The latest comedy thriller, A Deadly Invitation, streaming on Netflix, revolves around a high-class murder mystery that introduces us to a weird series of events. The movie centers on Agatha, the protagonist and the half-sister of the deceased, who digs up the real cause of her sister’s death and unveils other evils. Regina Blandon tries to do justice to the character, but the weak and complicated storyline restricts her capacity as an actor. The director, Manuel Cavioto, could have taken a better shot at exploring the character’s past and present, but he chose not to, making the depiction half-cooked.
Spoilers Ahead
What Makes Agatha Such A Good Investigator?
Agatha runs her own podcast show called Unsolved Crimes, in which she talks about different criminal cases, and the mysteries associated with them. On receiving an invitation from Olivia, she goes to Los Cabos, Mexico. A tragedy befalls when, after a series of events, her sister dies mysteriously on the cruise. She takes it upon herself to resolve the mystery of Olivia’s death and offers her help with the investigation to the young lieutenant. She also tells him that if they could solve it together, then she would offer to have him appear on her podcast show. A suspicion arises in us when she asks the official how he could be sure that she was not the killer, and he ignores it by saying lightly that he trusted his gut instincts.
She starts her investigation with Carlos, asking him about their divorce. She gets to know that he found another woman when Olivia was depressed about losing her daughter Elisa. When Naram gets shot, she finds a tunnel in his room through which the miscreant could have come in. She next summons the other characters one after the other and starts joining their links to the incident. We also see her as a very curious character, as she tries to overhear the conversations that Carlos has with Christina and later with Sonia. She sets up secret cameras and mics in the villa to obtain any information related to the event, which is revealed later. This brings out her nature to intrude into the privacy of others without them being aware of it. We see her taking the help of her partner, Ibis, to find out more information about the people at the party. She has extremely good observation powers and notices every small detail, starting from the body language of the characters to Dr. Figue dropping the bag of morphine. She recognizes the message that Olivia tried to give them all through the violet flowers about love, forgiveness, justice, and freedom. Agatha is seen doing the majority of the investigations, while the officials seem to be completely ignorant and lack interest in the case.
What Secret Information Did She Gain?
Through thorough investigations and research, she dug up the real identities of Naram and Christina. She brought to light that Naram was actually Ramiro Manuel Godoy, Elisa’s uncle. He had come to resolve the mystery of his niece’s illegal adoption at the Munoz Hospital by Olivia and Carlos. She also talks about Christina’s motive, who was actually a social worker at the Munoz Foundation, and that she was an accomplice of Carlos in the illegal activity. She revealed that Christina had shot Naram, as she had recognized him as Elisa’s blood uncle and feared that he would reveal their secrets. She further says that the governor and his wife, Clara, were seeking a child from the Munoz Foundation in a similar illegal manner. The whole scene of the murder at the cruise had been orchestrated by Olivia to confuse everyone so that some time could be bought to restrict the illegal activity of her ex-husband. Agatha claims that she actually committed suicide to distract everyone for a while.
Is It possible That Agatha Was Behind The Murder Of Olivia?
There are enough subtle hints that indicate that Agatha could have been the one behind Olivia’s death. Being half-sisters, they were not very close and did not talk to each other much, which comes up through the claims of Carlos. He says on her face that she is one of the major suspects, as she was made the next heir to Olivia in her will. Initially, Olivia also says at the dinner table in front of all the others that the next direct heir to her is Agatha and that if she dies, she will be the richest among them all. The monetary benefit could have been one of the strongest motives behind the murder, made to look like a suicide. Agatha runs her own podcast, in which she has her own show about unsolved crimes, and she could have come up with a story or idea to kill her own sister. Was the death of Olivia a suicide or a murder that Agatha had plotted and manipulated the evidence for the case to remain unsolved? There is the possibility that she could have murdered Olivia for her personal gain.
Agatha has been presented as a simple character with a lot of observational skills, but beneath that facade of simplicity could lie a cold-hearted murderer. She reveals a lot of secrets to the other characters about the case but does not tell anyone that Olivia was terminally ill. Despite knowing that heavy doses of morphine had been given to Olivia before her death by Dr. Figue, she does not reveal it. It is probable that she and Dr. Figue had chalked up a plan to kill Olivia, which we are oblivious to. We also do not get any insights into the sudden death of Elisa, which makes it quite a mystery for us. It is possible that Agatha was behind Elisa’s murder to become the next heir to Olivia. At the end, we see Agatha boasting to her partner, Ibis, about the huge villa that they are now going to live in. Was the sad ending of Olivia her own wish or a sly plot that Agatha had weaved? We are yet to find the answers to a lot of questions.
Final Thoughts
It is important that we attain a deeper insight into the actual intentions of Agatha rather than just looking at her as a sister looking for justice. It is very possible for the character to be innocent, but there are a lot of implications in the film that make us think otherwise. The film lacks a full-fledged analysis of the characters, keeping us in dark about the real intentions of each one of them. The seemingly simple Agatha has a lot of layers to her, which have not been presented to us openly. It is left to us as to how we will perceive her character after watching the film.
