A Murder at the End of the World – Chapter 1: Homme Fatal

By: Gladys Luna

The episode begins with a brief introduction to Darby Hart (Emma Corrin) as she is walking through an empty street at night, headphones on, while listening to a song. She continues her way until she arrives at a bookstore where we later learn that she is there to do a reading of her first book about crime and mystery called The Silver Doe. Darby takes the stand and begins to talk about her upbringing which makes the crowd leave their seats one by one. It is not until she actually starts talking about the content of her book that the crowd comes back to their seats fully mesmerized by the enchanting way that Darby narrates the story of a missing girl who suddenly showed up dead at the edge of her town and how this ignited something in her that made her hack the federal database of the unidentified dead when she was only fifteen years old. It’s how she realized that most of them were women whose murderers have never been found, but there is no way to tell this story without mentioning Bill (Harris Dickinson) – her loyal partner in crime and apparent boyfriend who is as passionate as her for these kinds of stories. Their love for tales about crime and murders is what brought them together in the first place. They met online and both were convinced that John Doe was only one of many victims of a serial killer that unfortunately was still on the loose. So, they decided to join forces and kick off an investigation that, after a year, started to pay off when they realized they found the first address of the killer and this is how the story begins.

We then go six years back to that moment in which Darby and Bill were intensely looking for a way to solve the crime and being closer that no one has ever been. The night before they headed to the killer’s address Bill had been hesitant to continue with the case since he thought they might be in danger. However, Darby, stubborn as she was, had already set her mind to it and was not willing to take a step back regardless of how scared she could be. At the breaking of dawn, both struck out straight into the unknown; even though the tension was still very present in the atmosphere. Darby had the idea to turn the music of her iPod on and the song that came out seemed to alleviate the tension a little bit as both soon found themselves singing to it in tune. Sometime later, the pair finally arrived at their destination and parked outside the house they were looking for. Darby hacked the garage door system and managed to open it along with every other garage door of the neighbors so the couple rushes up to enter the place and closes them all before anyone could notice. The house appeared to have been abandoned for a while, which made everything easier for them. They head straight to the basement and start to drill the floor in search of any proofs against the killer, but nothing came out of it. Exhaustion came sooner than they expected, making them take a break that is longer than they had anticipated. Darby was the first one to wake up absorbing everything around her which was how she ended up realizing that the stairs had been remodeled so they dismantled them revealing a human skeleton buried on the floor beneath them that Darby recognized as the killer’s wife and kindly put a silver ring in one of her fingers. Suddenly, they hear footsteps coming out from the first floor and by the time they realize it, a human figure (from we could only see half of their lower body) is standing there at the top of where the stairs had been not so long ago pointing at them with a gun. Bill and Darby assume the worst, so they start to chant out loud the names of the victims one by one. When the human figure is about to pull the trigger, Bill puts himself in front of Darby as a way to protect her. And just like that, we are brought to the present where Darby had been reading the story and claims that, for now, she feels unable to continue.

The crowd is dazzled by the novel but now is time to move to the Q&A session where Darby is asked by a curious man (Louis Cancelmi) about her decision to dedicate her book to Lee Andersen (Brit Marling), a famous hacker that has seemed to disappear from the face of the earth overnight. Apparently, this woman had served as an inspiration for her by becoming into one of the few female coders back when she started. The session lasted less than a whisper and soon Darby found herself again out in the street and in the way back to her place. As soon as she gets there, she is hands on in the case she’s currently working on while we see a blackboard in the background plastered with photos of missing women. Meanwhile, she is focused on her work when she receives a text from Andy Ronson’s (Clive Owen) assistant. Andy is a multimillionaire who is well known for his work on the AI world. His assistant Ray (Edoardo Ballerini) sent a text claiming to have something to share with her asking her to download their personal VPN. For someone as experienced as Darby this appears to be a total scam but, in the end, she decides to download the VPN suggested allowing it to have access to her camera and microphone. All of a sudden, she begins to hear Ray’s voice saying that he is waiting outside so she runs to the window but is surprised to see no one standing there until she uses her phone app and sees him through it. After she lets him in, she learns that Ray is not like any regular assistant as he is an AI created by Andy that is there to invite her to a very exclusive retreat along with another group of genius minds that will take place two weeks from now and will last for just a week with all expenses paid. The young woman is hesitant to assist but when she learns that Lee will also be there and that her and Andy are very interested in her work, she is more than convinced she should attend. However, before she agrees to it she calls her father (Neal Huff) who only confirms what she already knows, she must be definitely be there.

