Only Murders in the Building has followed Charles (Steve Martin), Mabel (Selena Gomez), and Oliver (Martin Short) as the unlikely group solved four different cases in the Arconia, but they aren’t done yet. Most recently, things got personal for Charles as he and his podcast partners uncovered the killer of his long-time friend and stunt double, Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch). The investigation introduced a new group of residents, uncovered another death inside the Arconia, and forced each member of the team to grow, all while their podcast is adapted into a film. The thrilling and twisty season ends with even more drama as another body falls, but the Only Murders team is on the case, once again promising a dramatic story. Hopefully, they have learned a little more from their Season 4 experience.
‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 4 Takes a Look at the Sudden Death of Sazz
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With Sazz’s body gone, and little evidence left, it takes time for Charles to realize that his friend was killed. First, he is simply worried about her silence, but once he learns that she isn’t showing up for work, Charles’ concerns grow. While meeting with Bev Melon (Molly Shannon) and the team, hoping to get their life rights for the film, Charles, Oliver, and Mabel visit Sazz’s Hollywood apartment. They discover that Sazz has been doing an investigation of her own, which centers on Charles. However, when Lester (Teddy Coluca) calls about replacing Charles’ window, the trio realizes there is more going on, and they return home and find her artificial joints in the Arconia’s incinerator, triggering the investigation.
Mourning his friend, Charles begins talking to himself, worrying Oliver and Mabel, who suspect that the killer was aiming for Charles rather than his stunt double. They insisted he stay inside while they investigate where the bullet that went through the window could have come from. However, Charles isn’t the only one to care about Sazz, who had been dating Charles’ murderous ex, Jan (Amy Ryan). Jan breaks out of prison, fearing that something is wrong, and enters Charles’ apartment through the tunnels in the Arconia. Believing Charles to be her target, the authorities rush in, and Charles reports Sazz’s death. Because of Jan’s history of killing ex-lovers, the FBI takes over the case, leaving Detective Williams (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) to secretly help the trio in their own investigation.
‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 4 Introduces the Westies
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Reasoning that the gunshot came from the other side of the building, Mabel and Oliver investigate the Westies, which includes Vince Fish (Richard Kind), Alfonzo (Desmin Borges), Inez (Daphne Rubin-Vega), Ana (Lilian Rebelo), and Rudy Thurber (Kumail Nanjiani). This area of the Arconia is full of quirky characters who meet regularly to play a game called “Oh Hell,” but one is missing: Dudenoff (Griffin Dunne), the owner of the apartment where the killer shot from. In the apartment, Mabel and Oliver find a boot print and a scrap of what seems to be tinsel, directing them to Rudy, whose home is always decorated for Christmas. With the help of Eva Longoria, who is studying Mabel to play her in the film, Rudy is ruled out, but with Sazz’s notes including Dudenoff’s name, they are still suspicious. He’s supposed to be in Portugal, so Mabel decides to squat in the apartment and force him home.
The Westies are upset about this idea, eventually revealing that Dudenoff has been illegally subletting them cheap apartments. However, the conspiracy goes deeper. With a tip from Williams and Howard’s (Michael Cyril Creighton) help, the trio learns that the Westies are cashing Dudenoff’s social security checks. Their investigation reveals that Dudenoff is dead, forcing the Westies to confess the truth. Dudenoff died by suicide, but asked them to hide his death and keep his scheme going, all the while lying to another member of their group, Helga (Alexandra Templer). When Charles, Mabel, and Oliver began investigating murders, the Westies were spooked, sending threatening messages that the trio never got to the bottom of; however, Sazz was looking into them. Mabel agrees to keep their secret, cementing a friendship with the Westies, but losing their lead.
‘Only Murders in the Building’ Connects Sazz’s Death to the Movie
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The Westies are not the only group Charles, Oliver, and Mabel suspect. They follow the clues to find a bar for stunt performers called Cuncussions, where Sazz spent the day before her murder, but the regulars don’t want them asking questions. This does open up the series to reintroduce Paul Rudd, but not as Season 3 victim Ben Glinroy. This time, Rudd plays Glen, Ben’s stunt double, who is out of work due to Ben’s death. Their trip pays off when Charles remembers Sazz’s dream of opening a trampoline park to train stunt performers, sending them the property she wanted to use, where Bev Melon is investigating after Sazz left her an unsettling voicemail that suggests the killer is working on the movie.
