'Death and Other Details' with Mandy Patinkin, Violett Beane includes 'the best episode of television' star has ever read

Mandy Patinkin and Violett Beane star in a new murder mystery series, Death and Other Details, which includes, as Beane highlights, "the best episode of television [she's] ever read."

Where to watch Death and Other Details: On Disney+ in Canada, Hulu in the U.S.
Premiere date: Jan. 16
Creators: Heidi Cole McAdams and Mike Weiss
Cast: Violett Beane, Mandy Patinkin, Lauren Patten, Rahul Kohli, Angela Zhou, Hugo Diego Garcia, Pardis Saremi, Linda Emond
Number of episodes: 10 episodes

Disney+

Death and Other Details

Watch Death and Other Details on Disney+, subscriptions starts at $7.99/month

$8 at Disney+

What is 'Death and Other Details' about?

While the concept of a murder mystery that takes place in a luxurious setting, with wealthy victims and suspects, has certainly been done before (like The White Lotus and The Menu), the show's lead character, Imogene Scott (Beane), is the one to watch in this tale.

When Imogene was a child, her mother unfortunately died in a car explosion on the property of the wealthy Collier family. While the case of her mother's death was never actually solved, Imogene essentially became a member of the Collier family, which includes her best friend Anna (Lauren Patten).

Decades later, Imogene comes face-to-face with the man who started, and seemingly abandoned, the investigation into her mother's death, Rufus Cotesworth (Patinkin), when they are both on a luxury Mediterranean cruise. But unexpectedly, Imogene finds herself in the position to be a suspect in a murder on the ship.

That's when Rufus, known as "the world's greatest detective," has to get back into action to solve this case, while Imogene also investigates the mysteries of her past.

'I've never read a more messy and relatable character in my life'

For Beane, there was an immediate and strong attraction to play Imogene.

"I've never read a more messy and relatable character in my life," Beane told Yahoo Canada. "I was just like, I need to play this character and I need to live in this world that they've created, and experience all the other characters."

One of the most interesting things about Imogene's place in the landscape of wealthy passengers is that, while she was raised by this rich family for a significant portion of her life, there's still this sense that she doesn't belong.

"I think anybody who goes through a trauma like that, as a child, is going to have a ton of different walls that they put up and bring down," Beane said. "So in the pilot, when we're sitting there cheers-ing a glass of champagne, there's this sort of weight on Imogene of like, 'I don't belong here,' and when it's pointed out to her, that doesn't help."

"She rides this line of trying to fit in, but then also calling everybody on everything that they're doing. There's just sort of this like tension, I think, internally that you start to see with her and with every character, all the things that they're dealing with coming out into the world."

For Lauren Patten, who originated the role of Jo in the Broadway musical Jagged Little Pill, starred in the crime series Blue Bloods and has been featured in episodes of The Good Fight and Succession, Anna is a departure from her usual work.

Anna is the smart daughter in the Collier family, the one who has the most experience and is best equipped to take over as CEO of the Collier Mills textile business, from her father Lawrence (David Marshall Grant). The problem his, he hasn't exactly handed over the baton yet.

"I don't get to play characters like her and so getting an opportunity to play something so different than what is my norm, and different than me, was probably, acting-wise, the thing I was most excited about, to really create something outside of myself," Patten said.

"She's somebody who seems to have it the most together in her family. ... I think she says, at one point, 'I'm the only adult in this family,' and that really feels that way. Because everybody's sort of chaotic and doing their own thing. But, of course, as the season goes on, I think you get to see stuff that's going on underneath. ... But also, ... why certain things aren't happening yet. What's actually going on with the company. Everybody on the boat has a secret and slowly those start to come out."

Advice from the 'legend' Mandy Patinkin

A critical component to the cast is, of course, Homeland and The Princess Bridge star Patinkin.

"He's ... each of our favourite actors of all time, he's a total legend," McAdams said. "We couldn't believe that he was excited about our show after we sent it to him."

"He brings this humanity to his performance of Rufus that, on top of all the other things, the fun and the wit and the kind of a mess, ... underneath it all is a person that fundamentally you can't help but trust and love. That's so important for a detective, but I don't know that any other actor could have done it."

"He is gruff and he's imperfect, and he's flawed, and he goes back and forth from being totally egotistical, to totally admitting the he's behind the eight ball, and has no idea how they're going to get out of that problem," Weiss added. "That was also necessary for him to be able to relate to Imogene Scott, ... she was never going to relate to a lawless Sherlock-esque character who had the entire game figured out."

"She was only going to relate to someone who was human, like her. So Mandy was the perfect bridge, we think, from 'world's greatest detective' to Imogene Scott, a girl who's brilliant and perceptive, but in really hot water when he meets her."

For Beane, there was a moment in the pilot where Patinkin was particularly helpful for her, not unlike the relationship we see evolve between Rufus and Imogene.

"There was a moment during the pilot where I was a little lost, similar to Imogene, just kind of trying to figure out what was going on, and I asked him for some advice and he sat me down, and he gave it to me," Beane shared. "I was like, this is crazy how similar this is to the script, but I'm super appreciative of that, for sure."

'It's one of the most interesting devices I've seen in TV or film'

In order for a murder mystery story to work, a few things need to be achieved in its structure. Primarily, the audience needs to know enough about the characters to go on this journey to try to figure out who the killer is, but the viewers can't know so much that the ending is spoiled.

While that was a goal for creators McAdams and Weiss, and staying true to beats of classic murder mysteries, the creators of Death and Other Details also wanted each episode to feel like it had its own identity.

There's one episode, in particular, where we see Imogene physically move into her childhood memories, which stands out as an example of how the show extends what the murder mystery genre can include.

"In the beginning we had talked about Imogene and, what is her superpower? What is the thing that makes her different as a detective?" McAdams explained. "The idea that this is a young woman who is able to visualize her own memories allows her to take us with her."

"We see her re-experiencing these traumatic moments that happened to her, and as the series goes on, she starts to tap into that ability and use it to help solve crimes. So it sets us up for this episode, ... that we're very proud of, that a very talented writer named M.J. Wesner wrote, ... and gave us a chance to kind of do something just a little bit different."

Disney+

Death and Other Details

Watch Death and Other Details on Disney+, subscriptions starts at $7.99/month

$8 at Disney+

"It's one of the most interesting devices I've seen in TV or film," Beane said, in a separate interview. "This idea that you can go back and experience it, because memory is so malleable."

"There's an episode that I remember being really nervous for, because I was just like, it's so particular and I'm going in and out of the current time with this memory. ... It was just all of these different things of embodying other people, embodying myself as a child. ... It really surprised me and made me really excited to work on something. I remember I read this episode and I just started crying, and I called Mike and Heidi and I was like, 'This is the best episode of television I've ever read, first of all, and secondly, I can't believe I get to play it.'"

Weiss admitted that what happens in this episode isn't something that would work for every murder mystery, but made sense for this specific story.

That's all we can really say without spoiling the whole moment, but definitely a worthy watch.