In The Residence’s ending, Detective Cupp walks into the room where A.B.’s body was found and sighs in relief. Was it an easy case to solve? No. Would you call this a justified murder? Certainly not. But what is the point of it all? Well, let’s find out. We’ve been seeing class satire consistently over the past couple of years because it seems while the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, we thoroughly enjoy “eating the rich.” Now, The Residence isn’t satire; it is an answer in plain sight, but that has nothing to do with the case at hand. I am simply talking about the “why” of it all. Detective Cornelia Cupp is meant to be the greatest detective in the world. She’s been invited to the White House by the MPD to solve a mystery grave in nature. The person who is dead is the usher of the White House, a man named A.B. Wynter. So, who killed him and why?
How Was A.B. Wynter Killed?
Cupp unveils that A.B. was poisoned by paraquat, a pesticide that should’ve been found in Emily’s garden. Except it was now a “conscious garden,” so ideally, there should’ve been no paraquat in there. While this is true for the plants and the actual greenhouse, there is still paraquat stashed away in a corner, which Cupp noticed on her first visit. It turns out nobody picked it up. So, the killer took some in a tumbler from Emily’s desk, then gave it to A.B. in his scotch. But then, when that wasn’t enough, they smashed his head with the clock in the Yellow Oval Room, and the rest is history. But who slit the wrists then? Well, it was Tripp who, for some bizarre reason, assumed that he’d get in trouble for just saying that he found this dead man and moved his body to room 301. Then he found the apparent “suicide” note in his pocket, which made him realize it was meant to be a suicide, so he slit both his wrists with the dessert chef’s knife. How wonderful. Well, it turns out the suicide note wasn’t a note at all; it was simply a piece torn out of A.B.’s witty diary, one that Cupp finds in the library, his favorite place in the whole of the White House.
Did Elsyie and Bruce kill A.B.?
In all honesty, if it had been the staff that killed their boss, this show would’ve been under scrutiny for all the wrong reasons. It only makes sense that an outsider would do such a thing, seeing as this isn’t just a group of people working together; it’s an institution: a family. While it seems like Cupp’s theory about Bruce and Elsyie’s love story is completely true, they didn’t kill their boss. Yes, it seemed like the entire staff of the White House wanted the man dead for multiple reasons, but that is simply how one speaks about their boss, no? But Lilly Schumacher carefully paints a picture, quite similar to the multiple elaborate paintings on the walls of the White House, to frame the couple.
Lilly tells Cupp that she felt terrible for Elsyie and Bruce, who were deeply in love and needed to escape the trauma of working under A.B., who was going to ruin everything really soon. She gives Cupp every reason to believe it was Bruce and Elsyie’s doing, except there is one little detail she just cannot explain. Why was the hidden door in the Yellow Oval Room covered up? The answer is pretty simple. Hidden in plain sight is the fact that Lilly killed A.B. Wynter. But why?
Why Did Lilly Kill A.B.?
Some people are just vicious. It is one thing not to like something and another to detest it so much that you’re willing to kill someone because it feels like a victory over the entire institution. This is what happens when the old vs. new argument goes a little bit too far. Lilly always hated the White House. What it stood for, what it looked like, and everything that she couldn’t do with it. Sure, A.B. was going to tell the President and his husband that the PR girl had been stealing money, but that wasn’t the only reason Lilly wanted to shut him up. She felt unadulterated hatred towards A.B. because he stood for everything that she detested. This is what happens when you’re too rich, kids. So, Barbie doll in a pink dress walked up to A.B. on the night of the state dinner with two glasses of scotch. The one for him, laced with poison. But A.B., who probably hated her back, always gave people the benefit of the doubt.
Even when he believed he’d be dead before the night ended (well, metaphorically I think), he drank the scotch she gave him. But when he realized it was poisoned, he threw the rest into the flowers. Hence the burnt-up flowers. Lilly didn’t kill A.B. because she didn’t want him to expose her. She did it because it would mean that she, the outsider, would win against the White House. Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch, but you get what I mean.
During The Residence’s ending, Detective Cupp reminds the President, the first gentleman, Harry Hollinger, and everyone in the room that it was never “us vs. them” for A.B. They were all a single unit, unlike what Lilly believed. She thought she owned the place and she could do anything with it, but it was always A.B. who stood against her. In truth, A.B. was quite accommodating. He listened to his staff, and he gave Lilly the freedom to do whatever she liked, even if that meant his staff would hate him because, at the end of the day, it should’ve all been functioning perfectly. In the end, it is proven that, despite all the death threats, A.B. was a good man, cantankerous and uptight for sure, but a good one who died in vain and became a spectacle for everyone in and outside of the White House. In the end, everyone interested in the case became a spectator reevaluating their mindset towards both people like A.B. and such a case. Guess we all forget we’re human sometimes, but Detective Cupp is here to remind us.
In The Residence’s closing sequence, Cupp goes to meet Nan and tells her that the case has been solved. The old woman asks her if it was Lily, and Cupp says yes, it was. Nan then says she should’ve just asked her. Before Cupp leaves, she tells the woman that she’ll have the vodka sent up. I guess it’s just her way of saying thank you for the hospitality, eh? Finally, I think there are a lot of parallels between Cupp and Wynter, so if you were to ask me why she was so eager to solve this case, it was because she probably saw something of herself in the dead old man. A misunderstood person with too big of a heart. But hey, Cupp has it better because Edwin gives her sardines before her flight to go see the next bird on her list. As for Lilly, as she suggested and Cupp agreed, she will be fired from the White House, but also arrested for murder, probably by the MPD. I don’t think she’s the kind to dwell on what she’s done, but hey, I guess people change (she won’t).
