A Murder at the End of the World

Spoilers are ahead for the first 6 episode of A slaying at the End of the World .

Summary

One startlingA Murder at the End of the Worldfan possibility associate the murder - mystery series to a Graeco-Roman 2003 thriller — and a best - selling Agatha Christie novel . While it remains to be seen how Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij ’s psychological thriller will pan off out in its net episode , " Chapter 7 : Retreat , " spectator ca n’t avail but speculate that the duo ’s show will extradite a lurid twist . That expectancy stems partially fromMarling and Batmanglij ’s last collaboration , Netflix’sThe OA . Early theories even linked the two show . Given the trajectory of the first six episodes , that does n’t look likeAMATEOTW ’s end game , but a twist end seems at hand .

A execution at the End of the Worldjuggles two timelines . In the past , Darby Hart ( Emma Corrin ) , a cyberpunk and recreational sleuth , teams up with her on-line brother - turn - fan Bill Farrah ( Harris Dickinson ) to quail at a serial murderer , the Silver Doe Killer ( SDK ) . In the present , Darby is invited to a outback retreat by tech billionaire Andy Ronson ( Clive Owen ) , the married man of Darby ’s cyberpunk idol , the mysterious Lee Anderson ( Marling).Now known as the creative person FANGS , Bill is another retreat guest , though he dies on the first night . Suspecting foul sport , Darby tries to clear Bill ’s murderwhile navigatingAndy ’s hideaway - invited hotelguests .

A Murder At The End Of The World Shares Similarities With James Mangold’s Identity

In trying to anticipate the outcome ofA Murder at the goal of the World , a fan theorylinks the series to James Mangold ’s 2003 mystery - thriller filmIdentity(viaReddit ) . InIdentity ’s orifice , a man bring up Malcolm Rivers is fructify to be executed for invest a mass murder in an apartment construction . However , his sentence is put on hold when his defence uncovers journals that they believe will assist Malcolm plead insanity . The celluloid then cuts to a seemingly distinguishable tarradiddle : in a torrential downpour , 10 stranger are stranded in a remote hotel — and one of them , an actress name Caroline Suzanne ( Rebecca DeMornay ) , is mangle .

As the strangers are gradually down off , one of them , ex-husband - cop Ed Dakota ( John Cusack ) , tries to tack together together who poses the threat . In the movie ’s parallel story , a psychiatrist explains that Malcolm ’s journals indicate that he go with dissociative identity disorder . Inside of Malcolm , there are 11 distinct personality — a.k.a . the strangers strand at the hotel . Essentially , Ed is sample to take out the murderous personality to relieve Malcolm . However , after the conjecture culprit is kill , Identity ’s winding bring out that the actual homicidal personality faked his own " death . " Ultimately , the murderous aspect takes full control of Malcolm ’s mind .

Identity Is Based On An Agatha Christie Novel But Adds Its Own Twist

There ’s no denying the similarity betweenIdentityandA Murder at the death of the World . Both sport parallel narrative — one about compass a manslayer , and another about strangers who are thrust together in a whodunit . However , Identityalso takes intake from an earlier mystery tale : Agatha Christie ’s good - selling mystery story book , And Then There Were None . In the novel , eight stranger receive personal invitations to go to a gather on a remote island , where they ’re greeted by the butler and housekeeper . After a record player record acuses the node and employee of murder , the invitees realize none of them know the hosts .

FX’sA Murder at the End of the Worldstreams on Hulu .

After the guests are mangle one by one , the reader find out that one of the deceased , Justice Wargrave , was really behind the whole scheme . In fact , he cook his own death early on on in Holy Order to conceal his identity as the killer . Prompted by a final diagnosing , Christie ’s judge invited the strangers to the island to murder them because he believed they had all escaped DoJ . And Then There Were Noneclearly inspiredIdentity , though the 2003 thriller put its own spin on it . likewise , A Murder at the close of the Worldupdates Christie ’s novel by interrogating bon ton ’s compulsion with true offense and its over - trust on technology .

A Murder at the End of the World Poster

AMATEOTW Is Not A Whodunit But A Story Of Darby Confronting Her Trauma

Thetheory aboutA Murder at the terminal of the World ’s ending suggest that Darby Hart is also living with dissociative indistinguishability disorderas a result of the trauma she experienced earlier in life . As a teenager , Darby assist her medical examiner father , which gave her a burning desire to hunt down serial killers and find jurist for the victims . Death environ and form Darby , molding her into the person who ’s so consumed with find the Silver Doe Killer that she ’s okay with pass to the suspected serial manslayer ’s household . Like Bill say earlier , he ’d have to die for Darby to really love him — to reallyseehim .

Even when they ’re almost shot , Darby can only think of SDK , and pens a best seller about the experience . Meanwhile , a profoundly uncertain Bill leaves Darby ( and successive killer hunt ) . InA Murder at the ending of the World ’s instalment 6 , Darby finally bring out what really happened between her and Bill . It ’s clear that Darby harbors a lot of guilt and unprocessed trauma ; she see terrible things and almost became one of SDK ’s victims . The theory propose that Darby ’s dissociative identity upset creates different hideaway guests ( or " personality " ) for protect her . The closer Darby take to the true statement about what pass off , the more of her personalities are killed off .

Bill ’s content in A Murder at the End of the World installment 6 might have given away a major clue that solves the show ’s overarching murder mystery .

Emma Corrin as Darby Hart with Darby, Bill and Lee in the background from A Murder at the End of the World

A Murder At The End Of The World Could Invert Identity’s Premise

When Darby at last re - read a tell passage in her script , the recreational sleuth realizes that she forget Bill first . to move on , Darby must confront the past , and that means looking at some ugly truths . alternatively of using a whodunit premise to analyze the judgement of the sea wolf , the serial may use its execution closed book tilt to explore someone who ’s been affected by homicidal law-breaking . Revealing that the retreat is a trauma response unfolding in Darby ’s mind would be quite the twisting , butA Murder at the End of the Worldmay get more mileage out of an ending that is n’t so directly inspired byIdentity .

John Cusack and Ray Liotta stand in the rain looking surprised in Identity

Emma Corrin as Darby and Harris Dickinson as Bill in A Murder at the End of the World

Darby Hart (Emma Corrin) looks distressed in A Murder at the End of the World

A Murder At The End Of The World