it up as Innocently Insensitive but later decided to take a firm stance against).
- Art Shift: The show's usual flash animation gives way to wispy, almost animated oil painting-like visuals when Norma faces her fears.
- The Atoner: Courtney after finally returning to the Lower Planes realizes everything they've given up for something they don't even really like as much as they thought they would and returns to help their friends. They even admit there's no reason to trust them, but that they're still going to help.
- Bad Future: In Season 2, it's revealed that the coming war between the angels and demons will destroy the Neutral Plane with the Watcher using a spell to bring order back to the Multi-Plane
- Beehive Hairdo: A beehive more than twice the height of her head is a staple of Pauline Phoenix's looks, mimicked by all the park's impersonators.
- Big Bad: Pauline Phoenix is revealed to be behind the disappearances at the theme park for their own selfish gain. However, despite claiming to be the Big Bad in the show itself, they are Hijacked by Ganon in the penultimate episode.
- Bland-Name Product: Being a theme park based around a singer/actress, Phoenix Park is meant to be a BNP for Dollywood, with bits of Disney Parks and Universal Studios thrown in for flavor.
- Broken Pedestal: Norma suffers this hard in regards to Pauline when she discovers Pauline is an evil ghost who kidnaps and possesses other women to stay forever young.
- Calling the Old Man Out: In episode 7, Barney calls his parents out for not defending him while his grandma said horrible things to him during one dinner.
- Call It Karma: Courtney's Kick the Dog moment in Episode 7 where she unapologetically calls all of Pauline's fans "idiots" for believing her right in front of an already-upset Norma, is soon followed up by Courtney herself getting tricked by Pauline, who lied that she could get Courtney to the Lower Planes in exchange for sealing her in a body.
- Cast Full of Gay:
- In addition to Barney himself who is trans and gay, Norma is bisexual, Logs is gay, and several side characters are non-binary.
- Additionally, the background extras seen in the park scenes include same-sex couples as well as opposite-sex.
- Character Catchphrase: Pauline in the training videos has "Just keep it to yourself darlin'" about any unusual goings on people might notice in the park, which is picked up and used by several of the employees.
- Christmas in July: In The Nightmare Before Christmas of July episode, Phoenix Park is decorated in Christmas stuff during a July heatwave. Also, Pauline actually created a song about a July Christmas.
- Cliffhanger: The series ends on a massive one due to its cancellation after 2 out of 3 planned seasons. On Bathmos, Norma has pledged allegiance to the Demon Kings for the upcoming war with Norma being introduced to Paimon.
- Creepy Doll: In "All Dolled Up", Norma and her mother are attacked by a bunch of Pauline dolls belonging to the girl. Their leader is possessed by Pauline's soul, who wants to take the body of Norma's mother so they can return to the park. However, the woman solves the problem by building a cardboard park for the dolls. They are happy with that, except for the one with Pauline's soul. She comes as a stowaway in Norma's purse, deciding to redeem herself.
- Demonic Possession: Happens disturbingly often.
- In the first episode, Temeluchus takes over Pugsley by accident when the dog interrupts his attempt to possess Barney and while he's mostly exorcised by the end, a little bit of the demon is left inside. He later manages to possess Pugsley again, but ultimately lets him go after Temeluchus is convinced to leave the Neutral Plane alone.
- In "Wait Time: 22 Minutes", Pugsley possesses Barney after he asks for a spell to help him talk to Logs and says he doesn't want to be himself. Courtney and Norma eventually get their hands on the spell book and start possessing people for kicks and to clean up Courtney's messes respectively.
- This episode also reveals what happens to the person being possessed. They're sent to a dimension called "The In-Between" and staying there too long is very detrimental.
- It's revealed that Pauline has been dead for about thirty years, but has been keeping both herself and her career alive by possessing her impersonators, grooming them into becoming perfect hosts by convincing the girls there's a big reward waiting for whoever is her favorite. She's later tricked into possessing Norma, due to the girl using an illusion spell to resemble the actress exactly, and tries to have Courtney seal her in permanently.
- Emotion Eater: The hippie team building coach Harmony in Episode 3 turns out to be a demon called "Harm Many" who feeds on the fear of others.
