When the trailer first dropped for this new season of Only Murders in the Building, the big question among fans was: How exactly is this going to work? Sazz (Jane Lynch), the long-term friend/rival of Charles (Steven Martin), was shot to death by an apparent sniper in the Season 3 finale, in Charles’ own apartment no less. How could our favorite podcasting trio be heading off to Hollywood so quickly, considering they’re about to discover something so tragic?
(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
The answer, it turns out, is that they don’t. Our unsuspecting trio returns to Charles’ apartment early into the premiere to find everything where they left it; all traces of Sazz’s death have been erased. The only sign that something’s wrong is the bullet hole in one of the windows, which nobody notices. Although Charles is concerned about Sazz’s disappearance, a few texts from her phone are enough to convince him that she’s alright. For now at least.
So Charles, Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) are free to head off to Hollywood, to learn about the movie adaptation of their podcast that’s about to start production. They’re quickly introduced to a whole new bunch of actors, writers, and producers—in other words, potential murderers. Saturday Night Live alum Molly Shannon plays Paramount executive Bev Melon, and playing themselves are Eva Longoria, Zach Galifianakis, and Eugene Levy.
Of the new characters so far, it’s Bev who shoots right up to the top of the suspect list. She’s a powerful businesswoman, someone who really seems to want to make this Only Murders movie, and who’s well-connected enough to pull off the sort of sophisticated, high-competent murder (and subsequent clean-up) of poor Sazz Pataki. She also understated in her emails how far along the movie was, and in the board meeting she describes each member of the trio with condescending contempt; nothing about this woman passes the vibe test.
But this time around, it’s worth taking the actors seriously as suspects. Only Murders has made a habit of trotting out celebrities who play themselves, but until now none of them have been real suspects. Nobody actually thought Sting was the killer in Season 1, just as nobody believed for a second that Amy Schumer would be the Season 2 murderer. So far, the rule has been that if a celebrity is playing themself, they’re a red herring; if they’re playing a fictional character, they deserve their own spot on the suspect board.
But what about in a star-studded season that will also include Melissa McCarthy and Kumail Nanjiani? It’s worth revising our priors a bit. There’s a legit chance these celebrities aren’t just red herrings, which means it’s time to give them the scrutiny we never bothered with someone like Matthew Broderick in Season 3.
Of the three main actors, Eva Longoria is the least suspicious. She gives Mabel some much-needed advice about making the most of her new movie deal. She also delivers the most poignant bit of social commentary of the episode, revealing that the producers aged up Mabel’s character in the movie because focus groups thought the age gap in the trio was “creepy.”
Half the appeal of Only Murders is watching the culture clash of a young millennial finding common ground with a couple of old boomers; it’s cute watching Mabel teach the old guys about texting lingo, just as it’s fun watching Oliver reference celebrities Mabel has never heard of. The fact that this studio doesn’t recognize this, that they’d go for a less interesting dynamic to avoid making anyone potentially uncomfortable, is the surest sign yet that there’s something spiritually wrong with this production. Even if no one involved is a killer, their priorities are still definitely out of whack.
Zach Galifianakis is the most obvious suspect, feuding with Oliver from the moment they meet. Like Longoria, he doesn’t quite understand the appeal of the character he’s playing, trashing Oliver for being old and out-of-touch as if that’s not the most charming thing about him. Galifianakis plays himself here as a vain, unflattering caricature of his real-life persona. It’s the closest in tone to the previous seasons’ celebrity red herrings, which makes him seem like he’ll go down a similar anti-climactic route.
And then there’s Eugene Levy, who is mostly respectful of Charles and seems to properly understand the character he’s playing. He’s a huge fan of Charles’ hit show Brazzos, to the point where he even voiced him in the French dubbing. Most noteworthy: Levy is another Charles lookalike. Much like Sazz (and now Scott Bakula), Levy is established as someone who can be mistaken for Charles, which seems important considering the circumstances of Sazz’s murder.
Throughout the wait for Season 4, fans speculated that Sazz was murdered by accident; given that she was dressed like Charles and in Charles’ apartment when she was shot, it seemed reasonable to assume that Charles was the main target. But given how Sazz needed to talk to Charles about something important before she died, and how she tried her best to draw something with her blood on the floor, it’s possible that Sazz was the main target after all. At the very least, she may have already known who her killer was in her final moments.
That brings us to my first theory of the season: What if the thing Sazz wanted to talk to Charles about in Season 3 was the movie production? What if Sazz was the one originally cast to play Charles, poised to make her big leap into proper acting, and Levy had her killed because he wanted the role instead? Given how much Levy seems to love Charles, and how excited he is now to play him, it’s not a huge stretch to think he’d stoop to such lengths.
Of course, it’s early into the season, and there’s a good chance the murderer (or murderers) hasn’t even been introduced yet. (Jan in Season 1 didn’t even show up until the third episode.) But for now, Levy is at the top of my list. He’s the only one with a motive so far, and unlike Bev Melon or Galifianakis, the show doesn’t seem to want us to suspect him just yet.
The rest of the season premiere is all about establishing the general arcs the trio will go on this season: Oliver needs to decide whether to move to LA full-time to be with Laverne (Meryl Streep), Mabel needs to figure out how to feel good about selling her life rights to a soulless Hollywood studio, and Charles is stuck in a chess match with the murderer of his long-time friend.
The premiere ends in a quick series of discoveries for him and the gang: they learn about the bullet hole in his window, they deduce (with the help of Howard’s adorable new dog Gravey) the exact location where Sazz was killed, and they find Sazz’s ashy remains at the bottom of their building’s incinerator. This is a much darker mystery than anything we’ve seen so far; this is the first time a season’s murder victim was a close, current friend of the gang, and the first time it’s been someone we’ve long come to know and love.
Even more so than Tim Kono was for Mabel, this case is personal.
Clues From the Crime Scene
- The killer texts Charles from Sazz’s phone at the end of the episode, telling him they’re “not your f—king friend,” which is rude even by serial killer standards. It sounds like the sort of thing Galifianakis would say to Oliver.
- Sazz’s body was removed from Charles’ apartment remarkably fast, implying two things: that the shooter wasn’t working alone, and that whoever removed the body was likely a resident. How else could they so easily move around the building undetected, in such a short time frame?
- The killer was apparently unaware of Sazz’s metal joint replacements, which Charles is able to identify her remains with. This implies that Charles was the main target, not Sazz. At the very least, the killer didn’t know her as well as Charles did.
- Laid out on Sazz’s desk are notes reading “Looking at Charles,” “Long Game,” “Helga,” and “Dudenoff.” I have no idea what any of these mean, but I’ll be pinning them onto my suspect board for future reference.
- There’s also a note on Sazz’s desk labeled “Sick Pup,” perhaps referencing Oliver’s poisoned dog Winnie in Season 1? We never actually found out who poisoned Winnie; it’s easy to assume Jan and her lil’ toxins were the culprit, but there was no motive for her to poison Oliver’s dog and she never confesses to it. Mabel alludes to this as a “loose end” at the end of the season, so perhaps Season 4 intends to finally tie this loose end up. In that case, the new killer might not be one of the new characters we’ve met in this premiere, but an Arconian resident we’ve known for several seasons now.
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