Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Dead End: Paranormal Park’ On Netflix, Where Two Teens Have Summer Job At A Theme Park Haunted House Ruled By Demons

If there’s any part of the entertainment universe that’s embraced diversity and representation, it’s kids’ series. Animated series are especially open to having their main characters be just about anything, because they want everyone in their audiences to identify with their characters in one way or another. A new Netflix animated series, based on a popular series of graphic novels, takes that embrace of representation farther than we’ve ever seen it — and then doesn’t make a big deal of it. Read on for more.

DEAD END: PARANORMAL PARK: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A woman in a long dress and piled-up hair runs through the rain, into a mansion.

The Gist: After we see the woman, dressed like Pauline Phoenix (Clinton Leupp), a former B-horror-movie star who now owns Phoenix Parks, meet a scary fate in the house, we cut to the homes of two teenagers. Barney (Zach Barack) and Norma (Kody Kavitha) are both going to Phoenix Parks to interview for a security job at the park’s haunted mansion.

Barney is especially happy to go, because he’d have to have dinner with his granny, who still doesn’t understand why he’s transitioned to being male. His pug Pugsley jumps into his backpack to keep him company. Norma is a huge Phoenix fan and knows everything about her and the park’s history, but she rarely goes outside and doesn’t recognize Barney, even though he is a neighbor and her lab partner at school.

At the haunted house, they’re greeted by a tiny demon named Courtney (Emily Osment) greets them and calls them “offerings.” In reality, they’re offerings for Temeluchus, who searches for a flesh-and-blood form to occupy. Somehow, though, Temeluchus zaps himself into little Pugsley (Alex Brightman). In the race to rescue Pugsley, Norma and Barney cooperate, using the skills that both have, to help the doggie in Pugsley defeat the demon. Also, Norma realizes that if they get a photo of the possessed pooch on the flume ride, Temeluchus will be gone.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Dead End: Paranormal Park is created by Hamish Steele, based on his DeadEndia book series. It does seem that somewhat nutty animated series like Rick & Morty and Steven Universe are big influences.

Our Take: More than a lot of kids’ animated series geared towards the 7-and-up crowd, Dead End: Paranormal Park sets up a continuing story right off the bat in its first few minutes. Without coming right out and saying it, what Steele is introducing his audience to are two cartoon heroes that you don’t usually see: Barney is trans and Norma is, from all evidence (and the show notes), neurodivergent. It’s certainly part of both their stories, but it doesn’t define them as characters, and that’s a wonderful thing.

Barney is especially in a situation where he doesn’t quite know where he fits in. His mother loves him to pieces, but as he asks her about his grandmother, “Did you tell her Barney would be there?” In other words, his mother isn’t ready to tell her mother that Barney is now Barney, which distresses him so much he decides to stay at the mansion that night, after Courtney offers the both of them jobs as personal protection against the demons that are after her, as well as security for the mansion.

But the main story is going to be the teens guarding the mansion against all manner of demons and other paranormal baddies, plus the mystery surrounding the disappearance of all the Pauline Phoenix impersonators that were employed at the park. There is already a good partnership brewing between the more laid-back Barney and the detail-oriented Norma, and it’ll be interesting to see how their situations come into play in their jobs.

What Age Group Is This For?: There’s some scary stuff in the first episode, but it certainly is for the 7-and-up crowd, depending on how tolerant of cartoon demons your young one is.

Parting Shot: Barney and Pugsley sleep in coffins at the mansion. When Barney says “night-night” to Pugsley, Pugsley, who still has a piece of Temeluchus in him, responds, “Night, night, Barney.” Barney opens his eyes wide in shock.

Sleeper Star: People forget that, along with being a veteran of family-oriented sitcoms, Emily Osment has done a lot of cartoon voice work, so she’s pretty funny here as Courtney.

Most Pilot-y Line: “Nice costume,” Norma says to Courtney as a quick way to explain why neither teen gets freaked out at the sight of a tiny red demon with horns.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Not only are the heroes of Dead End: Paranormal Park not your standard-grade kids cartoon protagonists, but the story they’re in has all sorts of directions in which it can go.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.