A Murder at the End of the World

First off, I adore Brit Marling and all her work, I have been a big fan since Another Earth and her way of writing and directing along with acting is top par, (along with Zal Batmanglij and Mike Cahill) but maybe because I am familiar with her work I expected a little bit more from this show. At the end of the first episode is was obvious who the killer was and by mid-episode three is was obvious how it was done. After that it was just a wait to get to the end and the "reveal".

Apart from that the blueprint is classic Agatha Cristie, with a bunch of strangers isolated from the world and an amateur sleuth trying to solve the "whodunit" when one of them untimely dies. The setting is interesting and the location beautiful and quite original, the show is well worth a watch if you are into classic detective stories, I just wasn't so blown way by it as I expected going in.

A Murder At The End Of The World is a whodunnit murder mystery somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Iceland. Sometimes a bit confusing so not the easiest plot to follow, and it was a bit too slow paced also at times. Emma Corrin plays the head character, the one that likes to investigate, and although she's not a bad actress I found her sometimes overdramatic. Maybe because of the script, that could have been better. Certainly the ending that I found disappointing. The series is only seven episodes long and is about two different stories in different timelines. The main story takes place in a ultramodern bunker whilst the side story, a hunt for a serial killer, was in my opinion much more interesting to follow. Because of the unsatisfying ending and the few overdramatised scenes I'm just going to score it a six which means good enough to watch once.

There is a lot to praise about "A Murder At The End Of The World": the production design, the extraordinary location (Iceland - a feast for the eyes of any "winter person"), the hypnotic score, the convincing and committed performances, particularly from Emma Corrin who resembles a lot a young Jodie Foster. There are passages that speak about cell phones and technology more eloquently than I ever could but say exactly what I want to say. However, many of the secondary characters are not developed enough, and the overabundance of flashbacks deflates some of the tension in the "present" tense; the ending is OK but not mind-blowing. The series does not reach the heights of the best episodes of "The OA", the previous project by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, but like its predecessor, it at least represents the vision, flaws and all, of its creators and not of a studio executive conference. It's an "auteur" endeavor in an era of mass factory production, and that is commendable. 7/10.

Such a great cast. An a wonderful setting, in Iceland. But good God, Darby is an irritating character, and they spend much too much time dwelling on her mournful eyes as she works her way up to her next dumb move, and not enough time on the plot.

The entire series is devoted to plumbing the depths of Darby's character as she tries to stay ahead of the killer. Only problem is, she has no depths. Just those mournful eyes and a frail body.

It's a shame to see such a great cast so underused.

This series is a draft, and needed a lot more editing. The acting can't overcome the bad writing.

Watch it for the scenery, the lush production values. It's enough to make me want to go to Iceland. But don't watch it for the plot or the characters.

I binged this in a weekend and overall I enjoyed it. There were many twists and turns, but there were also unlikely head scratching moments. I believe I enjoyed Darby more when she was younger and with Bill. I would not have minded more Joe Doe content, for sure. The setting in Iceland was interesting. I'd recommend it if you are looking for something new and you can suspend belief half of the time.

As an aside, I was bothered to distraction half the time over Darby's hair. Whoever was in charge of choosing her styles and continuity from one scene to the next missed the mark. When she was younger her, and Bill's hair for that matter, had terribly awful short bangs. Bill even had those same bangs later - what the what. Then Darby has plastered flat blonde hair that did not move and inch, ever. Finally she dyes it pink for a decent hairstyle for dinner, only to have that stylist inexplicably changed after she leaves the table. Later, it's wet, dry, parted then not, then shorter, then fluffed. I just could not stand it.