Darby just found out that Zoomer has ACHOO Syndrome, a rare genetic condition that Bill also had. Does that mean Zoomer is Bill’s son? That question gets answered in the fifth episode of A Murder at the End of the World, titled “Crypt.”
(Chris Saunders/FX)
“Chapter 5: Crypt” – Written by Brit Marling
In a flashback, Darby Hart (Emma Corrin) and Bill Farrah (Harris Dickinson) stopped at a gas station on their road trip to unmask the Silver Doe killer. While refueling Bill’s uncle’s car, Darby took a moment to breathe in Bill and memorize his scent. A scene that is mirrored by…
(Chris Saunders/FX)
… The present, in which Darby hugs Zoomer (Kellan Tetlow) close, smelling his hair. Zoomer’s smart watch pushes an alert, and he has to go, leaving the medical room Darby is being monitored in after her head injury through an elevator door. The staff doctor, Eva (Britian Seibert), enters and reminds Darby she should be lying down. Darby wants to see Sian, but Eva says she is recovering from her emergency tracheotomy and battling an infection. Darby questions why Eva appears to be Zoomer’s nanny if she’s really a doctor. “He’s not just any 5 year old, now is he?”, Eva answers. Darby wants to know if Zoomer is sick, pointing out that there’s enough medical equipment to supply a small hospital and asking if the morphine is for Zoomer. Eva is unable to answer Darby’s questions, protected by HIPAA. But Darby switches to general questions, getting Eva to confess that the morphine that was used to kill Bill came from the refrigerated safe, with a code only she is supposed to have. This is also where the pacemaker receiver is stored, which Eva found plugged in after Rohan’s death.
There are two ways into the medical room where Darby has been staying: a door back to the hotel and an elevator that is mysterious to Darby. Realizing that Eva isn’t going to answer any more of her questions, Darby runs to the elevator and pushes the button. Eva tries to stop Darby, worrying about her head. “I’m not worried about a concussion,” Darby protests. “I’m worried whether I survive the night,” Eva reluctantly joins Darby in the elevator and presses a button that sends them down several stories.
The doors open to a gothic ballroom, at the back of which is a dinner table where Tomas (Daniel Olson) is serving a meal to Andy Ronson (Clive Owen), Lee Andersen (Brit Marling), and Zoomer, who sits on Andy’s lap. Andy doesn’t look happy to see Darby down here, and Eva rushes ahead to apologize. Andy asks Eva to go check on Sian, and Lee scoops up Zoomer, taking him up a spiral stone staircase, which adds to the den’s medieval castle motif. As Andy calls Darby over, she walks underneath what appears to be a skylight, looking up and seeing a crystal and a series of mirrors leading up to the earth’s surface. “She wants to read to him about King Arthur, I want him to be King Arthur,” Andy says of Zoomer’s silver helmet, which remains on the table as Lee takes their son upstairs to his bedroom.
“I know that Zoomer is Bill’s son and that Bill made some claim to his paternity, so you killed him or got Todd to do it for you,” Darby blurts out, adding that Rohan was a witness, and that’s why he was killed. Andy calmly sets his chopsticks down and shows no signs of alarm at the accusations. “I’m sterile,” Andy reveals, a fact he’s known since he was in college trying to make tuition payments as a sperm donor. “I never told anybody, not even my wife.” But Andy says that doesn’t make him any less of a father to Zoomer. Darby asks Andy about security footage in the medical room, and he shares that the footage only shows his family, Eva, and Bill entering before Bill’s death. Darby asks if it’s possible that Eva and her husband, Todd, could be conspiring against Andy. He says he believes the killer is someone close to him, and that both are a possibility. “But it’s not me, Darby,” Andy promises.
Darby asks where Andy was when Bill died. He taps a few times on his phone and slides it over to her, showing security footage of him in the medical bay receiving treatment, something he does late at night so it won’t scare Zoomer. “I felt nothing but gratitude for Bill,” Andy declares. “He provided the hardware, I provide the software, and we all know it’s the software that counts.” He thinks Bill’s death was more about someone at the retreat trying to damage Andy’s reputation, likening himself to a king in the feudal era and someone else wanting his throne. “You’re like a fresh page on a stale old court,” Andy says to Darby. “You’re very smart, and you’ve been ahead of me more than once. I could use you, and you could use me.” Andy offers to assist Darby with the investigation, promising that with his help, everyone will talk to her.
