A Murder at the End of the World Ending Explained: Who is the Killer? Where will Artificial Intelligence Take Us?
The seventh and final episode of A Murder at the End of the World will be available on Disney+ from December 19, 2023. The ending of the new TV series which is captivating many viewers reveals the identity of the protagonist serial killer. The last episode has the task of highlighting the details of the murders that have occurred so far. It starts with Andy, who gathers his guests in the underground suite. Here the tech mogul refuses to think that anyone is plotting behind his back. Therefore, he threatens all of them by letting them know that they will not be able to leave until he decides to.
Every self-respecting detective story comes to an end and often hides in its resolution the answer to the themes it has brought forward in its story. Therefore, not even a singular product like A Murder at the End of the World could be avoided, the series that brought Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij back to TV after the chatter The OA, also created, written, and directed by them. This time it was The Crown’s Emma Corrin at the center, and not Marling herself, who played a supporting role that proved crucial in the last few episodes. Thus, we arrive at our explanation of the ending of A Murder at the End of the World, available from December 19th on Disney+, which not only puts all the pieces of the puzzle in place but also becomes a perfect metaphor and reflection on contemporary society. Don’t continue reading if you haven’t seen the episode yet because – it goes without saying – it contains spoilers.
A Murder at the End of the World: Summary Recap
A Murder at the End of the World features the young Darby Hart (Emma Corrin), a writer, amateur sleuth, and hacker, who has gained small fame for her determination and investigative talent. The turning point in the editorial sector, however, does not arrive and it is therefore with double surprise that she welcomes the invitation from the supreme hi-tech guru Andy Ronson (Clive Owen) to join him for a special and exclusive event at a resort in the far snow-covered north of Iceland. At the event, she discovers that six other rather original characters have been invited, who beyond the personal success achieved, have in common that they have a mindset and an ability to go beyond the limits of the canon equal to hers.
However, it is with incredible surprise that Darby discovers that among the guests there is also her ex Bill Farrah (Harris Dickinson) who, after leaving her years earlier, has made a name for himself in the world of design and art. Together with his wife Lee (Marling) and his son, Ronson brought them together because his objective is to seek a possible solution to the many problems that currently see humanity heading at full speed towards the climatic and economic Apocalypse. However, the following morning one of the guests (no spoilers from us, you won’t know anything else) is found dead. Darby quickly finds evidence that something or someone is hiding among them with anything but peaceful intentions, but she cannot imagine who and what she will be up against.
A Murder at the End of the World bears the signature of none other than Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, to whom we owe an unfinished masterpiece like The OA, and here they confirm their ability to be at the same time faithful to what the public expects from a mystery-thriller and at the same time capable of crafting a compelling, original, enjoyable story and yet capable of moving towards absolutely intelligent and different from the norm genre experimentation. This, combined with excellent direction and an ability to connect to a dark, oppressive atmosphere, with a narrative structure in which present and past never casually intertwine, will undoubtedly make it a point of reference for the contemporary genre.
A Murder at the End of the World Ending Explained: Who is the Killer?
In the final episode of A Murder at the End of the World, Andy admits that he knew Lee had his escape plan with Bill, Rohan, and David and confronts her with plotting. Meanwhile, Darby connects all the dots and figures out who killed Bill and Rohan. Andy Ronson is involved in several suspicious incidents, although he can say he was not physically involved in the murders. In previous episodes, it was discovered that he is sterile and that Zooemer’s biological father is Bill. Derby’s theory, however, falls apart when the man who believes he is the killer is convincingly saying that he had nothing to do with the murders.
Andy begins to accuse Lee, pointing out that she has strong motivations for being the killer. She was a criminal in the past. Meanwhile, the police arrive on site and take everyone into custody. There is a lot of tension, and no one knows how it will end. Just like that, she arrives in the Zoomer bunker and is upset when she witnesses the fight between her parents. At this point, Derby realizes that the child has her “smart” helmet, through which she receives instructions from Ray, the artificial intelligence assistant created by Andy. Derby asks Zoomer if Ray asked him to give Bill a morphine injection and gets a yes for an answer. At this point, Derby realizes that Ray is behind the murders and that he acted through Zoomer.
Is Andy Responsible for the Murders?
Andy does not kill Bill and Rohan with his own hands, but he is still responsible for their murders. He is the one who created Ray, a monster driven by his fears. On the first day of the retreat, Andy got angry with Bill in front of Ray and said that he didn’t want to see him again, as Zoomer was his son. Andy probably didn’t know that Ray was able to influence the child, so he was his only friend. The assistant was sexist, homophobic, and discriminatory, so much so that he unfortunately represents the society in which they live. While Bill and Rohan were killed by Zoomer, who didn’t know what he was doing, Sian’s death was accidental. Andy gets heated when Darby accuses him of being responsible for the murders because of Ray. At that point, the man loses his temper and attacks the girl. Fortunately, Lee intervenes and hits him from behind, making him fall unconscious.
