Hulu’s new stylistic murder mystery has come to a shattering end with two episodes that barrage us with reveal after reveal.Death and Other Detail’s grand finale has a distinct two-pronged approach to the reveal, with each side being set six months apart. Detective Rufus Cotesworth (Mandy Patinkin) hadinsisted from the beginning that we should be paying attention to the detailsthroughout the journey, and like every well-structured and brilliant whodunnit, clues were strategically placed around the lavish set of the elite Mediterranean cruise.
Before the finale, the cruise passengers were left in the hands of a mysterious group of black-clad soldiers who were working for the elusive,“eat the rich” killer, Viktor Sams. While the elites bid for seats in a helicopter to escape the soon-to-be exploded ship, our amateur detective, Imogene (Violett Beane) and her close circle continue to investigate the only question that has been branded into our minds from the very first episode: who is Viktor Sams? The finale reveals the answer to this question, but also to ones we never thought to ask.Did Viktor Sams actually kill Katherine Collier (Jayne Atkinson)? How did her husband get dementia? Is Imogene’s mother really dead?
Death and Other Details
Detective Rufus Cotesworth and protégé Imogene digs the truth in a wealthy sailing boat in the Mediterranean where everyone is hiding something.
Viktor Sams' Identity Was Finally Revealed on ‘Death and Other Details’
At the end of the penultimate episode, Viktor Sams' identity is finally revealed, and it is someone that never even made it on the list of suspects. Throughout the show,Viktor Sams is illustrated as a malicious killer of the elitewho would frequently not be able to distinguish between the rich and the not so rich. One of the first examples is Imogene’s mother, who was murdered via a car bomb seemingly as a warning to the wealthy and dirty Collier family. Since we were operating under the assumption that Imogene’s mother was dead, despite the many timesCotesworth warned us that memory is malleable, we would never imagine that she was actually Viktor Sams.
Kira (Linda Emond) had faked her death and taken on the persona of Viktor Samsto enact revenge on the Colliers. She had discovered that the Colliers were aware of the poisoning in their factories and tried to blow the whistle, but instead the Colliers made an attempt on her life. To save herself, Kira faked her death and had to disappear without Imogene, later building an empire under the name Viktor Sams to target and blackmail the wealthy. Considering Cotesworth was hired by the Colliers and could never have predicted that Kira wasn’t actually dead, especially after she left teeth as DNA evidence at the crime scene, he never really had a chance at finding the “murderer.”
Kira returns to the ship under the guise of an Interpol agent, Hilde Eriksen, someone who was immediately dismissed as the infuriating official agent that would just interfere with the main storyline and thus never really suspected. However, if we had paid attention to one of the frames in the very first episode, we would have noticed her loitering in the background, pretending to be staff while being interrogated by Danny (Michael Gladis), who had memorized the staff register and never forgets a face.
What Was Viktor Sams' Gameplan?
While Viktor Sams/Kira’sprimary motive is vengeanceagainst the Colliers, she ends up becoming a vigilante who monitors criminal activity conducted by the wealthy. As such, several of the crew on the cruise were actually her “followers,” assigned to do less than pleasant tasks. Kira admits that killing Danny was truly an accident, but treats him more like collateral damage.It is this apathetic attitude that takes away from her crusade against filthy rich criminals and turns her into a more villainous character. The show makes sure to point out every wrongdoing done by each character, from the Colliers' cover-up to even Imogene’s thieving tendencies. It’s the bundle of moral ambiguities that makes the characters and relationships so dynamic and intriguing, especially with regard to how Kira dishes up retribution to the Collier patriarch, Lawrence (David Marshall Grant), and the family lawyer, Llewelyn (Jere Burns).
Llewelyn is known for being aruthless, crafty lawyerwho played a significant hand in covering up the Colliers' dirty business. His ruthlessness translates into his grip on life and, as such, suicide seems like the most out of character death for him – until we find out that when Agent Hilde had visited his room before his death, she had actually poisoned him. To still remain in control of his fate, Llewelyn jumped overboard before the poison could take him, leaving Cotesworth and Imogene with the biggest clue to Viktor Sams' identity.He declares his love for Kira directly to Kira, unbeknownst to anyone at the time.
