The 2023 FX series A Murder at the End of the World, is an example of a character study that is nicely wrapped in the well-known world of murder mysteries. Recently, the whodunits have gained huge popularity, and Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij cashed in on the sought-after sentiment and created the miniseries, which benefits from its elegant treatment of the milieu it was set in and some nuanced performances. The character of the 24-year-old amateur sleuth named Darby Hart, played earnestly by Emma Corrin, is one of the more interesting characters in a miniseries, which requires the actor to square with two different time periods, sometimes in the same episode. There should be a noticeable change in such a character over the years, and we get to witness it in her performance.
Spoilers Ahead
How Did Darby Arrive At Andy’s Resort?
Darby Hart was called in by Andy, the tech wizard, to Iceland, where he had invited other distinguished guests to show them something ‘special’. It later turned out that he was preparing for the apocalypse, which he considered to be inevitable, and the resort was like a bunker he had prepared for survival if such a situation were to arise. Darby was unsure what she was doing there, but she had a role to play in the plot. Darby was the youngest of the lot, but she was not inexperienced when it came to investigating cases. Six years ago, she came in contact with Bill Farah, aka FANGS, a digital artist and hacker, and together they went on to track down a serial killer later dubbed the ‘Silver Doe’ killer. Darby wrote a book about her experience, and Todd, Andy’s bodyguard, was there at her book reading. Andy wanted Bill to be present at the resort, but he wouldn’t have arrived unless his old flame, the one he had mysteriously broken up with, was also present there. The events in the book must have given Andy enough confidence that Bill would be seduced into visiting his resort if he managed to get Darby, and that is exactly what happened. Darby, however, was unaware of any of this, and the wounds that may have healed over the years were made green after seeing Bill at Andy’s resort.
How Did Darby Become A Sleuth?
Bill’s death created a tense environment, but for Darby, all her memories of him came gushing forth. There was unresolved trauma as Bill had left her high and dry, essentially ghosting her, after their disagreement about the meaning of catching the Silver Doe killer. She loved Bill, and seeing him die reinvigorated the sleuth in her, and she had to find out the truth about the incident. Darby wasn’t just someone who liked poking her nose in other people’s stuff, looking to find something shady, but her whole life had prepared her to have an intuition for detecting foul play. When others accepted that Bill had committed suicide, she was the one who not only found evidence to support the fact that he was murdered, but she also started to investigate the potential killers. Being a hacker helped, as she hacked Andy’s security system to get the information she needed to move forward. What helped her the most were the skills of deduction she had picked up along the way. As I mentioned, the deduction was not a hobby for her but a way of life, and her primary asset was her gift of intuition. This all can be traced back to the days when her father, a coroner by profession, took her to look at dead bodies often, helping her develop an instinct to look at the facts of a case. That was her training ground, and she did develop a sense of investigation, which was very unique and almost mystical. Later, she met Bill, and together they were a force to be reckoned with, and they managed to crack a case that no one had been able to solve.
What Will Darby Do Next?
After solving the murder mystery at Andy’s resort, Darby went on to write a book describing her experience. Bill, after leaving Darby, had switched lanes and became a digital artist, criticizing Andy and Lu Mei’s AI projects. Darby gained all this knowledge while investigating Bill’s death, and later, when Rohan died as well, she understood that Bill was not just limited to revolution through his artwork but was also making a very potent network of people who could bring a counterculture with respect to artificial intelligence.
Darby, in her book, wrote about the dangers of AI, as Bill and Rohan were victims of it. It all happened in a twisted way, but no amount of testing and preventive measures stopped AI from creating a murderous plot. Darby is sure to continue Bill’s legacy and contact people whom Bill was in touch with so that Lu Mei’s project of ‘Smart Cities,’ a euphemism for surveillance societies, could be stopped. It is highly unlikely that would happen, but Darby was a girl who would never go down without a fight. Her books did seem to be on their way to becoming sensations, and her sleuthing career might have come to an end, as she almost died in Iceland while investigating Bill’s death. There, she had a few supporters like Lee and Rohan, but she was all alone now. Well, not entirely! Lee is apparently alive and living somewhere in Argentina, raising Zoomer in an AI-free environment. Lee had told Darby that she would contact her if need be, and she could return and call Darby to help her out with something. There is a very low probability that Lee would ever come out of hiding, but if she did, she would certainly come to ask Darby’s help. Darby might feel the pangs of loneliness and venture out into the world, looking for another case and then writing another book if she survives. Her father is alive and needs a caretaker, and she never seemed to be an ungrateful daughter. So there are other responsibilities cut out for her, and Darby, who represents the individualistic voice of the future, has a lot to do to influence her generation in the right way.