- Eviler than Thou: Pulled on Pauline's ghost by Temeluchus, who idly tosses them to the horizon when they try to assert that they're "the Big Bad around here."
- Evil Twin: In "Evil Twins Are People Too," Barney and Norma's evil twins appear and try to wreck their relationships with Logs and Badyah, respectively.
- Extreme Omnivore: Courtney, who usually eats trash and during one particularly hungry episode tries to eat Pugsley.
- Eyes Are Mental:
- Whenever Temeluchus is controlling Pugsley, the dog's eyes glow green.
- Characters possessed by Pugsley gain his large pupils.
- While possessed by Courtney; Norma, Barney, and Logs gain slitted pupils, fangs, and forked tongues.
- A strange example with Pauline. Barborah's eyes remain the same while possessed, but when Pauline takes over Norma while the girl uses an illusion to look exactly like the actress, her eyes turn green despite Pauline's being blue.
- Failed a Spot Check: While incredibly taken with Norma's audition, Pauline apparently failed to notice that Norma's second verse was all about how disillusioned she is with Pauline now that she knows Pauline's plans. This may be excused by the fact that Norma was under an illusion to look exactly like Pauline, and so the lyrics were less intriguing than the fact that she was somehow Pauline's "clone."
- False Friend: The ghosts from "The Other Side" insist that they are Barney's real friends and all they want is to help him go to the other side in peace. In fact, all of them are selfish jerks who can't go to the light because they don't want to face their unfinished businesses in life. They manipulate Barney into thinking that his friends and boyfriend have moved on, so he will be depressed enough to agree to go to the other side and open a portal - and they'll go with him. Fortunately, Barney realizes that his REAL friends are doing their best to bring him back to life.
- Fatal Flaw: Barney's is his tendency to run away from things and not confront them. He finally confronts himself about this in the in-between while being possessed and finally confronts his parents to let them know where he is. However, he's still unable to come to terms with wanting to date Logs until the penultimate episode.
- Foreshadowing:
- There are hints that Courtney is a fallen angel before The Reveal:
- When Courtney sings her "I Want" Song, she looks up briefly before correcting herself and looking down.
- Zagan notes that her cuffs weren't placed there by a demon, but an angel.
- It's been noted that there aren't many demons if any that resemble Courtney in the Lower Planes. Because she's not a demon.
- Her horns don't look like horns you'd see on a typical demon, like the commonly seen gargoyles. It's almost like they are part of a broken whole.
- The Courtney clone asks her if she's sure she's a demon.
- When Courtney teleports, the magic sparks that appear are identical to the sparks of angel magic used by Pugsley and Fingers.
- There are also hints to The Watcher's true identity:
- Fans who have read DeadEndia may note the similarities in names between The Wanderer and The Watcher. This is no coincidence.
- Their voices are similar to Pugsley's if you listen closely enough, due to sharing the same voice actor.
- Barring the dark patches on the extremities, their skin is the same color as Pugsley's.
- In episode 5, while running towards Pugsley, a Freeze-Frame Bonus shows that The Watcher has a pug's tail
- Also for the demonic royal family not being a real royal family.
- Despite supposedly being related, Temeluchus, Zagan, and Asmodeus have zero resemblance to one another.
- Norma notes that the supposed relations between Temeluchus, Zagan, and Asmodeus make zero sense.
- There are hints that Courtney is a fallen angel before The Reveal:
- Fun with Homophones: A plot point in Episode 2; the mascots that come to life are initially thought to be saying "meat" and wanting to eat people, but they actually just wanted to meet them.
- The demon in the third episode isn't named "Harmony", he's named "Harm Many".
- Going to Give It More Energy: Norma's fear is so intense that it makes Harm Many EXPLODE when he tries eating it.
- Hates Being Touched: Norma, as it overstimulates her due to being autistic. Being forced into a human knot untying as a "trust exercise" sends her into a brief meltdown, and in a later episode when Barney guesses that the solution to a puzzle is to cuddle, Norma quickly declares that's not happening. She gradually becomes more used to touching others over the series, and even gives Badyah a hug after the two are un-petrified in the season finale.
