In the six-episode limited series Dead End (Netflix), a widowed father and his rebellious teenage daughter fall backwards into a handgun and a sack of two million in stolen zlotys when their use of a rideshare app leads to them inadvertently switching vehicles with a bank robber. Can this arguing dad and daughter and their unlikely hired car companions stay one step ahead of the thief, who’s got a few problems of his own besides the losing of his misbegotten loot?
DEAD END: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: A nervous guy stands before a bank teller with a thick scarf wrapped around his face. As improvised face coverings go, it’s not very convincing. “This is…a robbery,” he manages to croak at the bank teller. “I don’t understand. You’ll have to speak up, dear.” It’s only then that the guy lowers the scarf and brandishes a pistol.
The Gist: Spoiler alert: Emil (Lukasz Garlicki) does end up robbing that bank, despite his obvious hesitance. But before we can learn anything about why that might be, Dead End introduces us to Leon (Juliusz Chrzastowski), who struggles with booze and just lost his job. It’s been tough, ever since his wife died, and Dianka’s acting out doesn’t make life any easier. Disregarding the parole officer who’s sitting in their apartment, Leon’s daughter arrives home from high school with a few choice words for her biology teacher – “I told that biznatch why the hell do I need to know that some myoglobin…” – but Leon isn’t having it. He’s frustrated with Dianka, but worried, too: the state might take her away from him. It’s time to do something rash. They’ll drive to the Czech Republic.
He’s referring to himself as “Roberto” to the woman on the phone, but even from behind, we can see that this guy is no Italian ladies’ man. Instead, Wojtek (Michal Sikorski) is a faltering young fellow who puts himself in the position of having to come clean with the online match traveling to meet him IRL. “Is this the ride to Cieszyn? I’m your passenger, Wojtek.” Leon has used an app to rent out the backseat of his Audi – after all, every dollar counts. And here’s Leon and Dianka’s other rideshare user, a woman named Klara (Anna Ilczuk) who’s just split up with another moneyed boyfriend. Her sister in Cieszyn will take Klara in.
With Dianka needling Leon and constantly probing Wojtek and Klara, no one is at ease in this beat-up Audi sedan. And when they stop at a gas station, a contrivance of jostles and lookalike vehicles leads the rideshare group to suddenly be driving in Emil’s Audi, complete with his pistol and bank robbery boodle. “Oh fuck!” Dianka says. “This isn’t our car.” But the look on her face doesn’t convey worry. This is the most exciting thing to happen to her in months.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Dead End shares its look at cash-strapped strangers suddenly thrown into a somewhat bizarre new opportunity with Killing It, the funny Peacock series featuring Craig Robinson entering a snake catching contest in Florida. And given the secrets everybody harbors in Leon’s Audi, it’s well worth it to mention the fantastic Netflix comedy Dead to Me here. That’s right, not Dead End but Dead to Me, where Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini are unlikely pals drawn together by personal tragedy and versions of honesty.
Our Take: With its flat color palette and cloudy outlook – not to mention its English-language title – Dead End is not here to take the high road on any of its characters’ respective problems. There’s humor in Leon and Dianka’s relationship, but it’s mostly derived from her incessant emotional torture of her father. Yes, he struggles with alcohol. And yes, he pawned Dianka’s school laptop. But neither of them are prepared to deal with the real pain in their lives, which is the death of his wife and her mother. In a brief phone conversation, her sister offers a pitiful overview of Klara’s latest breakup. “I thought it would work out this time.” And for Wojtek, falsely presenting himself on dating sites as some kind of lothario, his rash behavior is mostly in reaction to his controlling mother. Not even Emil is safe from an essay of his life choices. The only reason he knocked over the bank was because he’s in debt up to his eyeballs.
What’s most interesting about Dead End is how these personal motivations will play into the group dynamic that it’s so ably established early on. All of these people could really use the money. But which of them are willing to overlook that it’s already been stolen, and that finders definitely do not equal keepers? With issues of greed, regret, selfishness, shame, and straight-up opportunism in the shadowy margins of Dead End, it’s worth considering how this whole thing might culminate in a Tarantino-style Mexican standoff, or some other payoff that’s at least as bloody as it is darkly comedic, especially with a pistol hogging so much of the tension as everyone comes to understand each other’s’ respective predicaments. That gun might solve everything, or make everything worse. But it won’t just rest idly in the glove box of an Audi.
Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode, anyway.
Parting Shot: The bank robber is calling Dianka’s phone, and Leon has shown the sack of cash and pistol to his rideshare customers. Will they rendezvous with the thief? Call the police? Just then the woman who’s been watching them from the woods approaches. “The good news is we’re the ones with the gun,” Celina (Jasmina Polak) says.
Sleeper Star: As Dianka, Maja Wolska is having the best time in Dead End, at least in the early going. From the second we meet Dianka, casually dismissing her parole officer, Wolska makes her a complete character, with mischievousness and cheeky teenage indifference spread hastily over the unresolved grief stemming from her mother’s passing.
Most Pilot-y Line: “I told you, you should watch who you get in a car with. If you’re quiet, and you do as you’re told, then maybe you’ll survive.” Dianka can barely hide her sarcasm while saying all of this to Klara and Wojtek, who are already on edge; she can’t help herself, either, and pushes the bit further. “Our previous passengers didn’t realize the car swap was all fake.”
Our Call: STREAM IT. It’s an intriguing set of at-odds personalities that Dead End has assembled for this rideshare-based caper, where everyone sees the windfall of cash as key to their personal escape plans, even if it’s already been stolen. But there’s something ominous at work here, too. If a Chekhovian gun has already been introduced…
Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges