On paper, Shondaland and Netflix's The Residence should be a blast. A White House–set whodunnit? An ensemble cast led by Uzo Aduba, Randall Park, and Giancarlo Esposito? Kylie Minogue is there? Sign me up!
It's a shame, then, that The Residence squanders that potential with execution that is so unwieldy and one-note you'll wish you were watching one of the several other whodunnits it pays homage to instead.
What is The Residence about?
The Residence invites us into the White House on the evening of an all-important State Dinner for the Australian Prime Minister. The evening has to go off without a hitch because tensions are strangely high between the United States and Australia. There's just one problem. Chief Usher A.B. Wynter (Esposito) has been found dead in the White House Residence. And anyone in the building, from the White House's staff to the State Dinner guests (including Kylie Minogue), could be responsible.
Enter Cordelia Cupp (Aduba), the world's greatest detective. Known for solving unsolvable cases, this eccentric investigator with a penchant for birding is determined to bring down A.B.'s killer — and she certainly has her work cut out for her. Almost everyone on the White House staff had reasons to want A.B. gone, from the pastry chef (Bronson Pinchot), whose creativity A.B. stifled, to the assistant usher (Susan Kelechi Watson), who desperately wants A.B.'s job. Plus, Cupp has to deal with doubtful FBI agent Edwin Park (Park) monitoring her every move so the news of a murder at the White House doesn't spiral into a larger scandal.
The Residence's structure is its worst enemy.
Yet become a scandal it does, as The Residence informs us from its very first episode. In one of many baffling choices, the series uses a highly visible Congressional hearing about A.B.'s murder as a framing device, where Senator Aaron Filkins (Al Franken) and the conspiracy theory-loving Senator Margery Bay Bix (Eliza Coupe) grill witnesses.
Aside from emphasizing the political ramifications of a White House murder, something which already feels clear due to the State Dinner of it all, the Congressional hearing adds precious little to The Residence. In fact, it detracts from it. The hearing's interrogations are repetitive when paired with Cordelia's far more intriguing lines of questioning. Plus, they remove us from the on-the-ground investigation, cheapening the urgency of the night of the State Dinner itself.
It's little surprise that the one episode (of the seven Netflix sent for review) that notably features the fewest Congressional hearing interludes is also its most propulsive and intriguing, even if flashbacks elsewhere bog it down. Between these flashbacks and the thread of the Congressional hearing, The Residence reads more like a casualty to flashy storytelling devices than a focused whodunnit.
As for the mystery itself, The Residence does a solid job building alibis and red herrings around the many rooms and characters you might find in the White House, from the politically-minded strivers to the staff aiming for perfection in the president's home. Few characters are developed beyond their ambition or a single personality trait, though, and their thinness becomes especially apparent the more time we spend with them. (Hour-long episodes are simply not the right format for a zany mystery.)
Cordelia Cupp is an unfortunately one-note detective.
The most visible casualty of this limited characterization is none other than Cordelia Cupp herself. Yes, Aduba delivers a sharp performance, and it's a pleasure to watch her catch witnesses in lies and verbally spar with her detractors. But these are things we've seen other great fictional detectives do. What is it about Cupp, aside from Aduba's strength as a performer, that sets her apart?
The answer, according to The Residence, is birds. Cordelia is never without her birding binoculars or a pertinent birding metaphor to explain her approach to the case. Sometimes she takes a tactic similar to that of a falcon hunting her prey. At other times, she uses mountain chickadees' extraordinary memories to poke holes in a suspect's story. The bird references are a fascinating peek into how Cordelia sees the world, but after a barrage of them, they wear out their welcome. In the words of an annoyed Harry Hollinger (Ken Marino), "Enough with the fucking birds."
Cordelia's rapport with Edwin is another missed opportunity. Their adversarial relationship is, like Cordelia's bird obsession, fairly one-note. The few glimpses we do get at blossoming camaraderie fall to the wayside, as does their promise of being a Sherlock Holmes-John Watson type of odd couple. In this and much of The Residence, you can see the sketch lines of something fun forming. But in the end, it's all so much wasted potential.
