Based on 1 season, 10 episodes · through March 5, 2024
Death and Other Details is a mystery television series set on a luxury cruise ship where a detective and his assistant try to solve a locked-room murder. The story features an exceptionally diverse cast and puts multiple prominent, central queer relationships at the forefront of the drama. It also focuses heavily on class warfare, portraying the wealthy family as corrupt and greedy while showing working-class employees as their victims. A main storyline involves a radical activist who uses blackmail and violence to punish corporations.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Death and Other Details.
Woke representation / casting
The series features an aggressively diverse, multicultural cast with prominent, highly competent female and minority characters. Most notably, it places several queer relationships at the forefront of the narrative: Anna Collier is a lesbian who is married to Leila, and she has a prominent affair with another female character, Eleanor Chun. These explicit LGBTQ+ storylines are central to the plot and receive significant screen time. Teddy, the crew manager, is portrayed as highly capable and moonlights as a dominatrix, while the rich, established male characters are largely shown as incompetent, corrupt, or subservient. Due to the high priority placed on queer and identity-focused representation, the score is elevated.
78%
Woke political dialogue
The script is filled with overt, lecture-heavy dialogue criticizing wealth, greed, and capitalist privilege. Characters regularly deliver speeches about how the rich are protected from real-world consequences while exploiting others. For instance, Winnie delivers a monologue detailing working-class factory exploitation and tells the wealthy passengers that they have "gotten too comfortable moving through life with no risk of being punched in the face." The dialogue consistently hammers home these systemic, anti-wealth activist talking points.
65%
Identity-driven story themes
The plot leans heavily into "eat the rich" tropes and class warfare. The ultimate reveal is that the mysterious criminal mastermind "Viktor Sams" is actually Imogene's mother, Kira, who faked her death to lead an activist blackmailing ring that targets corrupt wealthy elites. The narrative positions corporate greed and capitalist exploitation as the ultimate evils. Additionally, the show introduces a subplot about undocumented refugees smuggled in the cargo hold to contrast with the decadent wealthy. Prominent, front-and-center queer storylines drive the main relationship drama, which significantly elevates the score.
74%
Western institutional / cultural critique
The series presents a strong activist-style critique of corporate capitalism, political institutions, and traditional power dynamics. The wealthy Western elites (the Colliers) are depicted as entirely corrupt and toxic, having built their fortune on poisoning working-class factory employees. Government institutions are shown as utterly compromised, with the governor portrayed as a blackmailed corporate puppet. The show frames legal channels of justice as ineffective, subtly validating the radical, vigilante-activist methods of "Viktor Sams" as a response to systemic corporate abuse.
68%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
There was some moderate online backlash from viewers who criticized the series as being too preachy, heavy-handed with "woke" Disney/Hulu messaging, and pushing an exhausting, cliché "eat the rich" agenda. However, because the show had very low ratings, struggled to find an audience, and was quickly canceled after its first season, the volume of organized anti-woke commentary was relatively small compared to higher-profile projects.
25%
Creator track record context
The creative team behind the series has a moderate, mixed track record. Co-creator Heidi Cole McAdams has a history of supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in Hollywood writers' rooms. Staff writer and actress Angela Zhou is a vocal advocate for authentic representation. Additionally, the casting team, led by Bernard Telsey, actively promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion in their casting practices. Other crew members have worked on traditional network dramas and procedurals with less activist framing.
38%
Production