- Have You Tried Not Being a Monster?: In episode two Barney yells in frustration at Pugsley, wishing he was like he was before (a non-talking dog). A hurt Pugsley backfires by comparing Barney to his transphobic grandmother.
- Helping Hands: In season 2, a giant talking hand named Fingers shows up to watch over Courtney and train Pugsley.
- He Knows Too Much: What gets Norma, Barney, and Pugsley banished from the park at the end of episode eight: uncovering Pauline's body snatching-plot to live forever through other women.
- Hijacked by Ganon: The final episode comes after stopping the plans of Big Bad Pauline but has Temeluchus and his sister Zagan hijack the park and plot as the beginning of their invasion of Earth. Even Pauline plays a part in stopping them.
- Humanity Is Infectious: Well...dog-manity at least. Spending so much time in Pugsley has an effect on Temeluchus, as he experiences all the love Barney has for Pugsley, making him unable to hurt humans in the finale and have a Heel–Face Turn.
- Ignored Epiphany: At first it looks like Pauline took Norma's speech in the finale about their legacy to heart, and does try to save people in the park. However, after the crisis, they're furious at not being thanked as the savior they see themselves as and quickly swear revenge on the main characters.
- Kick the Dog: In episode 8, Courtney compliments Pauline for her secret evil schemes, easily tricking her "dumb fans". Inadvertently making Norma, Pauline's biggest fan, feel worse and driving a wedge between Courney and the group when she's called out on it.
- Lampshade Hanging: In episode 9, while complimenting Josh for being a better security guard than Norma and himself, Barney realizes the two never actually did their jobs.
- Latin Lover: Barney's mom has a crush on a character named Rodrigo from a TV drama. Barney's dad isn't pleased.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Attempted by Norma with the employees of the park in the finale, with her pointing out that they may not know what to do during a demonic invasion but they do know what needs to happen when there is a child lost in the park, rallying them to the cause. Despite their efforts to fight back and find Patrick, all are turned to stone by Zagan.
- Lighter and Softer: While the horror angle remains the sex jokes of the two previous installments have been toned down.
- Light Is Not Good: The angels are very much revealed to be insane, imprisoning party attendees, brainwashing Pugsley and intending to go to war with the demons to the point the Neutral Plane is destroyed.
- Literally Shattered Lives: A danger when Zagan is around, thanks to her Taken for Granite powers and general disregard for life. Pauline has to step in and save people from this in the finale.
- Magical Camera: It turns out all cameras have the magical property to trap spirits in their pictures. This happens to Temeluchus (well, most of him) at the end of the first episode thanks to a camera on a ride and is a risk to Pauline when she's possessing Norma.
- Meet the In-Laws: In "Eat the Parents," Logs meets Barney's parents, Roxanne and Saul, for the first time at a dinner party. However, Harm-Many returns to try and expose everyone's inner thoughts to drive them apart.
- Mr. Fanservice: Toned down compared to the comic, but Logan is still subject to sexualized shots and is easy to see why Barney has fallen for him.
- Musical Episode: The Phantom of the Theme Park, courtesy of a spell cast by Pugsley.
- My Name Is: Pauline Phoenix's former stuntwoman is named "Barborah." However, Norma is eventually proven correct in pronouncing it like it's spelled, Bar-bor-uh, instead of just treating it like an interesting way to spell "Barbara."
- The Nicknamer: Norma, though it's played for drama as it's because she has trouble learning peoples' names and therefore refers to them by their job or station in the park. Luckily Badyah loves being called "Deathslide" and the others seem to generally let Norma off the hook for it.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Pauline Phoenix is clearly an Expy of Dolly Parton, with her theme park, Phoenix Park, acting as a stand-in for Parton's Dollywood.
- Noodle Incident: Apparently something comparable to a demon invasion happened in Phoenix Parks Europe.
- Not What It Looks Like: Inverted. In "Night of the Living Kids," when Barney walks into the kitchen, he sees Courtney about to gouge out one of Pugsley's eyes so she can use his powers to get back home and her response is "It's exactly what it looks like."
- No, You: Played for Drama when Barney calls out his parents for not defending him from his transphobic grandmother.
