Death and Other Details

With a host of embargoed topics we can’t reveal, I can attest that Death and Other Details is more complex than expected and gets smarter and more clever as it goes along. Beane and Patinkin are an excellent entry into the pantheon of mystery duos, and I’m looking forward to seeing if they stick the landing in the final two installments.

We start with a murder, and then maybe one more, and perhaps another, before the world’s greatest detective(s) get to the bottom of things. That’s the fun of it, and “Death and Other Details” is all about the fun, even when someone goes down for the count.

While the premise of Death and Other Details may seem derivative, the series is much more than a simple imitation. It’s a keenly modern, thoughtful meditation on the simultaneously distortive and revelatory nature of the human memory.

Don’t let that or its initial crawling momentum stop you from enjoying Death And Other Details. It eventually overcomes its flaws, delivering a vivid caper that feels both cozy and refreshing at the same time.

“Death” has a few twists too many, but it’s a pleasant and surprisingly digestible watch despite some formally complicated flashbacks and an enormous cast.

While so many Agatha Christie-influenced murder-mysteries get bogged down in the macabre, Death And Other Details remembers that these stories should be a blast. Mandy Patinkin and his recruited assistant Imogene (Violett Bean) are utterly charming, and the show is a hoot, even if the crimes themselves aren't particularly engaging.

Not perfectly plausible, in big and little ways, but its energy and reveals upon reveals make that moot. Patinkin, in an indefinable accent, is his usual Big Presence, but Beane holds her own, and the arrival of Linda Emond as Interpol agent Hilde Eriksen pays constant comic dividends.

Fast-paced and complex, the series ebbs and flows between delightful chaos and complete bewilderment. Yet, despite the uneven pacing and other missteps, the whodunit of it all should keep audiences interested.