Only Murders In The Building feels a little too glamorous in season 4 premiere

How will Only Murders In The Building top itself after season three? I don’t mean in terms of narrative quality, as the Hulu series’ first season is still its greatest run. While the subsequent rounds haven’t been as enticing, there’s enough momentum and humor to keep us returning. Crucially, OMITB keeps upping its game year after year in terms of production value, guest appearances, and a general razzle-dazzle. At least those welcome elements make it easier to forgive the show’s sometimes glaring plot holes.   

Last year, the comedy decided to take on Broadway, welcoming stars like Meryl Streep and Paul Rudd to the party. This also meant creating some distance with the show's well-established setting of the Upper West Side apartment building that brought our ragtag trio together in the first place. Charles Haden-Savage (Steve Martin), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) are neighbors at the Arconia, who teamed up to solve a murder in the building by hosting a true-crime podcast. They successfully investigated a couple more mysteries since Tim Kono’s (Julian Cihi) death, increasing the trio’s popularity and fandom. So what’s next for them, and thus, the show? 

Realistically, it makes sense for OMITB to keep shifting its perspective beyond Arconia and expand its scope, at least for a brief period as seen in this premiere, “Once Upon A Time In The West.” How many more deaths can the building complex take? Mabel, Oliver, and Charles joke about it, too, as they debate their fates. (There’s already apparently been a fresh killing, but they’re blissfully clueless for now.) As it turns out, the next step for our intrepid sleuths is to go even farther away from New York City. Paramount Pictures lures them to Hollywood because they want to make a movie based on their hit podcast. Oliver, whose musical Death Rattle Dazzle was just shut down after one show, is excited at the prospect of reclaiming glory. Plus, he’ll get to reunite with his girlfriend Loretta (Streep), who moved there after she got a part in a Grey’s Anatomy spin-off. Oh, sorry, the full title is Grey’s Anatomy: New Orleans—Family Burn Unit. So off they go to La La Land. 

It’s not like OMITB wasn’t about showbiz before. Oliver is a Broadway alum, and Charles is a former procedural TV star, so their return to Hollywood makes sense, even if it takes us away from the show’s special setting. There’ll be more time to spend at the Arconia, but for now, OMITB hops to the West Coast to introduce its incredible lineup of season-four guest stars. Molly Shannon plays enthusiastic studio rep Bev Melon. The actor channels a great mix of The White Lotus’ shrewd mom and The Other Two’s kooky Pat, much to my delight. Shannon is always a welcome sight, and she’s already got great rapport with everyone, so I can’t wait to see what else Bev’s cooking for the trio. 

We also have Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy, and Zach Galifianakis as our new Mabel, Charles, and Oliver, according to the studio’s casting department. If you’re wondering why they aged up Mabel, Longoria says it’s because a focus group found the age difference between her and the men “creepy.” I see the point, but don’t they realize an unexpected boomer-vs.-millennial dynamic is precisely what makes OMITB tick? Well, that’s what Hollywood studios get for trusting an algorithm. Bev says they’re in a rush to make the movie because the algo predicts it’ll do well if they release it this year before the holidays. They have a script ready, thanks to writer Marshall B. Pope (Pachinko’s Jin Ha), who is curiously taking copious notes when he meets the real trio. Even the director is locked in—or directors, I should say, because the studio has hired twin sisters called, wait for it, The Brothers. Their past credits include helming a Cannes Prix winner and a “deeply wrenching Walmart ad campaign.” What the hell is the tone of this film? 

Still, a movie based on their adventures is a neat storytelling trick to get them to reflect on their lives and how the world views them through a pretty narrow lens. (One could argue true-crime podcasters also view the subjects they discuss with an insular lens, but that might be too meta.) The questions that come up for them are about what their work has summed up to so far and where can it lead them. As OMITB does best, it weaves lighthearted answers, especially as Mabel ponders over her character being described as a “jobless, homeless, mumbling millennial.” Meanwhile, Charles is the “un-fun uncle,” and Oliver is someone who you’d want to both cuddle and strangle. It’s a surface-level analysis, but none of it is wrong! Oliver’s description got a chuckle out of me. 

