Crossing Over

‘Crossing Over’ is a dark(ish) comedy drama series. It is also a love story, with a twist. The first act is provided as a sample. Jane is a thirty-something who finds herself on the Staten Island Ferry. She meets an arrogant, beautiful, effeminate ‘man’ (Kieran). Kieran is the modern-day version of Charon – the mythical ferryman who carries souls to the underworld. It doesn’t take long for Jane to establish that she is dead. Unfortunately things get worse for Jane. She was robbed, murdered and her body hidden. As a consequence, she has nothing on her to pay her passage and until her body is properly buried, she is in limbo and has to undertake manual work, cleaning hotel rooms on Staten Island for those who are in the more fortunate position of being able to move on. The mythology of Charon (Kieran) contains a number of elements, which help facilitate the story. • Charon was created in the third gender – neither male or female – so that love/sex could never be a means of corruption. Charon was, effectively, cursed to perform a role for eternity without the prospect of love. Despite this, love starts to blossom between Jane and Kieran. • Charon’s role was to keep the mortal world separate from the underworld. As such, Charon was created as the strongest of all gods – incapable of being overpowered even by other gods. As a consequence, those seeking to return to the mortal world or influence mankind have needed to find creative ways to bypass Charon. This allows for some playful interaction between Jane and other mythical (and non-mythical) characters – an example being Somnus, the god of dreams. The reason for Jane’s murder is not revealed until later into the storyline and Jane is driven to understand why she was killed and her body dumped. As she tries to find out more of the circumstances surrounding her death, she also comes to understand just how much her friends and relatives are struggling with their loss. She is in turmoil. Kieran can see Jane’s pain. The love Kieran has for Jane is so strong that an unbreakable vow is broken and Kieran allows Jane’s soul to return to the mortal world. Jane is conflicted. She must chose whether to return to the mortal world, or return to Kieran. What does she do?