Mini-series - 7 episodes
Watch A Murder at the End of the World on Hulu
Created by: Zal Batmanglij, Brit Marling
Starring: Emma Corrin, Brit Marling, Harris Dickinson, Clive Owen, Alice Braga
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer
Plot
Darby Hart, a Gen Z amateur sleuth, attempts to solve a murder at a secluded retreat.
Verdict
The mystery pushes this along, as there are plenty of suspects and questions. This frequently jumps back to a previous case, but that serves to bolster the story and add depth instead of serving as a distraction. The
reveal works well too, as it keeps us guessing right until the end as all the pieces are put into place. This manages to fold a few different ideas into the conclusion, providing plenty of discussion points. This tackles incredibly rich entrepreneurs, true crime obsession, and AI.
Watch It.
Review
Batmanglij and Marling's previous series was The OA. The show was concerned with entertainment first, mostly ignoring logic. While I enjoyed the first season, I didn't care enough to watch the second season.
This starts with author Darby Hart (Emma Corrin) promoting her true crime book. She's awkward at first but becomes more comfortable when she starts reading. Her book highlights the period where she teamed up with Bill (Harris Dickinson) to solve a Jane Doe murder. Throughout, the series jumps back to her book and what transpired between her and Bill.
In the present day Darby gets an invite from Andy Ronson (Clive Owen) to a private symposium. Ronson is a Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk type entrepreneur. What draws Darby to this meeting is Andy's wife Lee Anderson (Brit Marling), a famous hacker that inspired Darby who was forced to retreat from the public eye.
 |
| Harris Dickinson, Emma Corrin play Bill Farrah, Darby Hart |
Darby's invite to the symposium is via augmented reality and Ronson's digital assistant. It's a wild invitation because it seems so clandestine and Darby doubts if it's even real. Ronson collects big artists and influencers, taking them to Iceland to shape the world. To Darby's shock, her old partner Bill is at the symposium. There's this unspoken tension as Bill has become a famous artist while Darby is struggling as a writer. The first episode ends with a murder, though it's quite convenient that Darby is the one that discovers the scene with her background. The first episode is an absolutely great hook that manages to tie together true crime, a tech entrepreneur, and artificial intelligence.
I like how this jumps from past to present using Darby's book as a reference. Often in shows the flashbacks are a way to fill time, but here they usually serve to reinforce characters. The flashbacks show us how Darby became a sleuth and how she met Bill.
Darby, Ronson, and these other guests are at a high tech hotel with fancy technology. It becomes a bit silly that the show uses the AI for exposition. Darby asks the AI very simple questions just so the audience knows the death was fishy. These are things Darby should know. Darby also uses the old clogged toilet trick to get into the hotel's security settings. The big hole here is that the concierge ran to the toilet as Darby told him feces was on the floor. That's a lie, so how does the concierge not later question Darby about it. That would seem rather suspicious, especially after a murder.
 |
| Brit Marling, Emma Corrin play Lee Anderson, Darby Hart |
Darby tries to get to the bottom of what happened even as she's told to leave it alone. We know she won't, and she discovers even more suspicious clues.
Darby eventually confronts Ronson with all she knows. He already knew everything, of course he did. Ronson tells Darby that he's the target. He's the most important person at this hotel. The murders are a means to get to him. We get a few options for potential killers, and the answer was a surprise, but it's not a surprise in that I found it unbelievable. This show did a great job of giving us plenty of suspects and reasons, only to shock us with an answer that is also entirely plausible
No comments :
Post a Comment