By Katie Sterling
You would think after so many murders in their building they might move right?! Well, as anyone with rent control knows, it’ll take a lot more than foul play to force you out of your coveted space. After all, true crime is top tier entertainment in this day and age and if your amateur sleuthing garners a following, you lean in. What started as a podcast created by three strangers has grown into a cult following and it’s seemingly no surprise that the one-and-only Hollywood has come calling. For Mabel, Charles and Oliver, this year is all about lights, camera, antics!
The fourth season of Only Murders in the Building picks up on the tail of last season’s ending with the murder of Charles’s body double Sazz (Jane Lynch). However, it takes a bit to actually discover the murder, as the trio are currently out in Los Angeles being wined and dined in an effort to convince them to turn their podcast into a Hollywood blockbuster. They even have the actors signed on and ready – Eugene Levy as Charles, Eva Longoria as Mabel and Zach Galifianakis as Oliver. The actors play themselves, albeit an Only Murders version, as they shadow the podcasters in an attempt to get into character and unsurprisingly, ruffle a few feathers in the process.
Back in New York it becomes quite clear that another murder has occurred in the Arconia, but was the victim the true target? A bullet hole directed straight at Charles’s apartment begs the question, was it him rather than Sazz that should have been murdered? Cue up the recorder for season four!
In attempting to get to the bottom of this particular mystery, the trio set their sights on the as-yet-introduced occupants of the Westside section of the Arconia aka the “Westies.” This includes Christmas-obsessed Rudy (Kumail Nanjiani), conjunctivitis-eye patch wearing Vince (Richard Kind), an Italian family and the illusive Dudenoff. The Westies seem a particularly close-knit bunch; is it because they’re “renters” as Charles dubs them or are they uniting because of some unspoken secret that bonds them…
Anyone who has watched previous seasons of Only Murders can attest that this show is basically the wackiest version of Clue, and this season proves no different. With more celebrity guest stars (many of which weren’t even touched on in this review) and ludicrous plotlines, it’s the show you love to watch to escape reality. Yes, it is at times ridiculous. Yes, there are too many murders in just one building! But, the show acknowledges its wackiness and thrives because of it. After all, this season has barely just begun and Only Murders has already been renewed for another installment.
With politics, fires and general horror filling our feeds, Only Murders is the ideal escape to a world where an unlikely trio can band together to bring a bit of levity to it all.
