Photo: James Dittiger/Hulu
If you too thought everyone sitting at Celia Chun’s table already looked as if they’d been through it when Imogene marched into the dining room to declare loudly enough for the whole cruise to hear that her mother was going to take down Collier Mills and that Celia was her star witness — well, you were right. “Vanishing” rewinds the clock by one hour to show us what was going down on the rest of the ship while Imogene and Rufus were off on their 18-year-old memory field trip. If you thought the previous episode served up some major revelations, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
An hour prior, we were dealing with the blackout and Llewellyn Mathers jumping to his death. Ah, what a time! In the aftermath, Teddy is having the toughest time accepting what has happened to her BDSM client … who seems to have maybe been more than that. Llewellyn left Teddy a note before he killed himself, telling her that this “had nothing to do with” her, which is kind of him but does nothing to assuage her feelings of guilt. Teddy replays their last interaction over and over. The last time she came to his room, Llewellyn was wildly drunk and quite maudlin. Someone had sent him a fancy bottle of wine, and he couldn’t pass up drinking the whole thing. All he wanted to do was rest his head on Teddy and talk about his feelings. While talking about feelings is generally gross and I do discourage it, there are several interesting things to note in this conversation. Llewellyn is throwing a pity party about the way his life has shaken out — the old thrill of power that comes with being the fixer for the chaotic Collier family is gone, and he’s left with nothing to show for it, whereas they’ve built these big, messy lives. It turns out our creepy boy isn’t creepy at all; he’s just sad! However, throughout the conversation, he does explicitly say he’s not looking to end his life. He doesn’t want the ride to be over just yet, and he wants Teddy to know it.
But Teddy is reeling. She can’t believe she didn’t see the signs. She’s confused about why Llewellyn would do this. While she muffles her cries in the supply closet, as is its purpose, she puts together a few moments with Llewellyn and comes up with a theory: Danny Turner was also sent a drink before his death; what if Llewellyn’s death wasn’t a suicide? When she rummages through the corks from all the opened wine bottles on the ship, which are kept in that very closet, Teddy finds the one from Llewellyn’s bottle (it was a ’98, he noted) and sees that along with the hole from the corkscrew is a hole from what might have been a syringe. All of this feels incredibly convenient, but sure, we’ll go along with Teddy figuring this out. Llewellyn was poisoned, just like Alexandra.
When Anna learns the news from an irate Imogene, she spins out a little too. She informs her parents, and her dad is less than comforting. In fact, he’s a real dick about it. There is zero sympathy or even any semblance of an emotion. It’s weird! Before you know it, everyone is whisked off to the dining room to wait out the blackout and let Hilde and her people investigate. Speaking of Hilde, she also notices Lawrence Collier’s apathy throughout the proceedings and finally gets a chance to ask him about it in the dining room. He chartered the boat, he invited the people here, yet he has shown no interest in the investigation into the multiple murders that have occurred. “Either you don’t care or you already know,” Hilde says, but she is interrupted by Katherine Collier, once again swooping in to save her husband’s ass.
Unfortunately — or fortunately, I guess, the Colliers do seem like terrible people — Katherine can’t save herself. When talk turns to whom Celia will install as CEO of Collier Mills now that she owns it, even her granddaughter, Eleanor, suggests Anna is still the best fit. Celia disagrees. Anna isn’t even a real Collier, she casually drops; Lawrence isn’t her biological father. Katherine can’t deny it, especially because Celia got that useful piece of info from Father Toby. It’s shocking news to everyone in the room but not as shocking as learning that Anna’s biological father is none other than the late Llewellyn Mathers. Llewellyn was sad about Keira’s rejection, Katherine’s marriage to Lawrence wasn’t (isn’t) a loving one, and they wound up finding solace in each other. Lawrence never knew the truth. Anna goes ballistic on her mother, who hands it right back to her daughter. According to Katherine, Anna has nothing to complain about. She made sure her daughter had a last name full of opportunity and power.
