‘The Residence’s Cordelia Cupp is a detective lover’s dream
Looking through my written articles for The Mary Sue, you’ll see I am a big fan of the detective genre. However, since I live in the U.K., most of my favored murder mystery series are decidedly British, including shows like Death in Paradise, Ludwig, Midsomer Murders, Vera, and more. Occasionally, however, an American offering will come along and make me fall in love with the genre all over again, like Only Murders in the Building, Rian Johnson’s Benoit Blanc (Knives Out) mysteries, and now, Netflix’s The Residence.
Produced by the legendary Shonda Rhimes and created by Paul William Davies, The Residence sees Uzo Aduba’s detective Cordelia Cupp take on the case of a lifetime: the murder of a prominent staff member in The White House. The premise alone is worthy of your time, certainly; though the story is (unsurprisingly) fictional, the way The White House operates and exists within the narrative is based on fact—journalist Kate Anderson Brower’s book The Residence: Inside the Private World of The White House inspired the story—and the Upstairs, Downstairs/Downton Abbey-like dynamic of it all makes for incredibly compelling and funny character drama.
A whodunit is only as strong as its leading detective, though. Would Agatha Christie’s stories have become so universally beloved if Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple weren’t such groundbreaking characters? Would Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes have inspired such devotion if he weren’t an intriguing mess? Would Knives Out have become such a success if Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc weren’t so damn loveable? Arguably, no. While much of The Residence’s charm lies in the hands of its witty writing, mesmerizing editing, and it’s abundantly talented cast—Randall Park is always a delight and it’s so nice to see Giancarlo Esposito lend his considerable talent to a non-villainous character—the show would be nowhere near as enjoyable as it is without Uzo Aduba’s detective Cordelia Cupp.
Can we ever have too many “world’s best” detectives?
Plenty of fictional detectives are known as “the world’s best” or some equivalent. Sherlock Holmes, Benoit Blanc, Hercule Poirot, and now, detective Cordelia Cupp. As a Black female detective within this genre, she’s already breaking down barriers left and right, but there’s so much more to her, too. Is she eccentric? Sure, as most of the other world-famous detectives mentioned in this article are. Yes, she knows exactly how smart she is, and yes, she does have a niche and somewhat nerdy hobby. I mean, this woman really, truly loves birds and birdwatching. But you know what else she is?
She’s a teacher. She’s a listener. One of my favorite things about Cordelia Cupp is that, instead of asking incessant questions, she simply stares at her interviewees (not suspects, never suspects) until they reveal their versions of the truth, word vomit spilling out of them until Cupp feels she’s learned enough. She’s also an excellent observer, and much like her fictional peers, enjoys revealing her greatness to the world. How often do women, especially Black women, get to be that proud and have people truly hang on to their every word?
She’s more than just a detective, though. Cordelia Cupp is also a loving aunt to a curious nephew. She’s a protective sister. She wears tweed blazers with leather shoulder pads that I’m genuinely jealous of. She might get annoyed, but she never loses her patience. The world simply moves slower than she does, and she’s willing to wait for the rest to catch up rather than forcefully shove the plot forward. She uses kitchen knives to cut through walls, carries a massive birding book in her satchel, and travels the world for work and pleasure. Honestly, what an icon.
If you love a good detective story as much as I do, add The Residence to your “to-be-watched” list. If the male detectives of the world can return over and over and over again, then Cordelia Cupp deserves that chance, too.
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