A new season of our favorite Hulu original comedy is finally here and I hope you like meta moments because it looks like this season of Only murders in the building will be full of jokes and sayings emphasizing this aspect as the team heads to Hollywood.

This season, our favorite team of podcasters head out from NYC to the streets of Hollywood for another season of adventure. In our season opener, Charles, Oliver and Mabel are whisked away to LA to meet with a team looking to adapt their podcast into a feature film. But the sudden disappearance of Charles’ stunt double and longtime friend Sazz Pataki is the real heart of the episode and clearly becomes the central crime story of this season – after all, you can’t have a season full of Only murders without at least one murder!

ATTENTION: Large spoilers for Only murders in the building Season 4, Episode 1 can be found below.

With the start of the premiere, the gang ends the last season of their Only murders in the building Podcast with Charles recording the final voiceover for the episode. A power surge throws things into disarray for a moment, and Charles and Oliver joke that the building hasn’t had a power outage like this since the incinerator was put into operation.

After the podcast concludes, the group heads to Charles’ house for a nightcap. Much to our surprise as viewers, his apartment is empty and there is no sign of Sazz. As viewers will recall, he was apparently shot in the season three finale. We see blood stains on the oven handle and the bullet hole in the window, but the group is too distracted to notice the signs around them that something strange has happened.

The next day, Charles wakes up to find that Sazz hasn’t responded to any of his texts and he keeps hearing a whistling noise coming from his apartment. Before he can investigate, however, Oliver and Mabel show up, with Oliver in turmoil after Donna and Cliff have refused to finance wheezing, and Loretta immediately left New York to take a job in Hollywood.

Just as Charles tells them about the whistling noise, Howard comes in with Gravey, a new dog he adopted. She used to be a working dog, but he doesn’t know what she’s done. He suggests a podcast about working dogs to Mabel, but quickly runs off when Gravey suddenly starts barking, as if she’s been startled by something.

While Oliver is reeling from his Broadway hit being canceled after only a few shows, we learn that a woman from Paramount Pictures has contacted Charles and Mabel to express her interest in adapting her podcast into a movie. Charles isn’t sure at first when he tells the group about his concerns about not being able to reach Sazz, thinking that the whistling he keeps hearing is the universe telling him something is wrong, since Sazz was apparently a whistling …

When the trio arrives at Paramount Pictures, Charles and Oliver tell Mabel to take the lead since they know the business. They then sit down with studio head Bev Melon, played by the amazing Molly Shannon, and the creative team overseeing the film.

Bev tells the team that the film has the potential to be a box office hit if it comes out before Christmas. Oliver, Charles and Mabel thought this was just a preliminary meeting to discuss the film, but it seems the studio has already been hard at work on the film and they even have a cast ready for filming, which is set to begin in a few weeks. All they need to do is secure the cast’s life rights, which is why they’ve called them to Hollywood for the meeting.

After some awkward negotiating tactics from Charles, Mabel excuses herself and the guys quickly head out to check on her. Mabel tells them that she’s a little overwhelmed, but is mostly worried about how they’ve described her character as a homeless, unemployed mumbler and whether she wants to be seen that way. Oliver is Oliver and supports her within limits. He tells her to take her time, but also stresses how important this is to him.

Before heading to the party the studio is throwing to announce the cast of the film, Charles, Oliver, and Mabel head to her apartment in hopes of finding her there. Instead, they only find an empty apartment and a pile of packages outside her door. It’s clear that Charles is worried, but he’s not going to let his worry get in the way of the party.

As the trio makes their way to the party, they are greeted with loud cheers. But they soon realize that the cheers are not for them, but for the actors who will play them in the film: Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria and Zack Galifianakis.

The party gives the trio a chance to rub shoulders with the stars they’ll be playing in the film, which leads to some funny moments that give the show a very metaphysical feel. Our favorite meta moment is when Eva makes a joke about the studio deciding to age up the character Mabel after test audiences found the age difference between her, Charles, and Oliver creepy.

Zack takes a swipe at Oliver, telling him that he’s thinking of approaching the role in a unique way by portraying him as talented and successful, while Eugene is excited to question Charles and talk to him about the role. Unfortunately, Charles can only think of Sazz and quickly withdraws from the conversation.

After mingling a little, Oliver asks Mabel about her decision to wait until later to answer the studio, but the conversation is interrupted when Loretta returns fresh from the set of Grey’s Anatomy: New Orleans – Cremation Unit.

While Mabel sneaks away, Oliver catches up to Loretta and tells her that production on Death Rattle has been shut down. With nothing keeping him in New York, she asks him if he would consider coming to LA. He is hesitant at first, and she tries to brush it off when he confesses his fear of losing her. Loretta assures him that she is in love with him, and when he utters the words “Will you,” it’s clear that she was hoping that would be followed by “Marry me” or something along those lines. Instead, he simply asks, “Will you give me time to think about moving to LA?”

After finishing her conversation with Oliver, Mabel happens to run into Eva, who tells her that she heard Mabel decided against the studio. Mabel apologizes and talks about how hard it is for her to process the inspiration for a character. Eva tells her a long-winded story about a time she was at a similar crossroads, basically telling her to ask for a lot of money and then build something.

After the conversation, Mabel meets with Bev and it seems as if the two have made a deal.

Meanwhile, Charles keeps hearing whistling, unable to hear Sazz. He thinks he spots her in the crowd and chases after her, only to find that it was actually Bakula. Charles asks Bakula if he saw Sazz, and he tells Charles that she was supposed to double for him on a pilot last week, but never showed up.

Just as Mabel is about to tell Oliver the good news that she has agreed to pledge her life so that the film can continue, Charles comes to pick her up and says he has news, and not good news at that.

Charles, Oliver and Mabel sneak to Sazz’s apartment and Charles picks the lock to get in. They hear something fall and think it might be Sazz, but to no avail. It seems she isn’t home and Charles’ suspicions only grow when he finds notes about him.

While they’re looking around the apartment, Lester calls and asks Charles about the note he left asking for the window in his apartment to be fixed. The only problem is that Charles never left a note. Lester tells him that the note says that the kitchen window needs to be replaced because there’s a hole in the glass. Charles asks if it’s as small as a bullet hole and tells Lester not to touch the window.

At the same time, Howard texts Mabel and tells her that Gravey was a cadaver dog. She remembers the dog barking in the apartment and starts to worry that something is wrong.

The group heads back to New York to investigate Charles’ apartment. They notice the hole in the window and blood on the stove handle. Howard takes Gravey to the door and she circles around on the floor, apparently sensing a trail. She then leads them through the building down to the old incinerator inside – reminiscent of the electric shock that Charles said earlier in the episode hadn’t happened since they last used the thing.

When Charles opens the door of the incinerator, he finds a pile of fresh ashes and steel plates that belonged to Sazz, confirming the group’s worst fears: Sazz was murdered.

As the episode ends, Charles receives another text message from Sazz’s number, in which the sender makes it clear that he is not a friend but an enemy, and tells Charles that he is “not your damn friend.”

And that’s the end of the episode! As we suspected, the mystery surrounding Sazz’s death seems to be the central murder story of this season and will play out in the upcoming season. Who could the mysterious texter be? Was Sazz the target all along or was someone after Charles? How will the movie’s plot play into the season’s overarching story?

Needless to say, the premiere left many unanswered questions and we can’t wait to get answers in the upcoming episodes!

Don’t miss any new episodes of Only murders in the building Streaming on Hulu on Tuesdays.