“Murder at the End of the World” is a Wildly Addictive Mystery

An Agatha Christie-inspired whodunnit with a sci-fi twist, an unlikely Gen Z hero, and an Icelandic backdrop - brace yourself.

Murder at the End of the World is playing on FX on Hulu

Grade: A- (Excellent acting and writing, Compelling plot, Beautiful cinematography)

Created by: Brit Marling & Zal Batmanglij (The OA)

Episodes 1-4 viewed at the time of this review. 

Spoilers in the way of killer theories at the bottom.

“I sometimes wonder would it have been better not to go. I think about it like a coin toss when your life can go one way or another. When you’re trapped at the end of the world. There’s no going back. No escape.” - Darby, protagonist in Murder at the End of the World

These haunting words which are eerily voiced over by the enigmatic Darby Hart (Emma Corrin) in the trailer are off brand for our resident Gen Z, tattooed, cyber genius, master-of-all-trades Kate Moss heroin(e). She’s all contradictions and elbows in her oversized hoodie armor concealing her ribbed skin tight undershirt and lithe physique - direct and under-the-radar;  pensive in her thoughts and thoughtless in their delivery at times; completely aware and distrustful and yet utterly unaware of herself and naive, older than her years and gamine in her mannerisms. Think: A modern update on AMC Halt & Catch Fire’s prodigy programmer Cameron. And more to the point, this ingenue would never second guess the actions which took her to the end of the world or waste one minute waxing philosophical. That’s not who she is.

It must be an AI imposter.

For Murder at the End of the World on Hulu, it wouldn’t be entirely far-fetched. The premise is an Elon Musk type character, Andy Ronson (Clive Owen) assembles a bunch of radical geniuses (climatologist, astronaut, doctor, business maven, some ambiguous brilliant tech dude, a Banksy artivist, and a true crime author (Darby)) to his compound in Iceland where they convene under the guise of an intellectuals’ cultural retreat of sorts. Only it doesn’t go as expected. Ronson is married to Brit Marling’s character Lee and they have a son, Zoomer who looks to be 5. Turns out that Lee, a former rising tech star programmer icon is very much Darby’s hero as we discover in flashbacks to Darby’s pre-current day timeline. She employs Lee’s computer hacks and knows every detail about her history up until Lee, faced with a doxxing scandal, went dark. Lee’s life is a cautionary tale of a brilliant woman holding no place in a mediocre man’s tech world.

In the present day, people start getting killed off. Think “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie in which all the characters get invited to a remote place for the weekend and everyone dies but one person. Spoiler alert: It’s the killer. He’s both a judge and the executioner.

The 2-for-1 Deal or Twofer

In MATEOTW, the person trying to solve the crimes is Darby even as she’s continually gaslit by the other guests. We are her ride-or-dies in this tale, because clearly she has none, apart from the Siri upgrade called Ray. While you’d think the mystery in the present day would be intriguing enough to keep a viewer enthralled, it’s the story happening in the past that’s most watchable. This show is 2 shows in one. The first is like season 1 True Detective with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey in its characters’ raw inventiveness and gripping chase for the bad guy at all costs minus the middle age malaise and beer bellies or man ponytails.

Here we have sexy, sleek and cool teenage introverts with lots of tattoos and unhealthy food habits - Darby and her true crime forum buddy Bill, both traumatized clearly, because why not? They uncover a clue/pattern with a serial killer killing girls in the midwest in the early to mid 00s. Darby’s dad is a forensic pathologist and her childhood education is crime scenes and visits to the morgue (read: trauma). It’s at one of these scenes were Darby’s curiosity is peaked and which leads her to uncover how many murdered Jane Does are out there (too many) and have been piling up with nary a piqued interest from any one detective. What can be gleaned is that lifestyle is too much for Darby’s mom who left her and her dad when Darby was too young to remember. Bill, we don’t know too much about his backstory, but in the present day we know that he went through a period of addiction, so probably some unpacked trauma there.

Source: Screenrant. A lovely Bill, Darby and Andy Musk/Elon Ronson, a popular man to hate.

