As Blanc revealed about halfway through the film, he was investigating a case, one that took place weeks before the group trip, the murder of Andi Brand. He was brought on when Andi’s twin sister Helen (on the island with him posing as her sister) discovered Miles’ ridiculous puzzle box invitation and brought Blanc on to help.

As Blanc revealed in the film’s conclusion, it was Miles who killed Andi. It, therefore, begs the question: Why did Miles send an invite to Andi’s house in the first place, knowing she was already dead? He didn’t have to invite her for show; no one in the group would have known. It’s a strange decision he must have come to rue, since it brought Blanc to his island.

Miles claimed the island is self-sufficient, and that he had no one there working for him — just him and his guests. But that’s obviously untrue, as his butler, played by Ethan Hawke, was the one who picked up the guests from the island, gave them a COVID cure, and then .... disappeared, never to be seen again? Where did Ethan Hawke go?

In the opening scene, Miles’ friends were on a group phone call trying to work out how to open the invitation box. Since the pandemic was raging, they were surrounded by family and people in their pods; Birdie hanging with 500 of her closest friends (and Yo-Yo Ma), Duke at home with his mother, and Clare with her husband and kids.

In each case, it made sense the characters left their people behind — Mrs. Cody (Jackie Hoffman) was not interested in her son’s trip, and Mr. Debella (Dallas Roberts) stayed home with the kids. But while mom might be in the dark about her son’s business dealings, one would think Clare’s husband would know all about the trial, the trip to see Andi, and all of her senate campaign being dependent on Miles. So why was he so unimportant to the plot?

When the lights went out at 10 p.m. and the guests scattered like cockroaches around the island estate, Benoit Blanc ran into the kitchen and saw the largest chef’s knife had been swiped from the block.

That plot point was resolved during the replay of the blackout, as viewers saw Miles stalking Helen and the other guests running through the house. When the camera stopped on Birdie, she was carrying the knife. But...w hen did she get the knife from the kitchen? Why? And where did she put it? After that scene, the knife disappeared, never to be seen again.

Birdie’s weapon wasn’t the only one that was unaccounted for when the police boats pulled up. Duke’s gun, which was mostly played for laughs until it wasn’t, also disappeared into thin air after Miles fired it at Helen. Miles never tossed the gun, never put it down, and never worried about it being found. It was just there in Duke’s crotch and then it wasn’t.

One of the best cameos (besides Benoit’s zoom party in the bath) came around the three-quarter mark when Serena Williams was seen on what looked to be a poster in Miles’ gym. But it was not a poster, it was a smart mirror, and Williams was actually there, on call, waiting for someone to show up for a training.

When Helen and Blanc started going through the clues in front of the mirror, Williams interrupted, demanding to know if anyone was going to start their workout or not. So, it was obvious she could see and likely hear them. Blanc is supposedly world famous, and they were talking about murder. Is Williams not into true crime? Why didn’t she offer any suggestions — or, you know, call the police?

And then there was Darryl, the random stoner living on the island with Miles, who even had a room in the estate. Who was he? WTF was up with him, and why was he never a suspect?