(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
The three-part premiere of Only Murders in the Building Season 5 features a scene that, at first glance, seems pointless. New character Mayor Tillman (Keegan-Michael Key) stops by to give a eulogy at the funeral of poor murdered doorman Lester (Teddy Coluca). Tillman’s only here because he’s got an election to win and doormen are apparently a powerful electoral force in New York.
“I love Lester,” Tillman says, in the same way Eric Adams is always saying he loves things like squirrels or pigeons. Tillman awkwardly clarifies, “I did not know [Lester], but I do love a great doorman. And even better, a collection of great doormen. That’s a key voting bloc…”
Tillman’s eulogy descends into a clumsy campaign speech that only Oliver (Martin Short) seems impressed by. Tillman returns a few minutes later to ask Charles (Steve Martin) to do a photo op with him, but not before mentioning that he’s “a huge fan” of the trio’s podcast. Is this line meant to show the podcast’s growing popularity, or is it meant to imply that Tillman’s been keeping tabs on the Arconia for nefarious purposes?
Not much else happens in Tillman’s scene with Charles. There’s a little joke about Tillman thinking Charles is gay, but that hardly justifies the scene’s existence. It seems like the real point of this scene is to simply tell the audience: remember this guy, because he’ll be important later.
It’s easy to see why the writers might be worried about viewers forgetting him, because the rest of the premiere makes no mention of Tillman at all. The second episode is a deep dive into Lester’s backstory, and the third episode (“Rigor”) has the main trio discovering the secret casino hidden under the Arconia. This casino is a place where all the most powerful figures in New York hang out at night to make secret deals, and the premiere ends with three powerful CEOs walking into that casino with the trio hiding inside.
Those CEOs are introduced as Sebastian “Bash” Steed (Christoph Waltz), Jay Pflug (Logan Lerman), and Camila White (Renée Zellweger). All three of them look shady as hell walking into that casino, but I’m calling it now: They’re red herrings.
After all, when has the first suspect of the season ever been the correct one? In Season 1 the first big suspect was Howard. In Season 2 the first suspect was Amy Schumer. In Season 4 it was the Westies. The killer is almost always someone who’s introduced early on but is largely taken for granted as innocent by the trio. The trio never even seemed to consider that Jan was guilty until the penultimate episode of Season 1, and in Season 4 they barely bothered to look into Marshall.
In Season 5, the most overlooked character so far is Mayor Tillman. When the trio hears that this casino is a place where powerful NYC figures visit at night to make deals, Tillman is the one who should come first to mind for them, but he doesn’t. Maybe he would’ve if the trio had a few more minutes to think about it, but luckily for Tillman those three CEOs conveniently show up to distract them.
Making Tillman more suspicious is the real-world timing of this new season. The season finale will air mere weeks before a historic four-way mayoral election takes place in November, one where the incumbent Eric Adams is likely to lose due to a major corruption scandal. The news of that scandal broke in 2024, giving the writers plenty of time to incorporate it into their new season.
While Only Murders has always been relatively “apolitical,” as Charles put it in this premiere, it’s still a show that’s never shied away from commenting on the cultural moment and on New York City in general. Season 4 had plenty to say about the New York housing crisis, so why shouldn’t Season 5 have something to say about corruption in New York politics? In a time where the mayor was caught accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions, why not give us a storyline where a fictional NYC mayor is covering up a corruption scandal of his own?
Social commentary aside, the best argument for Mayor Tillman being a villain is simple: you don’t cast someone like Keegan-Michael Key in Only Murders and not give him something juicy to do. This man would play a tremendous murderer, and a finale standoff between him and the trio would undoubtedly make for riveting, hilarious TV. If his character doesn’t turn out to be guilty of something by the end of Season 5, what a disappointment that would be.
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