Extra Mustard: I love Murder-Mystery
But when I think about it, how f-ed up is that?
As I began writing this post about books I’ve read, shows, and movies I’ve watched, I realized I’ve been on an unknowing murder mystery binge lately. I’ve read books and watched television shows all surrounding a lifeless corpse, the suspects who may have been killed, and the investigators trying to solve the case.
But I haven’t been consuming narratives that delve into the darkness of killers, share the details of the death, or even explore the regret of a murderer who has committed the biggest crime against another human.
No, these are quirky murder shows and books, “cozy mysteries” such as “Only Murders in the Building,” where we watch Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez joke their way around dead bodies. I just finished The Thursday Murder Club, where a group of pensioners solve not one but three murders that occur near their retirement village. I’ve also read Murder by the Book, another mystery surrounding an amateur sleuth and A Murder is Announced, a Miss Marple Mystery from the mistress, Agatha Christie. I also finished Bad Monkey on Apple TV.
I’ve enjoyed them all, but isn’t it strange that we like light murder? Is a dead body in this genre the “instigating incident” that puts our characters through some zany antics on their way to solving the case? No other stakes are higher than murder, and it’s an easy way to create the tension needed to push a story through. No one wants to read a mystery about where I left my keys last night (in my hoodie pocket).
In an essay in Time Magazine last year, award-winning author Tana French opined,
“We need to believe that sometimes things can fit together and make sense, even when that seems impossible, that someday our crisis will end, and we’ll be able to leave it behind. The clean resolution offered in the structure of these books—A kills B, C finds out whodunit—makes mystery the perfect genre to speak for the hard-won triumph of order and meaning.”
In our world where things don’t make sense, where truth depends on which cable news channel you watch, or where things aren’t black and white but rather a preschool drawing where every color is scribbled on the page, we like the certainty that at the end of the book, there will be some resolution and that it will make sense, at least to the reader.
There is comfort in that. Like grandma’s tuna casserole, we know what we get when we agree on the genre. So, c’mon, Steve and Marty, bring on another murder. I’ll sit on the couch and watch you bumble into the answer.
Pretzel Bites
The Sympathizer
I wanted to like The Sympathizer. I did. I heard great things. It won the Pulitzer Prize. It was made into a show on Max starring Robert Downey Jr.
But I wasn’t a fan.
Sure, there was some humor, poignance, and heartbreak, but I couldn’t get into it. For one, the book had plenty of dialogue but challenged convention by not delineating the dialogue in quotes and putting it all in the same paragraphs. As a reader, I was confused. By the end, I had checked out and skimmed.
This goes to a larger issue with book awards and critic choices. I believe these “highly prestigious” awards go to narratives that play to the avant-garde. The book, in its story, formatting, prose, or structure, has to break a convention, even though it may not work. If I’m distracted by the writing and the styling choices, you’ve lost me.
I liked the limited series more. Robert Downey Jr. makes every project better. In this adaptation, he plays all the primary Caucasian characters—the CIA agent, the professor, the politician, the auteur, and the priest. I enjoyed that interesting choice.
Bad Monkey
I mentioned this show above. Based on the novel by Carl Hiaasen, Bad Monkey stars Vince Vaughn and has an Elmore Leonard vibe to the story with the Florida Keys, criminal underbelly, and dubious and funny characters.
We all know Vince Vaughn plays the same character every time. But when he does it well, it’s gold. Here he’s Trent from Swingers as a suspended cop trying to crack the case involving land deals, missing arms, black magic, a crazy ex-girlfriend, a coroner's current girlfriend, and, of course, a monkey.
Nobody Wants This
Who knew a sex podcaster (Kristin Bell) and a Jewish rabbi (Adrian Brody) would fall in love? But that’s the premise of this surprising Netflix Show. Based on a real-life relationship between podcaster Erin Foster and music executive (not a rabbi) Simon Tikhman.
The show has the typical rom-com elements, including the best friends/siblings and the dating drama that are staples. But I enjoyed the added layer of Judaism, relationships within and outside the faith, and how that adds more depth and conflict to the budding relationship.
Enjoyed!
Fight Night: Million Dollar Heist
This cast is stellar: Kevin Hart, Terrance Howard, Don Cheadle, and Samuel L. Jackson. Another show based on a podcast, this one a true-crime podcast of the same name, Fight Night, portrays the million-dollar heist that took place in Atlanta the night of Muhammad Ali’s comeback fight against Jerry Tunny in 1970.
Filmed with a 1970s-style flare, the series is not a cozy mystery. It is raw and coarse, and it is classic Samuel L. Jackson. It’s like Jules from Pulp Fiction rising through the ranks to become black gangster Frank Moten. It’s coarse and sometimes uncomfortable, but it's a lot of fun.