Death and Other Details Is A Contradictory Murder Mystery
In the high class world of the global elite, a restless Imogene Scott (Violett Beane) finds herself at the center of a murder mystery aboard a Mediterranean ship in Death and Other Details. Every overly pampered guest and run down crew member poses as a person of interest in the case. In order to prove her innocence, Imogene must work with the world’s greatest detective whom she detests, Rufus Cotesworth (Mandy Patinkin).
Coming from a big fan of Knives Out and other murder mystery-style series and movies, I had high hopes for this show. With a January premiere, it’s the perfect time to suck you out of the winter blues and dive into the lavish lives of the elite as they vacation on a ship through the Mediterranean. The set is ambitious and visually intriguing, given the grand design of the remodeled ship. The series stands as a great form of escapism and interest due to the mystery at hand.
The main character Imogene has a harrowing backstory that seems to haunt her into adulthood. She is an interesting and compelling person, but seems to have mixed motivations and interests. Something that caught me off guard was her relationship to Rufus Cotesworth. At the beginning, she hates this detective and then suddenly is working with him after the crime occurs onboard. Her motivations and actions tend to be contradictory, making the show hard to understand and follow. There is also an eclectic cast of characters, though many are not likable.
However, the series did have a pacing issue. The first eight episodes you are trying to figure out how characters are connected and what their histories have to do with the present murder investigation. As the series comes to an end, the last two episodes pack in the majority of the action and answers feeling like you got to the end both too quickly and too slowly.
As I was watching the series, I started to ask myself why there aren’t more murder mystery-style shows. This series answered that question for me. In order to create an intriguing and unpredictable outcome, your story has to have lots of characters, twists, and secrets. This works in a movie where you get answers quickly throughout. In a series, these details have to be more sparse or the story needs to be far more complex. In order to keep interest in this series, the story becomes super convoluted to the point where you cannot remember who is good or bad, and how all of these characters relate to one another. I think the show could’ve worked better with a few detail cut downs and shortening to eight episodes opposed to ten.
Death and Other Details will have you guessing who the killer is until the very end and still manages to give you a bit of a cliffhanger, leaving room for a second season.
Death and Other Details is streaming on Hulu starting January 16.
