Charles, Mabel and Oliver gain new insight into their case in the latest episode of Only Murders In The Building. Here’s our review of episode 5.
How are we enjoying this season of Only Murders In The Building? I think it’s safe to say that it’s a huge improvement over the mess that was season 3, but it hasn’t quite reached the highs of season 2 for me. One of the big reasons is that the overarching theme seems to keep changing with every episode and Sazz isn’t as engaging a murder victim as poor Bunny was. What a sentence that was to write…
Anyway, episode 5 doesn’t immediately pick up where episode 4 ended. As you’ll remember, our trio encountered Paramount executive Bev (Molly Shannon) at the location Sazz wanted to turn into a stunt academy. Bev was also holding a gun, aimed at our heroes.
Episode 4 begins with an unfamiliar voice, which turns out to belong to Marshall, the writer of the Only Murders In The Building movie adaptation. Desperate to fit in, Marshall is seen trying to glue a fake beard on himself so he could resemble Charlie Kaufman a little more. Clearly suffering from a severe case of impostor syndrome, this could provide the season some more depth.
We quickly return to the main narrative as Bev turns out to be just as scared as our trio. The gun isn’t even hers; she just found it laying around, presumably belonging to Sazz. It’s also established that someone working on the movie is behind the murder, which now means that there are a lot of suspects to go through.
But back to Marshall. Marshall and Mabel find common ground with their feelings of not belonging and spending their days fighting the nasty symptoms of impostor syndrome. Mabel is quickly becoming this season’s emotional pillar and our way “in” to the narrative and larger themes, although those seem to still be taking shape.
With episode 5, the season is now officially halfway through. I’m still looking for the season to find its groove, but I have to say, the comedy is on point here. A particularly funny sequence involves poor Oliver trying to nail the killer’s timeline of shooting Sazz and making it all the way to Charles’ apartment to clean it all up. There’s also a wonderful cameo that we won’t spoil, but Only Murders In The Building keeps nailing the guest stars.
That being said, there is a definite worry that the guest stars are overshadowing Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez, who are all fantastic this season. It just seems that the series is slowly but surely moving from a comedy-crime show to a spectacle-ridden guest star show that cares less about story and more about big names and bragging rights.
Although episode 5 presents us with a couple of potential suspects, I have no clue who might have killed Sazz Pataki. Unlike previous seasons, it doesn’t seem like anyone really has a problem with her and there are no credible suspects at this point. It’s exciting on one hand, but it’s also frustrating. By the halfway mark, you’d expect there to be more suspects, more backstories and more meat on the bones of the narrative as a whole.
Join us again next week as we dive into another episode of Only Murders In The Building.
