| SPOILER WARNING! This article contains spoilers from The Gaslight District Pilot |
| WARNING! This ship page includes the subject of violence, the mafia, and murder. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Smiling Dead is the family ship between Breadhead, Melancholy Hill, Mud, and Ken the Butcher from the The Gaslight District fandom.
Canon[]
The family consists of four members; a dairy abomination born straight from the oven, two disfigured zombie brothers, and a female undercover human. They are described as the scummiest family to exist, as they named their mafia gang "The Smiling Dead" to leave a mark after they drown, murder, and destroy anything to their best interests. The unique thing about their immortal, bleak world is the residents; everyone lives off of immortality, including inhumanity to a literal extreme. Melancholy Hill, the first human to be born after 1000 years, lives in hiding among her family to avoid execution, for humans are a threat to the eternal lives of the twisted citizens. Ken the Butcher, her adoptive father, keeps her a secret from society and presumably his own son and brother.
Despite the obvious bumps and bruises in the family collectively, they are still very loyal and caring to each other like a true family.
Pilot[]
The episode first displays the family in a heated car chase against their former employee. They pursue their enemy with sadistic intent to kill, for he had seen Melancholy's nose bleed with black blood, a testament to her humanity. They perform various stunts to catch up, with Mud delivering headshots and Melancholy climbing aboard the opposite car (much to Ken's chagrin) to "kill" her witness directly. A drastic accident ensues, with Melancholy bleeding freely on the road, desperately trying to hide her injury from prying eyes. Meanwhile her family pursues their target and gets his feet cemented and conscious body tossed into the deep sea.
It's implied that Ken is the only one aware of Melancholy's true species in future events. It's seen that the family works in presumably Ken's butcher shop/restaurant, where Melancholy works as a waitress. Mud does attempt to bribe her to be under his authority, but it fails. She and her father are pulled aside for a personal talk. Ken scolds his daughter for her incompetence in keeping herself hidden, for this isn't the only incident where they had to rid of an employee for being unfortunate enough to debunk her.
Mel rebuttals his worries with her greatest crime plan. She clarifies that the gang will sneak to heaven, steal a bird's egg from the Angel Mother as a false human egg, and destroy it publicly to ward off all suspicion of her for the next millennium. Ken is reluctant at first given his justification that Mel isn't durable due to being a human; thus dangers that normally evade him and the others will surely kill her. But he gives in for the sake of his daughter's safety. The next moment or so, The Smiling Dead find themselves sneaking past the pearly gates.
Mud is left to hijack the cameras, Breadhead activates a crow storm, and Ken and Mel plan to meet each other at the staircase to the Angel Mother. To Mel's disappointment, she knows what Ken plans to do when he enters the room of the doctor that delivered her. She asks meekly if Ken is proud of her, persistent in getting an answer. Ken suddenly snaps and screams at her. Realizing his outburst, his attitude shifts immediately to fatherly.
He promises her that they will work together when the time comes. Mel is left alone to fend off the Angel Mother in pursuit of the egg despite her promise. Ken in contrast ends up brutally murdering Mel's doctor in a fit of blind rage. It's never stated what exactly the doctor did that earned such a reaction. When Mel manages to fly back down from the heavenly abode of the Angel Mother, the two, Mud, and Breadhead make a grand narrow escape.
They begin the public execution, but Breadhead and Mud are left behind. Waiting patiently beside her father as he delivers his dark, pricing speech about the burning desire to rid of the vile human, she grows more uncomfortable and anxious. Before Mel can crack the egg down the spike presented opposite of her, it hatches. The massive crowd witnesses Mel and Ken's ploy with furiosity. The film cuts to black before their fate could be decided.
Fanon[]
The Smiling Dead are a very popular family within the fandom. Their titular position as protagonists and being a Mafia gang at best, they were bound to gain loads of positive attention from passionate fans. In mere hours after the release of the pilot, fanarts and fanfictions spiraled on multiple social media. They're appreciated for being the anti-heroes of their respective franchise whilst simultaneously being a wholesome and caring family.
Fandom[]
- The Smiling Dead hashtag on Twitter
- The Smiling Dead posts on Twitter
- The Smiling Dead posts on Reddit
Variations[]
- BreadKen refers to the ship between Breadhead and Ken
- BreadMel refers to the ship between Breadhead and Mel
- MelKen refers to the ship between Mel and Ken
- Mudbread refers to the ship between Mud and Breadhead
- MudKen refers to the ship between Mud and Ken
- MudMel refers to the ship between Mud and Mel