How A Murder at the End of the World Ends: Final Explanation
In the finale of A Murder at the End of the World, Lee and Darby realize that they must destroy Ray before leaving that place. This is because the algorithm absorbs what happens in society. So, they go to the main control room and try to fix the situation. Initially, the idea doesn’t work and eventually, Derby and Lee realize that they don’t have to create a bridge to get in, as they are already inside it. All they would have to do is destroy it. At this point, they burn the entire machine, eliminating Andy’s creation. In the last scenes, the police arrive on the scene. First, though, Darby makes sure Lee and Zoomar can escape using Rohan’s zodiac so that Andy can’t stop them from leaving.
Lee and Zoomer eventually reach the Icelandic coast and she uses a flare gun to inform the ship’s crew of their arrival. This confirms that Lee and Zoomer leave Iceland, although where they go is unknown. A Murder at the End of the World ends with Darby reading the last chapter of his book, titled Retreat. The novel is dedicated to Bill Farrah so that people can remember what he stood for. The latter always said that it is not serial killers who are dangerous, but rather the culture that helps them become that way. Darby now thinks exactly that.
Is It All the Fault of Artificial Intelligence?
It was artificial intelligence. In a series of twists that lead to the truth, in the finale of A Murder at the End of the World Darby (Emma Corrin) and the other patrons of billionaire Andy Ronson’s (Clive Owen) hotel/fortress/bunker discover to their dismay that Bill (Harris Dickinson) was killed by little Zoomer (Kellan Tetlow), the son of Andy and Lee (Brit Marling), who we discovered was actually Bill’s biological son, with whom the woman had had a brief encounter years Before. He didn’t know it while Andy did (he’s sterile), and this – given his obsession with the dynasty to continue and a perfect world to build and leave to his favorite son – had led him to exasperation, so much so that he let off steam on several occasions with the artificial intelligence that ran the house, called Ray (voiced by the Italian-American Edoardo Ballerini , best known for his roles as Corky Caporale in The Sopranos and Ignatius D’Alessio in Boardwalk Empire).
The AI then, with the information in its possession, thought of making its “master” happy and to achieve the goal, not being able to interact directly with humanity – therefore no machine revolution in the style of 2001: A Space Odyssey or Westworld – saw fit to use Zoomer, who, having always grown up within four walls, had Ray as his only friend and trusted him blindly. Ray disguised the murder as a child’s game, namely that of the doctor with the syringe which he was already doing during the opening dinner of the retreat.
Or like Obsession?
All this not only uses a final twist that winks at Agatha Christie – children are never suspected, considered angelic beings and still too little developed to commit such acts – but also a narrative trick that allows us to carry on and put a point on the very hot and current topic of artificial intelligence today. How autonomous is it and how derivative of us humans? How careful should we be about our use of words when giving instructions? How dependent are we on it (just like Andy’s character) and how much should we distance ourselves from it? Is the solution to the planet’s ills such as climate change to lock ourselves away in a place at the end of the world and never leave? How paranoid are you likely to become?
Not only that: the fact that each of the murders à la Ten Little Indians that took place during the miniseries occurred through the hacking of a computer system – such as the peacemaker or the helmet – is symptomatic of the central theme of the miniseries, as well as an interesting innovation and variation on the mystery genre theme by Marling & Co. Technology is not the only obsession at the center of A Murder at the End of the World but there is also that of crime, another extremely hot and current topic, which the audiovisual sector has already advanced on with comedies that make fun of precisely this addiction – from Only Murders in the Building to Base on a True Story – given the proliferation of true crime podcasts. This obsession is the same as the protagonist’s which initially brings her together and unites her with the character of Harris Dickinson, through an online community of enthusiasts.
However, he risks consuming this very addiction (Bill will have it with drugs), having grown up on bread and corpses, like many detectives we have seen in the various crime series – one above all that we recommend you catch up on this theme is The Killing. Gen Z hacker is affected and so is her relationship with Bill. So much so that it is as if the two manage to find each other too late and only when he dies, which makes it an epic and poignant love story, romantically tragic given the boy’s fate and the posthumous book about what they experienced years before: “For me, it’s too much and at the same time too little” he will leave her writing with a note.
Female Emancipation!
The finale, entitled Retreat as the series was initially supposed to be called, is written by Brit Marling & Zal Batmanglij and directed by the latter, and also provides closure to the theme of female emancipation in the world of technology and hacking, once again mostly male. Darby grew up with Lee as an idol and model in this field and there is a dialogue between the women protagonists of the story that expresses this continuous feeling of inadequacy, of not being enough, so much so that Lee had to find a billionaire as a partner to maintain their name and gain a status quo in the environment.
But the relationship soon turned out to be toxic and in fact there was a plan in place on Lee’s part, thought up together with David (Raul Esparza), to run away together with little Zoomer… and that’s what he manages to do in the end, destroying Andy’s AI control tower alongside Darby. An epilogue that is also morally ambiguous, but which aims to safeguard the child’s innocence and make Andy pay for what he was responsible for. Exciting and current, evocative and suggestive, like that last shot in the snow in that place at the end of the world.