- Our Demons Are Different: Courtney is the main demonic representative, and is a typical little red devil who yearns to return home to the Lower Planes and eats trash. Others include Temeluchus, who is a disembodied spirit of a demon with great magical power, his sister Zagan who looks like a green woman with a prosthetic arm and is apparently both a vampire and a demon, and Hox, who is blue and a sadistic game show host.
- "Harmony" the hippie counselor is revealed to actually be a demon called Harm Many whose true form is a Blob Monster.
- While Courtney is the most traditional depiction of a demon in the main cast, she's actually a fallen angel.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Pauline Phoenix is this show's main ghost, having possessed different people after their death and showcasing some magical telekinetic abilities besides. They are green colored and depicted as they looked in life with a long, flowing gown on.
- Parents as People: Barney's parents do support him as a trans man, but act like he should be thanking them for accepting him when a parent accepting their child is the bare minimum of what a parent is supposed to do when their child comes out of the closet. When his transphobic grandmother makes horrible comments about him at a family dinner, they don't stand up for him, preferring to stay silent and avoid conflict since she's already difficult to deal with and stubbornly refuses to change her views. When Barney finally calls them out on how their silence and complacency make him feel like he doesn't matter (and that this turmoil is why he ran away from home in the first place), they realize their mistakes and finally decide not to put up with her anymore.
- Persona Non Grata: In "Eat the Parents," Barney mentions that he and his family are banned from the Wild West Tavern after causing a ruckus there last time.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Barney and Norma rarely do their job as security guards. The closest they come is chaperoning an overnight birthday party in the park. Otherwise, they generally seem free to wander all shift. This may be because their duty station is the Dead End attraction, which has been closed for years. It's even Lampshaded after they get fired and Josh takes up their slack that he's doing a way better job than them.
- Plot Armor: Averted in Episodes 4 and 10, where Barney and Norma both fall victim to the Night Hag and get turned into stone by Zagan respectively.
- Politically Incorrect Villain:
- Barney's transphobic grandmother.
- It is heavily implied that the hippie in episode 3 targeted Norma specifically because she's autistic.
- Pro Wrestling Episode: "The Trials of Barney" involves Barney entering a wrestling match under the name "B-Rex."
- Rated G for Gangsta: The cartoon adaptation is considered more family-friendly than the comic itself.
- Sadistic Game Show: In episode 5, Barney, Norma, and Pugsley enter one of these in the underworld to try and win a prize for Courtney. The Smarmy Host Hox does everything in his power to prevent them from winning, since most contestants don't even get past the first round, this includes straight-up killing Barney by throwing him down the stairs. The one lifeline the trio is given doesn't so much revive Barney, as much as it creates a new Barney with his soul and memories while the dead body turns to ashes. Hox only relents when he realizes Temeluchus is possessing Pugsley, since that would mean attacking demon royalty. They don't even have an actual grand prize to give, since it's supposed to be unwinnable.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Courtney's signature move. When the going gets rough, she teleports away.
- Shout-Out:
- The demons in suits with paper taped to their faces bear a resemblance to Slenderman.
- The "Seal the body up" spell is based on the "Wind the bobbin up" nursery rhyme.
- In the second episode the tunnel the mascots use to get around to various locations in the park is a reference to the underground corridor network at the Disney parks.
- The fourth episode has several shout-outs to the raptor scenes in Jurassic Park, particularly the kitchen scene, with the people who have had their sleep stolen in place of the raptors.
- The title "The Nightmare Before Christmas in July" references both The Nightmare Before Christmas and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July.
- A background character seen in the sixth episode resembles Dave Strider.
- The Musical Episode has songs reminiscent of "Little Shop of Horrors", "Part of Your World", The Phantom of the Opera, Beetlejuice and "Friend Like Me". The premise is also similar to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Once More With Feeling," where the episode is a musical due to a magic spell forcing the cast to sing.
- The incantation Pugsley uses to start the musical includes a number of shout outs itself: "Bippity-boopity patti luponey, menken tesori menzela minnelli!"
- Several moments of "The Ride of a Lifetime" seem inspired by the franchise "Final Destination", especially the elaborate accidents with the seagull, the popcorn, and Logan's cell phone. Also, the third film starts in an amusement park.
- In the same episode, Courtney plays with a puzzle box that brings demons to the human world when it's solved.