Photo: Disney/Eric McCandless

Eventually, all three get on board and give the studio permission to adapt their story, with Longoria advising Mabel to get a lot more money out of it and use it to build something that matters to her (as the Desperate Housewives star did with her tequila brand, she says). The deal is signed, champagne is popped, and it’s time to celebrate. Oliver even shares a super sweet reunion and confession of love with Loretta. He admits he’s nervous to hold her back and envious to see her progress so fast. At one point, it seems like he’ll propose. That would be crazy but then again, Short and Streep’s chemistry is fantastic, and I hope we see her more regardless.

It feels like things are going a little too well, but don’t worry, Charles has a sinking feeling about his friend and stunt double, Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch). All of us saw her getting shot in his apartment in Death Rattle Dazzle’s opening, but by the time Charles made it back home with Mabel and Oliver, her body was gone. So no one knows where she is or that she’s potentially dead. OMITB keeps this suspense a bit on the back burner in “Once Upon A Time In The West,” so I did too. Her presence, or rather absence, is merely looming in the background for all 30 minutes as Charles’ worry grows because she isn’t at her L.A. home either. It looks like no one’s been there for a while—the flowers are wilting, there’s dust everywhere, and there’s plenty of suspicious paperwork laid out on her table. So where is Sazz? And who texted him from her phone saying Sazz is in L.A.? 

By the end of the episode, Charles, Oliver, and Mabel realize something is very wrong because they get a call from Arconia’s doorman. He informs them that the whistling noise Charles kept hearing is the wind courtesy of a hole in his window…a bullet hole. They rush back home and, with the help of Howard’s (Michael Cyril Creighton) new pet dog Gravy, discover that Sazz might’ve been disposed of in Arconia’s incinerator. Now look, who am I to correct three noted crime-solvers, but there still isn’t proof those are Sazz’s ashes, right? All Charles sees is dust and artificial joints from Bulgaria, the type that Sazz got whenever she injured herself on the set. I’m suspicious about whether Lynch’s alter ego is dead because we know the basic rule—no body, no crime. And there’s no sighting of Sazz’s body! At least I hope this means Lynch returns soon, even if it’s in flashback form because no one does a Steve Martin imitation like her. 

OMITB’s roster of big names will only increase now, but I’m glad the premiere establishes what to expect: The satire is now not only about true crime but also Hollywood’s obsession with IP and adaptations. This is great fodder for a writers’ room like OMITB’s, especially with guest stars like Galifianakis who are happy to be the butt of the joke. In his case, Oliver doesn’t recognize The Hangover star, asking if he’s the kid from Home Alone before yelling to his face: “What have they done to you?” I’m nervous that too many new famous faces could make OMITB overcompensate for the lack of suspense, but I’m digging how this case circles back to Charles’ past. Now let’s see how season four continues to build on this. Same time next week! 

Stray observations

• • As befits the episode’s title, the premiere opens with clips from Sergio Leone’s 1968 spaghetti western Once Upon A Time In The West.
• • I’m thrilled to report that the banter between Gomez, Short, and Martin remains undeniably charming. They’ve perfected their chemistry by now. 
• • Is Oliver truly surprised that his musical was shut down? The star of his show was murdered, and the killers were unmasked as the play’s producers. Of course it wouldn’t get another moment on the stage.
• • “Godzilla? That loser gets a lot of work.” 
• • Okay, the Arconia was missed, but it was great to spend some time at the Paramount lot in this episode because I personally love it. 
• • Speaking of Galifianakis, he almost leaves the movie because Oliver is being annoying. Bev pulls him back in by promising to let him star in an Erin Brokovich-like movie. (He also tried to get a Legally Blonde and Spider-Man made with him as a star, but no dice.) 
• • I love the detail about the apartment complex Sazz lives in. She took over the lease from Charles, who stayed there while filming Brazzos to experience living with “eccentric L.A. locals.” 
• • So how much money did Mabel ask for and get? 
• • Scott Bakula is yet another celebrity cameo in this episode because even he’s wondering where Sazz, who is now his stunt double, has disappeared.