Only Murders in the Building returned for a fifth season on Hulu this fall, and despite a new mystery, the show remains faithful to its tried-and-true murder mystery formula. It makes for an enjoyable and thought-provoking season, but it doesn’t feel like anything new for the series.
The series follows Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) as a team of podcasters who investigate murders that occur in their New York City apartment building. This season, the building’s doorman, Lester (Teddy Coluca), was seemingly murdered right in the complex’s courtyard.
Lester has been a recurring character in the series since its beginning, so it’s an exciting premise that the season begins with his murder. Only Murders is a veteran comedy series at this point, so it knows what its viewers expect, for better or worse. This means that the show often delivers on laughs and complex mysteries, but the way the story unfolds is similar.
The first two episodes are both classic formats for Only Murders: the investigation and the flashback. These episode types can be easily picked out of every season, and while they have different plot points, the episodes feel thematically the same. By the fifth season, recycling these ideas for the focus of episodes feels a bit stale.
The first episode sees Putnam, Savage, and Mora investigating Lester’s murder in a location where they’re not welcome: Lester’s funeral. The podcast team is on a mission to see if Lester was missing a finger when he died, but unfortunately, Lester’s hand isn’t on display in his casket. This situation is nothing new for the series, and the main trio often find themselves investigating murders in a hostile environment. What keeps viewers engaged, though, is the comedy.
Short, Martin, and Gomez have a chemistry with each other that’s rare on television. Their characters represent a typical boomer-millennial relationship because Mora is far more tech-savvy and culturally aware than her older podcast partners. The show walks a perfect line between the generations, where younger and older people can both appreciate their differences.
The fact that Short and Martin are actual comedians and also executive producers on the show is another thing Only Murders has going for it. They know how to write for laughs, and most of the jokes in the script land successfully. In the season’s first episode, where Savage is trying to figure out if Lester has all of his fingers, he takes it upon himself to start feeling around in the coffin for Lester’s hands in front of the whole funeral service. Martin is hilarious as people in the funeral start to react, and he’s complemented by remarks from Short and Gomez.
The flashback episode is another bread and butter for the series. Every season, Only Murders loves to give audiences an episode where we get to learn about the victim and their life circumstances. It’s a necessary evil that rarely progresses the plot, but sets the show up for more emotional impact down the line.
Even with a similar formula, Only Murders doesn’t make it any easier to figure out who the killer is. The show’s writing does a great job at keeping people guessing, as the series presents audiences with multiple suspects who have feasible motives and mounting evidence. A murder mystery series can’t reveal its hand too early, and Only Murders knows how to play its cards.
For a show returning for its fifth time, Only Murders has done an impressive job of writing engaging murder mystery plots, even if the series tends to recycle some of its episodic formats. As long as Only Murders has the comedic chemistry of Short, Martin, and Gomez to keep it fresh and exciting, the show’s murder mysteries are worth watching.
