One thing Only Murders is very good at is strategically timing Meryl Streep’s appearances so we don’t realize that she’s barely in this show. Personally, I don’t even mind how infrequently she appears — in fact, I think she pops up just the right amount. But it is funny to look at the inordinate amount of press she does for the show, as if she were a prominent cast member, given the fact that she’s a guest star who primarily exists off-screen. But every time it dawns on me that we haven’t seen Meryl in a minute, poof, there she is. It’s like they know that I’m about to point it out in a recap.
However, before she finally shows up this week, Oliver hits a breaking point in their long-distance relationship. That subplot has created perhaps the best depiction of spiraling I’ve ever seen put to film. Martin Short captures the overthinking and complete unraveling beautifully, especially after his attempted proposal went unheard in a Three’s Company-esque farcical misunderstanding. So he decides to finally put himself out of his misery and pulls the plug on the relationship altogether via text. Even crazier, he does this just before he has to turn off and hand over his phone completely, on account of the trio being watching and potentially followed by the killer — who they’re hoping won’t find them at Charles’s sister’s house on Long Island.
I think the murder mystery element of this show can sometimes overshadow just how dense it is with jokes. It’s not a whodunnit that’s funny, it’s a comedy about a whodunnit — often overflowing with jokes in every possible nook and cranny, despite its deathly subject matter. For example, the doorbell chime for the house on Long Island is the opening notes of “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,†or the boat in the driveway being named “Master Boater,†and of course, every mannerism delivered by Melissa McCarthy as Charles’s sister Doreen. I can only imagine that McCarthy was heavily involved in her character’s wig selection — if it isn’t just straight from her personal collection. Oh, and speaking of collections: the dolls! Doreen collects hundreds of dolls! That’s never a good sign.
Before the trio fled the island of Manhattan for the island of Long, they told only Howard of their top secret whereabouts, which means word very quickly spread and soon enough the place was flooded with unwanted visitors. It ends up being like The Big Chill, but if they were all hiding from a killer. First to arrive is Bev Melon, needing confirmation that the Brothers Sisters are innocent so she doesn’t have to pull the plug on the movie. Then all three lead actors show up, needing a safe haven of their own and resentful that they were left for dead. And what’s one more actor? Loretta then arrives, flying across the country after receiving Oliver’s break-up text out of the blue. Luckily, Oliver is much better at face-to-face interaction and the couple is able to figure out the misunderstanding. That wasn’t Loretta who rebuffed Oliver’s proposal; it was her gauze-covered stand-in. It is fitting for a season focused so heavily on stand-ins and body doubles.
The latter arrival is a real bummer for the leopard-print-clad Doreen, who immediately takes a liking to her short king Oliver over vodka Crystal Lights. Though she easily could’ve just been a fun host for their hideout, the episode actually spends a lot of time introducing us to Doreen. We hear all about the childhood injury, accidentally caused by Charles, that cost her her spleen — which she likes to joke about, despite his protests. I imagine that hits a little too close to home lately since he’s already feeling responsible for causing bodily harm to those around him, especially Sazz. Their argument over it ends up bringing up a conversation about their distant mother and how lonely Doreen is — especially when listening to Charles yucking it up with his podcast buddies. She’s certainly not in suspect territory, but I did take note that Doreen might have a gripe with Charles doing the podcast.
Over in the kitchen, Mabel is overwhelmed by the presence of everyone, so she asks Loretta (who we find out is a fan of Baskets) to distract the other actors so she can focus on investigating. But Loretta tells her that that would be a mistake — actors are implicit investigators of the human condition and thus could be an invaluable resource in her sleuthing. For example, when Bev derides everyone in an angry stupor, Eugene, Eva, and Zach quickly are able to diagnose her as “middle child,†“single mom,†and “high thyroid.†See, Mabel? They know people.Â
Sitting together at the piano, a callback to where most of their relationship played out last season, Loretta wonders what it was Oliver had told her stand-in on that phone call. He reluctantly comes clean, not just about the proposal, which he tries to downplay, but also about his finsta account. Loretta’s reaction is nearly identical to Sally Field finding out that Mrs. Doubtfire was her ex-husband, minus the classic, “THE WHOLE TIME?†After a proposal, stalking, and a break-up text, Loretta is understandably overwhelmed — and to make matters worse, a jealous Doreen tries to beat the shit out of her.
That’s right, we get a full-fledged, choreographed fight scene between Meryl Streep and Melissa McCarthy. Not since Paula Pell brutalized the Property Brothers on Girls5Eva has television seen such an iconic brawl. It turns out mixed martial arts are the arts, after all, Meryl. And luckily, when Loretta fights, she wins. She and Oliver not only make up, but she proposes — meaning we can expect another seven minutes of Meryl spread throughout season five.
For the most part, the episode is largely devoid of investigation — until the next morning, that is, when the house wakes up and sees that the three actors took it upon themselves to craft a murder board of their own. Now, I’ll allow this, but it is a little convenient that suddenly they’re all master sleuths, especially considering that a big point of an earlier episode was how bad Eva Longoria was at interrogating Rudy. Let me just suspend my disbelief for a minute. Their big break is that this case started long before Sazz’s murder — in fact, it goes all the way back to season one (of the show and the podcast). The show’s plot holes — or purposefully unanswered questions — from that season are back in play and ready to finally be resolved. For example: who poisoned Winnie? Who wrote the note threatening them if they didn’t end the podcast? And who left the “I’m watching you†note on Jan’s door?
This killer has been after them since those early days, the actors reveal. And it turns out Sazz was on the case because all of the ominous notes they found on her desk correlate to those unresolved plotholes. I do wonder whether the writers were really playing the long game by deliberately leaving those loose ends open or if, this season, they figured they could retroactively use them to their advantage. Either way, I love that they’re pulling from their back catalog. Let’s bring back Jayne Houdyshell as a ghost or something while we’re at it.
All this while, Howard has been back in New York trying to figure out who’s been cashing Dudenoff’s checks. And continuing the trend of this season’s best investigating being done by anyone but the trio, he gets to the bottom of it. After making a deal with a bodega cat, he’s able to access the ledger and security camera to see that Dudenoff’s checks were cashed under five different signatures, all with one phone number. The Westies. He somehow manages to pass along this intel to Doreen’s husband, who arrives at the house with the news. When Charles calls the number, sure enough it’s the unmistakable voice of Vince Fish — who quickly tells the other Westies that they’re on to them.
But keep in mind there are three episodes left. Just because the Westies got caught in a money laundering scheme doesn’t necessarily make them killers — but it does suggest that they know Milton Dudenoff is dead. While they’re still a suspicious bunch to me, I don’t think it could be that cut and dry. Yes, I think they’re involved in this tangled web, but I think we’re still missing some critical pieces of the puzzle. I’m more inclined to think that somebody else killed Dudenoff, and then the Westies discovered the body and covered up the murder so as not to lose their rent-controlled apartments. All of them being accidental accomplices to a murder they don’t know much about is far more interesting to me and would give us more to sift through in these final three episodes.