"It's complicated."
Who says romance is dead?
Suzy Darling is having a rough few days. She just walked out on her unfaithful husband, Steve, taking her children with her to her newly bought penthouse. The penthouse is beautiful with a lovely balcony and it's right next to her dental practice.
Just one problem: It's haunted by the ghost of Nerve frontman, Henry Mallet, whom Suzy alone can see and hear. Suzy has to juggle dealing with Henry's antics and demands, raising her children, settling into her new place, running her dental practice, and dodging Steve's attempts to in turn sabotage her new life and woo her back.
Spirited was an Australian dramedy on W Channel starring Claudia Karvan, Matt King, and Rodger Corser. It aired for two series, before its cancellation in 2011.
Not to be confused with Spirited Away or the movie musical Spirited.
This series provides examples of:
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Presumably what happens to ghosts who get into the taxis.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: For all the times they fight and bicker, Suzy and Henry have more of these moments as the series goes on.
- Backstory: Much of the show revolves around discovering Henry's past.
- Big Damn Heroes: Henry saving the kids from Apollo.
- Character Tics: Suzy has a distinctive fake laugh that crops up whenever someone surprises her.
- Deadpan Snarker: Henry. Being invisible makes it easy to snark at everyone.
- Depraved Dentist: Suzy isn't really, but after her husband's friends tell her they aren't interested in being friends with her now that she's separated from Steve..."I am a very good dentist, but if you make an appointment with me, I will destroy your teeth. In ways you cannot begin to imagine."
- Erotic Dream: Both played seriously and for laughs.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Henry, a bit.
- Ghost Amnesia: At the start, Henry suffered from this, though his memory has been coming back.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Suzy, at least at first, can only manage the utterly feeble "Eff off, you dead...dick!"
- Throughout the series she also repeatedly says "shivers" in place of "shit."
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: After rock songs.
- I See Dead People: Suzy. Ghosts can see other ghosts.
- Intangible Man: Henry, along with...
- Invisible Main Character: Henry again, to everyone but Suzy.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Henry, once he starts warming up to the Darlings.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Steve, who seems sympathetic for about a half hour of the first episode.
- Noodle Incident: Pineapple doughnut
- Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Henry Mallet
- Opposites Attract: The ghost of a punk rocker from the late 1970s/early 1980s and a straight-laced single-mother dentist.
- Parental Neglect: Suzy, in an early episode.
- Parent with New Paramour: The kids never learn of Suzy's liasons, but Verity gets embarrassed by Steve's relationship with Verity's teacher.
- Plot-Inciting Infidelity: Suzy has left her husband after discovering him cheating on her at the start of the show.
- Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Ghosts can apparently connect to the living's dreams.
- Psychoactive Powers: Henry's ability to use his ghostly powers (once he fully acquires them) is tied directly to how angry he is at the time. Unfortunately, so is their severity, and he can't turn them off, as he found out when he accidentally broke a vase with an angry gesture.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Apollo. In spades.
-
Real Song Theme Tune: "(I'm) Stranded", by The Saints. - Shrine to the Fallen: The Elysium gets one for Henry from his fans.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Henry. Almost every other word that comes out of his mouth is a swear word of some severity.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Suzy, whom Steve's friends call a "robot", but Henry calls "sweet".
- Taking the Kids: Suzy did this when she left Steve.
- There Are No Therapists: Averted. Jonquil, Suzy's sister, is a therapist. Not a very good one, considering some of Jonquil's actions, though.
- Trailers Always Spoil: The preview at the end of episode five is an egregious example.
- Unfinished Business: Often speculated in-universe for the reason why Henry's still around. No one's sure what the unfinished business is, though.
- Victory Pose: Suzy has one, the pose a gymnast pulls upon landing a jump.
- Visit by Divorced Dad: Steve's interactions with Elvis and Verity. It never goes well.