The Residence is a recent Netflix whodunnit series that follows eccentric detective Cordelia Cupp as she attempts to solve the death of the chief usher at the White House during a state dinner. Created by Shondaland, this is the first foray into this quirky comedy whodunit genre for the production company best known for Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, and Bridgerton. Whodunits are hard for me to ignore so despite a lot of the elements of this show not quite hitting the mark of what interests me, I gave it a shot regardless and ended up watching it all the way through.
Point 1: Brains for Thee, Not for Me
Mystery shows like this are almost exclusively reserved for serious content. The less serious shows generally tend to be more villain of the week types to be bite-sized for audiences. Whereas, mysteries that span a whole season fall into the category of deeper, serious subject matter where many layers must be peeled back.
Well, The Residence is here to buck the trend. It’s light and airy enough that you don’t feel bogged down by the subject matter while still stuffing enough intrigue to push it to 8 episodes without too many huge lulls. No matter which direction you take with this type of content, the integral part of a whodunit is the detective. And I would go as far as to say that Uzo Aduba’s Cordelia Cupp could easily join Benoit Blanc as a modern classic eccentric super sleuth.
The show can take the time that a movie can’t to really set up Cupp’s character and put some meat around the bones of the detective rather than play every eccentricity for a laugh. Uzo Aduba could easily be nominated for awards in comedy categories as she plays the character that manages to zig when everyone expects to zag to a T. The writing and directing are obviously doing their parts to be the pillars of this performance, but Aduba’s quirky performance where she aptly nails the silences as well as the deadpan turns mixed in with the characteristic aloofness with these archetypes is fantastic. It’s the type of character you think you’ll get sick of but end up becoming more invested in as time goes on.
The meticulousness to show the work that Cordelia Cupp puts into being the successful detective that she is allows the show to take the pressure off the audience to be on the ball. You may find that to be a positive or negative. But if you’re the type of person who can get lost in details sometimes, the writers make a point of reminding you of the important ones and letting the unimportant ones go by the wayside. You don’t have to be concerned about putting your full brain power into this because Cordelia’s doing the work for both of you.
Point 2: Comedy Isn’t Just About the Actors
The Residence is squarely a comedy. It is also a mystery and a drama at times. I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a thriller though as some places have. Comedies, more than most genres, rely on the actors to make them land. Thrillers, action, horror can all overcome acting by nailing things like directing, writing, atmosphere, etc. And I’m not here to say that the actors don’t do a great job here.
When the “main cast” section of the show has 15 people, you know that this is a group effort and there’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen to make this work. Of course, Aduba and Randall Park are the main protagonists, especially for the comedy. To me, Ken Marino, Isaiah Whitlock Jr., and Edwina Findley really stood out in their respective roles as well. Meanwhile, I’d be remiss to not at least mention Giancarlo Esposito’s expected excellent performance as the murder victim A.B. Wynter, first performed by Andre Braugher before his untimely death resulted in a recasting last minute. In a show full of caricatures, Esposito sets the bar with probably the sole straight man performance of the whole show.
However, this point is more about the fact that the secret sauce of the comedy in the series is how the complementary factors raise the comedy past just the performances. The editing is perfect as interviews are inter-spliced to ping-pong contradicting statements and sheepish apologies at a frenetic pace. There’s the editing of the footage, but there’s also the editing on screen. And by that I mean, there are times the frame is cut into 3 or 4 smaller frames to accentuate the stories and moments as they happen. There has legitimately been a lot of thought and creativity put into the big moments to really make them pop. There are some great tracking shots and fun effects to keep you on your toes as the pacing is matched by the music, the dialogue and what you’re seeing on screen. Just maybe don’t think too hard about the order of how things had to happen to make some of the editing work.
It’s rare to see a comedy be a symphony, but The Residence somehow manages that and I applaud it for it.
Point 3: Threads Are For Pulling
Have you ever watched a mystery movie or show where the murder takes place at a big party or event and then the story narrows down the suspects to a manageable handful for the detective to focus on? Of course you have. And you’ve never questioned the narrowing down of suspects because of course, it’s impossible for everyone to be a suspect and how would we ever even make that work? Well The Residence proves it is possible. That’s not to say I think every mystery should do this and I foresee many not even enjoying this approach, but I ended up liking it for the most part. If you don’t love mystery content, I think this will grate on you after a few episodes.
On top of the 15 main cast members, there are almost 40 more recurring characters. And they are legitimately all at various moments big parts of the story! It really is a tour de force of writing… if you reverse engineer things. By that I mean that it’s not the tightest writing if you do something to this extent, but if you’re given this assignment to create an 8-episode mystery show with 50+ characters who factor into the story somehow, I don’t know how you could do this better. If you thought the Knives Out movies are ambitious with the number of suspects, you haven’t seen anything yet!
Now of course, not everyone can be a prime suspect. Some lack motive, others lack opportunity, while the rest lack the gumption. As you start peeling back the characters involved and who could be a legitimate suspect, it could start to wear down on you that the first half of the show is spent on dud suspects that don’t figure into the final equation. But it’s part of the journey! You need the individual lego pieces to make the full structure. Not everyone’s a lego fan though, so I expect many to say they’d prefer a 2 hour version of this instead of the 8 hour version.
Point 4: The Reveal
Any mystery can only be as good as its reveal. An excellent lead up can be promptly ruined by the explanation while a mediocre story can be saved by how the mystery wraps up. Every episode of the show is named after a famous mystery, starting with The Fall of the House of Usher and ending with The Mystery of the Yellow Room. Much like in The Mystery of the Yellow Room, the finale revolves around explaining the mysterious logistics of how the murder could have happened. I’ll admit, my guess was incorrect. I felt very smug about halfway through the episode as all the signs seemed to point at my guess before a final swerve to find the real culprit.
If you’re the type of person who needs all the clues to be present for you to make a guess, you will love this show for the most part. However, I think near the end, the mystery speeds up to its conclusion and although the who in whodunit is not unsatisfying, it does feel a little rushed, which is a bit counterintuitive for a show that spends 8 hours leading up to it.
I don’t think the reveal is weak, but it definitely isn’t what you’ll remember from the show, which is unfortunate in any mystery.
Is The Residence the best mystery show on TV? No, probably not. But it’s not trying to be that either. I do believe it has a very unique niche in a quirky, approachable comedy that happens to be about a mystery led by an excellent sleuth. Sometimes, something more fun and light is what the occasion calls for.
