In Death and Other Details, Imogene Scott assists Detective Rufus Cotesworth in solving a murder on a luxury cruise liner. The series is now streaming on Hulu.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
The Colliers, their friends, their family, and their business associates gather on SS Varuna, a cruise ship, to celebrate the retirement of Lawrence Collier, who helms the family-run company, Collier Mills.
Lawrence is expected to hand over the company to his daughter, Anna Collier, and welcome outside investors, including the Chuns, who operate a global fast-fashion empire. The Chuns are rumored to make a sizable investment in Collier Mills.
Among the Colliers and their friends and family is Imogene Scott, the daughter of Kira Scott, former secretary of the Colliers.
Imogene lost Kira in a car bombing when she was a kid. The Colliers took her in and raised her with their kids, Anna and Tripp.
One guest that gets on everyone’s nerves is Keith Trubitsky, Tripp’s friend, who is going to invest in Tripp’s yet another business that may fail.
However, in Imogene’s case, more than Trubitsky, it is Rufus Cotesworth, regarded as the world’s greatest detective, who makes her madder.
Rufus Cotesworth is on Varuna as the Chuns’ security detail. Years ago, Imogene searched for him online and asked Lawrence to hire him to investigate her mother’s murder.
Rufus had noticed Imogene’s talent as a detective and had promised that he would bring her mother’s murderer to justice.
However, Rufus walked away from the case when he failed to find anything more than a name, Viktor Sams, after months of investigation.
Lawrence called Rufus a hack and stopped cooperating. Imogene despises Rufus to this day for giving her hope and not keeping his promise.
Imogene is forced to team up with Rufus when Keith Trubitsky ends up being murdered on the ship. Imogene is in the circle of suspicion because she did break into his room to steal from him and teach him a lesson for mistreating a waitress on Varuna.
Rufus makes Imogene remember that Keith Trubitsky was Rufus’ assistant, Danny Turner. The two were on SS Varuna to reopen the investigation into Imogene’s mother’s death.
Since the Colliers are opening the books to welcome outside investors, they can finally find out the connection between Viktor Sams and Lawrence Collier.
Viktor Sams is an alias, a smokescreen for an international syndicate that profits from corporate blackmail.
Intimidation plays a significant role in how Viktor Sams operates. When his targets don’t pay, he sends them a message.
In the Colliers’ case, they killed Imogene’s mother. There is a chance that Lawrence knows something about Imogene’s mother’s death, and he is keeping secrets.
Rufus and Imogene are able to access the books with the help of Sunil Bhandari, who owns the ship and trusts Imogene.
The books don’t reveal much, but a receipt from the past tells them that the Colliers were using banned chemicals in one of their factories in China. These chemicals cause ailments such as cancer and dementia and may have cost people their lives.
In the meantime, Imogene and Rufus are able to catch Danny’s killer. It’s the waitress he mistreated, Winnie. However, Anna’s wife, Leila, a retired clickbait journalist who has been investigating Viktor Sams, claims that Winnie is just a small part of a bigger play.
More bodies turn up as Governor Alexandra Hochenberg is killed, while the Colliers’ family lawyer, Llewellyn Mathers, jumps off the ship.
Before jumping off the ship, Llewellyn confessed his love for Imogene’s mother, Kira Scott, and called Rufus a hack for not seeing the truth when it was right in front of him.
Rufus missed something, and to figure out what, Imogene makes him walk her through his investigation from back when Kira was killed.
It turns out that it was something that Imogene was not telling Rufus—something her mother told her to keep a secret.
Imogene recollects those memories and shares that Kira was investigating the Colliers and their banned chemicals. Her witness was Celia Chun of the Chuns. She used to work in their factory and had lost her husband because of these banned chemicals.
Amidst all of this, Lawrence sells 51% of his company to the Chuns, who may not make Anna the CEO of Collier Mills.
When Katherine tries to defend her daughter, a discussion reveals that Anna is Llewellyn’s daughter, not Lawrence’s. Katherine had an affair with Llewellyn back in the day.
Furthermore, Lawrence is suffering from a condition similar to on-set dementia, because of which he sold 51% of his company and didn’t even realize it. However, he still admits to getting rid of Kira Scott.
Katherine becomes the next victim of Viktor Sams, whose soldiers soon arrive and hijack SS Varuna.
Viktor Sams’ soldiers only let go of innocents, including Rufus, whereas the rich, who have schemed to protect themselves without caring about innocents, will pay for their misdeeds.
SS Varuna will be exploding in an hour. The only way out offered by Viktor Sams is through an auction. Nine seats on a helicopter are up for sale. Viktor Sams’ in charge will be accepting bids in a suite.
Ending explained:
Who is Viktor Sams?
While everyone is bidding to survive, Imogene steals Danny’s diary from the suite where Viktor Sams’s soldiers are accepting bids.
With a little help from some friends she has made, she decodes everything Danny has written in the diary and finds out the identity of Viktor Sams. Danny mentions seeing an unknown crew member near the pool deck.
Imogene was there, and even though she doesn’t remember who Danny met that day, the phone of That Derek, a social media star who was recording everything, helps them.
Danny was talking to Interpol Agent Hilde Eriksen, who came to the ship to solve Trubitsky’s murder. She was disguised as a crew member. It turns out that Agent Hilde Eriksen is Viktor Sams.
Eriksen is Kira Scott
Hilde Eriksen killed everyone who conspired to protect the Colliers from paying for what they did in China.
Imogene realizes that all of this is personal. Eriksen quotes the words of Kira Scott to reveal that she is indeed Kira.
Kira faked her death to protect herself from the Colliers. To take down the likes of the Colliers, she needed to operate from the dark.
Kira formed an elusive group with an intricate plan, which has worked so far to punish the likes of the Colliers, who build their lives while throwing the lives of the poor away.
Kira’s arrest
Kira attempts to recruit Imogene, who points out the flaws in her mother’s mission. They killed Danny Turner, who only wanted to solve Kira’s murder.
Kira calls these deaths sacrifices, but Imogene doesn’t agree with her. SS Varuna explodes, but the bombs are planted far away from the guests.
Hence, everyone on board survives. It turns out Kira only wanted to scare everyone else. Imogene understands that Kira wanted revenge, and now that she has it, she wants her to stop.
Kira and Imogene spend six months together, with Kira lying that she has given up being Viktor Sams, which prompts Imogene to make a move.
With the help of Rufus, she confronts her mother. Kira tried to erase evidence against her, which was on SS Varuna in the form of her servers.
Sunil, Jules, Leila, and Teddy moved the servers before the explosion of the SS Varuna. This evidence allows the arrest of Kira Scott, also known as Viktor Sams.
Sunil Bhandari, who allowed Kira to use his ship, is ready to testify against Kira.
Anna’s deal
Following Kira’s arrest, everyone moves on. Sunil tells Imogene that he will come to see her after getting out of prison, but Imogene chooses to be with Jules, with whom she had a fling on the ship.
Leila isn’t going to divorce Anna, who slept with Celia Chun’s daughter, Eleanor, while on SS Varuna. Anna has lost everything, and Leila knows what it feels like.
The soldiers of Kira Scott come to visit Anna. They want her to do what she promised.
Kira didn’t kill Katherine. Anna killed her in the heat of the moment, believing that Katherine is Viktor Sams, and she killed Imogene’s mother.
Kira witnessed the murder, but she offered Anna a deal. In exchange for protecting Anna, Kira wants Anna to do exactly what she says.
While it is not revealed what Kira wanted from her, Imogene, Jules, Teddy, and Leila do discover someone’s body.
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