Two weeks have passed, and the big day has finally arrived. A car assigned just for her take her to the hangar from where the private plane will depart and she is surprised to see that the same man that receives her (who identifies himself as Todd – Andy’s head of security) had been at her book reading a couple of weeks ago. Before she boards the plane she is asked to sign a consent form and goes through some quick health scan then, she is set to start her adventure. As soon as she boards the plan, she is met with some eccentric personalities such as Lu Mei (Joan Chen) who builds smart cities in China, Martin Mitchell (Jermaine Fowler) a filmmaker, Sian Cruise (Alice Braga) a doctor whose efforts have been invested in finding a way to colonize the moon and David (Raúl Esparza) a successful entrepreneur who soon starts a debate about who were invited by whom. They explain that five of them were invited by Andy and four by his wife Lee, so they are interested in knowing about that. Before the plane leaves, the group should hand their phones with the promise to be returned once the flight is over. Darby takes a couple of sleeping pills that Lu Mei gives her but then she dreams about that time when Bill had left a note in the bathroom mirror saying that he couldn’t take it anymore and had to leave. Darby wakes up just in time before they land at Fljót, Iceland. After their landing, the group is split in pairs and taken in fancy cars to Andy’s hotel where they will be staying for the week. When they arrive there, they are happily greeted by the hotel staff and Marius (Christopher Gurr), the hotel manager, gives her a ring key that would serve as an entry for every common area except for the private sections of the hotel. Darby is mesmerized by her room and her surprise grows when she realizes that Ray is there to assist her in everything she needs. He reads the full day itinerary informing her that there would be a welcome dinner for all of them.

Later that night, when she is on her way to dinner, one of the other room opens the door and she sees Lee picking up what seems to be broken pieces of a plate. Then, the door closes immediately. She arrives to the dining room where mostly everyone is already gathered. The people she has seen on the plane and some other faces she does not recognize like Oliver (Ryan J. Haddad), a robotics expert, and Ziba (Pegah Ferydoni), an activist and a pioneer of message end-to-end encryption. Not so long after Andy shows up welcoming them and giving a speech that is interrupted by his young son Zoomer (Kellan Tetlow) who is followed by Lee. He continues with his speech where also explains about the plans he has with Ray, the AI assistant, and how he believes it will be revolutionary to the world. When the speech is over another guest joins the table revealing to be none other than Bill, who Darby has not seen in over six years and now is just there, sitting in front of her. She is so astonished to see him that she nearly chokes on her food. While they’re having dinner Zoomer goes to Bill wanting to play with him. The young man agrees but what seems to be a nice gesture doesn’t sit well on Andy who immediately asks Zoomer to go back to his seat making Darby, Bill and Lee share uncomfortable looks with each other.

After the dinner is over almost everyone gathers at the baths to have some fun. Ziba introduces herself to Darby and reveals to her that the only reason why she is there is to see Bill who is now better known as Fang, a successful urban artist. After a while Darby decides to go back to her room and take a shower. She then she goes out again but as soon as she opens the door she meets with Bill in the hallway. Her first reaction is to punch him, but then she invites him for a drink. He declines and asks her to take a walk with him instead. They talk about the past and he congratulates her on the book. He also admits that she used to scare him and ends up telling her that before he left her she had left him many times in ways she didn’t even know about – something that left her thinking about what he truly meant. Darby is surprised that he is there, but Bill says that Lee is the reason. Sometime after he invites her to spend the night with him, but she does not accept so he leaves saying that if she changes her mind that she knows where to find him. Darby goes to her room and looks for pictures of him with Lee, not liking what she found. Then, she decides to listen to some music in order to take her mind of it. All of a sudden their song pops up which makes her to go to his room, but when she gets there she hears him making weird noises. As she is not able to enter she rounds the place and tries to see his room from outside. The curtains are open and she can see the place is a mess and that there is blood splatter on the counter. Then Bill shows up, clearly wounded and crawling on the floor, asking her to stay with him while she asks him what happened. The only thing dividing them is the window and there is nothing she can do to help him now. His strength seems to be fading slowly until he stops moving. She then runs in search of help.