Andy brings Darby to a stone room with a curved wall, upon which a projector displays a 3D map of the hotel. Andy tells her the security system does intermittent LIdar scans, showing her one from 12:06 am the night Bill died. The scan includes all public spaces in the hotel, including the medic bay, and he proves his whereabouts by showing himself there with Eva receiving “life extension therapy.” The scan includes 10 meters past the outer wall, and they go to the exterior of Bill’s room, finding Darby on her knees, watching Bill die. Andy shares that the system goes down at 11:59 pm each night for an automatic backup, which was the exact time of Bill’s attack. Darby asks to see 11:30 pm, and Andy gives the A.I. program Ray (Edoardo Ballerini) the command. They see Todd (Louis Cancelmi) patrolling the hallway, and Lee playing poker in the library with Lu Mei (Joan Chen), Martin (Jermaine Fowler), and Marius (Christopher Gurr). Darby asks Ray to show images of all staff and guests, ruling out anyone who entered their room. Before 11:30 and didn’t leave until after Bill’s death. Of the faces remaining, Andy vouches for Tomas being in the kitchen the entire time, the fact that Todd doesn’t have the technical skill to remove himself from a doorcam, and how Ziba (Pegah Ferydoni) isn’t a hacker. Darby’s lead suspect is David (Raúl Esparza), whom they find in the hallway on a scan from 12:06 am. “David was in the hallway when Eva led me out of Bill’s room,” Darby remembers. “That was 12:15, so what was David doing in the halls for the 10 minutes when Sian was trying to revive Bill?”
David is irate as Todd escorts him down to Andy’s living room. He’s hostile towards Darby, referring to her as a “non-playable character.” Darby asks what he was doing in the halls around the time of Bill’s death. “I was just going to another guest’s room,” he says. David is reluctant to share that it was Oliver’s room, and Andy is quick to accuse David of trying to poach his robotics wizard. “There are other things that people do at midnight outside of corporate espionage,” Darby says to Andy. David has gone silent, refusing to answer any more questions without his lawyer present.
Having hit a wall with David, Darby and Andy next call Oliver (Ryan J. Haddad) in for questioning. Oliver is open about his sexual relationship with David, saying they hooked up at 11:30 pm in David’s room. “Half hour later, he was at my door wanting to go again,” Oliver explains, describing David’s mood as “flustered but horny.” Darby asks Oliver if he knows what was on David’s mind. “He talked a lot about Lu Mei, thinks she’s a Chinese spy or something.” Darby notices that, despite being in a mobility device, the tread is worn on Oliver’s sneakers. He confesses that he is capable of walking, but not for long and not very far.
Lu Mei is next, bringing with her a bottle of alcohol she hoped she would share with Andy under better circumstances. “I survived the cultural revolution, I’m going to survive this,” she declares, confirming that she was playing poker with Lee and Martin after swimming in the spa. She shares that while players left the table, nobody left the room except for Lee, who left it once. Darby asks Lu Mei about her hacking skills, and she refers to herself as the brawn of her operation, not the brains. Darby isn’t completely satisfied with her answer, and Lu Mei confesses to unsuccessfully trying to hack the resort’s firewall to reach her security team when she becomes alarmed. “I’ve come down here because I want to help, and I will help you, Andy, even after we get out of here,” Lu Mei pledges her allegiance. She tells him about software her smart city company is developing that would predict criminal behavior before it happens.
Darby tells Andy she wants to interview Lee next, which Andy dismisses. He calls for Ray to pull up David’s call records. They’re both surprised to learn that Bill called David at 11:07 am, a call that lasted just 27 seconds. Darby is confused about how Bill would’ve even known David. Andy shares that Ray only keeps transcripts of calls if something dangerous is said to trigger a recording. They’re interrupted by the arrival of Marius, who holds a satellite phone for Andy, saying it's a call from The Wall Street Journal for a comment about Rohan’s death. “How would they know?”, Andy asks with fury. “Who told them?” Marius is shaking, unsure of how the news got out of the hotel. Andy rants about how he can’t trust anyone as he calms himself down, takes the phone, and leaves the room.
Sneaking away, Darby ascends the stairwell that Lee and Zoomer went through. She finds Lee napping with Zoomer in his bedroom, quietly waking her up to talk. Lee says she went to check on Zoomer during the poker game a little after 11:00. Lee seems nervous, asking where Andy is. Darby starts to apologize for sharing an accusation with Andy before running it by her. “What did you tell him?”, Lee asks in fear. “I know that Bill is Zoomer’s biological father,” Darby shares. Lee lets out a genuine laugh before realizing that Darby is serious. “You said that to my husband?”, Lee asks in bewilderment. “He already knew,” Darby answers, prompting more questions from Lee. She wasn’t aware that Andy is sterile, and she steps into the bathroom for a moment. Her sobs are audible over the whale sounds emitting from Zoomer’s white noise machine.
