Only Murders in the Building

Episode Reviews

Aug. 8, 2023 – S3, Ep1: “The Show Must…”

When the star actor in Oliver’s play dies on opening night, Oliver, Charles and Mabel come together to try and solve the mystery.

Blood drips from an elevator ceiling onto Charles’ face. He and other elevator passengers leap out of the way as a dead body falls through an opaque glass ceiling. A flashback shows Ben (the lead in Oliver’s show) fall dead, bleeding from his mouth. [Spoiler warning] Later, Ben shows up at a cast party, remarkably resuscitated by doctors, stating that the blood on his mouth was from biting his tongue when he fell.

An actress reads lines from a script about a nanny who admits she would kill to protect the children in her care. Many people talk about death and murder. We hear a TV show has paused filming since its producer is on trial for sexual harassment. A man makes a crude euphemism using a woman’s name, making her visibly uncomfortable. There are several jokes about murder. Someone slaps Oliver’s cheek.

A woman kisses her son on the mouth in an inappropriate way, then defends that she can do that since her son is gay. An actor flirts with his costar, telling her that he’s trained as an “intimacy coordinator.” There’s a reference to Shakespearean times when male actors played all the roles, including the female ones.

Oliver’s producer speculates that Oliver might be cursed, saying that she thinks he angered a witch in a past life. Someone jokes about the Pope. A character says he “saw the light” when he “died” and vows to atone for his past wrongs.

A few people brag and show off. There are some fart jokes. People exchange rude insults. A man worries over his own narcissism. A man says his stomach was pumped and that he “barfed a ton.” Folks drink throughout the episode. A woman says she wants to get “trashed.”

We hear 11 uses of the f-word and four uses of the s-word. God’s name is abused 15 times, once paired with “d–n.” We also hear “a–,” “a–hole,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “h—” and “p-ss.”

Jun. 28, 2022 – S2, Ep1: “Persons of Interest”

Charles, Oliver and Mabel become persons of interest in a murder investigation after police find them with the freshly dead body of their building manager.

Flashbacks show Mabel stumbling upon Bunny, the building manager, as she dies, covered in blood with a knitting needle poking out of her chest. We later learn she was stabbed eight times with a knife, which is what killed her, not the needle. We hear that Oliver was responsible almost killing 12 actors in a stage accident. A cop replays a clip from the podcast, in which Mabel recounts a dream where she stabs a home invader with a knitting needle. Fans of the podcast love that Mabel might be a murderer. Mabel cleans Bunny’s blood from her apartment floor, but it leaves a stain. Oliver worries that his the notes he wrote to Bunny telling her to “drop dead” might be taken seriously.

A painting shows a fully nude man and woman together (and Charles reveals that the man in the painting is his father). Other people describe the painting as “porny.” Some women wear outfits baring cleavage. Someone references male genitals. Charles imagines that a woman shares his bed (in a non-sexual way).

People lie and steal. The trio breaks into someone’s apartment. Mabel is rude to a cop. People talk about drinking. A man says his producer used to use cocaine. We learn a woman taught her parrot several profanities. We hear 16 uses of the f-word, as well as the s-word, “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “d–k” and “h—.” God’s name is abused nine times, once paired with “d–n.”

Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, Ep3: “How Well Do You Know Your Neighbors?”

The episode opens with a flashback to Oliver in 2005, looking for investors for his Broadway extravaganza Splash: The Musical—an effort that we learn was a monumental disaster. In the present, Mabel and Charlie interview the owner of Evelyn (the dead cat) to see if he might’ve had something to do with the murder and find something deeply chilling—and chilled—in the guy’s freezer.

The frozen object? Evelyn herself, which the owner believes Tim Kono poisoned. The frozen cat corpse tumbles to the kitchen floor and one of her legs breaks off; Charlie pockets the thing and pulls it out later to show someone. “It’s warm now, and that smell is new,” he says. Charlie also gets a bloody nose during the interview, which causes Evelyn’s owner to faint dead away. Mabel suggests that seems to put him in the clear for being present during a very bloody murder, but Charlie believes the man is bluffing. Oliver recounts for Charlie why Splash: The Musical was such a disaster (or, at least, one of the reasons). While he had a pool constructed underneath the stage, which was supposed to retract, the hydraulics went haywire during the first preview show. Twelve divers dove straight into the floor (though Oliver stresses that no one actually died).

During a sequence where Oliver imagines he’s auditioning would-be suspects for the main part of killer, a counselor slaps his wrist effeminately and coyly says “I’m a bad therapist.” Evelyn’s effeminate owner is in the lineup, too, wearing a Flashdance-like sweatshirt. (Female auditioners wear form-fitting leotards and the like.)

