Mystery Binges: Bodies & A Murder at the End of the World

It’s January and you need a juicy murder mystery to binge over the cold weekend, right? Well, I’ve got two great shows for you, so head on over to a warm couch and settle in for a spell.

Bodies: Do you love time travel as much as you love mysteries? And British people? Well, this is the show for you. Created by Paul Tomalin and based on the graphic novel by Si Spencer, this is an eight-episode twisty mystery that takes place across four different time periods (one of which includes the future), so prepare to be mildly confused at the beginning and then delighted as you gradually put together all the pieces like a glorious cinematic jigsaw puzzle. 

Our protagonists across these four different eras are played by Kyle Soller, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Amaka Okafor, and Shira Haas. The one thing they all have in common is that they are police detectives, but of course, that means very different things in 1890 versus 2053. And all four of them are investigating the mysterious appearance of the same dead body in the middle of the same London street, multiple years apart. How is that possible? Oh, just you wait.

Obviously, it’s hard to talk about this show since you don’t want to give anything away. So just take my word for it that it is intriguing and captivating and you won’t be bored for a second. The costume and production design are absolutely impeccable, even when the show must do that awkward thing of trying to portray how people dress and look in the future. It’s the perfect binge watch, a show you won’t be able to stop hitting “Play Next Episode” on as you encounter every conceivable cliffhanger. What are you waiting for?!

A Murder at the End of the World: Created by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, this is an intriguing seven-episode series that delivers a juicy mystery. Our main protagonist is Darby Hart (Emma Corrin), a young woman who has just published a true crime memoir about how she and her ex-boyfriend, Bill (Harris Dickinson), investigated a series of cold cases and eventually tracked down a serial killer. She then receives an invitation to join an exclusive gathering at a remote Icelandic retreat owned by tech billionaire, Andy Ronson (Clive Owen). She has no idea why she has been invited, but she could use some extra publicity for her book sales and decides to attend. Of course, once she gets there, things go awry. And as per the title of the show, she has to solve a murder.

There are twists and turns aplenty and, spoiler alert, there may be more than just one murder before the show is done. There’s a blizzard that cuts off access to the outside world so it’s this great locked room mystery with some real And Then There Were None vibes as our heroine must identify the killer before everyone ends up dead. Along the way there are many red herrings, flashbacks to her past, and a supporting cast filled with mysterious strangers who all have alibis and motives and shady pasts that need to be looked into. 

Is the ending any good? I certainly thought so! This show is incredibly moody and dark and cold, like it’s Scandinavian setting, but the reveal in the final episode really tickled me. Corrin is doing fine work throughout (with a very good American accent) but the show could sometimes drag in the middle episodes and I wasn’t always fully engaged with what was going on or the motivations of the other random characters. But that finale was well worth the binge and I'm intrigued to hear if you think so too.