The Deadly Truth Starts To Unravel In Only Murders In The Building Episode 4

While episode three served as a productive filler story that separated our team, the gang is finally back together in episode four of Only Murders In the Building season four. This episode finally gave us answers to some of the burning questions of the season, and yes, your eyes weren’t playing tricks on you when it comes to that crazy cameo. Let’s discuss everything that happened in the latest chapter of our favorite crime comedy.

One of the best things that came out of season three was Oliver’s relationship with Loretta, played by Meryl Streep. After her big break called her to Hollywood, she and Oliver compete in a game of phone tag to keep their spark alive. However, Oliver’s spirits are noticeably down in this episode’s opener. He reveals to Charles and Mabel that he’s been stalking Loretta online under a fake account as Ronnie, a Midwestern grandma who is a superfan of Loretta.

The episode adds new depth to Oliver, revealing that he has more insecurities than we were aware of. He’s scared to lose his girlfriend to the glitz, glamour, and younger men of Hollywood. Mabel helps Oliver let go of his fear, with the first step being to lay Ronnie’s online account to rest. Streep and Martin Short share amazing chemistry that has even sparked real-life romance rumors, leaving fans hoping that we won’t see the end of this relationship. Will Loretta and Oliver survive this season as a power couple, or will their relationship be another untimely death we’ll be forced to face?

Selena Gomez’s Mabel uncovered some much needed answers this episode. Mabel enlists Howard to stand guard in Dudenoff’s apartment to maintain her squatting rights while she chases a lead with Oliver and Charles. However, when Howard is lured out of the apartment by an audition in front of Molly Shannon’s character, Bev Melon, the wacky West Wing tenants attempt to push Mabel out of Dudenoff’s apartment. When she confronts the group, they finally reveal what is happening among this odd group. It turns out that Dudenoff is the ringleader of an illegal subletting scheme in the west wing of the Arconia.

All the quirky residents we’ve met this season are down-on-their-luck people who Dudenoff decided to help. They promise to let Mabel in on the deal if she promises to keep the information out of the podcast. When Mabel asks who threatened her over the HAM radio at the end of episode three, Kumail Nanjiani’s character explains that it was his crazy ex who likes causing problems. While getting answers to this mystery is satisfying, I still can’t help but wonder what the point of this storyline is. Will we learn there is something more sinister going on with this scheme, or was this just a fun way to integrate some awesome guest-starring roles?

Perhaps the most puzzling part of this episode was the crazy return of Paul Rudd. Don’t get your hopes up, though—Ben Glenroy is still dead. Rudd returns as the Irish stunt double for Ben Glenroy, the murder victim from season three. The trio visits a stunt double bar frequented by Sazz, and where she went on the day of her death. As they struggle to get answers from bartenders, Rudd hilariously falls at the group’s feet as Glenn Stubbins. Mabel naturally thinks they’re seeing a dead man walking, but they’re soon made aware that this isn’t Ben. Stubbins is an unhinged and unstable man who may have taken one too many hits to the head, but he helps the group by bringing Charles to the bar's back room, where Sazz was seen on the day of her death. Rudd brings joy, humor, and his contagious personality to all of his roles, and this short but sweet cameo was a fantastic surprise for fans.

Glenn brings Charles to the backroom of the bar to meet a mysterious chiropractor who performs procedures on ailing stunt doubles. The doctor only agrees to answer questions for Charles if he lets her operate on him. As she unlocks tension in his back, she seemingly unlocks secrets Charles never knew about his best friend, Sazz. Charles is transported to this dream state where he is following Jane Lynch’s Sazz through the woods as she attempts to reach “paradise.” What is paradise? We don’t know… yet. As the dream sequences progress throughout the episode, Sazz appears increasingly beat up with each glimpse. This unnerving dream reveals to Charles that Sazz has taken the hit for him too many times, ultimately resulting in her own personal pain. Charles also realizes that the “paradise” Sazz is running to is a trampoline park she was building to train aspiring stunt doubles before her death.

Charles is overwhelmed with guilt and decides to stand in for Sazz so her stunt double family can lay her to rest. We learn that the stunt double code includes the mantra “no body, no funeral,” prompting Charles to volunteer to be Sazz’s body in this ceremony. Audiences watch as Glenn and the other stunt doubles say their goodbyes to Sazz, who is actually Charles laid out on a pool table in the bar. As each stunt double approaches, they hilariously break bottles over Charles’s head. While it is a painful experience both emotionally and physically, this episode allows Steve Martin to explore more of Charles’s emotional depth and it is beautiful to see him stand up —or, in this case, lay down—for his lost friend.

Molly Shannon finally returns in this episode, leaving us to wonder if Bev Melon is truly rotten to her core. Melon holds auditions at the Arconia for the upcoming film adaptation of the podcast. She breaks poor Howard’s spirit when she tells him he didn’t get the role of playing himself in the film. However, this isn’t the last time we will see Melon in this episode.

In the final moments of episode four, Mabel, Charles, and Oliver visit the land Sazz bought to build her trampoline park. As they enter an abandoned building on the site, they are confronted by an angry Melon holding a pistol on the trio.

In true Only Murders in the Building fashion, the screen cuts to black, leaving us with a new slate of questions: Is Melon the killer? Why would she want Sazz dead? Did she lure Howard out of the apartment on purpose?

Only time will tell when Only Murders in the Building returns next week on Hulu.