As Lee throws up in the bathroom, Darby sees her purse and peeks inside, pulling out a black wig and wallet, which contains a passport for an alias who looks like Lee with dark hair. Lee opens the door, catching Darby staring at her wig and fake passport. “Sorry,” Darby stammers, saying she should take Eva’s advice and go rest. “I’m not mad at you, Darby,” Lee says calmly as she walks toward her. “It’s never good to keep secrets, and I’ve kept so many of them.” Darby backs away toward the door, stopped by the appearance of Andy. “Did you just sneak off and question my wife?”, he demands. Darby stammers as Lee tells her husband it’s ok. Darby says she needs to go rest, but Andy isn’t interested in letting her go back upstairs. He says he will have Eva come down to treat her. When Darby says she needs fresh clothes from her room, he tells her Todd will bring them. Lee interjects, sharing that Darby might need space to grieve and should be allowed to return to her room. “I’d never stop if it wasn’t for my wife,” Andy says, calming down. “Take a moment, and then we’ll carry on working together.” Lee gives Darby a nervous look as she exits Zoomer’s bedroom.
Todd escorts Darby back up to the hotel. She’s instantly struck by the cold in the medical bay, learning that one of the emergency generators is down, so the hotel is without heat. “I’m sorry about your friend,” Todd tells Darby as he takes her to her room. He tells her about his effeminate older brother, who was bullied to death as a child. When he got older, Todd got vengeance on the teens responsible for his brother’s death. “I don’t know what’s going on here or who’s responsible, but I understand revenge, and I admire loyalty,” Todd says. “My loyalty is to this family.”
Darby gets inside her room and pulls the nightstand over to barricade the door. Her vision is beginning to blur, and Ray comes over the speaker to inform Darby that her heart rate is irregular and she needs to rest. Darby ignores him, opening her patio door and finding snow piled so high on the ledge that she can hardly see out. She goes back inside and goes to her bag, pulling out a few orange pills and crushing them into a powder on the desk. She snorts a line, looks at the room assignments still written on her arm, picks up her phone, and calls David. “Why did Bill call you the night he died?”, Darby asks. David hangs up on her, and when Darby tries to call him again, his room has been set to do not disturb. Darby snorts more of the orange dust, asking Ray to turn the fireplace on, a request he can’t satisfy due to gas and power being in reserve mode. Darby pulls out a pad of paper and writes down some important case details. What did Bill call David about? Who is the Zodiac waiting for? What is Lee hiding? When Ray tries to alert Darby about her vitals again, she gets frustrated and pulls the speaker out of the wall.
After freshening up at the bathroom sink, Darby hears a knock at her door, pulling out her Swiss Army knife before going to her doorcam monitor. It’s Tomas with meal delivery. Darby asks for anything prepackaged, asking him to leave a bag of chips and licorice outside her door. She waits for him to leave, but before she can collect her snacks, a hooded figure jumps Darby from behind, knocking her to the ground and pinning her down. She sees a gloved hand holding a phone near her ear, playing a test-to-speech message. “There is no end to this labyrinth,” the robotic voice warns. “If you reach the center, you will not get Bill back. I do not want to take another life. Don’t force my hand.” Darby passes out.
A flashback to Darby and Bill’s road trip. She was buried in her phone, consumed by the case. Bill asked Darby when she first knew she was falling for him. She wanted Bill to tell her his answer first, and he told her it was a three-part answer. The first was during their initial online chat when Darby told him she could speak to the dead, and he understood what she meant by that. The second was the first time they met in person. “I had this feeling like I was gonna know you forever, until the day I die.” As for the third part, Bill said it hadn’t happened yet, but he could feel it coming. Then it was Darby’s turn, and her answer was upsetting to Bill: “What makes you think I’ve fallen for you?” Rather than reversing course, Darby switches topics to the wedding ring they found, with someone on The Doe Files having traced it back to a woman in California in the 1920s. She busied herself posting the ring on Reddit to try and get more information, barely noticing that Bill parked on the shoulder of the road, got out of the car, and started walking into the desert. Darby eventually gets out to join him on a log, watching the sunset. Bill ranted about the addictive nature of cell phones, comparing them to cigarettes. “The first time I felt myself fall in love with you was on my phone,” Darby confessed.
(Chris Saunders/FX)
Darby wakes up shivering on the floor of her room, the patio door wide open to the snowy elements. There are footsteps in the snow leading away from her door. Rather than follow them, Darby goes the opposite direction into the hallway to Sian’s room, bursting past Eva to enter. She finds Sian (Alice Braga) recovering in bed, hooked up to monitors tracking her vital signs. “I thought you would never come,” Sian wheezes, telling Darby none of this is her fault. Sian asks Eva for a moment alone with Darby, and the doctor says she will return in 3 minutes. Darby tells Sian about the attack that just happened and asks her if she knew that Zoomer was Bill’s biological child. It’s news to Sian, who defends her boss. “Andy loves that boy more than anything,” Sian tells Darby, who asks about Lee. “I don’t know what Lee loves.” Sian adds that Zoomer has a trust fund that grows by six figures every day, an account Lee would have access to if she and Andy divorced. Sian encourages Darby not to give up her quest, asking for water. Darby goes to the sink and fills a cup, talking about how Lee’s personality doesn’t match the voice she admired in her manifesto. As Darby fills the glass of water, Sian’s monitors flatline. “Darby, what did you do?”, Sian screams as she rushes back in. Darby is frozen in fear at the sink as Eva and Todd try to revive Sian. She’s dead.
