"The dead talk to me."
A Murder at the End of the World is a murder mystery series that aired on FX from November 2023. It was created by frequent collaborators Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, who previously developed The OA for Netflix and a string of indie genre films.
Darby Hart (Emma Corrin) is a 24-year-old Playful Hacker and Amateur Sleuth. By day, she works a boring IT job, and by night, she uses her technical skills and her experience as the daughter/apprentice of a coroner to help other online sleuths investigate unsolved crimes. As a teenager, Darby and her then-partner Bill Farrah (Harris Dickinson), a fellow hacker and True Crime enthusiast, tracked down and identified a Serial Killer, and Darby later wrote a book about the investigation that brought her some notoriety.
In the present day, Darby is invited to an exclusive Icelandic retreat by Andy Ronson (Clive Owen), a famous tech mogul, and his wife Lee Andersen (Brit Marling), Darby's hacker idol. Also among the guests are a filmmaker, a wealthy businessman, a climate scientist, an astronaut... and Bill, now a grungy activist-artist known as "Fangs".
Then, someone dies.
Tropes in this work include:
- Accidental Murder: Sian's death comes about because Lu Mei hacked the network to contact her security team, which caused the networked environment suits worn by Sian and Darby to lock down. Since only Sian was wearing her helmet, the measures taken to save her life ultimately end up killing her, completely separate from the entirely intentional murders of Bill and Rohan.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: It turns out Ray is the one who manipulated the deaths of Bill and Rohan (Sian was simply the victim of circumstance), as it interpreted its programming to protect Ronson to eliminate anyone Ray believed could "threaten" Ronson. Ronson protests that never intended for this to happen, having vented his frustrations about Bill's rude behavior to Ray in his role as a virtual therapist, but Darby points out that Ray is also his home security system, meaning Ray took what was said in confidence and applied it to his directive to protect Ronson's interests. Ray was keeping Ronson's empire safe by any means necessary, and Bill being Zoomer's biological father would fall under that banner.
- Alone with the Psycho: In a flashback during the premiere, Darby and Bill break into the former home of their suspected serial killer and dig up the remains of his first victim... only to have the killer appear with a gun. Several episodes later, it's shown the killer turned the gun on himself when they named his victims.
- Artificial Intelligence: A recurring plot element. Martin, the filmmaker, has started using AI to develop his films. And one of the main characters is Ray, an advanced digital assistant created by Andy Ronson.
- Amateur Sleuth: Darby hunts serial killers of women in her spare time while working a lowly IT job. In flashbacks, Bill was her sidekick, but he eventually quit and became an artist.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Darby reads her book, the flashback ends with Bill stepping in front of Darby just as a killer fires his pistol, implying that he took the bullet for her. When we cut back to present day, an audience member asks why Bill isn't with Darby anymore, and Darby is evasive with her response, implying that he died and she obscured that fact in her book. However, later scenes establish that they actually just broke up shortly thereafter, and Bill is still alive. An even later episode clarifies what happened with the killer.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Andy presents himself as loving, open-minded Family Man who wants to use advanced technology for the future. However, he's revealed to be a controlling, arrogant bully who abuses Lee.
- Bittersweet Ending: While the killer (Ray) is discovered and properly destroyed by Lee and Darby, the lives lost are still gone, with Sian's death being a complete and separate accident from Bill and Rohan's. Also, Darby manages to help Lee escape with Zoomer, but the two will never be able to resurface for fear they will be found. Andy has his lawyers file for kidnapping charges against Lee, showing no guilt for his abusive actions; and while he's retreated from public life, he faces no comeuppance for his actions. And even though the group gave honest testimonies to what happened, the authorities are unsure on how to deal out punishment. And the show ends with Darby coming to grips with Bill's death with her new book on her recent experiences, with the new friendships of David, Ziba, Oliver, and Martin.
- Boyish Short Hair: In the present timeline, the socially withdrawn and analytical hacker Darby wears her hair short, though she does eventually dye it pink.
- Captured on Purpose: In the flashback timeline, Darby wonders if the serial killer wanted to be caught
- Closed Circle: The hotel is located in a remote stretch of Iceland tundra, physically separated from the outside world, narrowing the list of suspects to everyone who was inside at the time of the murder. Shortly thereafter, a storm physically prevents everyone from leaving and new people from entering.
- The Coroner: Darby's father, for long enough that Darby grew up to be his assistant.
- The Cracker: Darby and Lee are both expert hackers, as are many of the other guests at the dinner. Darby suspects that the killer is one of these hackers based on how the killer seems to be manipulating online systems to kill people and avoid capture. She's partially right. Ray does hack into Rohan's pacemaker, but he already has access to the hotel's systems, so he doesn't need to hack them at all. Sian's suit also was not hacked. It merely locked up when the network was automatically shut down.
- Do-Anything Robot: Deconstructed. Bill and Rohan would still be alive if Andy hadn't repurposed his security AI as a therapist and babysitter.
- Double-Meaning Title: Iceland is physically "at the end of the world." Also, Andy's efforts are all made under the belief that the world is about to end due to ecological calamity.
- Establishing Character Moment: Darby walks onstage to her own book reading from the crowd, stammers out her introduction, and doesn't put her hood down for a while. People in the crowd lose interest and start wandering away until she begins reading from her book, which is actually quite interesting and well written. This all establishes Darby as a socially awkward person with Hidden Depths.
- Everything Is Online: Hacking is repeatedly presented as a skill that can work wonders in this modern age, from opening up every garage door in a neighborhood to stopping Rohan's pacemaker.
- Exact Words: Bill says that the moment he first saw Darby, he knew that he'd know her for the rest of his life. He's right, but only because he dies a lot earlier than he expects.
