Death and Other Details: Memorable

February 22, 2024 7:01 AM - Season 1, Episode 7

Imogene walks in Rufus' shoes, revisiting the investigation into her mother's murder.

Not a bad way to dramatize what is essentially a flashback episode! But I'm really not okay with using a cut from Hail to the Thief to signal "this is a long time ago."

posted by thecaddy (13 comments total)

I don't know why I keep seizing on the musical choices this show makes. But they are so Xennial, even though the past is the mid-aughts, that they really stand out.

(I'm not actually complaining! Or for a more relevant reference, "I didn't say stop.")
posted by thecaddy at 7:04 AM on February 22

This is the first episode where the music didn't thrill me, but that's fine! We're finally getting to the crux of things, and we have a few episodes to go. That's kind of exciting - the flashback stuff felt a bit like a necessary narrative 'evil' to hopefully give us some great non-flashback episodes to come.
posted by destructive cactus at 7:29 AM on February 22

I'm still tripping over the "Rufus is a hack thing," because he's being told he's a hack by all kinds of people, he's admitting he's a hack, and yet he's actually driving the solution of the whole case.

And then he's claiming that Imogene won't like him much when they're done going back through the past, but he actually comes off pretty okay? She learns he never actually gave up the case, which is what she never forgave him for in the first place?

I also find it a bit hard to buy that Imogene had so completely blanked Celia from her memory that she had absolutely no reaction to what was happening on board the ship and their attempt to invest and then ultimately buy Collier Mills.

Anyway, right now I'm guessing something like Kira faked her own death and worked with Celia for some long burn revenge (and getting rich through blackmail in the process) but I'm not sure how logical the ultimately solution will be.

I'm also wondering what transpired to get Anna and the Chuns (and Leila? Was she at that table, too?) back together for dinner so Imogene could come and shout at Celia for some reason.

I mean, I'm with this show till the end of the season because in spite of it all I want to know the answer to this riddle, but my goodness is it messy.
posted by synecdoche at 2:41 PM on February 22 [1 favorite]

I didn't expect to like this episode because it seemed like it was going to be gimmicky, but I thought it wound up being a nice blossoming of what they've been doing stylistically throughout the series.

I still think this would have been better as a movie - it just doesn't feel like there's enough here for this type of whodunit. There's not enough jumble and energy for me the way it's paced out here.
posted by queensissy at 3:23 PM on February 22

This was the first episode where I was surprised by how fast it went. It felt like it had a lot more visual energy, possibly because it was a single character-focused A-plot without a bunch of other things interrupting. It's definitely got a Knives-Out turned into a tv show vibe, but the actor for Imogene and the child actor were excellent, especially together. Adult Imogene refusing to get out of the car made me tear up.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 5:17 PM on February 22 [2 favorites]

I've only watched it once, but now that we saw Imogene's mother so much more, isn't it the same actor who plays the Interpol agent? I looked on IMDB, and I didn't see any credit for the mother, but Agent Erikson is listed in the first and latest episode where she is NOT in them, but the mother is. This could be a strong Easter egg or just my delusional sometimes face blindness.
posted by jkosmicki at 12:12 PM on February 24 [2 favorites]

This could be a strong Easter egg or just my delusional sometimes face blindness.

I've seen some people elsewhere on the Internet making the same connection and they are certain it's the same actress, leading to the theory that Kira faked her own death and is now posing as the Interpol agent.

I hope that's not the case, because it's going to take a huge massive leap for me to suspend my disbelief enough to believe that neither Imogene nor Rufus nor Llewellyn (who was apparently in love with Kira) nor Celia nor the Colliers nor... you get the picture... recognized her, blonde hair and aging or not.
posted by synecdoche at 2:50 PM on February 24 [1 favorite]

or she was the Interpol agent posing as Kira to investigate the Colliers
posted by jkosmicki at 6:58 PM on February 24

The plotting is still ridiculous and the tone of the show is still weirdly dour, but the flashbacks here were way closer to the level of bonkers I want from this.

Would probably watch a show where Young Imogene and Older Imogene In Glasses Who Is Also Rufus team up to solve crimes.
posted by eponym at 9:17 PM on February 24 [4 favorites]

So are we meant to believe that Celia was a regular woman whose husband died of chemical poisoning in a plant in China, and then 15 years later is a multi-billionaire? Huh?

Also, could they make it any more obvious in the Llewellyn flashbacks when he said, "LAWRENCE COLLIER is not being blackmailed. LAWRENCE COLLIER has nothing to hide"? He practically looked straight at the camera and said "HINT HINT". So I'm guessing the wife is the mastermind and killed Kira because she was getting too close.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 6:16 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]

Two very unimportant observations:
The two rising notes in the opening music are exactly the same interval as some Taskmaster music, and that's very amusing to me.

The yellow and white title cards are physically painful to watch, and I cringe every time, just like at the start of Bob's burgers.
posted by Acari at 7:48 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]

I started this episode thinking that Imogen's mom is still alive and faked her death in order to be Viktor Sams full time. It's the most batshit answer so it must be true. I'm pretty sure I'm wrong.
posted by fiercekitten at 5:26 PM on March 2 [2 favorites]

I just like the idea that whenever anyone tells Imogene a story about their own life, she gets so wrapped up in it that when she looks in a mirror she does a Freaky Friday/Quantum Leap double-take.

But I forgave it all its sins (including a bunch of what synecdoche pointed out above), since this was such a genuinely fun episode.

(The kids watching the Simpsons on a film projector is such a nice, weird, uncanny touch!)
posted by nobody at 10:31 PM on March 5 [1 favorite]