Murderville Season 1 Review

February 3, 2022 at 6:31am
By Jason Stettner

This is a Netflix Original Series that finds a rather oddball detective named Terry Seattle (Will Arnett) teaming up with various celebrity guests in order to solve some murders. Each of the six episodes follows a brand new celebrity that has suddenly become the partner of our lead detective.

The episodes typically have a character or two that carry between them with an overall story actually being present here. While you could watch them as standalone offerings, to get an idea of what’s going on in the background plot you will need to watch them all in order. With that, you get a real mixed bag of quality. From some rather funny episodes, to others that barely provide any laughs.

It almost felt back loaded quite honestly, with the last episode being my favorite. I was actually a bit disappointed by the Conan appearance, had assumed that one would be funnier. Anyways, to get back on track the episode is structured in terms of story and at the same time almost entirely improvised.

The celebrity guest has no idea who the killer is, and actually needs to figure that out over the course of the episode. That also gives you; the viewer, the chance to figure out who the killer is along the way. They give clues, and it felt as though you get a little bit of time to come to your own conclusion which was a nice option to have present within this viewing.

The guests roster aside from Conan includes a greatly funny episode with Ken Jeong to wrap things up. There’s a high school flashback blast with Kumail Nanjiani and some strange times with Annie Murphy. Marshawn Lynch really got into it, Sharon Stone lends up medical assistance. Those are mostly just references to the individual episodes. It’s a fun experience where crazy things happen, and where there’s certainly some cringe present at times too.

It does again, feel a bit hit or miss with the setup. It’s definitely somewhat lower in budget too featuring smaller set areas, and generally more intimate scenarios. It does feature a variety of locations which I appreciated, and moments that lend themselves well for comedy. I was just expecting a bit more laughter from it, whereas often I was just sort of waiting for the next joke to land.

The Conclusion

Murderville Season 1 provides a decent balance of laughter and story, but that’s really hit or miss depending on the guest celebrity in rotation. I liked that it was setup in a way that I could participate as well, if I so chose to do so. The premise of this is actually quite interesting, and it would be neat to see Netflix take this concept in other ways with different shows. The whole improv scenario, in regards to a structured setup and then folks trying to make their way through it.

I think that would work well in other series that weren’t just about whodunits, for now though I mostly enjoyed seeing these episodes of murder and general detective work. As the lead, Arnett does keep things moving and isn’t afraid to handle any of the jokes thrown his way. I think it worked well with his style, and the guests mostly complimented what he was setting up.

Some of the guests weren’t totally into what was going on, and I feel that also made some of the segments not fully come through as they weren’t dedicated to the bits. I was most disappointed by the Conan episode, they were mostly making him eat spicy things. I felt like missed potential. That aside, story wise it flowed fine and I got a decent amount of laughs. Did I expect more? Absolutely, still it was enjoyable and a very easy binge watch. I hope to see more of this.

Murderville Season 1 Review at Home with Streamed Viewing
Screening was Provided by Netflix

Rating Overall: 6.5