Death Becomes Her – As the opening episode of Obituary begins, Elvira Clancy (Siobhan Cullen) talks about her life being filled with death. She knows that death has always been there for her. When she was younger, her father Ward (Michael Smiley) teaches her how to shoot. Elvira says the first time her father saw her happy was when she was 10 and shot a deer. School would’ve been torture if not for her writing and her best friend Mallory Markum (Danielle Galligan). One day, she realized that death and writing were a powerful match, but it was fleeting like everything else that gave her peace.

When a doctor diagnosed her depression, they only wanted to talk about pills. She stopped taking them five years ago because they made her sleepwalk and lose time. Elvira believes they made her more dead than alive. Something amazing happened when the woman in charge of the obituaries died and Elvira took over. She is the new obituarist for The Kilraven Chronicles. Her boss, Hughie Burns (David Ganly), tells her to file the obituary and wait for someone else to die. Six months and fifteen funerals later, Elvira talks about the people of Kilraven. The people are convinced if the sun would shine, if the factory reopened, and if the foreigners left, their lives would be good again.

Elvira says there is a bunch of weird stuff going on beneath the surface. She talks about how people go through their lives without showing their true feelings. A man approaches Elvira to say his mom gave her a tip and she wants it back because her writing was rubbish. Tom Quigley (Michael Hough) doesn’t think she got to know the man when that is her job. She returns the tip. Elvira says crime correspondence is a juicy gig for some and a slow death for others. For Clive Cavendish (Lalor Roddy), he is obsessed with the unsolved murder of Maria Riedle. Clive says they believe she listens to the death notices while she twiddles her twaddle. When Clive speaks to Hughie, he learns that they could be letting him go unless he goes freelance.

Hughie tells Elvira to come to his office before informing her that circulation is down. He wants her work to improve so the families stop complaining to him. Hughie offers to give her 200 an obituary instead of an annual salary. Kilraven doesn’t get a lot of deaths so Elvira worries she won’t have enough money to support her father. When she asks how she’ll live, Hughie suggests she can start killing people. Elvira had a lot going on so she might’ve missed the signs, but it felt like her dad woke up one day and decided to start drinking. At home, Ward says Elvira can always get another job. She argues that this job is her life because writing is everything she has.

Then, Ward says he could dust off his CV. Elvira believes she has been writing CVs, but people’s lives aren’t CVs. She decides she is going to write advances or obituaries for the pre-dead. Elvira can write the obituaries before people die. She starts with Alice Mulcahy (Helen Roche). Elvira believes that’d give Hughie no choice but to return her to full pay. She visits Alice to talk to her about how it feels to die. Elvira pretends she is Alice’s daughter Rose. Despite the effort, Hughie complains about her writing. Then, she begins working on Bob Power’s obituary. She talks to him about the statistics of dying before returning to Hughie with her latest work.

Hughie admits there is some improvement since he only spotted two typos. Elvira moves to Sandy Benson who is often called Kilraven’s nicest man even though her dad disagrees. She gets sick of waiting because the dying man just refuses to die. One day, she confronts him and says no one could think today is a beautiful day. After she nearly pushes him over the edge, Sandy threatens to go to the guards. Sandy tells her that the town laughs at her before calling her father a sewer rat. Elvira says it is a beautiful day. Then, she pushes Sandy over. She begins speaking to Margo Benson (Marion O’Dwyer) since she will be writing Sandy’s obituary. Margo tells Elvira about her relationship and their first time making love.

Elvira thinks they’re missing something so she says they should go off record. Margo reveals that Sandy was in remission. He wasn’t sick for the last five years, but he just loved the attention. Margo says he could’ve lived for 30 more years if he hadn’t fallen. Elvira thought she’d killed a dying man, but she had killed a man who deserved to die. After Elvira reads the obituary to Hughie, he admits he can’t publish it because Sandy’s wife doesn’t want him declared dead. Instead, she is going to wait for seven years since his body wasn’t discovered. Elvira doesn’t think it’ll matter because she found her voice now and it is a voice with murder as a muse. When she picks up her father, she asks if Patsy (Allan Keating) is still having chest problems.

