Photo: James Dittiger/Hulu
Just as we’re getting used to our budding detective duo of Rufus and Imogene, a third-wheel investigator steps on board the S.S. Varuna. Interpol Agent Hilde Eriksen is certainly hyped up as a sort of antagonist to Rufus and Imogene’s investigation into who killed Rufus’s partner Danny Turner with a speargun, but ultimately she seems like she might help more than hinder. Yeah, sure, there’s that whole thing about how Hilde is definitely onto the missing security footage being tied to whoever smashed Danny’s watch, and that is not great for ol’ Imogene, but by the end of the episode, it seems like Hilde and Rufus might make a pretty good team. Hilde’s strict adherence to rules might prove troublesome in the future, but for now, I’m not too worried about her. Plus, I can really get behind a person who takes her lunch break seriously.
Hilde’s no-nonsense demeanor and the fact that she is obviously very good at her job just means Imogene and Rufus need to speed up their own side investigation a little bit. That’s great for us because it means things are moving here. Imogene and Rufus are mainly concerned with getting their eyes on the Collier Mills books. Perhaps Danny found something within those documents — evidence of ties to Viktor Sams, the person Rufus believes killed Imogene’s mother — that made him a target. And when Imogene learns that the Collier books are being kept in Sunil’s secret second safe in his office, Sunil catching Danny trying to break into his office suddenly makes sense. We don’t know how much Danny knew, but he was on to something (please also remember his notebook of clues remains at large!). Like Danny, Imogene gets caught by Sunil (and Teddy) before she manages to crack the code. Unlike Danny, Sunil obviously has the hots for Imogene, so when she suggests he help her dig into what’s really going on here — and mentions that it’s all tied to her mother’s death — he’s totally into it. He did give us that whole speech about trusting people implicitly until they prove they are not to be trusted, and he’s probably very horny out at sea, so this all tracks.
Imogene and Sunil report back to Rufus. There is nothing that hints at blackmail in the Collier documents. There is, however, clear evidence that as much as they deny it, the Colliers are completely bankrupt. Sunil notes that what looks like really did them in was a huge capital expenditure just two years ago. Alas, nothing tying them to Viktor Sams. They do, however, find an interesting piece of paper tucked into the back of one of the binders: it’s a bill of lading for two tons of a now illegal blue pigment. The dye, banned in 1989, was found to cause cancer, dementia, and a whole host of other horrors — so if the Colliers were using it any time after the ban kicked in, they would be in a world of trouble. Unfortunately for everyone, the date on the bill of lading is conveniently rubbed off. A dead end, for now. It’s frustrating for everyone, but especially Imogene, who desperately (and understandably) wants answers. It’s Rufus who has to sternly remind her that because she’s so focused on finding a connection to her mother’s death, she could be missing clues to the mystery at hand. “You stopped paying attention,” he scolds. In case you were wondering why they cast Mandy Patinkin to play a gruff, beleaguered detective, it was probably for scenes like this. He has already lost one person he cares about (do not even get me started on that scene in the kitchen/morgue; someone hug this man!), and he is only trying to protect Imogene as best he can (and make up for his unfulfilled promise from 18 years ago).
You know who never stops paying attention? Hilde Eriksen. She’s the one who notes that the killer arrived in Danny’s room on that bar cart without a weapon; using the speargun already might lead one to the conclusion that the killer didn’t arrive with the intent to kill Danny, and instead perhaps some type of argument escalated. She also immediately distrusts Jules. And yeah, we know Jules was with Imogene the night of Danny’s murder so he most likely didn’t do it, but we also have seen him with a whole book full of passports, so the guy is definitely up to something. Hilde has good instincts, is what I’m saying! During another round of room searches, Hilde and Rufus do end up finding that book with the passports, although it’s been hidden amongst Simon’s (Simon is another staff member and another member of Teddy’s family) books. They still have no clue what he’s really doing as Head of Security on the Varuna.
