#BirdingBreaks

[the-commentaries]

The Residence

[Viewers be warned: The following content contains spoilers that may reveal key plot points, character developments or endings, potentially diminishing your viewing experience.]

Much have been narrated and extrapolated about the intricate plots interwoven into murder mysteries in recent years. From the classic Agatha Christie's "Hercule Poirot" and "Miss Marple" series and Arthur Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes' Mysteries" series to modern day's "Murder, She Wrote" and "Knives Out" series, we're definitely spoilt for choice. This doesn't include the investigative TV series that fall "somewhere in between" such as "CSI", "Criminal Minds", "The Mentalist", etc and the many true crime podcasts on air like "Killer Psyche" and "Sword and Scale".

In fact, the fascination to these murder mysteries and true crime stories expose the darker aspects of human curiosity, specifically our interests in acts of barbaric cruelty. Even so, we're still drawn to them, just like Icarus is drawn toward the sun's fatal embrace. Due to frequent exposure to clever plot twists, we find ourselves rarely satisfied by further murder mysteries or 'whodunnits'. Or so, we'd think... until this Netflix's limited TV series, "The Residence".

Personally, I'd like to think that "The Residence" is another brilliant creation by Paul William Davies, who also produced the politically themed "Scandal" and "For The People". Instead of a purely political TV series, Paul had successfully blended political themes with murder mystery intrigue into the limited series. This limited TV series also achieved a light and refreshing mix of subplot nuances, all the while retaining its content integrity while diverging from darker visual and print themes of its counterparts. This is also the first time I found myself amused by the characters' quirks and eccentricities.

Initially, the first two episodes were dedicated to establishing the groundwork, within the White House' setting. The White House covers approximately 18 acres [7.3 hectares] of land in Washington, D.C. The entire White House complex, including the residence, West Wing, East Wing, Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and Blair House, sits within approximately 52 acres [21 hectares] of land in President's Park. This murder mystery indirectly presents a vast narrative opportunity which encompasses a large cast of White House staffs and extensive plotlines.

The "knifing", as the poster indicated, happened inside the sprawling White House, which consisted of 132 rooms across four floors. The incident specifically took place within the Residence section of the White House itself. The seemingly fragile normalcy and silence was suddenly ripped apart by a shrill scream of an old lady from the third floor. Sadly, the scream went unheard, as most people were at a state dinner for Australian guests on another level or floor.

The incident? The Chief Usher of the White House, A.B. Wynter [starred by Giancarlo Esposito] was murdered in cold blood, with his body lying listlessly on the floor of the Game Room on the third floor and with both his wrists slit. This had resulted in a cascading sequence of events involving U.S. President's Social Secretary, Assistant Usher, U.S. President's brother, White House Executive Pastry Chef, U.S. President's Chief Adviser, etc. Then entered Cordelia Cupp [starred by Uzo Aduba] the Metropolitan Police Department detective - a woman defined by her sharp wit, no-nonsense demeanor, and a rapid-fire delivery left the witnesses mentioned above scrambling to keep up.

To avoid being implicated, many witnesses provided false testimonies when being interrogated by Detective Cordelia Cupp. Maintaining a patiently detached demeanor, Detective Cordelia surveyed the situation, like a birdwatcher scrutinizing a rare bird sighting. Director Paul, "interestingly" [as Detective Cordelia would frequently say] used Edwin Park [FBI Special Agent and Detective Cordelia's human "parrot"], Tripp Morgan [U.S. President's brother], and Elliot Morgan [U.S. President's "husband"] to sprinkle some light humor to this TV series. Indeed, this series' refreshing lightness stands in stark contrast to the often heavy and dark themes commonly found in other conventional murder mystery narratives.

Unlike those famous detectives with limited jurisdictions, Detective Cordelia's investigation extends to the entire White House staffs with a pool of 157 potential suspects. The sheer number of suspects with plausible motives of murdering Chief Usher A.B. Wynter had forced Detective Cordelia to refrain herself from dismissing anyone too quickly. Just as Sherlock Holmes used "smoking breaks" for mental clarity, Detective Cordelia employed "birding breaks" to de-stress, thus allowing her subconscious to process and find solutions. Despite her suspicions, she was forced to withdraw to an island for bird watching when the court classified the victim's death as a suicide instead of a murder.

"The Residence" is indeed the first of its genre to depart from the definitive conclusion of a detective in regards to the murderer because Detective Cordelia couldn't even solve the murder case before the court hastily classified the A.B. Wynter's death as a suicide. Notably, this series is also revolutionary as its episode titles and character names are deliberately linked to actual murder mystery movies. Finally, don't be surprised that towards the end of this series, there were a barrage of plot twists that can shatter your preconceived notion of how this murder can be resolved. My verdict: this series is excellent and highly recommended. Period.