The Final Problem Review: Jose Coronado Shines in a Whodunit That Plays It Too Safe

Here is the joke that The Final Problem revolves around: a man who has been playing Sherlock Holmes for so long that everybody thinks that he is capable of solving any murder case. Due to a storm, Basil (Jose Coronado), who I insist is an actor and not a detective, gets stranded in an island hotel with twelve other people. An English tourist is found dead. An English tourist is found dead. The characters turn to the closest thing they have to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic consulting detective.

Based on Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s 2023 novel, The Final Problem (named after the Holmes story that brings him back from the dead) has all the usual ingredients of a whodunit. There is, for instance, an isolated location (island hotel) and a cast of suspicious strangers in the Netflix series. Its best and most interesting idea, however, is Basil himself. He has played the role of the incisive detective for years. Did Holmes’s skills rub off on him? We do know playing certain characters can affect actors, including their sense of identity. Wear the mask often enough, and it begins to feel like your face.

What Is The Final Problem About?

The year is 1959, and Basil finds his vacation plans in Mallorca disrupted because of a storm. Twelve tourists become stranded on an island holiday resort following the death of Elisa Mander, an English tourist. At first sight, it looks like a case of suicide. However, Basil starts suspecting that the woman died a victim of murder. There is no means to reach the outside world or contact anyone for assistance.

Crime writer Francisco Foxá (Martiño Rivas) joins Basil in the search for answers. Among the people they question are the hotel’s manager, Mrs. Ausländer (Maribel Verdú), and the guarded Adela Figueroa (María Valverde). Everyone knows Basil’s face from the Sherlock Holmes films. Nobody knows whether he can do what his character did.

The Final Problem Review

Jose Coronado as Basil in The Final Problem | Credits: Netflix

Coronado understands the small indignity built into the role. Basil was once famous for being someone else, and now his old performance is the only qualification anybody cares about. He takes up the investigation with the authority expected of him, but there is something faintly absurd about an actor having to live up to a fictional genius. The conceit gives the series a little more to play with than the question of who killed Elisa Mander.

Foxá makes a fitting companion. Between him and Basil, The Final Problem has two people who know how a mystery is supposed to work and have suddenly found themselves inside one. The other guests, meanwhile, give them plenty of stories to test. Knowing somebody’s part in a mystery is a poor substitute for knowing the person playing it.

Director Félix Viscarret gives the hotel and its 1959 setting the air of an older screen mystery. The place looks inviting until the weather makes leaving impossible. The costumes, formal conversations and suspicious glances all serve the pleasure of settling in with a cast of suspects and trying to get ahead of them.

That affection for the classics has a cost. The guests can sometimes feel more like positions in a puzzle than people who happened to be caught in a terrible situation. Their manner of speaking suits the period homage, yet it also puts a little distance between us and whatever they might be hiding. A murder mystery can survive that distance if every new discovery forces us to reconsider what we saw earlier. Here, the setup is more compelling than the trail of clues.

The question of whether Basil can become the man he spent years playing deserves more pressure than the series puts on it. There are moments when his borrowed authority could make him dangerous as well as useful: everyone is ready to trust his deductions because they recognize the face. The Final Problem raises that possibility, then spends much of its limited running time attending to the mechanics of the case.

Is The Final Problem Worth Watching?

A still from The Final Problem | Credits: Netflix

If you enjoy a compact, handsomely made mystery, there is enough here to carry you through four episodes. Coronado makes Basil good company, and the actor playing detective remains a clever premise even when the investigation settles into familiar habits. The Final Problem is an agreeable visit to the old whodunit hotel and easily one of Netflix’s best murder mysteries. You may not be thinking about the answer for long after you check out.

The Final Problem released on September 25.

The Final Problem Review: Jose Coronado Shines in a Whodunit That Plays It Too Safe