Only Murders in the Building Episodes 1+2
A personal fan favorite of mine, Only Murders in the Building has returned for its fourth season. This time around it’s focusing on the murder of Sazz Pataki, Charles’ (played by Steve Martin) long standing stunt double from when he worked on the television show Brazzos. However, Sazz was killed in the finale of last season acquiring a bottle of wine from Charles’ apartment while she was dressed like him. Was she the intended target? Or was it really Charles, and now we’re wrapped into not only a murder mystery, but a potential serial killer? All the while, a Hollywood group is acquiring the life rights of the podcasters to turn their lives as makeshift true crime investigators into a film.
The fun of this show is within the core cast of Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short. The three play off each other in wickedly fun ways, making fun of their age differences as well as their varying tastes of Hollywood and stardom. The first two episodes so far have not faltered in the chemistry between the three leads, even introducing some new characters into the mix with Zach Galifianakis, Eva Longoria, and Eugene Levy as the Hollywoodified film versions of our central three. A brief glimmer of Meryl Streep’s Loretta was a welcome invitation in the first episode. The very last shot of the episode though confirmed my hopes for the season. Charles finds the ash remains of Sazz in the incinerator of the Arconia, the apartment building the three live in. It was at that moment I knew this season had the potential to be really special, as the camera holds Martin’s expression, his horror is entirely present, all the while the shot is making fun of the ridiculousness that Sazz’s replacement joints were all made in Bulgaria. Martin is about to give a gut wrenching dramatic performance in the midst of the gleeful comedy this show brings, a balance not only hard to write, but hard to perform.
The second episode starts with a bang as Martin is uncertain what to do with the ash remaining on his hands. As he tries to figure out how to move, call the police, and get Sazz off of him, while not simply washing her down the drain, you can’t help but laugh at Martin’s control of physical humor. Meanwhile, the underlying horror of losing someone he was so close to is expressed plain as day. It’s on his face, it’s in his voice, it’s in his body movements. Somehow, he’s not only funny, but terribly sad at the same time. Now though, in the middle of all of this trauma, Charles is seeing an apparition of Sazz, allowing Jane Lynch to continue to show off her acting capabilities and interact with the cast a little bit more than her previous appearances on the show. A dramatically captivating Martin across from Lynch, both doing a bit of drama and slapstick comedy, sign me up.
The second episode opens up a series of new subjects as they look across to the other side of the Arconia at who could have possibly shot the bullet that took Sazz out. Charles’ crazy ex girlfriend who was found to be a murderer in a previous season is back, along with these new cast of characters that could all potentially be the murderer. The past three seasons of the show the first episode always introduced the new killer, and none of these characters were present then. But who knows? Maybe they’re changing it up on us. This could be the best season this show has produced, only time will tell, but for now, the quality has not dwindled an ounce. Still fun, still funny, and still mysterious enough to keep you wondering who is behind it all.