Warning! This article contains spoilers for A Murder At The End Of The World.
Summary
According to a new dark theory, eerie connections exist between Netflix’s three-year-old popular manga adaptation and a rival streamer’s hit murder mystery show. The mention of Netflix’s live-action manga/anime adaptations immediately brings One Piece to mind, given its recent critical and commercial success. However, long before Netflix’s One Piece defied what audiences expected from live-action adaptations and brought new life to Eiichiro Oda’s works, another live-action manga remake effectively traversed the gripping narratives of its source material to the small screen.
While Netflix works on future manga live-action remakes, its rival streamer has released an enthralling miniseries that brings a murder mystery twist to technology. On paper, the murder mystery show does not have connections with Netflix’s first successful live-action manga adaptation. However, if a grim theory holds true, the two shows might have a lot in common.
A Murder At The End Of The World Theory Reveals Darby Is In A State Of Suspended Animation
One of the initial flashbacks in A Murder at the End of the World reveals how Darby and Bill had traced the Silver Doe killer’s address and even dug up a body in his basement. However, before they could leave his home, he pointed his gun at them and fired. A Murder at the End of the World does not explicitly explain who the killer shot at in its initial episodes. However, a theory suggests that the killer shot Darby and Bill, and Darby’s present timeline is a mere dream. According to the theory (via Reddit), the gunshot left Darby in a state of suspended animation, and in the show’s present timeline, she is somewhere between life and death, fighting to come back to life.
The freezing Icelandic retreat in A Murder at the End of the World reflects Darby’s falling body temperature. Or, the doctors who are trying to save her have intentionally cooled her body in a medical procedure called emergency preservation and resuscitation (EPR), where a patient’s heart stops, and their brain activity goes down to zero after their blood is replaced with ice-cold saline. If this theory holds true and Darby is somewhere between life and death, it could explain all the discrepancies in the show’s present timeline and the lapses in Darby’s consciousness. Sian dying from an infection and Bill and Rohan dying from cardiac arrests are also likely a reflection of Darby’s heart and other organs gradually succumbing as doctors try to save her.
The above explanation is a running theory based on A Murder at the End of the World’s first five episodes.
How The Suspended Animation Theory Connects Theory To Netflix’s Alice In Borderland
This theory connects A Murder at the End of the World to Netflix’s Alice in Borderland. The two shows obviously cannot be set in the same universe because Alice in Borderland is a manga adaptation, while A Murder at the End of the World is an original series created by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij. However, it is interesting how, even in Alice in Borderland, the characters find themselves between life and death. Like Darby, they must outsmart everyone in the afterlife world and win games to return to the real world.
Alice in Borderland’s season 2’s ending also reveals that players in the central games had cardiac arrests in the real world, and their injuries in the games mirrored the ones they got in the real world. Although it is yet to be seen whether A Murder at the End of the World has supernatural undertones, Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij’s previous show, The OA, explored ideas surrounding the afterlife. Owing to this, it would not be surprising if A Murder at the End of the World goes down the same route and reveals in its final moments that Darby’s experience at Andy Ronson’s retreat was a mere vision of a liminal space between life and death, like the one in Alice in Borderland.
Sources: Reddit
New episodes of A Murder at the End of the World release on Tuesdays at 3am ET/ 12am PT on Hulu.
Release Date: 2023-11-14
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