Death and Other Details Season One Early Review

The following is a spoiler-free review of the first 8 episodes of Death and Other Details. The 10-episode series will premiere its first 2 episodes on January 16th with a weekly release to follow until its final 2 episodes releasing on March 5th on Disney+ internationally and Hulu in the US

There is perhaps no subgenre more conducive to streaming/binge culture than murder mysteries. Leaving viewers on the edge of their seats as they power through episode after episode for answers as they get closer to solving the all-encompassing case. Slowly returning to prominence following the recent Knives Out and Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot film franchises, many projects since then have more or less tried to replicate that experience thanks to the combination of over-the-top investigators and suspects and other side characters of varying levels of ridiculousness. Death and Other Details falls somewhere in between both aforementioned franchise in terms of style and tone without reaching the heights of either. The slight difference is how it places its story above its characters. While still compelling to watch, it makes them more of a means to an end which makes them thin overall. They are merely archetypes in service of a mystery full of twists and turns. Jumping back and forth between time and perspective, the series will leave viewers on their toes, it also perhaps goes a little too far in a way that may come off as pretentious. Over time, this feeling somewhat dissipates as the pieces come together but as always, things are not always as they seemed. Led by the stellar chemistry of Violett Beane and Mandy Patinkin, they were a fun guide as their dynamic already came with a complicated past history that served as an interesting jumping off point.

Death and Other Details is centered around the brilliant Imogene Scott (Beane), a young woman who found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time as she became the prime suspect in a murder that took place in a locked room on a luxury Mediterranean ocean liner full of affluent guests and the taxed crew members tending to their every whim. Little did she know, one of those guests was world renowned detective Rufus Cotesworth (Patinkin), a man for whom she hated as a result of a complicated past history, separated by 18-years. Regardless, she had no choice but to team up with him as a way to prove her innocence. That being said, Cotesworth was not quite the same man she remembered. However, his skills were still very much there but Imogene proved that she could more than hold her own. In the end, them being in the same place at same time was no coincidence as the more they investigated, the more it became clear that their pasts and present were somehow all connected. Ultimately, putting all those pieces together looked to be enough of a challenge, having to navigate the intricacies of the eccentric group of guests and of the liner itself though just like them, there are no coincidences.

Chartered by the patriarch of the wealthy Collier family, the voyage was a venue for them to broker a deal to save their failing family business. Invited by her best friend Anna Collier (Lauren Patten), the investigation put Imogene in a compromising position as it led to the family who took her in at a young age and basically raised her following the tragic murder of her mother and the part they may have played in her mother’s death. Determined to discover the truth behind her mother’s murder, she saw Cotesworth as someone who can help her to finally get it. Questioning the other guests, they all had something to hide but that didn’t necessarily make them murderers. Mere civilians, the intensity ramped up once the comedically-Swedish Interpol agent Hilde Eriksen (Linda Emond) and her methods added another dimension to the murder investigation. Also having a previous relationship with Cotesworth, watching them and their methods and personalities play off of each other was a delight though did not take away from the main plot thread of the story which was that of Imogene finding the truth about her mother. As the board continued to fill with pieces, their purpose was simply to create different motives through subplots involving the other characters and how they fit in the context of a far-reaching conspiracy that Imogene and Cotesworth only scratched the surface of and was one that went beyond what they thought they knew. However, yet again, things are not always what they seem as the series does an admirable job at keeping viewers guessing (through the 8 episodes provided to press early) as more bodies kept dropping and the suspect pool kept narrowing.

The best part of Death and Other Details was the dynamic between Imogene and Cotsworth and how it evolved over the course of the season (so far). In order to move forward, they had to first resolve the issues stemming from their past. Whether they liked it or not, they had to deal with one another and what better than a murder to bring them together? And whether she liked it or not, after spending nearly two decades apart, it appeared that Imogene was destined to follow in Cotsworth’s footsteps and become an investigator in some capacity. Playing with the idea of memory and perspective, the story featured countless stops and starts as it went back and forth in time, using each to dive deeper and fill in gaps within the mystery and story as a whole to slowly paint a fuller picture, or at least enough of one to keep viewers engaged. However, the speed which it does so may be a point of contention for some (though the outcome of the two remaining episodes remains to be seen). Meanwhile, its use of the other characters was less than inspiring. Outside of a few, other than delivering often ridiculous dialog befitting of their ridiculousness, they were all essentially nothing more than a means to an end.

Speaking of performances, the restored Mediterranean ocean liner setting, despite being a set, offered enough intrigue to be another character in the story. Featuring solid performances across the board, the only ones that truly mattered were that of Beane and Patinkin as Imogen and Cotsworth. Their chemistry keeps a series, that is otherwise a little rough around the edges, going. Both playing flawed outsiders looking for a redemption of sorts, it was arguably that which made them so compelling to watch. Beane’s likeability and relatability made for a strong grounding aspect of the story, providing a nice contrast to the other comically affluent and seedy guests on the liner. Patinkin, as Cotsworth, borders on a bad Hercule Poirot impression but his effortless charm more than makes up for that. While he can be the over-the-top detective, he can just as easily turn that side off and be vulnerable whenever he needed to be. Based on her ridiculous accent alone, Emond is also worth mentioning for her scene-stealing turn as agent Hilde Eriksen.

At the end of the day, Death and Other Details may be a tad derivative of other murder mystery projects but it still has enough pieces to become the next big bingeable mystery series.

still courtesy of Hulu

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.