Death and Other Details
Hulu’s “Death and Other Details” is a murder mystery about powerful families and generations of secrets. Fast-paced and complex, the series ebbs and flows between delightful chaos and complete bewilderment. Yet, despite the uneven pacing and other missteps, the whodunit of it all should keep audiences interested.
The show, which was created by Mike Weiss and Heidi Cole Mcadams, opens two decades in the past. Rufus Coteworth (Mandy Patinkin), the “world’s greatest detective,” arrives at the Collier estate to speak with 10-year-old Imogene Scott (Sophia Reid-gantzert) about her mother’s suspicious death. From there, the series zips forward to the present. Imogene (Violett Beane), now 28, arrives at a Mediterranean port to board the luxurious cruise liner SS Varuna.
Taken in by the Colliers after her mother’s murder, Imogene is here to celebrate the retirement of patriarch Lawrence (David Marshall Grant) and the promotion of her best friend, Anna (Lauren Patten), to CEO of textile company Collier Mills. Also aboard the charter are matriarch Katherine (Jayne Atkinson); Anna’s fragile wife, Lelia (Pardis Seremi); and Anna’s cocaine-fueled brother, Tripp (Jack Cutmore-scott). Other guests are the governor of Washington (Tamberla Perry), the wealthy Chun family, whom Anna is courting for a billion-dollar deal, and the now-disgraced Rufus, who is working as the Chun family’s personal security guard.
What should be an opulent party quickly goes left when a guest is killed, and Imogene becomes the No. 1 suspect. To save herself, she is forced to team up with Rufus, whom she’s loathed since childhood. As will be learned from the detective’s narration, he has his own reasons for wanting to solve the crime.
Intricately stylized, boasting dizzying twists and turns, “Death and Other Details” offers much to keep abreast of — so much so that a few fringe characters and plot points get lost. Yet, as Imogene and Rufus investigate, revelations about the past begin roaring into the present.
Many components of the show work well, including the unpacking of how we understand memory and how it’s easily manipulated. There are also standout characters like 14-yearold That Derek (Sincere Wilbert), the Tiktok-obsessed son of the Collier family’s spiritual adviser, Father Toby (Danny Johnson). As the series moves back and forth in time, the audience discovers what happened to Imogene’s mom and how her death may be connected to the events transpiring on the Varuna.
However, because of the large cast and ever-evolving plot, some episodes lack clarity. Moreover, no living person aboard the ship, except maybe That Derek, is likable. As the storylines and secrets pile up, the mystery becomes more of a confusing maze than an intriguing puzzle.
There is no shortage of murder mysteries in current popular culture, including recent hits like Netflix’s “Knives Out” films and Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.” It’s clear that Weiss and Cole Mcadams are trying to set their show apart by presenting a classic Agatha Christie-type tale. Yet the series functions best when the old-world glamour is infused with modern humor.
Though “Death and Other Details” fails to maintain a balanced sharpness throughout, Patinkin and Beane work well as an unhinged duo determined to dig up the truth. While sometimes labored, the series asks viewers to consider things we overlook because of preconceived notions. It’s also a reminder that being stuck out on the ocean with a ship full of the upper echelon of society is probably the last place any sensible person would want to be.
Presented largely from the point of view of two children, Mexican director Lila Avilés’ intimate, emotionally rich “Tótem” immerses audiences in a boisterous family gathering, where a handful of adult siblings have gathered to celebrate the birthday of their brother, a painter named Tonatiuh (Mateo Garcia). “Tona” is barely seen for most of the movie, confined to a back room where he refuses visitors. Naturally, this confuses 7-year-old Sol (Naíma Sentíes), who spends the day wandering the house alone, building a pillow fort in the living room or collecting snails in the garden.
“Sometimes I feel like my dad doesn’t love me when he says he doesn’t want to see me,” Sol confides to her father’s trusted nurse, Cruz (Teresita Sánchez, the lone carryover from Avilés’ exceptional 2018 debut, “The Chambermaid”). Your heart can’t help but break a little in that moment, for by this time, Avilés has already provided enough clues for us to sketch out the rough situation in our heads.
Tona has cancer, and this party serves as a final, ostensibly joyful reunion of friends and loved ones for a man so frail, he can hardly pull himself out of bed. Who among us hasn’t wondered what it might be like to attend our own funeral, to feel the love and witness the grief others might show for our passing? In a sense, the gathering depicted in “Tótem” provides Tona that unique opportunity — a chance to experience the affectionate outpouring (not to mention the laughter, tears and inevitable bickering between siblings) usually reserved for one’s wake. At the same time, it gives us a chance to reflect on mortality and the way we struggle to understand and accept it.
Rich with detail while also being intensely specific to the large middle-class family it observes, Avilés’ lifelike and lived-in second feature alternates among roughly half a dozen characters, starting with Sol, who can’t get a straight answer from the adults about Tona’s situation. And so she must resort to asking her telephone deep questions, like whether the world is going to end, and if her dad will survive.
At the house, her mother, Lucia (Iazua Larios), leaves Sol under her aunts’ loose supervision. Tasked with decorating the cake,
Tona’s stressed-out sister Nuria (Montserrat Marañon) gets progressively more drunk, while distracted older sister Alejandra (Marisol Gasé) dyes her hair in the kitchen. Practically the only man in the crowded house’s common areas, Sol’s surly psychologist grandfather Roberto (Alberto Amador) tries to put the finishing touches on a bonsai tree.
These actions may seem random and somewhat unmotivated, but they are eventually revealed to be part of a much larger design — the way all of the family members position themselves for what amounts to a celebratory farewell. Though Avilés steers clear of overt sentimentality, it’s hard not to get choked up as the characters finally get the chance to show Tona how they feel.
The day under scrutiny will transform all of these characters, but none more than Sol. Minutes into the movie, she asks her mother if they can try wishing together. In that moment, the girl takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and asks the heavens “for Daddy not to die.” But cancer is a horrible disease, and Avilés doesn’t pretend otherwise. Tona struggles to make himself presentable for his guests, soiling his pants at one point. The adults may not be telling Sol the whole truth, but by the end of the day, she’s had time to figure it out. When Tona’s cake comes and he refuses to make a wish, she knows what that means.