DISCLAIMER: This recap of Death and Other Details Season 1 Episode 10, “Chilling,” contains spoilers. Proceed at your peril.
It’s all rather “chilling,” isn’t it? Death and Other Details‘ season finale dives deeper into Kira Scott’s motivations and how she became Viktor Sams. It takes a lot of suspension of disbelief, and admittedly, it’s rather hastily wrapped up. I actually feel like the penultimate outing was a better episode. That said, the narrative loose ends are too great for one season. I’d love to get a Season 2 for closure. Plus, I’m intrigued by Anna becoming Kira’s puppet now.
“Chilling,” and Death and Other Details in general, does my boy Rahul Kohli dirty. He deserves better. Mandy Patinkin also feels woefully underutilized. On another note, if I had a nickel for every time Linda Emond played a murderer on a Hulu murder mystery, I’d have two nickels — which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice. (The first show was Only Murders in the Building.) Also, Emond is fantastic. So underrated.
Overall, Death and Other Details didn’t pick up steam for me until episode six. For the most part, the performances are solid. The pacing is its most significant issue, which is especially apparent in the finale. After the somewhat disappointing Kira reveal, it all unravels from there in episode 10. I feel like these two episodes could’ve been a longer ninth outing. As I said, though, I’m still game for a second season.
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A Sinking Ship
We open with Rufus (Patinkin) speaking into his recorder while jotting down notes for his second book. Meanwhile, Tripp (Jack Cutmore-Scott) and Anna (Lauren Patten) adjust to the initial shock of surviving the detonation. Tripp slings Anna over his shoulder and flees. Elsewhere, we see the sinking ship jolt back and forth. Imogene (Violett Beane) and Hilde/Kira/Viktor Sams (Emond) recover as well.
Kira reassures her daughter that they rigged the explosives to go off a considerable distance away from the guests. Additionally, a rescue ferry is six minutes out. She’ll ensure that every passenger is saved. Well, except Brad and the bros (RIP). Kira claims they cheated, so they had to go. She urges Imogene to accompany her to a boat so she can explain everything. Imogene is reluctant, but she follows her mom.
The Rescue
Meanwhile, Sunil (Kohli), Teddy (Angela Zhou), Leila (Pardis Saremi) and Jules (Hugo Diego Garcia) move through a hallway with a few massive containers. Hmm… I wonder what’s in them? Imogene and Kira leave the vessel on a boat. I hope she’s not lying about that rescue ferry.
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Later, Imogene removes her blindfold. She and Kira are on a private plane bound for Viktor Sams’s headquarters. Kira admits she’s thought about Imogene every day for 18 years. Imogene jumps into her mom’s shoes to get more context. Kira explains it started after she met with Alexandra at The Opal Diner. The Colliers sent someone to kill her.
However, Kira stabbed the man. She realized she needed to disappear. She desperately wanted to take Imogene with her. Unfortunately, Andreas (Christian Svensson) refused Kira’s request, claiming that he didn’t want a child’s death on his hands. Then, he told Kira that she’d need to leave something behind to confirm her “death.”
Orchestrating a Fake Death
So, we see Imogene (as Kira) extract a few teeth. Ouch. Young Imogene (Sophia Reid-Gantzert) asks Kira/Imogene if the latter will make her return Anna’s tchotchke. Kira/Imogene urges the child to do the right thing. After young Imogene gets out of the car, Imogene climbs into the back of a passing van. Then, she hits a button on her flip phone, exploding her vehicle. Young Imogene screams.
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Interestingly, Imogene insists she saw her mother seconds before the car blew up. As Imogene says when she quotes Rufus, “Memory is a motherf*cker.” Our brain often tells us what we want to see, even if it’s not true. Then, we return to the private jet. Kira reveals she changed her face, eye color and hair. She also adopted a few different identities. After that, she got to work. With the Collier Mills case grounded to a halt, Kira made it her objective to take out the uber-rich.
Next, Imogene and Kira arrive at the latter’s headquarters as “Viktor Sams.” Kira encourages Imogene to join her. They can help the marginalized and powerless. They can make the billionaires pay.
Making It Out
Later, we return to Rufus as he continues working on his second memoir. The screen transitions to the rescue ferry. Everyone made it out alive. We see Tripp, Anna and Lawrence (David Marshall Grant). Father Toby (Danny Johnson). Celia (Lisa Lu) and Eleanor (Karoline). Sunil, Leila, Teddy and Jules. The whole gang is here.
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Eleanor reunites with Anna, who tells her she never wants to see the former again. After Eleanor walks away, Anna locks eyes with Leila. They exchange hesitant smiles. Rufus looks at Sunil as if to ask him if Imogene made it out. Sunil shakes his head. Rufus looks crestfallen.
At Kira’s headquarters, Imogene asks if she’s ever felt guilty regarding her actions. Kira’s revenge was taken a smidge too far. Imogene insists that Kira doesn’t have to do this anymore. She has another idea: what if they put all this behind them and start over?