While that revelation is fun, what makes the entire thing even better is knowing that this is what’s going on when Imogene walks in to reveal the whole “Celia was working with my mom to take down the Colliers” thing. No wonder everyone looks completely ravaged! And I didn’t even get to the fact that Leila makes sure Anna and Eleanor know that she knows about them hooking up! There’s a lot going on, and from this side of things, it takes the oomph out of Imogene’s big moment. It would be hilarious if we had time for it. Alas, Death and Other Details has so many balls in the air that we cannot relish it. I stand by my earlier assessment that this show has way too many characters. With so much ground to cover, neither the characters nor any one revelation is given enough breathing time to really pop. There’s no time to dig deeper, which is a shame for certain story lines that have so much potential — including Celia’s.
So what’s the true story behind Celia Chun? Fifty years ago, she met her husband while working in a factory, and they began to build a beautiful life together — that is, until Collier Mills bought the factory and introduced their workers to Captionem Blue. Celia’s husband grew sick and died. The Colliers handed her a check for $25,000 to keep her quiet. Celia took the money and began her own company so the Colliers “could never hurt” her again. Not until decades later did Keira approach her, looking to take the family down. When that fell apart, she clearly found another way to enact some revenge.
The confirmation of her memory sends Imogene spinning. Lawrence Collier knew about the poison but realized it was cheaper to pay people off for their silence rather than to stop using it. Imogene believes her mother, Danny, and Alexandra were all so close to exposing Lawrence that he had them killed. She’s sure of it. She doesn’t know about the whole “Llewellyn was actually poisoned” thing yet, but she’s so angry I’m sure she would find a way to work that into her theory too. She finds Lawrence out on the deck and presents her case to him. If looks could kill, Lawrence would be added to our ever-growing list of bodies. But then something strange happens: He’s confused. He thinks Imogene is Keira. “Thank God, you’re here,” he says. “Nothing works without you.”
Anna arrives to explain that Lawrence has early-onset dementia. Some days are better than others. That day, when he sold the majority stake in the company to the Chuns? That was a bad one. He has no idea what’s going on. There is no way he could have orchestrated all these murders, at least not the murders happening on this cruise. When Imogene presses him about her mother, he answers her questions, still believing she is somehow Keira, returned to him. He’s so upset that she had to go digging, that she couldn’t leave well enough alone. And yes, when he found out what Keira was up to, he made a phone call to take care of it. It’s looking very much as though Lawrence ordered a hit on Keira all those years ago. Admittedly, I’m finding it harder and harder to sympathize with Imogene. As many characters have pointed out to her, she is so narrowly focused on avenging her mother’s death that she can’t see anything else. Rather than seeming heroic or understandably angry, she mostly comes off as selfish. Maybe it’s the haircut? The never-ending supply of crop tops? Am I just dead inside? Whatever it is, by the time Rufus tells her that she never wanted justice, she just wants her mom back, and “that’s impossible,” I am rolling my eyes.
So what about the more recent murders? Glad you asked! While Imogene is interrogating Lawrence, Teddy and Hilde are talking to the waiter who delivered the wine to Llewellyn. The wine was gifted to him by … Katherine Collier. Is Katherine Collier actually Viktor Sams?
Though it’s a tempting theory — a woman desperate to protect her family — it seems unlikely since, next thing we know, Anna finds her mother’s dead body floating in the pool. It seems safe to cross Katherine off our suspect list.
If it feels like we’re really in the home stretch now, you’re not wrong. Our cruise body count has jumped to four, and we get another surprise guest. The man who was tailing Imogene and Sunil in Malta arrives via helicopter with a whole bunch of nameless goons. “Gather the guests,” he demands. “We are going to play a game.” Sounds fun! Also terrifying! Oh, and did I mention there’s a bomb onboard with enough firepower to sink the entire boat? The stakes here have jumped exponentially.
• We were right, friends! Imogene did slip something to Jules when she handed him his tennis ball: a key to his cell. He escapes and teams up with Sunil to try to get the backup generator online, but they quickly realize Viktor is in complete control of everything on this boat — including that bomb they find! Thankfully, Sunil has the good sense to make Jules hide when the Malta guy’s henchmen come down to capture the two of them. Jules may be the passengers’ only hope!
• Something has got to happen with Derek’s livestream and his thousands of followers watching events on the cruise unfold, right? Did he catch something on-camera that will crack the whole case?
• “You’re fucking the fucking priest?” Tripp asks his mother when that juicy tidbit becomes public knowledge. Tripp just may be the MVP of this show.
Death and Other Details Recap: Murder on the Pool Deck
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