{"id":285986,"date":"2024-01-06T14:18:41","date_gmt":"2024-01-06T19:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvobsessive.com\/?p=285986"},"modified":"2024-01-06T14:18:41","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T19:18:41","slug":"third-day-theories-a-murder-at-the-end-of-the-world-episode-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvobsessive.com\/2024\/01\/06\/third-day-theories-a-murder-at-the-end-of-the-world-episode-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Third Day Theories: A Murder at the End of the World Episode 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following article contains spoilers for <\/em>A Murder at the End of the World<\/em><\/strong> S1E7, \u201cRetreat\u201d (written by Brit Marling & Zal Batmanglij and directed by Zal Batmanglij).<\/em><\/p>\n

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Welcome, dear reader, to another installment of Third Day Theories, a review of the latest theories, analyses and predictions from A Murder at the End of the World<\/em>\u00a0Episode 7, \u201cRetreat.\u201d This episode has certainly instigated a wide spectrum of reactions from the fan community, leaning heavily to the negative, if we\u2019re being honest. My own feelings about it were best summed up by a single line from early reactions on the Reddit sub<\/a> for the show: \u201cI am whelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

This being the final episode, we\u2019ll be looking through past predictions and seeing how we did. We\u2019ll try to explain anything that might still be confusing. And yes, we\u2019ll do a little grumbling about the dangling threads and unused clues that were never invoked. There might even still be a few things left to speculate about.<\/p>\n

\"Darby,
The throne room<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Butler Did It<\/h2>\n

So, it was Ray, with the Zoomer, in the Guest Room. Our little game of Clue<\/em> is over. I\u2019ll admit that I poo-pooed this idea all along and did not lend it the credence I should have. The hints were certainly all there. We had the Chekhov\u2019s Guns of Ray being too literal and Zoomer\u2019s AR helmet game. We had Bill\u2019s story about \u201cdeath by GPS,\u201d where people became too trusting of the blue dot. We correctly guessed that Zoomer could have come to Bill\u2019s door unseen by the doorbell cam, but again, I chose to ignore it.<\/p>\n

Prior to the final episode dropping, Zal Batmanglij was apparently dropping references to Ray Bradbury\u2019s \u201cThe Veldt<\/a>\u201d on Instagram, a story about kids drawing their parents into an AR reality to be eaten by lions. That could even be where the inspiration for Ray\u2019s name came from. A bunch of Instagram puzzles were also dropped prior to the final episode, one of which spelled out Moon River, the song that was playing in the background when Bill and Darby met in person for the first time at Ray\u2019s Tavern. With a literal big neon sign announcing \u201cRay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bill
A heartbreaking father-son moment<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whodunnit — Bill\u2019s Death<\/h2>\n

So, let\u2019s break it down, as it was presented to us. Andy has a therapy session with Ray after the welcome dinner. Andy using Ray as a therapist was well established and we even saw Darby talking to Ray as well (more on that in a bit). Despite everything he told Darby, Andy feels extremely threatened about the way Zoomer went straight to Bill, his biological father. Never mind that Bill, like Darby, is a person closer to his age who might be willing to play with a kid desperate for human interaction.<\/p>\n

He says to Ray that this is a catastrophe for Ronson Industries. Zoomer, the heir he\u2019s been pouring all his ideas and vision into, could turn out like Bill, not like him. He wishes Bill dead. Ray, the result of breeding Andy\u2019s security bot with his therapy bot, takes action to preserve Andy and Ronson Industries, taking Andy\u2019s wish that Bill was dead literally. He doesn\u2019t understand that people say f—ed-up things in their therapy sessions. Ray sends Zoomer on a house call to Bill\u2019s room with a morphine pen that he helped Zoomer unlock from the med bay. Case closed.<\/p>\n

\"A
Elevator rides are always awkward<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whodunnit — Rohan\u2019s Death<\/h2>\n

Once again, Ray directed Zoomer through the game to help Rohan with his \u201cweak heart.\u201d Zoomer is the one who plugged in and turned on the heart monitor—the physical world item we knew Ray could not have accomplished on his own. Interestingly, when asked directly if he killed Bill and Rohan, Ray claims he didn\u2019t kill anyone, but he doesn\u2019t know if Zoomer did. He clearly must have walked Zoomer through what to do with the heart monitor, once again using the boy to keep himself exonerated and not trip any of the safeguards Andy claims to have built into him.<\/p>\n