Charles, Mabel, and Oliver begin to investigate the film set, first considering the screenwriter, Marshall P. Pope (Jin Ha), after he tries to run away from them, though he claims that it was for fear of notes on his script. Marshall points out that to go from the Dudenoff apartment and get the body to the incinerator in time, it would have to be done impossibly fast, which pivots the investigation to a pair – the Brothers sisters (Catherine Cohen and Siena Werber) — who are directing the film and have shoes that match the footprint in Dudenoff’s apartment. When the lights go off and Zach Galifianakis (who is playing Oliver) and Glen are shot, the trio seems to be on the right track, but they are convinced that Oliver was the intended target. However, the Brother sisters are cleared when the trio receives “I’m watching you” texts while the Brother sisters are both in the room.
The stalkery threat sends them to hide with Charles’ sister, Doreen (Melissa McCarthy), but their hideout isn’t so secret. While Charles makes amends with Doreen for childhood mistakes, Oliver deals with his feelings for Loretta (Meryl Streep). Their long-distance relationship had some complications, and a failure of communication led Oliver to break up with her. Heartbroken, Loretta travels to New York to speak with him, and they not only make up, but get engaged.
A Twist Leaves Mabel Trapped With the Killer in ‘Only Murders in the Building’
Though their investigation stalls, Helga provides a new lead, revealing that Sazz got in touch with her while looking into the Westies and admitted that her former stunt double protégé on Project Ronkonkoma was dangerous. Charles, Oliver, and Mabel believe this to be Glen, but as he is unconscious in the hospital, they search for someone else to tell the story: Project Ronkonkoma’s director, Ron Howard. After attempting to sneak onto the set brings out Charles’ insecurities about Oliver no longer needing him and the pair making up, they encounter Ron at a restaurant, where at least one of Oliver’s name-dropping stories turns out to be true. Ron Howard explains to them about Project Ronkonkoma and a stuntman named Rex Bailey, whose career ended after a stunt-gone-wrong burned off Ron’s eyebrows. Oliver and Charles recognize Rex as Marshall P. Pope, identifying the killer, but it’s too late.
Mabel leaves the group before meeting Ron Howard because the hospital calls her when Glen Stubbons is killed. Another lead lost, she returns home where Marshall is waiting outside her door to work on the script. She lets him in, only to soon put the pieces together when she finds the same script with Sazz’s name stored with the beer Sazz brought the night she died. Trapped with the killer, she hears the confession that he wanted to be a screenwriter, but Sazz’s script was better than his. When he sold it under his own name, Sazz got angry, and Rex shot her. Meanwhile, Charles and Oliver search for a way to save Mabel, walking from the next-door apartment on a ledge and climbing through the window, surprising Rex. Despite Charles gaining the upper hand with Eva Longoria’s multi-tool, Rex uses his stunt training to get the gun back, and the entire trio is trapped, until a shot from Charles’ apartment saves them. Jan, who has been hiding in the Arconia since her escape, takes out the killer before being returned to jail.
‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 4 Sets Up Another Murder
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While that wraps up the investigation, the season isn’t over. Instead, it shows Oliver and Loretta’s wedding and their decision to live long-distance for a bit longer while she works in Australia. Meanwhile, Mabel makes a decision about her career, choosing to tell stories that matter to her rather than catering to Hollywood, and Charles says a final goodbye to Sazz. But, as always seems to happen in the Arconia, another death sets up a new season, and this time, the victim is Lester, the doorman, who the trio finds bleeding out in the fountain after Oliver’s wedding.
Additionally, the mysterious Sofia Caccimelio (Téa Leoni) approaches Charles and Mabel, asking the amateur sleuths to investigate the disappearance of her husband, Nicky, New York’s dry-cleaner king. Though they refuse her, citing their focus on murders inside the Arconia, Sofia gives them her card, insisting that what happened to Nicky had to do with the Arconia. While Charles, Oliver, and Mabel have their work cut out for them in Season 5, they are perhaps better equipped after Season 4 saw them each through a vulnerable place.
