The Residence is Netflix’s next (big?) whodunit, produced by Shondaland and starring Uzo Aduba as detective Cordelia Cupp.
132 rooms. 157 suspects. One dead body. One wildly eccentric detective. One disastrous State Dinner. The Residence is a screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world’s most famous mansion.
The Residence Source Material
The Residence series is very loosely based on the book The Residence: Inside The Private World of The White House by Kate Andersen Brower. This book compiles a number of interviews with a number of staff who work at the White House. These workers typically stay in these positions regardless of the turnover that happens every four (or eight) years.
A number of occupations are introduced, such as the chief usher who handles hands allocated by Congress to run many of the ongoings inside the White House. In general, the overarching responsibility of the staff is to tend to the first family and their daily life needs.
However, this new Netflix series takes many creative liberties with the source material to create something entirely new.
The Residence as a Murder-Mystery
Instead of recreating the many stories of staff dealing with demanding first families, this series offers a whodunit mystery. In episode one, viewers and characters alike learn of a murder victim in the White House. This is all happening during an important state dinner with guests from Australia’s political upper echelon in attendance.
If the guests leave, there is a risk that the killer may get away. Depending on who the killer is, justice may be difficult to achieve. Some of the high-ranking guests have diplomatic unity. It’s up to Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba) to search the grounds and speak with a number of people present.
Cordelia Cupp, much like other famous fictional detectives, has a uniquely eccentric approach. She’s particularly fond of bird-watching, and will use her binoculars at seemingly odd times. Her investigation process seems nonsensical to everyone else… until she reveals her sound reasoning for how she’s reached a particular conclusion.
Limited or Ongoing Storytelling
Without being able to see the ending of this whodunit, it’s still a mystery whether or not the creative team has stuck the landing. A dynamic ending is crucial to elevate a whodunit’s standing within the genre.
If they are able to do so, it might be reason enough to bring back Cordelia Cupp for additional murder investigations. Uzo Aduba is the only person that ‘needs’ to return. A common practice in the genre is for the main detective to continually appear across numerous stories. In each one, that detective will be tasked with solving the case at the centre of that particular whodunit.
Given the increasing popularity of Rian Johnson’s Benoit Blanc whodunits, who are currently hosted on Netflix, it’s all the more reason to consider giving Cordelia Cupp a fair shot of her own. The whodunit is a genre with an enduring popularity. Fans are always eager to experience the exhilaration of a well-told mystery followed up by the catharsis of it being solved in the end.
The Residence will premiere on March 20 on Netflix.
Watch my full introduction to the series here:
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