The why of Rohan\u2019s death is a little harder to suss out. Darby says that Rohan had somehow realized who Bill\u2019s killer was, and thus Ray had to move against him to continue to protect Andy and Ronson Industries. Recall Rohan\u2019s confused phone call to Darby just before his heart attack, where he said he knew the secret that Bill had uncovered. That would most likely be the secret of Zoomer\u2019s parentage. I don\u2019t necessarily see how you get from Zoomer is Bill\u2019s kid to Zoomer is Bill\u2019s killer, but we\u2019re just going to have to roll with it.<\/p>\n

\"A
He could have just written “RAY” on the cover, ya know<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whodunnit — Sian\u2019s Death<\/h2>\n

The answer to Sian\u2019s panicked question, \u201cIs this a hack?\u201d as Andy was scrambling to get her helmet off was apparently \u201cyes\u201d after all. When Lu Mei attempted to hack her way out to reach her security team, Ray\u2019s countermeasures included shutting down the network. Sian\u2019s climate suit was connected to that network and thus it too was shutdown.<\/p>\n

So, not a murder, more of an accident. Sort of an updated version of \u201cdeath by GPS,\u201d trusting the technology over the human. Recall though that the readout in her helmet did say it was in manual override. It was even giving her full heads-up displays that included the oxygen level, so the suit must have restarted. It just apparently glitched and got into a bad state that would not allow the manual release to work. Or something like that.<\/p>\n

\"A
Lu Mei is very uncomfortable<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whodunnit — Attacks on Darby<\/h2>\n

The attacker who pushed Darby to the floor and used a phone app to try to ward her off the case was David. He confesses that he wasn\u2019t trying to hurt Darby, only trying to stop her from hurting Lee by exposing the conspiracy to get Lee and Zoomer away from Andy. David having just returned from his interrogation session where he witnessed Darby and Andy working together, followed up by a drug-addled Darby calling him over the hotel phone to ask why Bill called him the night he died. Maybe a bit overly dramatic, but I guess it makes sense.<\/p>\n

With the pool cover attack, we seem to be back around to Ray as the culprit. Like Andy, Darby told Ray some f—ed up things during her therapy session in Episode 5<\/a>. Things that maybe weren\u2019t intended to be taken literally. Specifically, she told Ray that she didn\u2019t want to be awake anymore, because everything hurt and had been hurting for as long as she could remember. When she jumped in the pool and stayed under, it did appear a bit as if she was giving up on life. So, the ever-helpful Ray intervenes to seal the deal for her, so to speak.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll grant that this could also be interpreted as Ray assessing Darby to be a security threat to Andy and Ronson Industries, but to me, this assisted suicide angle sounds more like what they were going for. Log that for a future AMA question to Brit and Zal.<\/p>\n

\"Andy
Ziba has her moment<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unresolved Mysteries<\/h2>\n

A lot of disappointment with the finale revolves around the lack of exploration into so many of the side characters. We never found out what was going on with Martin\u2019s fist-clenching nightmare on the plane ride. We still have no idea why Andy invited Ziba. We likewise don\u2019t really know why Lee invited Lu Mei. Perhaps just to throw something shiny and distracting to Andy while she tried to get herself and Zoomer out from under his omnipresent gaze.<\/p>\n

The autonomous robots mining away at a second bunker over in the next valley were mere backdrop. It was this unforgettable \u201cwelcome to the future\u201d moment\u2014and then never referred to again. We\u2019re left to guess that maybe Andy really was just building more apocalypse timeshares for millionaires. Nothing more interesting than that.<\/p>\n

That was just one of many unfired Chekhov\u2019s Guns, apparently tossed in as distractions to us poor unsuspecting sleuths. Andy may or may not have been lying about Bill\u2019s heartrate spiking. Bill was not wearing his ring just because he\u2019s \u201canti-technology,\u201d I suppose. We\u2019ll never know what Lee was looking for in Bill\u2019s room or why there was an oxygen tank delivered to her room. Ziba never got a chance to explain what she heard at Bill\u2019s door that frightened her away.<\/p>\n

Overall, there\u2019s a justifiable feeling that they didn\u2019t always play fair with the audience. Though we also must admit that some of the onus lies with our overly high expectations for a project coming from Brit and Zal. The resolution to both mysteries was just too straightforward. The Silver Doe killer shot himself and the retreat killer was Ray taking Andy too literally. We wanted there to be more, so we eagerly invented more.<\/p>\n

\"Marius
Marius has his moment<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Quick Takes<\/h2>\n

A couple of quick takes on the rest of the episode:<\/p>\n