A MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD
Starring: Emma Corrin, Brit Marling, Clive Owen, Harris Dickinson, Alice Braga, Joan Chen, Raúl Esparza, Jermaine Fowler, Ryan J. Haddad, Pegah Ferydoni, Javed Khan, Louis Cancelmi, and Edoardo Ballerini
Creators: Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij
PAIGE
To creators Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij’s credit, A Murder at the End of the World provides a software update to the crime thriller genre. Thanks to the sincere performances of Emma Corrin and Harris Dickinson, this stylish and atmospheric whodunnit manages to be both compelling and unsettling. Overall, I quite enjoyed this The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo-type of murder mystery despite its flaws, including lackluster pacing due to the time jumps and a final product that maybe wasn’t entirely gratifying.
QUENTIN
Buried somewhere in A Murder at the End of the World, a sort of Knives Out meets True Detective murder mystery, is a good show. In fact, there are two good shows. However, the two storylines (one told in present day, the other in flashbacks) are constantly fighting with each other for screen time. This results in two half-hearted mysteries that are poorly developed, a problem that is exacerbated by the fact that the series is oddly just seven episodes. Also, I’m not sure I’d call it predictable, per se, but I guessed the murderer pretty early on; do with that what you will.