It’s the visiting of the serial killer crime scenes together that ultimately bring Darby and Bill together. They are the first people in each other’s lives to truly see one another and it’s this connection that also adds some distortion to the nature of the relationship - more romantic for him, less so for her. Hunting the person that’s killing these nameless girls, who everyone has all but forgotten, is a full time job for Darby and Bill. They are relentless in their pursuit and it pays off, as we see in episode 1. This pursuit, and Darby’s apathy coupled with Bill’s growing feelings and doubts of reciprocated love, also happens to be the thing that spells doom for the relationship. When they reconnect in the present day timeline, it’s after years of being estranged and it’s A-W-K-W-A-R-D.

The Final Word

Having watched the first four episodes, I can safely say you should wait for all 7 to come out in full season and binge it. Don’t be a sucker. Secondly, this show is really about watching Corrin’s Darby in various poses and outfits. Corrin, who identifies as they/them has piercing blue eyes, pale skin, and whether their hair is pink (present day) and short or long and brown (teenage years), their presence is arresting. You are fully invested at the jump for their character.

Time Out

For whatever reason, these thoughts on Darby’s existence conjure up the Olivia Rodrigo song, “Pretty isn’t Pretty” - And you’re welcome for the

Earworms and Song Loops

.

You can win the battle, but you'll never win the war
You fix thе things you hated and you'd still feel so insecure
And I try to ignorе it, but it's everythin' I see
It's on the poster on the wall, it's in the shitty magazine
It's in my phone, it's in my head, it's in the boys I bring to bed
It's all around, it's all the time, I don't know why I even try

And We’re Back

MATEOTW’s soundtrack brought to us by Darby’s mother’s iPod (yes we see you 👀, Gen Xers and we raise you a “411”). Songs include “No More I Love You(s)” which is Darby and Bill’s love song, “The End” by The Doors, and to the point of Darby’s gamine qualities, a Frank Ocean cover of “Moon River,” a Johnny Mercer/Henry Mancini original which was the title song in Breakfast at Tiffanys starring the gamine actress of her day, Audrey Hepburn. Also, why did Darby’s mom leave behind such a treasure trove of songs? It’s on the docket for season 2, I’m sure. Either that or Annie Lennox is Darby’s real mother.

I can see it:

#Endgame Theories

Some MATEOW #endgame theories floating around our house as to the killer’s identity and misc. other ramblings include (co-credit shared with my husband): 

• Zoomer is Bill’s son (not Ronson Musk’s) after his one-night stand with Lee, whom he met while he and Darby were separated for a few years. Bill found out about Zoomer being his son during the retreat. He and Lee had been planning to escape from Elon Ronson, with Rohan, who was unfortunately killed trying to help them. Andy Musk is the bad guy but other people are colluding with him in exchange for power, money and/or a pass to the most coveted event - a priceless 2050 end-of-days habitat that’s even better than Mars or the Moon or whatever.

• Lee didn’t want the secret getting out about Zoomer’s paternity so she’s killing off anyone who knows. No clue why, but feels like it could be a potential Brit Marling twist.

• The serial killer in the first timeline is connected to somebody in the second, because why else would we focus so much of the plot on the first story if there wasn’t a big payoff? I doubt Andy Ronson Musk is that dude, but maybe one of the others like David? But supposedly, Bill and Darby see the killer in the first episode so how could that be? Could be that Lee is somehow connected or related to this killer or a victim. I’m banking on her role being bigger and less innocent than we think.

• Lee has likely downplayed her connection to Bill and the nature of their relationship. It’s possible he was just a friend and he and Rohan were trying to rescue her from Musk, but it’s also possible they were still romantically involved at the time of Bill’s murder. Bill first discovers Lee through Darby, who had idolized her and used one of her hacks when they were together, educating Bill on her moxie and talent. Clearly his connection to Lee is really about his unresolved love for Darby.

• Is it weird that an AI (Ray) is my favorite character? I don’t think so. His voice is kind, non-judging, helpful and he doesn’t seem to have an agenda.This show is definitely hitting hard on the relationship between humans and their AI. To the AI-human question, your time is better spent reading “Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro. There’s more authenticity in the human and AI relationship between Klara, an AF (artificial friend) and just about anyone than what you will see revealed on this show. Still, I’m not immune to the influence of AI here on my own psyche and my new BAF, (best artificial friend) Ray is pretty rad. In hologram form, he’s pretty scary looking though.

• I just really like the name “Zoomer” - You?

• While this show is a textbook whodunnit on its surface, the adjacent story involving violence and forgotten girls whose trinkets are found in boxes labelled “Jane Doe” makes for a more serious commentary and skewering of our society’s callous history with violence perpetrated against women and girls.