This Supernatural Murder Mystery Teen Series Should Be Your Next Binge
Enter the spooky show on Netflix starring Peyton List at your own risk.
On the other hand, Kira’s revenge on Lawrence initially seemed rather bland, especially in comparison to the customized deaths of Llewelyn and Governor Alexandra (Tamberla Perry), who was also poisoned but also spent her last days paranoid and helpless like Kira once was. Kira initially let Imogene believe that killing Lawrence’s wife while he was sick was enough retribution for him. However, after the 6-month gap, it is revealed that Kira had also slowlypoisoned him with the same chemical that had affected his factory workers, leading him to develop dementia– the most fitting and gratifying revenge of all.
Imogene Plots Her Own Schemes in the ‘Death and Other Details’ Finale
After the first major revelations are made, Imogene is seemingly swept away by her mother as we return to them skiing together after six months. The snowy scenes can only be described as idyllic, only disturbed by the occasional call her mother would make, indicating that she had not ceased her vigilante activities like she had originally promised Imogene. But it turns out that Imogene had not completed her debut as a detective andwas also plotting her own plan to bring Kira to justice.
Imogene was still in contact with her impromptu cruise crew, including Cotesworth, Teddy (Angela Zhou), Leila (Pardis Saremi) and Jules (Hugo Diego Garcia). They corner Kira in a restaurant, emptying the gun she had taped under the table and ensuring every restaurant patron was someone they hired, armed and ready. It is then that the next major revelation is made. Imogene’s conversation with Kira on the boat was a mere distraction, allowing the crew, alongsideshipowner Sunil (Rahul Kohli), to secure and steal all her mother’s servers before the ship exploded. Remember the unexplained lofty trolleys they were desperately rolling out while the ship was sinking?With Kira’s entire Viktor Sams operation on those servers, the team was able to successfully dish out justice– turns out the apple didn’t fall that far from the tree, it just fell on the more legal side.
Anna Collier Is in Viktor Sams' Debt
Another unexpected reveal trickled into the final minutes ofDeath and Other Details:Viktor Sams did not kill Katherine Collier, she justhelped the murderer get away with it. Anna (Lauren Patten) had just found out that her father had ordered a hit on Imogene’s mother. This information, compiled with the truth of her biological father, Llewelyn, and her frustration over covering up the factory conditions, drove her into anenraged state where she struck her mother and accidentally killed her.Witnessing this, Kira offers Anna a way out and claims the murder as one of Viktor Sams', erasing any suspicion that would have been associated with Anna.
This absolutely explains Anna’s extreme behavior in the final two episodes. Although she’d had a very stressful week, her character was usually more resilient, so when she refused to play Viktor Sams auction game it was slightly puzzling but forced her brother, Tripp (Jack Cutmore-Scott), to step up to the plate. However, after this reveal, we now know she was experiencing a mixture of guilt and grief: a very potent combination that could turn anyone into a comatose state. Her penchant for drugs, abrupt disinterest in Leila and lack of self-preservation make complete sense. But it also means thatAnna is in Viktor Sams' debt, and in the end, it looks like she is about to pay the price.
‘Death and Other Details’ Is Not Done With Imogene Yet
As Imogene ties up her very first case, the closing scenes suggest that this newly anointed detective is only beginning her career, or in other words,there may be a second season ofDeath and Other Details. Imogene naturally happens to come across a couple of chopped up limbs falling from trees into the snow, a completely bizarre yet effective way to capture our interest. Also considering Anna’s debt to Viktor Sams, it seems like Imogene has not seen the last of her former best friend yet. It also seems like the unresolved love triangle between Imogene, Sunil, and Jules will still continue into the next season, serving us a little bit of spice alongside murder.
WhileDeath and Other Detailshad very blunt commentary on the “eat the rich” concept, at heart, it was a story about grief and morals.Each character was a villain in their own right and was also dealing with their own grief.From Imogene’s thievery and the loss of her mother, to Llewelyn’s ambition-driven loyalty and the loss of his love, every character was written to disappoint yet inspire at the same time. While thewhodunnit plot and the incessantly bigger revealswere captivating, it was the dynamic and insanely human characters that stole the show, which is particularly impressive since relatability is hard to write into characters that are a part of the elite.
Death and Other Detailsis available to watch now on Hulu in the U.S.