Six Months Later
We fast forward to six months later. Kira and Imogene speed down the snow-covered slopes at a ski lodge. The pair decide to head to lunch. Kira is sporting a jet-black hairdo now. While Imogene finds a table, Kira steps aside to talk to Andreas about the current super-rich person they’re threatening/maybe murdering. So, she didn’t give up her Viktor Sams post for Imogene.
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Meanwhile, Anna snorts cocaine while swimming with two women. Anna floats in the water, where she’s plagued with a vision of her mother in the pool after her death. Tripp bids farewell to Leila. We learn that Anna signed the divorce papers. Upon Leila’s departure, Lawrence asks Tripp when they’re going home. Tripp reminds his father that the government took everything. It’s a wonder Anna was allowed to keep this house. He makes his father’s favorite (deadly) blue smoothie. Side note: Tripp is still the best. I love him.
Next, we see Teddy working as a maître d’. She begs Simon (Leslie Kwan) to disclose Winnie’s whereabouts. He refuses to do so. Elsewhere, Kira sits with Imogene at their table. With skiing season coming to a close, they decide on their next destination. Perhaps a farm in Argentina? Then, Imogene mentions Kira’s shady dealings — the perfect cue for Rufus’s arrival.
Slowly Poisoning Lawrence
Rufus understands why Kira killed everyone on her revenge list … except the one man at the center of it all. Why let Lawrence Collier live? That’s when we learn that Kira started poisoning Lawrence well before the cruise. One day, Lawrence felt compelled to change his daily protein smoothie from green to blue. As it turns out, the smoothies Kira has been sending him contain a key ingredient — Captionem Blue. Poetic justice.
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During this confrontation, Kira reaches for the gun underneath the table. So, homegirl would pull a weapon on her own daughter? Ew. Anyway, Imogene and Rufus also reveal that Teddy, Leila, Sunil and Jules made sure to save Kira’s massive servers before the SS Varuna sank. That’s what they had in those giant containers.
Leila appears with a drink in hand to inform Kira that the FBI is currently raiding the latter’s headquarters. We see them arrest her employees. Teddy tells her that Sunil is prepared to testify against her. Finally, Jules informs Kira that he emptied her gun of its bullets.
Arresting Kira
Suddenly, the lodge guests reveal themselves as government agents/law enforcement. They cart Kira off in restraints. Afterward, Teddy gives Imogene a new phone with unlimited data. She gets a call from Sunil. We learn he’s in his home in London, awaiting to go on trial. He’s probably going to prison. Sunil jokes that he plans to map out a third career change while behind bars. Then, he vows to find Imogene once he’s out. However, Imogene catches sight of Jules. She’s clearly smitten with him. She hangs up on Sunil.
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Later, Imogene and Jules share a kiss after hitting the slopes together. The following day, Leila fills Imogene in on what’s happening with Anna. It’s not good. Anna is spiraling. Leila admits she hasn’t filed the divorce papers despite Anna signing them. Imogene apologizes for not believing Leila. After all, Imogene’s mom was the one trying to kill Leila. Good. Justice for my girl Leila!
Then, one of Anna’s ladies, Rose (Georgia Waters), suggests they take this party up a notch by bringing her friend into the fold. We see Rose’s “friend” is actually Andreas, Kira’s fixer. Anna wonders why he’s here. She only talks to Kira.
How Katherine Died/A New Murder
Next, we see a flashback to when Katherine Collier (Jayne Atkinson) died. Anna confronts her mom on the deck. She accuses Katherine of killing Kira and of brushing the Captionem Blue situation under the rug. Katherine tries to brush it off, claiming that Imogene had a better life with the Colliers than she would’ve had with her mom. In a rage, Anna grabs the IV pole and strikes Katherine on the head. Then, she does it again. That second blow kills Katherine, knocking her body into the pool.
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Kira (as Hilde) finds Anna on the deck. She offers to protect her. Anna asks why Kira is helping her. In the present, Anna asks Andreas what Kira needs her to do. Uh-oh. She’s doing the boss’s dirty work.
Later, Imogene, Teddy, Leila and Jules stumble upon a macabre, gruesome death scene. They see a leg sticking up out of a cluster of branches. It’s wearing a ski boot and ski pant leg. Then, another leg falls out of the tree above them. It ain’t pretty, y’all.
Methinks Imogene and co., and potentially our fave “hack” detective, are back on another case. Chilling!
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Do you think the corpse (erm, legs) is someone we know? Did Anna kill this person at Kira’s behest? Is Andreas in charge now, or is he still doing Kira’s bidding? Where’s Rufus? Here’s hoping we get a second season.
Death and Other Details Season 1 is now streaming on Hulu.
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What I do: I'm GGA's Managing Editor, a Senior Contributor, and Press Coordinator. I manage, contribute, and coordinate. Sometimes all at once. Joking aside, I oversee day-to-day operations for GGA, write, edit, and assess interview opportunities/press events.
Who I am: Before moving to Los Angeles after studying theater in college, I was born and raised in Amish country, Ohio. No, I am not Amish, even if I sometimes sport a modest bonnet.
Bylines in: Tell-Tale TV, Culturess, Sideshow Collectibles, and inkMend on Medium.
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