Diksha Sundriyal
In Hulu’s ‘Death and Other Details,’ a boat becomes the scene of crime when one death after another takes the passengers by storm. What makes matters worse is that the detectives aren’t able to pin down the murderer for these deaths, but with each pull of the thread, a new secret unravels, and this gives them the background to understand what may or may not be going on in the ship. One of the things that the detectives are focused on is the history of the Collier family, specifically their mills, which have been found to be indulging in illegal activities, which is believed to have brought Victor Sams into the picture. A substance with the name “Captionem Blue” is mentioned. Is it a real thing?
Captionem Blue is a Made Up Thing But of Real Consequence in the Story
The substance Captionem Blue talked about in ‘Death and Other Details’ is not real. It is made up to serve the plot of the story. In the show, it is described as an ultra-light pigment, which was preferred by the manufacturers in the clothing industry because it was highly cheap and didn’t deteriorate as quickly as other pigments. However, the substance was banned by the government because it was found to have caused all sorts of problems, including cancer, to the people using it or being exposed to it.
What makes things interesting is that the substance was banned in 1989, but the Colliers are found to have been using it well into 2005. Imogene confirms it from the receipt she finds in their records and has the date confirmed by one of Sunil Bhandari’s friends. This is proof that the company was involved in what was clearly illegal as well as immoral. They prioritized their profits over the lives of the families of their workers, and this is enough to anger anyone.
Imogene further finds out that the pigment is also the reason why the Colliers have gone bankrupt. Apparently, when Anna found out what was happening, she immediately put a stop to it. But in rebuilding the whole thing from scratch, she ended up bankrupting the company, and this is what put her and the Collier family at the mercy of Celia Chun and her family. But that’s not the whole story.
In a shocking turn, it turns out that Celia used to work at one of the Collier mills in China, where she met her husband. She had a happy family, which was destroyed when her husband fell ill due to prolonged exposure to the substance and died due to a mysterious illness. At the time, Celia and her family didn’t know what caused the sickness, and the Colliers silenced them using money. Years later, when Celia finds the truth, she decides to exact revenge on the family. This turn of events proves that Captionem Blue is the reason for the downfall of the Collier family.
Read More: Death and Other Details: Is Rufus Cotesworth Inspired by a Real Detective?