(Chris Saunders/FX)
“Why is it wherever you go, death follows?”, Andy asks Darby, visiting her room. Darby tells Andy about Lee’s fake passport and wig. Andy tells Darby she’s not making sense, suggesting she rest until the authorities arrive. “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? To be interviewed by the police?
That night, Darby goes for a walk in the circular hotel hallways. A light in the central courtyard catches her attention: a bonfire. She goes outside to join Lu Mei and Ziba, sharing the news that Sian is dead. Lu Mei recalls an anecdote Sian shared with her after returning from the lifeless moon, saying she had stopped killing spiders because she was so grateful to be in the presence of anything living now. Ziba talks about how this bonfire feels like an act of rebellion, the spark of a revolution, as Martin joins the group. Darby tells them all about Andy’s underground mansion. “Those robots that we saw, I think it’s what they’re mining,” she suspects. “I think he’s building another one of these.” Ziba refers to it as an “apocalypse timeshare for millionaires,” saying people like her, Martin, and Darby are there purely for entertainment. Oliver rolls out to join them, saying that if the climate really does change rapidly, they’ll be glad Andy is building these safe harbors. Marius pokes his head out to scold them for starting a fire, leaving in a huff when Ziba insults him. Ziba talks about a custom of her Iranian nomadic ancestors, who would briefly pause to mourn when someone died, then hold a ceremony to set their spirit free. As the aurora borealis appears, she lights a piece of wood and holds it up to symbolically represent Rohan’s spirit being set free. Lu Mei does it for Sian. The stick is passed to Darby to release Bill, but she hesitates.
(Chris Saunders/FX)
In this episode’s final flashback, Bill woke up in the hotel to find that Darby stayed up all night, pinning victims on the wall that all led to a killer. People on Reddit helped her rebuild Eunice Bell’s family tree, through which she tracked the wing down a few generations to a police officer whose wife mysteriously vanished, followed shortly by his early retirement. “I have an address,” she told Bill, sharing that the house is for sale and vacant. Bill noticed empty liquor bottles on the dresser and asked Darby if she was high. She confessed to being on Adderall, which she got at a rest stop. Bill expressed his concern for her, saying she hadn’t slept or eaten in days. He was also concerned that the serial killer left a trail of breadcrumbs to lure another victim. Darby was furious at the thought of coming this far and giving up. As they fought, Darby accidentally set fire to the wall, which Bill extinguished with a towel. “I feel like I’d have to die for you to love me,” Bill said.
The fiery memory gives way to the actual fire before Darby’s eyes. She races inside in a panic, rushing back to her room to slam down a mini liquor bottle. She takes the speaker she disconnected and repairs it, plugging it back in to speak to Ray. The AI program becomes a psychologist as Darby likens her emotions to a Brillo pad rubbing skin away little by little until it all comes off at once. Darby’s lamp starts to blink as she talks, and she soon realizes it’s a Morse Code message. She grabs a notepad to write it down. “I know why Bill called David,” it reads. “22:00 – Pool.”
(Chris Saunders/FX)
With a snowstorm raging and no heat, Darby is shivering through her layers as she enters the spa. A glass wall is closed, partitioning off the hot springs from the outside. Darby shivers as she waits, looking longingly at the heat rising up from the warm water. She longs for its warmth, so she strips down to her underwear and climbs in. She submerges herself, sitting on the pool’s floor and meditating, visualizing happy memories of Bill. She’s brought back to to reality by a mechanical noise. Opening her eyes underwater, she sees a glass pool cover quickly sliding across the surface. She kicks off from the bottom of the pool, kicking furiously, trying to get to the other end to escape before it traps her. She’s too late! Darby bangs on the glass from under the water at the shallow end of the pool, but it won’t budge. And then a silhouette of a person appears through the hazy glass, watching Darby as she runs out of air.
We have to wait until Tuesday, December 12th, to find out what happens next when A Murder at the End of the World continues with the sixth and penultimate episode.
“Chapter 6: Crime Seen” – Written by Brit Marling & Zal Batmanglij
Darby uncovers the secret retreat within the retreat. In the past, she and Bill come face to face with the Silver Doe Killer.
Songs Featured in This Episode: