List of Dead Like Me characters
This is a list of the characters from the Showtime comedy-drama series Dead Like Me.
George Lass
Georgia L. "George" Lass is the youngest Reaper in the club. She is the protagonist of the series, and also performs the function of narrator. As a child, she is portrayed by Talia Ranger.George was born in 1985 and raised at Beatrice Lane by her parents, [|Joy] and [|Clancy Lass]. When George was a young child, she had a very close relationship with her father. Every Sunday morning she and Clancy would eat breakfast at a local diner. However, as she grew older, George distanced herself from both her parents, becoming increasingly insolent and obstinate. The birth of her little sister, Reggie, caused George to feel neglected, creating a rift between her and Joy. George's habit of ignoring Reggie lasted until her death.
At least twice in her childhood George was shown to be able to see Gravelings. In the first instance she was pushed into a public swimming pool by another girl who wanted to impress a mean clique. Two Gravelings had removed a grate at the bottom of the pool, toward which George was sinking, but one of the Gravelings appeared to argue with the other about something, and they retreated, allowing George to be rescued by lifeguards. The second instance was on a Halloween, when George confronted a serial killer about why he did not hand out candy in the traditional way. When looking into his house, George saw a Graveling behind the man.
According to her mother, George's maturity level and intellect quickly outpaced that of her friends, leaving her alone throughout high school. George repeatedly mentions that she had no boyfriends and partook in no sexual activities in her lifetime, blatantly ignoring men who flirted with her.
George began college but only lasted to midterm, after which she dropped out and sought a job from Happy Time Temporary Services. [|Delores Herbig] purposefully found George the least pleasant job she could find after George insulted her authority and seniority.
On June 27, 2003 during the lunch break of her first day of work, George was struck by a zero-G toilet seat dislodged from the de-orbiting Soviet space station Mir, and killed.
Before her death, George characterizes herself as uninterested in everything, in order to ward off disappointment; by her understanding, interest led to expectations, which then led to disappointment once those expectations were cut short.
After George is killed, she is met by Rube Sofer and Betty Rohmer. Unlike many of her future "reaps", George suffers from mild hysteria upon realizing she is dead. Since she is here to stay, Rube breaks many guidelines associated with reaping, taking her to her autopsy and allowing her to attend her own funeral. Once her corpse is properly interred, she becomes officially undead and gains a new physical body and different appearance to all non-Reapers. More than anything else, seeing her new appearance "freaks" her out the most.
George assumes the name Mildred "Millie" Hagen and seeks employment from Happy Time once again. Since her appearance has changed to facilitate her reaping, she has a fresh start and this time impresses Delores, who hires her to work at Happy Time itself.
In a deleted scene on the DVD, it is shown how an entire industry staffed by reapers has arisen to create new identities for newly assigned undead. She is provided with all necessary documentation to prove she is Mildred Hagen.
Millie soon becomes one of Delores's friends and most favorite employees. In order to make her reaping appointments, she frequently uses the excuses of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, drug rehabilitation, and gynecology appointments, all of which unintentionally further Delores's sympathy for her.
George begins to form a friendship with the aloof Betty, but the relationship is cut short by Betty's departure. She keeps track of her old family's life, sometimes driving by, placing silent calls, or leaving things on their doorstep. Nonetheless, Rube very solidly takes on the role of "the paternal one". In addition, Delores takes on many of the responsibilities of a mother, Mason grows increasingly closer as a sort of brother, and Daisy becomes George's closest thing to a best friend.
In the tradition of the Reapers, George's new home – a small one-bedroom apartment – is that of one of her reaps. When Daisy arrives however it is too small, and Mason soon swaps his much larger house for theirs. In addition, George gains a pet frog and a red Mustang convertible from her reaps.
After falling for [|Trip Hesburgh], reaping his father and crashing the funeral, George has sex with Trip, thereby losing her virginity. She feels conflicted by the experience, and soon afterwards discovers that Trip has abandoned her.
When the [|Ray Summers] Graveling begins threatening Daisy and Mason, George catches him and reaps his soul, which results in his disintegration.
George enjoys coffee, chocolate milkshakes, waffles, and oatmeal with raisins. Unlike the other Reapers, she still has qualms with her fate as one of the undead.
Five years after her "death", George is still reaping souls while working at Happy Time under her "living" name Millie Hagen. Her de facto mentor, Rube, has moved to the Great Beyond after "getting his lights". Shortly after, she encounters her sister Reggie and reveals her identity to her, but later remembers Rube's advice and realizes that this connection to the past is not going well. After talking Reggie out of killing herself, George admits that Rube was right all along. She says goodbye to Reggie, presumably for the last time, as Joy and Reggie have both showed interest in relocating.
After Rube's replacement is disposed of by incineration, due to his underhanded and potentially dangerous methods, it is implied that George, to her surprise and dismay, is awarded the task of head reaper.
Rube Sofer
Rube John Sofer is the leader of the club. He is laid-back and unemotional, but easily takes offense at interruptions into his daily routine. From the very first time he met George, Rube referred to her as "peanut", the nickname he called his daughter Rosie Sofer. As seen on an envelope, Rube's last name was originally "Stofer" but this was later changed to "Sofer".''Ante mortem''
Rube was born, of Jewish descent, in or about 1875 and lived in Englewood, New Jersey. By his wife Lucy Sonia Sofer, who was twenty-five years his junior, he had one child, Rose Anne. Though details of Rube's past are scant, a records clerk who is assisting him in finding his daughter comes across a "Wanted" poster of Rube stating that he is a bank robber; it is probable that this led to his death. Frequent references suggest that leaving his family is an act Rube has regretted ever since.In one flashback, Rube is shown readying a pistol and accidentally awakening his daughter. After quickly hiding the pistol in a newspaper, he approaches Rose's bedside and tells her that he is going to get something that her mother needed. Upon asking her father when he would return, Rube replied, "Soon," and sang her a lullaby to help her go back to sleep.
In the 21st century, Rube goes to the dead letter department at the post office to pick up an eighty-year-old returned letter. This letter was addressed to Rose Sofer and contained a large stack of aged hundred-dollar and fifty-dollar bills. The source of the money is not shown, but it may be related to the robbery. Rube states that he mailed the package after he died.
''Post mortem''
Rube is the "foreman" of the group of grim reapers at the center of the series. He gets the list of who is to die, when and where, from an unnamed shadowy individual and then transfers the first initial and last name of the person, where they are to die, and their estimated time of death to a Post-it note and assigns them to the Reapers. He enjoys eating and cooking.Although he comes off as gruff and aloof, he actually cares for his team like a father, and is particularly fond of George Lass, the newest "recruit" to his small team of Reapers.
He claims to have reaped Amelia Earhart. Rube gets irritated at fellow Reaper Mason's antics and frequently calls him a "fuck-up." However, he suspects that Mason is smarter than he seems. A skilled shell game operator, Rube once taught Mason techniques from the game, which he used to sell a line of kitchen appliances. The disappearance of Betty Rohmer, a Reaper with whom he worked since her own death in 1926, disturbed him greatly. He hates computer keyboards, claiming they are too fragile as compared to typewriters, and avoids using them, and by extension computers, whenever possible.
One of the more mysterious of the Reapers featured on Dead Like Me, his full name was not revealed until the episode "Death Defying". His date of death was never made explicit, but implied to be the earliest of the known reapers, save recurring ex-colleague Penny. Mason jokes in "Rites of Passage", "Rube's so fucking old, he reaped Jesus." In "Ghost Story" George thinks Rube probably reaped Houdini, even though in that episode Rube indicates he believes the stage name is one word, "Houdini" rather than "Harry Houdini".
In a major character arc during the second season, he was greatly upset when he discovered that a package of money that he had sent after his death to his daughter and wife in 1927 was never delivered, and embarked upon a quest to find out why. While he searched public record archives, during which he found the death certificate for his wife, he discovered a wanted poster that indicated he was a bank robber. His daughter's birth certificate describes his wife as being of Czechoslovak origin and 24 years old at the time of his daughter's birth, maiden name being Lucy Sonia Debrowski. Rube's full name is revealed here, as well as his stated occupation of salesman and that he was 49 years old at her birth. His daughter's full name is Rose Anne Sofer. Their address was 243 Georgian Lane. Lucy's death certificate was discovered but not shown, but her gravestone shows that her year of birth was 1901 and her date of death was 1941, consistent with the age given on her daughter's birth certificate.
His daughter Rosie was born on 19 March 1925, according to her birth certificate in "Death Defying" and lived at a nursing home until her death in 2004. Fellow reaper Penny led Rube to Rosie, so Rube could be with her when she died. When Rube sat with her in the garden of the nursing home, Rosie recognized Rube as her father.
Five years after George becomes a member of his group of reapers, Rube unexpectedly disappears the same day Der Waffle Haus is burned down. The other members found this strange, but eventually assumed that he had "got his lights" and moved on to the afterlife.