Spoilers ahead for “Opening Night,†the season-three finale of Only Murders in the Building.
In true Broadway fashion, the third season of Only Murders in the Building ended in the midst of a big musical opening with a twist dependent on Schmackary’s cookies and the reveal that Daryl and Jordan Roth Donna and Clifford DeMeo, the powerhouse mother-son producing team, were responsible for murdering Ben Glenroy. Twice over, in fact! Donna put rat poison on the superhero star’s cookie after reading a leaked negative review of his performance, but when he came back from that murder attempt (according to Donna, she was just trying to incapacitate him) and started to piece together what might have happened in front of Cliff, the younger DeMeo pushed Ben down the elevator shaft. It’s a fitting thematic culmination to a season all about mothers and sons — considering the red herring of Meryl Streep’s Loretta trying to defend her secret child, Dickie — if a little tidy. But before the show had time to address the many lingering plot threads, it sped on to its setup for the just-announced fourth season: Jane Lynch’s Sazz Pataki, body double to Charles-Haden Savage, shot in the middle of Charles’s apartment, providing our heroes with yet another murder in the building. As we wait to see how that will unfold, we cannot help but wonder about everything this season left unanswered. For instance:
How much influence does Donna have? Theater producers tend to be powerful and very wealthy people, but Donna must have really leaned on the police department to make sure the evidence pointed toward Loretta and not Cliff. Her son’s rough-and-tumble argument with Ben should’ve left a few fingerprints, or at least more than a handkerchief, on his person. Did Donna’s production kills extend to keeping the spotlight off that evidence?
Who’s leaking Maxine’s reviews? Considering her ability to get her hands on a theater review before it goes live on opening night, Donna seems to have connections inside major publications. None of this murder mess would’ve happened if she hadn’t had access to Maxine’s pan, and I’d love to know who was willing to scan that review in advance and slip it to her. More important, I’m impressed that Maxine’s review is fully edited and uploaded so far in advance of the opening-night curtain. Speaking from experience, that is not always the case!
How many seasons can they keep this up for? The show’s third season, with its musical-theater setting, felt like a sprightlier return to form after the meta knots Only Murders tied itself into with a very self-referential second season. But it’s tough to see where the show can go next without retreading familiar territory. Despite its title, the series improved when it went outside the Arconia and brought in a fresh slice of New York to parody, so here’s hoping it finds a way to loop from Sazz’s murder into something new. Speaking of which …
Will Only Murders stop by L.A.? The show has found a nifty little way to not have to pay Streep to appear in another season by sending Loretta — with Oliver’s encouragement to follow her dreams — to the West Coast to take a role on Grey’s New Orleans Family Burn Unit. Similarly, Tobert has an offer to do an indie film there, so he’s heading for Hollywood too (it seems he’s also hit the one-season expiration date for each of Mabel’s love interests). The show’s heart is in New York–based satire, but it’s a pity to see two characters get shuffled westward so quickly. Can the main trio visit them for an episode, if not to make an Erewhon joke or two?
Will Mabel continue living at the Arconia? Her aunt sold her apartment, and now Charles’s space is a crime scene. Oliver will have to get rid of some scarves if he’s going to accommodate two new roommates.
Who’s trying to kill Charles? The most obvious implication from Sazz’s death is that someone has it out for Charles and mistook her for him, but who’s holding that deep of a grudge? In this case, it’d be most satisfying to bring it all back to one of the Arconia residents we’re already familiar with, someone who’s gotten especially fed up with all the attention the main trio’s podcast has brought to their otherwise sleepy UWS abode. Or perhaps there’s jealousy from a rival true-crime podcast? Maybe this is a way to bring in more Cinda Canning.
In a universe where Nathan Lane is playing a character but Matthew Broderick plays himself, who starred in the musical adaptation of The Producers? And who is starring in their version of The Gilded Age? There’s too much cast overlap for it to exist!
What exactly is the plot of Death Rattle Dazzle? This thing seems more complicated than the pop-star fantasia that was Smash’s Hit List, and we eventually did learn the plot of that! Somebody please explain how “Creatures of the Night†and the nanny and the Pickwick Triplets and the lighthouse all tie together. If not to us, then simply to Jackie Hoffman. Do it before the inevitable “54 Below Sings Death Rattle Dazzle†concert. You just know some chipper young UMich alums are going to want to cover these songs in a concert format.
Which of the Pickwick Triplets did it? You can write a song that ends with the claim that none of them did it, but I’m still suspicious.