A murder mystery set in a gorgeous English retirement home. Helen Mirren as the sharp, mysterious ringleader. Pierce Brosnan doing water aerobics. This was Ethan’s pick for Episode 35 of 82 Toothpicks, and the roundtable had a lot to work with.
The Thursday Murder Club is a Netflix original: a whodunit with a stellar cast and a cozy, comedy-tinged tone. But it also deals with dementia on a spectrum, comatose patients, missing persons, and property reversion. And it ends with an end-of-life moment that generated genuine debate among the hosts.
The 82 Toothpicks team identified incapacity planning as the dominant theme. There’s also a real discussion about probate, the Slayer’s statute, and what happens when someone simply disappears.
In This Episode
- What “reversion” means — and why it shows up the moment a business partner dies
- Incapacity on a spectrum, from early memory loss to fully unresponsive
- The three triggers that activate a real power of attorney document
- Why you can’t open a probate without a date of death
- End-of-life decisions and what the film’s final scenes raise about living wills
Reversion — What Happens to a Business Partner’s Interest When They Die
One of the retirement community’s co-owners dies early in the film. Almost immediately, the hosts hear a line about his ownership interest reverting. Reversion is a real legal concept. It describes what happens when a future interest in property can’t transfer — can’t vest — in someone else. So it bounces back. Amber’s description is probably the most accurate: “It’s like a boomerang.”
The Slayer statute also comes up. That’s the rule preventing someone from inheriting if they caused the decedent’s death. One of the film’s partners arranged a murder to benefit financially. So his claim to the reverting interest disappears, though where it actually goes is left unclear.
These concepts arrive early. But the bigger incapacity planning discussion comes later.
Incapacity Planning Isn’t a Single Moment. The Film Gets This Right
This is where the episode really opened up.
The Thursday Murder Club has multiple characters at different stages of diminished capacity. Stephen, Elizabeth’s husband, has clear short-term memory loss. He can’t always remember what he had for lunch. But he remembers the people he loves, every chess game he’s ever played, and the exact date of the Queen’s death.
Then there’s Penny, who hasn’t spoken or responded in what appears to be years. And the film also shows a woman in the hallway at the retirement home — even more diminished than Stephen — with her son standing nearby.
Those three images together capture something real about capacity. It isn’t binary. Because capacity fades and fluctuates, planning documents need to reflect that reality, not just assume a clean before-and-after.
“You sort of see the spectrum of how capacity can ebb and flow and wane over time. Or come back.” — Episode 35, 82 Toothpicks
Practically, a power of attorney that only activates when a doctor declares total incapacity might miss someone like Stephen entirely. He’s partially present. He still needs support. But he wouldn’t necessarily meet a strict clinical threshold for full incapacity.
The document language matters. And the movie, almost accidentally, makes that case.
Three Triggers That Actually Activate a Power of Attorney
Because so many incapacity questions come up in the film, the hosts walk through how their firm actually defines incapacity in the documents they draft.
There are three standard triggers. First, a physician certifies that the person is incapacitated. Second, a court adjudicates it — the formal route for guardianship proceedings. Third, and this is the one that surprised everyone in the room, the person has been missing for more than 30 days.
That last one got a real reaction. Being missing isn’t the same as being dead, but someone still needs to manage your affairs. So the 30-day clause allows your agent to step in until the situation resolves, whether you come back, or the story ends some other way.
Learn More: Why is Power of Attorney So Important?
Ethan also mentions a document called the Certificate of Authorization of Principle. It’s a tool that allows an agent to act on someone’s behalf even without any incapacity. The person is fully capable, they just want someone else to handle a specific matter. The hosts joke about whether it works from prison: yes, if the document allows for it.
Probate Without a Date of Death
One of the sharpest moments in the episode came from Amber.
The maintenance worker uncovers bones in the cemetery: someone who went missing years earlier and was never confirmed dead. Amber asks the natural question: can you open a probate without a date of death?
“You can’t probate an estate if you don’t have a date of death.” — Episode 35, 82 Toothpicks
So that person’s estate sat in legal limbo for years. The bones gave the law something to work with. But if they’d had a power of attorney with the 30-day missing clause, an agent could have managed their affairs long before anyone knew the full story.
Also briefly on the table: whether an agent can act for someone who’s in prison. The answer depends on how the document is written. Some powers of attorney are immediate. Others are springing — they activate only at a specific later event. The structure determines what’s possible.
The End of the Movie and the Questions Nobody Wants to Answer
The final scenes generate the most debate.
Without much spoiling: a character makes an end-of-life decision on behalf of someone who is fully incapacitated. The film frames it as heroic. Thad isn’t buying it, and Ethan plays devil’s advocate.
The conversation covered what living wills are actually for: documenting your wishes so no one else is left guessing. The hosts debate whether a DNR is fundamentally different from an active step to cause death. Thad says yes. Ethan argues the line gets complicated when the person involved has medical training and a legal duty of care.
Read: Why Should I Have a Living Will?
The team doesn’t resolve it neatly. These are genuinely hard questions. But incapacity planning — specifically having written wishes about the end of your life — at least removes the guesswork for the people around you.
Did Penny have written wishes about the end of her life? The movie doesn’t say. That’s exactly the point.
Questions Worth Asking
The Thursday Murder Club is ultimately about what happens when you age and the people around you, , whether you chose them or nothave to make decisions on your behalf. That’s an estate planning movie.
So here are the questions this episode raises:
- If you became incapacitated today, who steps in for you? Is that written down? Does your document define what “incapacitated” actually means, or does someone have to guess?
- If you hold any ownership interest in a business or property, what happens to it when you die without a plan?
- Do you have a living will? If something happened tonight and you couldn’t speak, does anyone know what you’d want?
Ready to Take the Next Step?
If this episode got you thinking about your own plan, that’s the whole point of the show. Ethan and the team at Huizenga Law Firm offer free consultations for families ready to talk through their incapacity planning and everything that goes with it.
Schedule your free consultation by calling 712-737-3885
Also, if you haven’t read Ethan’s It’s Not Too Late book series yet, that’s a great place to start. It covers the basics of estate planning in plain language. No jargon, no overwhelm, just practical steps.
Subscribe to 82 Toothpicks wherever you get podcasts, and share this episode with anyone who’s been putting off the conversation.