Death and Other Details

Imogene Scott (Violett Beane) is a guest of her rich best friend Anna Collier (Lauren Patten) on an oceanliner. As a child, Imogene lost her mother in a car bombing and celebrated private investigator Rufus Cotesworth (Mandy Patinkin) failed to solve the case. She was raised by the Collier family. While on the ocean cruise, Anna is in negotiations with the Chun family for a corporate takeover. Imogene is shocked that Chuns have hired Cotesworth. She is further annoyed by Anna's loser brother Tripp's entitled investor Keith. She plays a prank on him who later turns up murdered.

This is part Agatha Christie and part White Lotus. It is nowhere near as good as the best of either. It does have some fun with the mixture. It is pretty good for most of its run until the show gets to the season's big reveal. That reveal presents me with some problems. This really should be a limited series, but it seems to have left the closing open-ended. I hope that there is no second season.

Whose idiotic idea was it to have Mandy Patinkin put on the world's worst English accent for no reason? That's hard to get past, but otherwise so far this is a fun mystery with good pacing and good performances. Even Patinkin if you can get over the useless accent is good. I'm looking forward to the rest. I will say it has a very familiar vibe, so if your into Murder on the Orient express or Hercule Poirot or any of the other ensemble murder mysteries I have a feeling this will be satisfying. The modern time frame set on the vintage yacht provides a little twist on the ambience of the genre. I'm liking it. But get rid of the accent Mandy!

Rating: 5.75 out of 10.

"Death and Other Details" aims to be a clever locked-room mystery set aboard a luxury cruise liner but quickly loses steam with an increasingly unbelievable plot and unsatisfying conclusion. Mandy Patinkin does his best as eccentric detective Rufus Cotesworth but is underserved by the messy writing.

The more significant issue is Violett Beane as suspect-turned-sidekick Imogene Scott. While Beane has done OK work on shows like "The Flash" and "God Friended Me", here she struggles to make Imogene either likeable or believable. For a character meant to be brilliant, her choices defy logic. And despite the show's attempts at sultry intrigue, Beane's lack of chemistry with her co-stars makes Imogene the least compelling (or sexy) young female lead in this type of glossy mystery series.

"Death and Other Details" has a polished look you'd expect from the genre, but not even the glamorous setting can make up for the lacklustre plotting and central performances.

What starts as a mildly intriguing mystery soon becomes absurd, wasting a decent supporting cast on dead-end twists. Diehard fans of TV whodunits may find it passable, but this series is ultimately dead on arrival.

Such a dissapoitment.

I wanted to like this show. I love murder mysteries and I wanted something to fill the between-seasons void of Only Murders in the Building. Unfortunately, Death and Other Details is not it. For starters, the protagonist is a selfish, self-centred, privileged brat who you find yourself rooting against. It's so blatant that even the other characters call her out on it. The amateur writing is evident in the dialogue that often contradicts that of the characters. What also destroys the potential of this series is the constant repetition of scenes. Flashbacks are one thing, but they often show you large chunks of the same scene two or three times and sometimes in the same episode. At eight episodes in, I find myself hoping the villain just murders them all and calls it a day. It is clear that they tried to make this show clever, but it's poorly executed and sloppy. There are some great actors in the series (Mandy Patinkin, Rahul Kohli, Linda Emond, Karoline), it's just a shame that their talent is wasted on this sinking ship.

I must admit I am a sucker for mystery TV shows and a whodunnit gets my juices flowing but this just mystery is dragging. Like who did it already? I'm at episode 8 and I'm fatigued. That is one of my pet peeves with whodunnit mysteries. This show could have easily been 8 solid episodes.

However, one thing I did like is how they placed Imogene in Coatsworth's clothes and set as they are recollecting past events. That was pretty inventive. Other than that, it has been an ok ride. The characters are too many. I would have liked more character development for the Collier family and the Mayor. The Priest character seems just as unnecessary as the social media influencer son.

Nevertheless, I have already invested 8 weeks...what's 2 more lol. Let's hope I don't regret it.