- Sidetracked by the Analogy: Barney and his parents get so into using food and meal-based metaphors for talking about why he ran away from home and whether they support him enough to the point where Patrick is this, thinking they're really arguing about food.
- Sibling Rivalry: Temeluchus and Zagan, even long before they turn against each other in episode 10.
- Soap Within a Show: One of Pauline's many media appearances was a soap opera where she was "Dr. Love" who solved patients' love troubles with heart transplants. It only lasted three episodes, but the one we get a look at has her flirting heavily with another doctor and "a reverend and a world-famous tightrope walker" before going to operate on "an astronaut who is also my ex-twin."
- Speak of the Devil: The children summon the Night Hag in Episode 4 by doing a chant invoking her name in front of a mirror as if she were Bloody Mary. This is also how you summon a Day Hag to counteract her.
- Stealth Pun: In Episode 4, Barney dresses up as a dinosaur.
- Summon Bigger Fish: The only way to defeat the Night Hag? Summon a Day Hag...who is actually her sister.
- Done with Temeluchus twice. First Pugsley lets him take the driver's seat when Pauline is about to win, then unleashes his full power when Zagan tries to take over.
- Take That!:
- In "The Nightmare Before Christmas in July", when Pugsley mentions Hox's Castle, Norma is surprised to hear that Hell has game shows, with Pugsley responding that according to Courtney, Hell actually invented them.
- "The Pauline Phoenix Experience" features a life insurance commercial, which is very blatantly designed to guilt trip the viewer into paying for their services, and unabashedly tries to wring as much money out of them as they can to the point of extolling its expensive price point.
- In "The Phantom of the Theme Park", one of the Pauline impersonators starts to sing "Let It Go" only to be immediately cut off and yelled at.
- In "The Ride of a Lifetime," Norma dismisses conspiracy theories like that "aliens built the pyramids" as racist, taking a dig at Ancient Aliens.
- Taken for Granite: Turns out to be a power of Zagan's, and she happily abuses it on everyone until her brother turns it back on her arm.
- Teleportation: One of Courtney's powers is to teleport in a puff of red smoke with gold sparkles.
- Title Drop: "Dead End" is the name of the haunted house attraction at Phoenix Park from one of Pauline's earliest movies.
- Trapped in TV Land: In Episode 8, Pugsley, Barney, Courtney, and Norma find themselves stuck in Pauline's shows and movies. Initially, they're all stuck playing characters until they all wake up one by one. Norma is aware from the start and wants to stay, rather than face the truth about Pauline in the real world.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: While she is interested in meeting someone who looks "like my clone", ultimately Pauline is not concerned that she's met someone who copies her down to "my birthmark" and simply takes it as a happy coincidence for her body stealing plot.
- Given the varied appearances of the missing women who were all possessed by Pauline at various points, no one over the years noticed when Pauline herself turned up with no teeth gap, a lazy eye, or black with Pauline's fanbase specifically dismissing the one major theory that's come forward as a smear.
- Voices Are Mental: The voice actors continue to voice their regular characters even when they're occupying a different body.
- Voice Changeling: One of the demons in the finale tricks Patrick by making itself sound like Barney calling for him, leading to a Jump Scare reveal.
- Wanting Is Better Than Having: How Courtney's storyline in the first season ends, they finally get to the Lower Planes only to discover they actually don't like it as much as Earth and go back to save their human friends.
- Weird World, Weird Food: While Plane Ten is already demonstrated to be effectively hell and pretty damn weird, when Courtney goes to a tavern there, she orders what appears to be a sapient artichoke. She proceeds to swallow it whole when it offers her friendship.
- Wham Line: Courtney begs for Zagan to end her banishment, and the other demon takes one look at her cuffs and notes that they were actually made by angels, much to Courtney's shock, though Zagan is still able to destroy them.Zagan: Those aren't demon's cuffs.
Courtney: What?
Zagan: Those were placed by angels. - "What Do They Fear?" Episode: Episode 3 features a skull that causes whoever touches it to experience their deepest fear. They range from silly (Logan fears his computer dying and not having a charger) to serious (Barney is scared that his parents won't stand up to his transphobic grandma).
