'A Murder at the End of the World' review: An ice-cold whodunnit with techno flair
What do you get when you smash together Nordic noir, the work of Agatha Christie, and Glass Onion? A Murder at the End of the World, the new series from The OA creators Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij.
This Icelandic-set whodunnit certainly shares much of its DNA with the previously mentioned murder mystery gems. However, it sets itself apart with a sleek techno-thriller sheen and a unique sleuth in Emma Corrin's Darby Hart, whose hacking abilities place her at the center of an engrossing web of death.
What is A Murder at the End of the World about?
Thanks to her work solving a string of cold cases, Darby has become known as the "Gen Z Sherlock Holmes." That title earns her an invite to an exclusive (and totally isolated) retreat in Iceland, hosted by tech billionaire Andy Ronson (Clive Owen). He hopes that a gathering of brilliant minds will lead to innovations that will help humanity in the face of existential threats like climate change. But all that talk of saving the world flies out the window when a guest dies on the very first night.
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Suddenly, the retreat's ensemble of massively influential figures, from astronauts to climatologists, are forced to confront their own mortality with greater immediacy than that suggested by, say, climate projections. Suspicions rise, tension escalates, and before you can say "And Then There Were None," bodies begin piling up at this remote paradise.
As A Murder at the End of the World's resident detective, it's up to Darby to try to catch the killer before they strike again. She'll have to rely on all her technological savvy, all her prior experience, and — most daunting of all — some of her fellow guests, all of whom are suspects.
A Murder at the End of the World is a tale of two cases.
While Darby goes about investigating the deaths at the retreat, A Murder at the End of the World flashes back to the case that earned her acclaim. Years prior to Andy's invitation, Darby and fellow amateur internet sleuth Bill Farrah (Harris Dickinson) set out on a road trip to track down a serial killer whom they believe left pieces of silver jewelry with the corpses of all his victims. The two inevitably grow closer as they continue their quest, yet Darby hasn't seen Bill since they day they found their killer — at least, until he shows up at Andy's retreat as well.
With its weaving between the past and the present, A Murder at the End of the World is able to more deeply flesh out the complicated relationship between Darby and Bill. That turns out to be a blessing: Their tentative romance in the past borders on melodramatic cliché, but the context offered by the present allows us to see the drastic (and very different) ways in which their time together shaped them.
A Murder at the End of the World differentiates its dual cases with stylish flair, contrasting the barren, snowed-in beauty of Iceland with the warm desert wonders of the American West. Darby and Bill's first case feels grittier, more rudimentary: They sleep in cars or sneak into motel rooms, a far cry from the high-tech luxury of Andy's Icelandic hotel.
The technology is different, too. In the past, Bill and Darby rely on Reddit investigators' input and on hacks from their own phones and computers. In the present, Andy insists on taking guests' personal devices in order to ensure a "phone-free" experience, meaning Darby will have to use other methods of investigation. Among these methods is the recruitment of Andy's pet project, an AI named Ray (Edoardo Ballerini) who serves as everything from medical expert to therapist. Where the past storyline plants its feet in realism, Ray and other inventions of Andy's bring A Murder at the End of the World into sci-fi territory, making for a nicely versatile puzzle box.
Darby Hart is a sleuth for the internet age.
With all its talk of climate catastrophe and the future of technology and AI, A Murder at the End of the World can occasionally get too far afield from the very present issue of its murders. It's a relief when the series turns its focus squarely to Darby's work, diving into the nitty-gritty of hacking doorbell cameras or decoding technologically transmitted Morse code. These strategies come much easier to her than interrogating suspects, meaning she'll make many social mistakes — and mysterious allies — along the way. But whether she's commanding an AI or approaching a potential murderer, A Murder at the End of the World renders every second of Darby's investigation with taut suspense.
Corrin shines when Darby joyfully uncovers a new clue, but they're especially strong in moments where Darby processes her grief around the murders. We learn that Darby got her start in crime-solving while working with her coroner father in his morgue. There, every unnamed corpse — usually a woman — meant an unsolved thread, a person who never found justice. So for her, catching murderers means bringing closure to the dead, a motivation that drives her but also risks getting her lost in a case entirely. Corrin's fiery, untamed passion over these murders finds a nice foil in Dickinson's warier sensitivity over their obsession with tracking down killers.
With so much focus on Darby and Bill, it can occasionally be tough for members of A Murder at the End of the World's ensemble to stand out. Owen certainly does as the menacing, powerful Andy, as does Marling as his mysterious hacker wife Lee. Elsewhere, though, characters like director Martin (Jermaine Fowler) or smart city architect Lu Mei (Joan Chen) get far less to do as the investigation gets underway. The imbalance between certain characters serves as a detriment to the main mystery, either dismissing them as suspects or worse, relegating them to the body count. The series can also spin its wheels at times with its more cerebral discussions, even though these core issues of climate and tech are more interesting when examined through the immediate lens of the murders.
But despite these flaws, Marling and Batmanglij have undoubtedly crafted a captivating mystery with A Murder at the End of the World. The interwoven chronology, so often a gimmick in other TV shows, helps Darby's two cases speak to each other in satisfying ways, while the remote settings make for an always-stunning watch. If you're looking for a chilly mystery with which to weather out the winter, make it A Murder at the End of the World.
A Murder at the End of the World is now streaming on Hulu, with a new episode every Tuesday.
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Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association, as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic.
