“Only Murders In The Building”, Season 4 | Review of Episode 1
Season 4 of Only Murders In The Building is finally here, and it starts off on a thrilling note, with our central trio back to investigate—you guessed it!—another murder in the building.
Warning! These reviews do not contain spoilers for the episode in question, but discuss previous seasons and episodes with spoilery details!
Only murders in the buildingHulu’s phenomenally popular crime comedy, starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez, is now in its fourth season, and you may be wondering how many bloody murders there can be in one building?!
Apparently quite a lot, and we’d be lying if we said we weren’t willing to put aside a lot of skepticism to keep enjoying it. Thankfully, the show’s writers understand that the premise is asking a lot of the audience. Even the characters note that it’s a “flaw” in their podcast business model.
From the first episode, Season 4 brings a little variety. As the trailers already reveal, Charles (Martin), Oliver (Short) and Mabel (Gomez) are on their way to LA because Paramount Pictures wants to make a movie about their podcast. But don’t worry, the season won’t take place in sunny Hollywood because our trio will soon return to Arconia to investigate another murder.
![only murders in the Molly Shannon building](https://spaces.filmstories.co.uk/uploads/2024/08/only-murders-in-the-building-molly-shannon-800x533.jpg)
Season 3 ended with a shock: Charles’ stunt double Sazz Pataki was shot while retrieving a bottle of wine from her doppelgänger’s apartment. But the question is, was the bullet intended for Charles?
For most of the first episode, the trio isn’t even aware that a murder has taken place. Charles’ apartment has been cleaned out and Sazz’s body has disappeared. Charles senses something is wrong, but can’t put his finger on what.
When the trio flies to Hollywood to negotiate the rights to his life, they learn that the cast for the upcoming Only murders in the building Film. Eugene Levy is set to play Charles, Eva Longoria is Mabel and Zach Galifianakis is on board as Oliver. Mabel immediately feels uncomfortable with the whole situation, especially after she is described as a “homeless, unemployed, mumbling millennial” by Molly Shannon’s film manager.
It’s fun to see Only murders in the building expands its horizons and changes its well-worn formula a bit. The introduction of Levy, Longoria and Galifianakis gives this season a slightly metaphysical edge, which is surprisingly welcome. The dynamic between Martin, Short and Gomez carries the show, but the prominent supporting cast always breathes new, fresh life into it.
As season 4 begins, there is a fear that the show will become boring. Episode 1 sets the stage for another highly entertaining season, but how long can they keep this up before audiences tune out and no longer believe that another murder has occurred in Arconia?
To the show’s credit, we get to meet many new tenants in the building’s west tower, a somewhat closed-off part of the Arconia. These include Richard Kind’s evil-eyed Vince, Kumail Nanjiani’s Christmas-loving pretty boy, and a family who are constantly cooking gravy in their kitchen. This adds another dimension to the season and creates a class divide between the two towers, as the west tower’s tenants have much smaller apartments than the extravagant, huge apartments Oliver and Charles live in.
We’re excited to see what this new season does with the material. There’s clearly an attempt to do something different, expand the locations and introduce more characters, but will it be enough? We can’t wait to find out.
Only season 4 of Murders In The Building will stream weekly on Disney Plus.