Only Murders in the Building - Season 4

From the world of musicals to the world of movies, and from New York to Hollywood. Only Murders in the Building season four surprises us once again with wild twists and turns. Last season was all about the theater, this season moves to Hollywood, both physically and thematically. The trio gets hauled into a movie adaptation of their podcast. As always, the production of this adaptation is enshrouded by chaos and murder. At the end of last season, we saw that stunt double Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch, Glee) was shot. What happened to her? Were they after her or maybe after her ‘face’ Charles instead?

The series manages to combine complicated and heavy themes with lighthearted jokes

In answering these questions, the series plays with several themes this season. One of them is doubles. Of course, we have the turbulent relationship between a stunt double and their ‘face’. The trio is also shadowed by three actors who are supposed to play them in the movie adaptation, holding up a confrontational mirror. Other recurring themes are loneliness and found families. During their investigation, the trio meets some new neighbors from the Arconia, and they are confronted with questions about what it means to be lonely, or be with others.

What makes Only Murders in the Building such a strong show is how they manage to combine these complicated and heavy themes with lighthearted jokes. A common gag in the series is that the podcast makes murder look cozy, and that is precisely what the show does. At first I was sad that Pataki is now out of the show, but during this season she grew from a funny side character to a full-fledged person over the course of the ten episodes. The character might be gone, but this season is a place for her to shine.

The producers are again not afraid to experiment with different and unique ways of storytelling

Like previous seasons, the producers are not afraid to experiment with different and unique ways of storytelling. All episodes are named after movies, and some of the episodes really lean on their movies to bind the whole thing together. One episode is even a movie on its own.

Unfortunately, the last episode is the most disappointing of the season for me. After a build-up of ten episodes, the finale was a bit anticlimactic. This was in part due to a deus-ex-machina solution, and in part because some of the resolution seems to have been pushed back to the next season. Throughout the season, connections are made to past seasons; loose ends are pointed out, but not yet resolved. It seems like season five will be the place to finally tie the whole show together. It can then become the greatest season yet, or fizzle out when it turns out to be too difficult to live up to the hype. 

But I am looking forward to it. I am not too happy with the next victim, but there is also a lot of potential there. Where will this go?