No need to adjust your TV sets, this season of “Only Murders in the Building,” no doubt, will have you seeing double. With actor portrayals of our favorite true crime podcasters, an array of stuntman lookalikes, and a cavalcade of cameos, the return of Hulu’s hit mystery-comedy has once again kept audiences laughing and guessing, with twice the fun and twice the cast of characters.
Though no one seems to be overly alarmed with the growing number of dead bodies regularly found at the Arconia, the luxurious NYC apartment building at the center of each mystery and home to the three amateur super-sleuths played by Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, it took no time for Season 4 to become a twisted tale of “a podcast, two murders, and a wedding.”
Four years in, the show holds true to its winning formula, with its blend of humor, suspense, and heartfelt moments, as well as its clever writing and engaging plot twists. To round out the strong ensemble cast, guest appearances abound with some well-known faces of the big screen.
This season, our trusty trio has been investigating the mysterious murder of Sazz Pataki, played by Glee fav Jane Lynch, Charles' Brazzos stunt double, whose death made up Season 3's ending cliffhanger. Though the mystery surrounding Sazz's demise was further complicated when the trio questioned whether Sazz or Charles was the intended victim. Added to the mix, a second possible murder was uncovered mid-season — that of Professor Milton Dudenoff, the film teacher with an uncanny connection to several residents of the Arconia’s West Tower, and whose apartment may have been the site from which the fatal shot came for Sazz.
Fresh off the heels of celebrating the Season 3 murder reveal of Ben Glenroy, No. 4 began with Charles (Martin) as the former television actor, Oliver (Short), the washed-up Broadway director, and Mabel (Gomez), the young artist still looking for a permanent residence, accepting an invitation to Hollywood to announce their podcast being made into a movie. The fun begins with a twist when actors Eugene Levy, Zach Galifianakis, and Eva Longoria, join the tomfoolery playing themselves playing the “Only Murders” podcast characters.
Thus, at the same time Charles, Oliver, and Mabel are trying to solve Sazz’s murder, they find themselves navigating a story of their lives with the impending movie production of their podcast. The show within a show, is led by high-powered studio exec Bev Melon, played by SNL alum Molly Shannon, and double-trouble directors, ironically-named the Brothers Sisters — a demure set of creepy not-so identical twins. It does not take long to uncover that the two circumstances are somehow connected. The fun ensues as we get to watch them unfold simultaneously.
Not long on the west coast, the true crime friends rush back to NYC after receiving information involving Sazz’s suspicious death. Making quick work of their investigative skills, the podcasters discover the shot fired into Charles’ apartment came from the West Tower, revealing the residents there, aka the Westies, as the primary suspects in the Sazz take-down.
The Westies include a family of sauce loving restauranteurs, their neighbors — Vince Fish, a widower dealing with an ongoing battle of severe to moderate conjunctivitis, and Rudy, the misunderstood side-hustling fitness guru with a year-round penchant for Christmas. Each has a storied connection to Dudenoff, most notably through the professor’s illegal subletting scheme with their rent controlled apartments.
In a series of investigative prowess and context clues, the investigators uncover that Professor D may have, in fact, met the same fate as Sazz in the basement of the Arconia. However, the plot thickens when an attempt is made on Oliver’s life during a photo shoot for their fictional movie, indicating they may be moving closer to the truth. The trio retreats to a “safe house” in Long Island — the home of Charles’ sister, Doreen, and her unnerving doll collection, played by the hilarious Melissa McCarthy. Not a minute of comedic timing is lost in these scenes as one-by-one the safe house becomes a half-way house of sorts as not only the podcasters’ acting doppelgängers, but also Oliver’s lady love, Loretta (played by the returning Meryl Streep), arrive on the scene. So much for an undisclosed location.
When their character study-turned method acting leads the podcasters’ onscreen alter egos to dabble in the crime-solving and offer a new perspective in looking at the two possible murders in the building, the sleuths return to the city.
Now believing that Sazz had somehow stumbled onto the Westies’ plot to kill the professor, the podcasters, now a crime-solving sixtet, decide to invite the Westies to a “celebrity-studded game” of Oh Hell at Oliver’s apartment to confront them about killing their benefactor, for what they believed was his retirement money. Still with me?
Then, let’s fast-forward to “Lifeboat,” the flashback-loaded episode 8 where we learn of the Westies’ backstories and their possible role in the death of their beloved professor. Through eerily similar monologues, the residents detail how they came to be neighbors and fellow ham radio enthusiasts in the Arconia’s west tower. What began as an innocuous invitation to join a weekly card game with a family of perfect strangers for comfort and companionship, eventually culminated into each receiving a hand-written invitation from the Professor to sub-let one of his apartments.
The podcasters and their acting twins turn the tables when they invite one of those former Westies named Helga to this sort of “gotcha” party. A young locksmith whose work for Dudenoff also garnered her an invite into the “found family” friend group, Helga, had developed a fondness for Dudenoff. In part, because he reminded her of her late father.
When Helga explains that a power-surge in the building on the very night she received a letter from the professor that he was off to Portugal, she tells the group she grew suspicious as the surges often indicated the building’s incinerator was in use, and accused her fellow Westies of plotting to kill Dudenoff.
In a poignant turn in the plot, the remaining Westies admitted that they, too, had received letters from the professor on that night. However, they were asked by the professor, who had just received sobering medical news, to assist with a rather dark and final personal request. To spare Helga, who was still grappling with the loss of her father, the others were asked to not tell the young locksmith. So, keeping up the ruse and honoring their promise to keep the professor’s memory alive by continuing to cash his retirement checks and telling the world he had relocated to Southwestern Europe.
Through it all, Charles wrestles with the idea of confronting a friend’s killer using his emotion suppression techniques, Oliver excitedly plans his impending wedding with Loretta (yes, there was a proposal back at the safe house), as Mabel, ever the stoic, remains the “straight-man” of the group, and, at times, the only adult in the room.
With one mystery down and one to go, it will be Helga who gives the sleuths their next break-through clue to get back to solving Sazz’s murder — it seems in one of her final conversations over the ham radio, Sazz talked about a stuntman protege she found to be dangerous.
But, who? What? And why?
Only time and two more episodes will tell.
Created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman, “Only Murders in the Building,” the four-time Emmy winning series, originally premiered in August 2021. Currently streaming each Tuesday on Hulu.
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