Shondaland has invaded the White House! Prolific producer (and Westport resident) Shonda Rhimes teamed up with Paul William Davies to create a captivating comedic whodunit miniseries that’s set in “The Residence” of the President of the United States.

The mystery begins when the dead body of stoic White House Chief Usher A.B. Wynter (Giancarlo Esposito) is discovered on the night of a gala State Dinner, honoring the Australian Prime Minister (Julian McMahon) – with pop star Kylie Minogue doing an impromptu live set.

Washington D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Chief Larry Dokes (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) immediately summons unconventional, obsessive Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba), an ever-observant, detail-oriented bird-watcher, to investigate. 

Accompanied by affable FBI Special Agent Edwin Park (Randall Park), Cupp examines each of the palatial White House’s 132 rooms and hidden passageways, questioning 157 possible suspects, deftly separating fact from fiction.

There’s A.B.’s deputy Jasmine Haney (Susan Kelechi Watson), the President (Paul Fitzgerald), his impatient chief advisor Harry Hollinger (Ken Marino), sneaky Brother (Jason Lee), First Husband (Barrett Foa), drunken Mother-in-Law (Jane Curtin), and Secret Service Agent (Dan Perrault) along with various housekeepers, electricians and plumbers.

It seems everyone on the historical Residence’s staff fought with formidable A.B. at some point, including boozing Butler Sheila Cannon (Edwina Findley), inept Social Secretary Lilly Schumacher (Molly Griggs), volatile Cook (Mary Wiseman), and disrespected Pastry Chef (Bronson Pinchot).

And then there are the hearings. The already confusing story is related in flashbacks by witnesses called to testify by a congressional committee, whose members include Senator Aaron Filkins (former Senator Al Franken) and conspiracy-addled Senator Margery Bay Bix (Eliza Coupe).

Inspired by Kate Andersen Brower’s non-fiction upstairs/downstairs “The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House,” Paul William Davies’ quirky detective concept – reminiscent of Peter Falk’s Columbo, Tony Shalhoub’s Adrian Monk and Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc – boasts contentious, multi-faceted characters, relevant topics and layered subtext. 

Unfortunately, there are just too many superfluous subplots, punctuated by quick cuts between three timelines, unnecessary repetition and tedious nods to (sadly absent) Hugh Jackman.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Residence” is a suspenseful, subversive 7. All eight episodes are now streaming on Netflix.

Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar’s first feature film in English – “The Room Next Door,” winner of the Golden Lion at the 81^st Venice International Film Festival – revolves around mortality and euthanasia, the decision to commit suicide.

Aware that her inoperable cervical cancer is terminal, Martha (Tilda Swinton), a former war correspondent estranged from her only daughter, convinces her novelist friend Ingrid (Julianne Moore) to accompany her to a serenely peaceful rented house – in the woods of upstate New York – where she plans to take a fatal drug dose. 

Acquiring the lethal pill off the dark web, Martha decides to be self-determined to the end but she doesn’t want to be alone, which is why she asks Ingrid to be in the room next door, to be her witness.

Although Ingrid is terrified of the concept of death, she reluctantly agrees, and they discover that their friendship and understanding deepens during this final getaway. That’s the crux of Sigrid Nunez’s 2020 novel “What Are You Going Through” which inspired Almodovar’s adapted screenplay.

Nunez’s novel takes its title from a quote by French philosopher Simone Weil: “The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to ask: ‘What are you going through?’”

That’s explored even further when Ingrid reunites with Damian (John Turturro), an old lover who is obsessed with the environment and climate change, observing, “You’re living with a dying woman in a world also in its death throes.”

In Spain, despite religious opposition, assisted suicide is accepted while – in the United States – the right to die is controversial. Euthanasia is legal in only 10 states and Washington, D.C.  Obviously in the context of this film, Almodovar believes that the freedom to end one’s life is a fundamental human right, particularly if the person is living in pain.

On the Granger Gauge, “The Room Next Door” is a bittersweet, visually sumptuous, spectral 6, streaming on Prime Video.

Looking for more?

Catch up with Susan Granger’s latest columns here:

• March 20: “Paradise” and “With Love, Meghan”
• March 13: “Running Point” and “Presence”
• March 6: “Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy” and “Zero Day”
• 2024 Oscars Special
• February 20: “The Gorge” and “The Wild Robot”
• February 13: “Anora and You’re Cordially Invited”
• February 6: “Emelia Perez” and “Nickel Boys”
• January 30: “The Brutalist”