And neither do we — which, by the end of this episode, has become a question that really needs to be answered. Once Imogene gets reamed out by Rufus and attempts to get her head on straight, she winds up taking note of Leila’s strange behavior. She follows Anna’s paranoid wife around the ship, down into the lower decks, where she sees Leila grab a hidden rope and some tape and stuff into her bag. Imogene tries to see where she’s off to, but somehow Leila disappears. When Imogene returns to the place she lost Leila, she finds a hidden door that leads into the bowels of the Varuna. But Imogene doesn’t find Leila there — instead, Jules pops out of the darkness, covers Imogene’s mouth so she can’t scream, and tells her, “You shouldn’t have come here.” Now, let’s be real: it’s way too early in our story to reveal the actual killer, but still, Jules is doing something shady.
There’s one other very interesting question raised in this installment of Death and Other Details. Our dear Governor of Washington, who is still coughing, by the way, pulls Father Toby aside for an intense little chat. Last week, we learned that it was Alexandra who ordered the bar cart that allowed the killer to sneak into Danny’s room. Now, Alexandra tells Toby that she ordered those drinks to be sent to Keith Trubitsky after getting a call from her team that a major donor wanted her to make nice with Keith. The donor suggested the bar cart, down to the exact drinks she should send. She’s demanding Toby tell her who that donor might be, especially since the only donor on that ship who would know she had an altercation with Keith is Lawrence Collier. Did Lawrence Collier set her up? Toby doesn’t say yes, but he doesn’t exactly say no either. Maybe the guy is just exhausted from all the shower sex he’s been having with Lawrence’s wife, Katherine, or maybe he’s protecting whoever the killer is.
Obviously, I want to know the identity of the killer, but let’s not forget that we also still have no idea what the motive behind Danny’s death was. Did the killer know that he was Danny Turner and that he was onto something going on with the Colliers? If so, sure, Lawrence Collier seems like a good fit. But what if he was killed by someone who believed he was Keith Trubitsky? As Anna points out to her brother Tripp, in the throes of a real meltdown, Keith pulled out of his investment in Tripp’s latest scheme and that fact paired with Tripp’s anger management issues might make him a major suspect if Hilde Eriksen finds out about any of it. All of this is to say that while I think we can safely cross Alexandra off our suspect list — she seemed legitimately scared and confused that she might be implicated — almost everyone else is still in play.
• Lawrence Collier seems too obvious to be our villain, but seriously, something is up with that dude. We get a heated scene between him and Anna as she attempts to salvage the deal with the Chuns, in which she mentions Lawrence’s doctors and basically tells her dad to shut the hell up and let her lead this thing. She also vaguely admits that some of her decisions got Collier Mills in the financial mess it currently finds itself in, but only because she has to “clean up his mess.” Also, aside from that Welcome Dinner, have we seen Lawrence outside of his cabin? Interesting!
• Oh wait, AND Katherine tells Toby that she’s really only married to Lawrence “on paper.” I’m betting the Colliers must have more than one skeleton in their closet.
• What do we think about Teddy, friends? I don’t know if she’s involved in this whole thing — although we still don’t know why she and Llewellyn exchanged that briefcase — but that woman does seem stressed. She and her sister Winnie — who is harboring some righteous anger toward the investigators focusing on the staff rather than the one-percenters on the top deck — seem destined for a bigger blow-up than one over flower arrangements.
• Okay, so Anna and Eleanor are definitely going to hook up again, right?
• The tailoring on this show is impeccable. It seems Anna and Imogene haven’t met a pair of high-waisted wide-leg pants they didn’t love, and those babies are all tailored to a T. I know that murder and shadiness abound on this boat, but the clothes! The clothes are so dreamy.
• Celia Chun may be into hardballing potential partners when it comes to investing her billions of dollars, but she is also just a woman who loves soap operas. I cannot wait to learn more about this woman.
• If we eventually find out that Sunil is a shady dude, I’m going to be so mad about it. Imogene might be getting it good from Jules, but Sunil is very swoony. I’m rooting for him!!