Death and Other Details

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 have seen a lot of mystery series lately from the big movies like glass onion and death on the nile to only murders in the building and the white lotus. The list goes on, but none of them felt like a good mystery. Death and other details on the other hand had me crying. Not due to sadness, but because the mystery is so good. At a certain point you start feeling like the show is about to wrap up, and then the mystery just kicks in so hard it left me in tears. This before the truth was even revealed. I dont get how people are saying this is bad compared to the long list of other mystery series. Clearly people are fangirling over Selena Gomez. I like her too, but Only murders is so boring to me. This show "Death and other details" was anything but.

If you are looking for a good mystery and a good time, then I personally recommend you give this one a go. I now need a second season. I did like The white lotus. Not so much for it's mystery but for it's commentary and silly characters/over the top comedy.

This show however had me hooked, and the ending is crazy! The characters are awesome, and who they all truly are unfolds beautifully. I'm trying really hard not to give shows a 10/10, but if I did, then this would get it! Dont let Only murders fans stop you from watching this, cuz to me this one is so much better.

I was planning on ending my review here, but I need to give credit to the cast (Picking out favourites is impossible as they all nail their roles), the writers, costume department, not to mention the special effects team (especially towards the ending) and pretty much everyone involved. I really hope people give this a go like I did, even tho the reviews had me a bit nervous. Wich is also why I decided to write my own. Something I dont do very often. This was finally a win for me when it comes to the mystery genre. This one truly felt well thought out.

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.

The series has an affable comedic mystery tone, interesting stock characters, decent performances and an engaging pace. Direction and dialogue are generally good.

The main detective repeatedly breaks the fourth wall to exort the audience to pay attention to details and nudges us to notice things. We're apparently meant to follow along and solve the case with (or, if we're sharp enough, ahead of) the protagonists. It's a nice concept for a mystery series but the writers don't even try to pull it off. Instead whenever they paint themselves into a corner they use a flashback to add facts, information, scenes and/or backstories that retroactively alter previous events. No matter how closely you pay attention you can't notice details that won't exist until a flashback exposition dump three episodes later. The writing turns an active concept into passive viewing.

Today is February 6, 2024, and I just finally quit watching this series in the middle of the extremely boring 5th episode. I have to admit that I really enjoyed the series in the beginning. The first two episodes are quite exciting and stylish, but that's about it. The whole concept is stillborn, the characters are uninteresting and anonymous, the acting is unremarkable, the writing is boring for such a pre-designed genre as a huis-clos whodunit. The luxury yacht setting is embarrassingly déjà vu, and all the characters look like plastic models from a home-deco ad. There is no sense of class struggle, which ultimately seems to be the theme of the story, as everyone looks like they could be having mai-tais on Wall Street during lunch. What's interesting about shows like The White Lotus or movies like Triangle of Sadness and Saltburn is how the creators are aware that everyone looks good as a statement, and because it's either that or the highway in such deluxe hangouts. This murder mystery seems to be ambivalent about a recognizable way to present the characters and totally unaware of a better way to do it. In the end, the whole story development is substandard and very unambitious. Kudos to the lovely Violett Beane as Imogene, witty and perpetually well-coiffed.