Since crime and comedy are my two favorite genres of entertainment, anything that combines the two immediately makes its way onto my watchlist. This is how I came upon the new Netflix original limited series The Residence, a comedic murder mystery that follows Uzo Aduba in the role of world-renowned detective Cordelia Cupp as she investigates a controversial murder in the White House. The series consists of eight jam-packed hour-long episodes with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until the last second. *Spoilers ahead*
The setup and storytelling
The very premise of this show is one of its biggest strengths, as the White House serves as the perfect setting for a complex murder mystery full of colorful characters. The murder takes place during an Australian state dinner, so there are over a hundred potential suspects and witnesses in the house at the time of the murder, which creates a chaotic interrogation process for Detective Cupp and her associates. The story is also told through the lens of a congressional hearing about the case, which brings a fun perspective to the events. I enjoyed the chaos and fast pace of the story, which was balanced by Detective Cupp’s stoic, calm, matter-of-fact persona. In fan response and reviews online, it seems that some people were overwhelmed and exhausted by the pacing and intricate details of the story, but I really enjoyed it. I think part of the fun is trying to piece through the information on your own and form your opinion of who could have done it and why. The show also includes regular refreshers on the information gathered to that point, so you don’t forget anything important. I don’t always have the best attention span, so the fast pace kept me engaged, and I sat for episode after episode, and I ended up finishing the show in only two days. I will say it gets a little confusing as some of the events they show are intentionally not what really happened to reflect what witnesses are saying, but overall, the story is not difficult to follow and keeps you thoroughly entertained.
the cast
As for the characters, they all roughly fit into three different groups: the White House residential staff, members of the administration, and the investigators. The residential staff includes the dedicated chefs, maids, and landscapers who have worked in the house for years and stay constant no matter who is in office. This category includes the murder victim, A.B Wynter, who was the chief usher, in charge of all the residential staff. The staff brings us some of the most complex relationships in the show because the characters have been working together for years. Some of my personal favorite staff dynamics include the aggressive rivalry between the chef and pastry chef and the endearing secret romance between the maid and the engineer. The members of the current administration include close friends and advisors to the president, the president himself and his husband, and their family members who also live in the house. The president and his husband are surprisingly low-impact throughout the show, but their family members living in the house are two of my favorite comedic characters. Jane Curtin as the first gentleman’s reclusive, vodka-drunk mother delivers some of the best one-liners, and Jason Lee as Tripp Morgan, the president’s screwup brother forced into living in the White House to stop making headlines, brings some of the most stupidly funny moments of the series. Lastly, the investigators include main character Cordelia Cupp, police captain Larry Dokes, and FBI agent Edwin Park. If you have seen the Knives Out movies, Detective Cupp is comparable to Benoit Blanc in terms of unmatched detective skills and out-of-the-box interrogation techniques, a reference the show even makes directly when introducing her character. Her fellow investigators are not big presences but have a good dynamic, never quite being able to keep up with her but also grounding her and saying what we all are thinking. If this show were to get a second season, I would envision it being the three investigators in a new location with a new crime.
The Mystery
Now, for the main reason everyone tunes in to a murder mystery show, the actual mystery. As I briefly introduced, the victim is chief usher A.B Wynter who is found dead in the game room with his wrists slit and what appears to be a suicide note in his pocket. The administration is eager to instantly deem it a suicide and keep it quiet during the dinner to avoid chaos in the press, but as soon as Detective Cupp arrives she notices several inconsistencies with this theory, including signs of poison in his mouth, a blow to the back of his head, and the lack of a knife and excessive blood flow to suggest self inflicted cuts. While at first everyone claims to have loved A.B., as the story unravels through the episodes, we find out that almost every member of the main cast had issues with A.B. and a strong reason to want to get rid of him. We also see that on the night the murder took place, A.B. had multiple altercations, and most of the characters had some hand in the events and confusion of the night. One character found him and took the knife used to cut his wrists, another moved his body from where he was originally killed, and even another staged him to look like he had committed suicide. This is one of my favorite parts of the show because we do get a clearer and clearer idea of what happened with every episode, all while still having no idea who actually killed him.
The Finale
After seven episodes and long hours of suspense, we finally reach the finale. There are many aspects of this episode that I like, but also some that let me down. It does continue building suspense as Detective Cupp gathers all the suspects back at the White House for a tour of the night’s events, asserting that even she still does not know who did it, but she will by the end of the tour. I like this setup because it also takes the audience through a comprehensive timeline of the fragments we have gathered over the episodes, but the reveal was a little anticlimactic for me. In the end, it turns out that Lilly Schumacher, the president’s social secretary, killed A.B. after finding out he had proof of her misuse of federal funds and other illegal activities. The part I liked about this reveal was that I really did not see it coming or really suspect Lilly more than anyone else, but her motive and execution were nothing exciting, and I felt they could have been more fleshed out, given the complexity of the rest of the show.
Overall, this show is a great quick binge watch, and I would definitely recommend to any fans of comedic murder mysteries. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and even with its quick pace and intricate details, there are no large-scale issues with the show that keep you from enjoying it. The cast, direction, and plot are all great and come together to make a really entertaining limited series.