In The Final Problem, a new Spanish mystery on Netflix, an actor most famous for playing Sherlock Holmes, finds himself investigating murders for real in a luxury hotel on a remote island.
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himself → play → island
It’s pretty much a classic whodunnit, and that’s a good thing.
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that → ’ → ?
Years after his fame playing Holmes, Basil finds himself on the downside of his career.
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himself → play → career
He runs into an old producing friend, Fonseca (Gonzalo de Castro), at a party, and Fonseca invites him to sail to Mallorca to meet an American producer for a film Fonseca is working on.
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Fonseca → run → film
Basil agrees when Fonseca says the film has a part for him.
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film → agree → him
However, a storm forces the ship their on to divert to a mostly-uninhabited island named Santa Agueda.
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storm → force → island
The only inhabitants are the guests and staff at a small luxury hotel where they’ll be staying.
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they → stay → hotel
There, Basil meets a crime novel writer named Francisco Foxá (Martiño Rivas), who insists that because Basil played Sherlock for so long he can make deductions like the great fictional detective.
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he → meet → detective
Those skills come into play when a guest named Elisa Mander (Paloma Bloyd) is found dead, after a storm has cut the island off from communicating with police in Mallorca.
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storm → come → Mallorca
Seruya (Pepón Nieto), a doctor who is a guest at the hotel, declares her death a suicide.
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death → declare → hotel
But both Basil and Francisco think otherwise.
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Basil → think → ?
And as much as Basil keeps telling people that he’s just an actor, his curiosity and ability to observe thrusts him into the role of detective.
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curiosity → tell → detective
What Shows Will It Remind You Of?
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It → remind → You
The Final Problem, based on a novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, follows a classic Sherlock Holmes/Agatha Christie template, so fans of shows like Sherlock or Murder Is Easy will enjoy this show.
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Murder → base → show
We appreciated two things about The Final Problem: One is the scenery and elegance of the story’s setting, which is 1959 and a beautiful hotel essentially in the middle of nowhere.
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which → appreciate → middle
It’s the kind of setting where men wear tuxedos and women wear gowns for dinner, and everyone seems to walk around in “summer formal” wear even during the day.
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everyone → ’ → day
What we also appreciate is that Coronado’s character Basil resists his curiosity and underplays his powers of observation but almost accidentally becomes the go-to person when it comes to the investigation.
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it → appreciate → investigation
Of course, there’s a storied history of accidental detectives in mystery series and movies, but how they maneuver into that role is at times hard to believe.
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maneuver → ’ → times
Basil is pushed into that role, mostly by Francisco, but certainly embraces it once he’s there.
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he → push → it
From there, it’s a classic mystery, with 13 people trapped in one place, and the killer could be any of them — at least the ones who are still alive.
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who → ’ → them
Since we mentioned Coronado, we’ll use this space to appreciate the performance of María Valverde as Adela Figueroa, who was Elisa’s friend but seems to have something to hide.
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who → mention → something
Another body is found by Basil, Francisco and the others.
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body → find → Basil
The Final Problem is a classic whodunnit, and that’s a good thing, thanks to a lavish setting and a fine lead performance from Coronado.
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that → ’ → Coronado
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie.
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he → write → himself
His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
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writing → appear → Times
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