REVIEW: A Murder at the End of the World [2023]

Rating: TV-MA | Episodes: 7 | Runtime: 60 minutes
Release Date: November 14th, 2023 (USA)
Studio: FX Network
Creator(s): Zal Batmanglij & Brit Marling

Impact isn’t about having something to say. It’s about having the power to be listened to when you say it.

This was very, very good. No one should be surprised, though, considering it was created by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij. I say that as someone who hasn’t even watched The East or “The OA” yet. That’s how good Sound of My Voice is and how good Marling’s collaborations with Mike Cahill (Another Earth and I Origins) are too. Not only does this trio of good friends create compelling science fiction, but they also have a knack for mining down into the human condition through that lens. Because like the “big mistake” says, it’s not about understanding the killer. You must first understand the victim.

The victim of “A Murder at the End of the World”? His name is Bill Farrah (Harris Dickinson). Why would someone want him dead? That’s the thing. They shouldn’t. The mystery is therefore discovering what it is he might know—wittingly or unwittingly—that could put him in someone’s crosshairs. Does it have to do with the impending destruction of the world? That’s why tech billionaire Andy Ronson (Clive Owen) has invited free thinkers to this Icelandic retreat. Maybe it’s because Bill’s artwork puts the businesses Andy and guests Lu Mei (Joan Chen) and David Alvarez (Raúl Esparza) run on blast? Might it be personal?

That’s where Darby Hart (Emma Corrin) comes in. A hacker, amateur sleuth, and published writer, the twenty-four-year-old has no idea why she made it onto Andy’s guest list, but she accepts because he’s married to her hacker hero: the elusive Lee Andersen (Brit Marling). She also has a history with Bill as the two of them went on a road trip to catch a serial killer six years prior. Could the connections all be some crazy coincidence? Sure. Anything is possible. The ironic thing, however, is that them all coming together in one secluded location can lead to unintentional results even if the collection itself was intentional. Impulse and emotions tend to steer even the most meticulously planned events towards utter chaos.

So, Darby is pretty much on her own once Bill falls since she’s the only one who suspects foul play. This is a friendly consortium after all. If the evidence looks like an overdose, why would anyone question it? The simplest solution is generally the correct one and grief has a way of playing with our minds. Couple that with an inherent bias against young women (more than one person calls her a “child”) and it’s no surprise everyone patronizingly tells Darby to rest and/or go home. They don’t want to think about conspiracy theories. They don’t want to think something is wrong to the point where their own lives are in danger. Will they still turn that blind eye once another body drops?

The story is told through Darby’s perspective. I could be wrong, but I believe the show stays with her conscious vision for the duration of its seven episodes. As such, we become privy to her memories and thoughts to constantly be taken back to that road trip with Bill as a means of inferring upon the present. We glean details of their journey together as well as their independent motivations. The result is that we would be making a mistake to not question where Darby’s head is at. This is personal for her, and it might be clouding her judgment. Not from the fact that Bill could have accidentally OD’d, but the possibility that this is personal for other people in the room too.

It’s a fun group. Esparza’s Alvarez and Ryan J. Haddad’s Oliver Marwan are mostly pushed to the background as tech/business geniuses until they’re needed. So too are Pegah Ferydoni’s Ziba and Jermaine Fowler’s Martin Mitchell as artistic minds meant to even out the brain power. That doesn’t mean they aren’t integral to the case., though, since there are only so many potential witnesses/victims/murderers to choose from. It’s just that suspicion is easier hung around Lee, Andy, Lu Mei, and Javed Khan’s Rohan Ravjit’s necks. Or perhaps their emissaries like Andy’s bodyguards Todd (Louis Cancelmi) and Eva (Britian Seibert). For Darby’s case, the only true ally is astronaut Sian Cruise (Alice Braga)

And so we watch and learn as Darby does. We have our suspicions about culprits and wonder who might be next since the next victim is often our current villain of choice. That’s the beauty of what Marling and Batmanglij have created. They know exactly what they’re doing with these characters in such a way that it feels like they were working from a closed loop with as many connections forwards as backwards so as not to tip their hand. Add Lee and Andy’s son Zoomer (Kellan Tetlow) running around and the location’s AI assistant Ray (Edoardo Ballerini) responding to requests in the most literal sense of each word spoken and there’s even a bit of humor to keep our minds fresh.

Don’t just think this is simple espionage, though. That would be such a waste of everyone’s efforts. Maybe that plays a role, but it can’t be all. Not when there is so much connective tissue that isn’t born from a boardroom. Not when the supposed real target is just as likely to be the real perpetrator. And when technology becomes a means towards homicide, the mystery grows even deeper since most of the guests have the technical prowess to hack a system (it’s why Andy confiscated cellphones in the first place). You can’t even let yourself assume Darby isn’t also a suspect. Who’s to say that single point of focus is reliable when she’s always binge drinking or snorting Ritalin?

It’s why a tech thriller murder mystery is such a brilliant genre-bending concept. It makes us question the character’s reliance on computers and security while also understanding the emotional impulses that make humans embrace or reject that reliance. Survival becomes a mix of using the tech and avoiding it too. You can’t live through the cold without a good suit, but you also can’t trust that suit won’t kill you for the trouble if someone messes with its code. It’s therefore all on Darby to discover the breadcrumbs like she and Bill did before. It’s simply much harder to do so when your hive mind consists of strangers who don’t respect you rather than game peers on a Subreddit.

The script is solid. The production design is impeccable. And the casting is fantastic. Corrin and Dickinson drive it with their complex relationship that hits home via flashbacks. Owen and Marling wade in that gray area of uncertainty until the last possible second. And the rest of the periphery players never waver in keeping things close to the vest for reasons other than what we assume. Because there are so many different threads going on here. Many different motivations that go well beyond the obvious answers even if the biggest answer of them all proves as obvious as it can get. That we receive commentary on global warming, AI, gender and economic disparity, and mental health while also being thoroughly entertained is icing on the cake.