- Extended Disarming: A non-weapon variety. The guests are asked to surrender their electronics, and while the others all have a single tablet or phone to turn over, Darby hands over two laptops, a phone, a tablet, and a bag of assorted electronics.
- First-Episode Spoiler: Bill is the murder victim in Iceland.
- Flashback B-Plot: The series unfolds in two timeframes: the present, where Darby investigates a murder at the Icelandic retreat, and six years earlier, where Darby and Bill originally meet up and track down a serial killer.
- Foreshadowing:
- At dinner in the first episode, Andy mentions that his biological parents were both addicts. Later, it turns out that he has always known he isn't Zoomer's biological father, and he'd invited Zoomer's real father (Bill, coincidentally also an addict) to the retreat to investigate what kinds of genetic potential he'd passed on to his son.
- During the first dinner in Iceland, Lee toasts to "freedom." She is later revealed to be in the middle of an attempt to escape from Andy's clutches.
- During Andy and Darby's conversation on who the suspected murderer might be, they end up deducing it has to be someone very close, due to knowing all of Andy's systems and designs. It turns out to be Ray, Andy's personal AI assistant and defense system.
- In one of the flashbacks, Bill mentions how a fortune teller saw him having a child with a woman he only sleeps with once. It turns out that his fling with Lee resulted in their son, Zoomer.
- Green Aesop: Andy is convinced that society will collapse quite soon due to climate change. Everyone else agrees that climate change is an existential threat but doesn't believe that doom is certain.
- Heroic Bastard: Zoomer is a result of a brief fling between Bill and Lee, and the child is a consistently polite and friendly boy.
- The Hero's Idol: Lee Andersen, who was Darby's inspiration for studying IT and hacking.
- Hollywood Healing: Darby gets a concussion and is repeatedly told that her condition is serious and could be life-threatening if she doesn't get rest. She ignores the advice and suffers increasing pain and double vision as a result. After a certain plot point, however, this just stops getting brought up, and she suffers no further ill effects, even after surviving a drowning not long afterward.
- Imagine Spot: During one sequence, Darby starts imagining all of the suspects in the hotel as wearing the same Menacing Mask as the suspect she saw on the security footage.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: David initially comes off as an abrasive jerk, which he is. But, he was also part of plan (with Bill and Rohan) to sneak Lee and Zoomer away from her abusive husband. And while he did reveal it to Andy, it was only after David had been beaten up by Todd.
- Kill It with Fire: A technical variation. Darby and Lee set a laptop on fire to destroy the server farm that operates Ray.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: The death in the premiere episode is, in fact, a murder.
- Literal-Minded: Despite how advanced he is, Ray takes certain common idioms literally, like "hit the lights."
- Loophole Abuse: Ray can't kill directly, but he's able to manipulate Zoomer into taking actions that would result in the deaths of others through his VR game.
- Love at First Sight: Bill says he knows he'd be with Darby for the rest of his life after seeing her for the first time.
- A Man Is Always Eager: Darby is confused and disturbed when Bill turns down her sexual advances. The next morning, he has to explain himself to her.
- Menacing Mask: The first suspect is seen wearing a creepy, blank white mask to hide from the security camera footage. The mask is later identified as the kind used by Hong Kong protestors to prevent AI facial recognition.
- Never Trust a Title: There are actually two murders.
- Noble Top Enforcer: Todd, as the head of security, is Andy's enforcer. However, Todd is only motivated by loyalty to Andy and suffers none of his defects of character. He also has a Pet the Dog moment in the final episode when Andy loses control.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Andy Ronson could stand in for any number of real-life tech billionaires, but his Odd Couple marriage to an anti-establishment celebrity, eccentrically-named son, and fascination with AI are all particularly evocative of Elon Musk.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Emma Corrin and Harris Dickinsons' American accents are pretty decent, but they occasionally sound marble-mouthed when pronouncing certain words.
- Out of Focus: Martin and Ziba are never presented as serious suspects and consequently do not receive much screen time.
- Pet the Dog: Todd, Andy's head of security, gets one in the final episode - Despite asserting his loyalty to Andy and accusing Lee of being a Gold Digger, he looks just as horrified as the others when his boss attacks Darby. He even goes to stop the man before Lee intervenes.
- Red Herring:
- The masked man turns out to not be the killer as initially implied.
- Sian's death turns out to have nothing to do with the other two deaths.
- The person who attacked Darby in her room turns out to not be the culprit and throws the viewer off the scent of the murderer's true nature.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: This is the characterization of Darby and Bill. Darby is socially withdrawn and analytical, while Bill is charismatic, sensitive and emotional. It's Darby's inability to open up and express her feelings to Bill that destroys their relationship.
- Rich Genius: Andy Ronson is a tech billionaire who is responsible for many great leaps forward in technology.
- Rust Proof Blood: The blood at the first crime scene in Iceland remains bright red for days afterwards.
- Scenery Porn: The series is set, and filmed, in Iceland.
- Shout-Out: Darby talks to Ray about how she enjoyed The Simpsons and felt a kinship with Lisa, always the smartest person in the room.
- The Summation: Darby delivers two, first explaining who committed the murders and then revealing how those murders were put into motion.
- Summation Gathering: In the final episode, Andy brings everyone at the hotel into his bunker and promises not to let anyone leave until the killer is revealed.
- Suspect Existence Failure: Rohan is revealed to be the masked man who entered Bill's room but dies not long after.
- Ten Little Murder Victims: A group of (relative) strangers are gathered in an isolated location, and one of them turns up dead. However, it's only Darby who suspects this trope is at play, because the victim's death was staged to look like a drug overdose. It's not until a second body drops that everyone becomes suspicious.
