Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
Ryan Johnson likes to play with the conventions of mystery, as shown in Get the knives and its continuation Glass Bow: Mystery of Knives. Instead of the traditional “detective” structure, both Get the knives and glass bow to double down on itself to uncover a story within a story and turn where the public least expects it. glass bow takes it one step further by directly alluding to the solution of its central riddle in the introductory part.
glass bow Set in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, it begins when billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) invites his fellow Ravagers—friends he has made along the way to success—to relax on his personal Greek island. Among the invited famous detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig). The only problem is that Bron never sent Blanc an invitation. Blanc soon comes to the conclusion that many of the invitees have a real reason to wish Bron harm, and he soon becomes involved in yet another mystery.
Everything about the destroyers of Glass Onion is revealed with the help of puzzle boxes
AT glass bow, Miles’ Disruptors team is pretty eclectic. Claire Debella (ur.Katherine Hahn) is an ambitious politician. Lionel Toussaint (ur.Leslie Odom Jr.) is a high-ranking and brilliant scientist in Miles’ Alpha company. Birdie Jay (English)Keith Hudson) is a fashion designer/supermodel who just can’t stay out of the spotlight for better or worse (mostly worse!) and Duke Cody (Dave Batista) is a popular streamer who epitomizes just about everything that’s wrong with the internet.
More about their personalities can be learned from the way they open Miles’ box. Lionel is the only person who really understands the puzzles and solves them with ease. The Duke’s mother, much to his annoyance, can solve riddles. Claire ignores her husband’s attempts to help. And Birdie is pretty clueless, leaving her assistant PegJessica Henwick) to figure it out. This dynamic continues when they end up on Miles Island and the real reason for their connection is revealed. Both Lionel and Claire have staked their reputations and careers on Miles Clear’s new energy source, which has literally explosive side effects. The Duke depends on Miles for his success as an influencer, even though Miles makes a move on his girlfriend Whiskey (Madeleine Kline). And Birdy went too far when she invested in sweatshops with her line of sweatpants, which also puts Peg in danger.
Miles is not the genius he claims to be in ‘The Bow of Glass’
But the riddles also reveal a terrible truth about Miles’ so-called “genius”: he’s actually not that much of a genius. Blanc even dismisses them as baby food! But that’s not all - Miles reveals that he hired Phillip Glass to compose the hourly “dong” that circulates around his island, and hired Jillian Flynn to write a murder mystery for his guests to solve. In short, he has no ideas of his own.
Things go even further: when Miles’ business partner Andy Brand (Janelle Monae) objected to using Clear and tried to walk, Miles discredited her and enlisted the help of the Breakers in the process. But when Andy found evidence that she, and not Miles, was the true reason for Miles’ success, he poisoned her and took the napkin with her original sketch for Alpha. However, he never thought to destroy incriminating evidence until Lionel pointed it out. As Blanc put it simply, “Miles Bron is an idiot.”
Sometimes the answer is (foolishly) simple.
In fact, Blanc is bewildering by the simplicity of the matter. The detective is accustomed to solving more intricate and thoughtful cases, which are hindered by the stupidity of Miles. Once again, Johnson portends it in a clever (and rather funny) way. Blanc spent most of his time in isolation, playing Among us in the bathroom and his friends, including the late great Angela Lansbury and Kareem Abdul Jabbar - point out that he’s terrible at it. Unlike Miles and the Breakers, Blanc has people who will tell him the truth, and he’s a true genius!
Blanc also has help in the form of Andi’s sister Helen (also played by Mona). Helen’s approach to things is simple yet effective. On the island, she manages to impersonate Andi, and through a couple of hastily drunk bottles of strong kombucha, she uncovers the truth about the Breakers’ connection to Miles. She also brings down Miles’ empire by throwing a sample of Clear into his fireplace, literally setting the glass bulb on fire.
But then again, everything goes back to the beginning. Helen looks at the box of puzzles meant for her sister, her eyes slowly growing furious. Finally, she goes off-camera… and comes back with a hammer, smashing the box to pieces. This proves that sometimes the simple approach is better.
Glass Bow: Mystery of Knives currently available to stream on Netflix.
Source: Collider
