Like earlier seasons of the delightful Only Murders in the Building, Season 3 also ended with a murder, foreshadowing what our favourite true crime podcasters, Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) will be investigating in Season 4. Season 3 ended with Charlesâ stunt double, Sazz Pataki, (Jane Lynch) getting shot and her trying to write a clue on the floor of Charlesâ apartment in her blood.
Season 4 opens right after Season 3 ended with Charles, Mabel and Oliver celebrating the successful opening night of Oliverâs musical, Death Rattle Dazzle. Sazz goes to Charlesâ apartment to get a bottle of wine. After waiting for her return, the trio come upstairs and there is no sign of Sazz.
Only Murders in the Building Season 4Â (English)
Creators: Steve Martin, John Hoffman
Cast: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy, Kumail Nanjiani
Episodes: 7 of 10
Runtime: 33 â 40 minutes
Storyline: With a movie deal on hand, actors shadowing Charles, Oliver and Mabel, and another murder to investigate, the trio have their hands full
A movie option for the first season of Charles, Mabel and Oliverâs podcast, also called Only Murders in the Building, sees them flown out to Los Angeles to meet the team. There is a mention of a flaw in the business plan of the podcast of only investigating murders in their posh Upper West Side apartment, Arconia.
Oliver is happy to go Los Angeles as he can meet the love of his life, Loretta (Meryl Streep). Bev Melon, (Molly Shannon) cue for many fruit name jokes, is a hotshot Hollywood executive who passed up on a chance on Barbie to make the film. There is a writer who suffers from imposter syndrome and the very avant-garde director siblings, the Brother Sisters (har de har har).
A still from âOnly Murders in the Buildingâ Season 4
| Photo Credit:
Hulu
After being described as âa homeless, jobless, mumbling millennialâ, Mabel is not too keen on the movie deal, though Charles tries to cheer her up by saying Bev described him as an un-fun turtle! At a party in their honour, Charles, Mable and Oliver meet the actors who will be playing them â Eva Longoria (Mabel), Eugene Levy (Charles) and Zach Galifianakis (Oliver).
The actors shadow the three, with bizarre results. Levy is awestruck by Charles and Longoria gives Mabel good advice. Galifianakis, on the other hand, refers to Oliver as a âtechnicolor cockroach who refuses to die.â An Oliver Putnam story is broken down as âYou should want it to be true, it should happen between â60s and the â80s, it should involve a celebrity you are shocked to discover is still alive and involve a drug that no longer exists.â
From Charles hearing a whistling sound to Arconia resident Howardâs (Michael Cyril Creighton) cadaver dog, Gravey (get the pun?) smelling something off and Sazz not getting in touch, the three rush back to New York to solve the latest murder.
Their investigation leads them to the âWestiesâ, those living in the West Tower of the Arconia, who seem up to no end of shady business. There is Stink Eye Vince (Richard Kind) who looks out of the window only to give Charles the evil eye. There is the Sauce family â Inez (Daphne Rubin-Vega), Alfonso (Desmin Borges) and Ana (Lilian Rebelo) who are forever stirring pans, and the highly suspicious Christmas Guy, Rudy (Kumail Nanjiani) who has Christmas-themed decorations in his apartment all year round.
That they play a strange game called âoh hellâ, and there are a profusion of ham radios, a ham in the shower and a pig in the bath, further complicate matters. The pigâs name is the butt of many jokes including Natalie Porkman and Gloria Swineham!
The investigation is complicated by the possibility of Charles being the target. Some old favourites return including grumpy Arconian Uma (Jackie Hoffman) and detective Donna Williams (DaâVine Joy Randolph), and some pleasant and not-so pleasant surprises, including John McEnroe (definitely pleasant). Â
A still from âOnly Murders in the Buildingâ Season 4
| Photo Credit:
Hulu
There is poignancy as well as smiles to be had at the stunt peopleâs bar, Concussion, where we meet a significant stunt double. Stuntmen calling the actor âthe Faceâ and their particular funeral rituals for their peers are a sobering yet fun revelation.
Like in earlier seasons, the murder victim has a substantial role to play via flashbacks and memories. Sazzâ pride and joy, the X-Rays of all the bones she has broken is oddly moving as are her dreams for retirement in a trampoline park.
Season 4 of Only Murders in the Building shows all signs of being a well-oiled machine delivering dollops of thrills, laughs, wit and warmth. The chemistry between the three principals is delightful, the clothes are lovely, as are the titles and Siddhartha Khoslaâs music.
Only Murders in the Building Season 4 premiers today on Disney+ Hotstar with weekly episodes dropping till October 29