By Sarah Osman

Mocking the wealthy with a homicidal intrigue tossed in doesn’t always make for a fun watch.

Violett Beane and Mandy Patinkin in a scene from Death and Other Details. Photo: Michael Desmond/Hulu

Satirical takedowns of the one percent, when done well, have garnered the affection of critics and audiences. But lampooning the rich isn’t as easy as it looks. Yes, there’s an element of schadenfreude in fare like The White Lotus and Triangle of Sadness. We peons will never live lives of ease like upper-class cash cows, so mocking the clueless wealthy supplies a frisson of revenge. Throw in a juicy mystery and it would seem that you’ve concocted a bona fide hit.

But mocking the wealthy with a homicidal intrigue tossed in doesn’t always make for a fun watch. Take Hulu’s latest attempt at the genre, Death and Other Details. Creators Heidi Cole McAdams and Mike Weiss have followed “the successful satire/mystery” checklist to a tee: a tantalizing mystery? Check. A colorful ensemble where anyone could have done it? Check. An exotic locale? Check. Agatha Christie would be proud. Yet even though Death and Other Details checks all the boxes, the series falls flat. It becomes buried in its own superficiality. There are too many extraneous details and characters to keep track of.

Our protagonist, detective Rufus Cotesworth, played by Mandy Patinkin with an indeterminable accent, reminds us to pay attention to the details. But given there are so many suspects, it’s nearly impossible. A mystery is afoot: one of the passengers aboard a luxury cruise liner is murdered. It’s up to trusty ole Rufus to catch the killer. Then comes the endless parade of suspects: we meet the Colliers, who are hosting their ritzy inner circle aboard a Mediterranean yacht. As they entertain their guests, they’re trying to do business with the Chuns, who think the Colliers are trash. Anna Collier (Lauren Patten, doing the best she can with subpar material) expects to take over the family business; she’s also dealing with her paranoid wife, who may have brain damage (this isn’t entirely clear). Her brother, Tripp (Jack Cutmore-Scott), plans to “change the world” with the assistance of fellow passenger Keith (Michael Gladis), who emits insidious vibes.

Now spending quality (?) time with the Colliers would have been enough; it would have been akin to Succession aboard a cruise on the high seas. But then there’s the ship’s crew, who have their own complex relationships; the Chuns, who have ulterior motives; the fact that everybody on this ship is sleeping with everybody else. One or two affairs is believable — but everything that breathes, except for the fish? Frankly, Death and Other Details should have just ditched the mystery and been a show about a swingers cruise — that would have been a lot more fun. Unlike the ensemble in The White Lotus, where we were given time to know each character, the “suspects” in Death and Other Details are one-dimensional at best and begging to be forgotten at worst. Why should we pay attention to the details about characters when their creators cared nothing about them in the first place?

The series sort of focuses on Imogene Scott (Violett Beane), who Rufus met as a child while investigating her mother’s death. Rufus took Imogene under his wing — until he suddenly dropped the case. (Yet another unnecessary mystery in this crockpot.) Imogene was adopted by the Colliers. Reuniting with Rufus, she helps him solve the whodunnit. Alas, Imogene is supposed to be brimming with charisma, nerve, and talent, but the character commits the worst crime you can in escapist piffle — she’s boring. Part of this may be the fault of Beane’s one-note performance — emotions are inevitably conveyed via a furrowed brow. Part of the problem is also the mechanical writing; the dialogue lacks the delirious moments of camp that makes absurd mysteries like Death on the Nile amusingly bearable. On top of that, the creators have missed what made The White Lotus and Succession work so well. They were ensembles — no single character was the sole focus.

The one saving grace of Death and Other Details is its costumes, impressive in their grandeur and Gucci. The same can’t be said for the art direction or cinematography; I didn’t even realize they were cruising through the Mediterranean until the third episode. Let’s just say that just about everybody and everything in this series is left adrift at sea.

Sarah Mina Osman is a writer residing in Wilmington, NC. In addition to writing for the Arts Fuse, she has written for Watercooler HQ, Huffington Post, HelloGiggles, Young Hollywood, and Matador Network, among other sites. Her work was included in the anthology Fury: Women’s Lived Experiences in the Trump Era. She is currently a first year fiction MFA candidate at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. When she’s not writing, she’s dancing, watching movies, traveling, or eating. She has a deep appreciation for sloths and tacos. You can keep up with her on Twitter and Instagram: @SarahMinaOsman