Ward almost pulls out in front of Sylvester McHugh who belittles him before speeding away. Ward tells Elvira that he was a big builder back in London, but cut so many corners that a bunch of guys died. Elvira begins questioning whether Sylvester deserves to die. Later that night, she watches Mal get picked up by Sylvester. The next day, she tries to convince Mal to stop seeing him. Mal says Sylvester has seen London and he is a go-getter. When asked about their sex life, Mal reveals Sylvester says he blows his wife out of the water. While having sex last night, Sylvester had an epileptic fit because he forgot to take his pills. Elvira learns that he has a temper too.

Elvira is done waiting because it seems like Sylvester’s purpose in life is to hurt everyone around him. She learns more about Epibron which is used for epilepsy. Elvira sneaks into his house and switches his medication. Emerson Stafford (Ronan Raftery) approaches Elvira at work to ask how she gets people to open up to her when they’re at their lowest. He also questions whether writing obituaries gets depressing. Eventually, he says they’re going to be working together and he is paid per piece as well. Elvira agrees to get a drink with him so she won’t be able to end Sylvester’s life tonight.

Once she arrives, she finds Emerson sitting with Mallory. In private, Mal believes this is the better person she was talking about coming along. Emerson sits down and they begin discussing his sexuality, Hughie, and journalism. Emerson tells them how he knew his job was to bring the world’s weirdest stories to the people. Mal mentions that has been in legal trouble so Emerson thinks he should write a story about her. Elvira borrows Mal’s phone and takes it to the bathroom to get in touch with Sylvester. Emerson comes in seconds later and tells her this is the men’s bathroom. Before she leaves, Sylvester contacts Mal’s phone agreeing to meet at their usual place.

While she is parked waiting for him, Garda Rose Mulcahy (Noni Stapleton) knocks on the window to ask why she is sitting there. Rose asks if she can check the vehicle. Even though Elvira has it rigged for Sylvester, she gives Rose the keys so she can open the boot. Rose’s partner tells her they have a domestic call. Elvira begins talking to her about Rose in hopes of stopping her from opening the boot. Rose eventually leaves without looking in the boot. Before she goes, she tells Elvira she’d like her to write her obituary. Elvira says it ends now because she isn’t cut out for this. Emerson meets Clive where they found Maria Riedle’s body. Clive says the Mallory he mentioned was the last person to see Maria alive. If his work leads to the arrest of Maria’s killer, they could get book and movie deals.

Clive offers to give him his entire life savings upon the arrest of the killer. He is sure the husband did it. Elvira picks up her father who is drunk. He wakes up and says he might tell her why he is drinking sometime. After nearly hitting Tom, Elvira goes to work and reminds Hughie that he promised to review her salary. He refuses to review her salary but ends up paying her for Sandy Benson. Hughie says he can’t publish it, but quality work deserves recognition. When she finds enough for two obituaries, Hughie reveals that Sylvester was found dead this morning. She suspects it was because she forgot to change his medications back.

Hughie admits her work inspired him to want to get back into real journalism again. He tells her to keep doing what she has been doing. Elvira learns that Emerson and Mallory are hanging out. She sees people as headlines while walking down the road.

 

Obituary Review

Obituary sets up an interesting premise that could easily continue for eternity as long as Elvira doesn’t get busted. Siobhan Cullen plays Elvira Clancy who seems to have a fascination with death and writing. These passions lead her to become an obituary writer, but there aren’t enough deaths in Kilraven. To get by, Elvira begins killing people who deserve it until she abruptly stops when she nearly gets caught.

The opening episode establishes the idea that no one is off-limits except Elvira’s father. The core idea is what drives Obituary and sets it apart from anything else. Siobhan Cullen and Michael Smiley are enjoyable in their respective roles. Nevertheless, Obituary’s opening episode did seem to drag on a bit too long so 30-minute episodes may have fit the series better.

I also can’t say I’ve really established a connection with any of the characters right now, but that may change with a few more episodes. For a series about death, the episode didn’t pack much of an emotional punch. I neither felt sad for characters losing loved ones nor did I feel anger for those who deserved to die. However, much of the episode was spent introducing the characters, setting up the story, and convincing Elvira to go through with it.

Truthfully, this was a good starting point although it feels like there could be more from Obituary in future episodes. The starting point justifies sticking around to see how far Elvira goes to keep writing. The opening episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Obituary will be available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent work at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.