In a flashback, Oliver entertains dinner guests at a table loaded with wine glasses. Later, he brings down a bottle of wine and two glasses, hoping to woo a neighbor to invest in the podcast. He tries to flatter the would-be investor, telling him that he never seems to age. “I need the name of your witch,” he jokes. He also makes a 1980s cocaine reference.

Characters say the f-word nine times and the s-word three times. We also hear “a–,” “b–ch” and “h—.” God’s name is misused four times, and Jesus’ name is abused twice.

Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, Ep2: “Who Is Tim Kono?”

Even though Mabel knows quite a bit about Tim Kono, she pretends otherwise and the three begin trying to figure out what made the victim tick. They go to an apartment memorial service and discover that most folks in the building hated the guy. “Nobody liked him, but can we all be grateful he’s gone?” the officiant says. Oliver convinces an apartment supervisor to hand over all the complaints residents filed about the guy (in exchange for buying several cases of a product she’s selling called “gut milk”), and they learn that Tim’s apartment is scheduled to be cleaned out the next day. They break in and tramp through the apartment looking for clues.

In the apartment, Oliver finds what he believes are sex toys. “Nothing shameful about deviant sexual pursuits” as he dives into the box. He and the Arconia’s president, Bunny, exchange a few bitter sexual allusions.

In flashback, we see part of Mabel’s history with the Arconia, including hanging out with three friends as young adults—breaking into other people’s apartments. Mabel’s friend, Zoe, would sometimes apparently swipe jewelry, and in one apartment she finds a fully stocked medicine cabinet and announces they’ll be camping out there for the night. She makes a very crude reference to masturbation. Mabel and Zoe wear slightly revealing eveningwear during the night (Zoe’s boyfriend Oscar expresses his appreciation of Mabel’s outfit). Later, Zoe accuses Oscar of cheating on her—shortly before her body’s discovered on the street below.

In the present, Oliver and Charlie track blood throughout the dead man’s apartment. They also discover a cat’s footprints in the blood—a telling clue, given that a beloved Arconia cat (Evelyn) died the same night Tim Kono did. Mabel finds jewelry stashed in Tim’s apartment. Meanwhile, she seems unwilling to give back Tim’s engagement ring that she and Charlie recovered (and stole) last episode. Mabel seems to talk with Tim’s disfigured spirit (his gunshot wound to the head still quite visible).

People drink during a party. After Charlie gets caught in an odd lie, the podcasters promise to be truthful with one another. (After the pact is made, Mabel leaves and Oliver confesses, “I don’t trust her at all.”) Characters say the f-word 11 times and the s-word seven times. We also hear “a–,” “d–n” and “d–k.” God’s name is misused a half-dozen times (twice with the word “d–n”).

Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, Ep1: “True Crime”

Charlie, Oliver and Mabel all leave the Arconia during a fire alarm and discover at a nearby restaurant that they all love the same true-crime podcast (All Is Not OK in Oklahoma). When they return, they learn that someone died in the building—apparently by his own hand—and the three of them sneak in to check out the crime scene. Convinced the man was murdered, they launch into their own investigation—and their own podcast. But Charlie and Oliver don’t realize that Mabel has an unexpected tie to the victim.

We see the apparent suicide victim lying on the floor. Though he’s still identifiable, part of one side of his head is missing (and what’s underneath is obviously covered in gore). Mabel admits to having a recurring nightmare (dramatized here) in which a stranger is standing over her bed, staring at her: She hits him in the crotch, whips out a knitting needle and stabs him to death with it. (We don’t see the needle hit its mark ever, but it’s clear that Mabel is an enthusiastic stabber.) In a flash forward elsewhere, someone leans over a dead body. Both are covered in blood. We see a couple of people fall off platforms in dream-like sequences, bouncing harmlessly back.

Mabel showers, and we see her bare back and a quick glimpse at the side of her breast. On “All is Not OK in Oklahoma,” a dog apparently retrieves the panties of the victim.

Mabel and Charlie break into someone’s apartment to retrieve a package belonging to the victim—then open the box and keep what they find inside. They, along with Oliver, sneak into the building the night of the murder, despite police orders not to do so.

Oliver begs his son for money—using gifts for the grandkids as an excuse to come over and ask. When his son tells him no and that he needs to move out of his expensive apartment and lavish lifestyle, Oliver refuses. “It’s all I have, it’s all I am.” His son, thinking about family, says, “Obviously, it makes me very sad to hear you say that.” All three of them lie or mislead during the episode—some more than others. Characters say the f-word six times and the s-word thrice. We also hear “h—,” and about nine misuses of God’s name (once with the word “d–n”).