TV Recap: “Only Murders in the Building” Season 3, Episodes 1 & 2 – “The Show Must…” and ““The Beat Goes On”

Only Murders in the Building follows three residents of The Arconia who play armchair detectives to solve homicides that take place in their New York City apartment building. But at the end of Season 2, the cliffhanger murder took place not in The Arconia but at the Gooseberry Theater. So how can there even be a Season 3? You’re about to find out in our recap of the double-episode premiere, now streaming on Hulu. Think you can solve the crime before Charles, Olver, and Mabel? These episode recaps just might help lay out all the clues for you.

Episode 1: “The Show Must…” – Written by John Hoffman and Sas Goldberg

“When you’ve finally found your moment in the spotlight, how far would you go to hang onto it?” That question is posed by Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin) in the introductory monologue, which introduces us to a blonde child named Loretta Durkin (Willa Dunn), who attended her first Broadway show in 1962 at the Gooseberry Theater. She was so mesmerized by Diahann Carroll (Rosharra Francis) singing “The Sweetest Sounds” in No Strings that she walked up to the stage to get a better look. Loretta was obsessed, and from that day forward, she spent her life preparing for the day when a casting director on Broadway would ask, “Where have you been?” The only problem is that never happened. Not until today when a much older Loretta Durkin (Meryl Streep) auditioned for Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) in that same exact theater. Oliver was so captivated by Loretta’s performance that he was drawn from his seat to the edge of the stage. “Where have you been?”, he asked.

Opening night of Death Rattle is a certified disaster, with Oliver’s leading man, Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd), having died in the middle of the show! Amidst a flurry of police activity, Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) huddles with Charles in the lobby, theorizing that Ben was poisoned since blood was leaking from his mouth when he died. Oliver enters the lobby in hysterics, with his assistant Howard Morris (Michael Cyril Creighton) anxiously trying to console him. Oliver demands that Howard proceed with preparing the after-party as planned in his apartment at The Arconia. “Is this really happening?”, Oliver asks his friends. “How did I get here?”

Through a lengthy flashback, we find out exactly how Oliver got there. It’s the day of the first table read. Charles has been cast in the show, and Mabel has been invited along because she’s a fan of Ben Glenroy and wants to meet him. As the trio enters the studio, the cast applauds, minus Ben Glenroy, who is running late. Oliver delights the cast by revealing the poster for Death Rattle and talking through the show’s premise. Set within a lighthouse in Nova Scotia, a murder has occurred, and the only witness was a baby. The cast is introduced to the show’s producer, Cliff De Mayo (Wesley Taylor), who is making his “solo” producorial debut alongside his mother, Donna De Mayo (Linda Emond), who smothers him. After Charles embarrasses himself by giving a speech about how he’s just like all the actors despite his TV credits (revealing that the Brazzos reboot is on hiatus while a producer is investigated for harassment charges), Oliver unveils a model of the set for the play.

“Okay, who farted?”, Ben Glenroy loudly asks as he arrives late to the table read, followed by his manager/brother Dickey Glenroy (Jeremy Shamos) and documentary filmmaker Tobert (Jesse Williams). He passes out NDAs as well as a release form, revealing to the cast that he is having a documentary made about his Broadway debut and they are all in it, non-negotiable. Charles stands up to introduce himself, and Ben dismisses him, instead focusing on the actors seated next to him, Kimber (Ashley Park) and Ty (Gerald Caesar). He then looks across the room and sees Loretta, drawn to her by her presence. She tells him how excited her friends are that she’s working with “The Cobro,” but he quickly corrects her that it’s just “Cobro,” a popular film series Ben stars in about a zoologist who morphs into a twenty-foot cobra to help fight crime. Lastly, Ben introduces himself to Mabel, who is flustered as she tells him how much she loved an old TV show Ben starred in, Girl Cop. It’s also revealed that Ben recently moved into The Arconia in the penthouse suite previously occupied by Amy Schumer.

With niceties out of the way, the readthrough can begin… or so everybody thinks. First, Ben is distracted by the presence of cookies, a treat that’s not on his Cobro diet (Dickey replaced them with healthy snacks that are on Ben’s diet). Then, when the readthrough actually begins, Loretta has prepared a litany of accents to help find her character of the nanny, cycling through a Scottish dialect due to a line about the character’s childhood, followed by French Canadian. When she missed one of her lines, Ben has had it. During a  break, he asks Oliver to have her fired. However, Oliver can’t forget Loretta’s incredible audition. He goes to her, standing by the model of the set, and promises to keep her in the show as long as he’s the director.

In the present, the lobby of The Arconia is packed because the elevators are out of service. Lester (Teddy Coluca) tries to calm all of the partygoers down, promising they will be back up soon. Oliver talks to Donna and Cliff, trying to encourage them to keep the show going despite having just lost its leading man. Donna points out that the Gooseberry Theater was also the location of Oliver’s career-killing flop Splash. As the elevators resume operation, curmudgeonly Uma Heller (Jackie Hoffman) pushes her way onto the first one up with Charles, Oliver, and Mabel. “At least you had the consideration to keep the body out of the building this time,” she chides them.

Charles’ girlfriend Joy (Andrea Martin) stops by his apartment after dropping his daughter Lucy off at home. He confesses that he’s relieved the show is over since performing eight shows a week was going to be tough for him.

When Mabel enters the party, she finds Howard talking with his boyfriend Jonathan (Jason Veasey), who was Ben’s understudy, and stage manager K.T. (Allison Guinn) about the opening night gift Ben gave them all – a handkerchief with red anchors on it. Loretta, who was late to arrive, goes to Oliver’s piano and begins to play “The Sweetest Sounds,” which draws Oliver to her side. They sing some of the Rogers and Hammerstein classic together before Loretta asks Oliver to check the back of her earring to make sure it is fastened correctly since she had to change so quickly. Oliver thanks Loretta for making him feel better for a moment. She points out that with the show on pause, they are now allowed to date.

“Okay, who farted?”, an obnoxious voice asks, bringing the party to a screeching halt. It’s Ben Glenroy! He stumbles into the party, bragging about having been dead for an hour, a fact his brother Dickey is quick to deny. Ben’s stomach was pumped, and it appears to have been something he ate. He says the blood that leaked from his mouth was caused by him biting his tongue when he fell. “When I was dead, guys, I saw the light,” he says, promising to be nicer to everyone going forward. He begins to make the rounds of individual apologies. To Kimber, for making things messy between them; to Ty, for refusing to pass along the contact information of his personal trainer; to Jonathan, for vowing to never let him perform the role; to Donna and Cliff, for being so high maintenance about his dressing room; to Bobo (Don Darryl Rivera), for always saying no to everything; to K.T., for stealing her mangos. And then he gets to Loretta, calling her “The consummate professional” before leaning in to say, “Cobro knows a fellow snake when he sees one.” He hisses at her. Charles asks to be skipped. Instead, Ben makes a comment about how Charles is at the end of his career and so intimidated by sharing the stage with a big movie star, saying he gets it now. Dickey rushes to Ben with a phone, which is ringing. Ben sees who is calling and seems concerned, saying he will step out to talk privately. He announces that he is retiring to his apartment for the night and reiterates that he’s excited to continue the show. “We’re all back on Broadway,” Oliver declares. Loretta is the first to leave, commenting to Mabel that Ben is a jerk.

That night, Mabel, Charles, and Oliver decide to go to the Pickle Diner together. As they walk through the halls towards the elevators, Mabel announces that he aunt sold the apartment and she will be moving out of The Arconia in four weeks. She mentions that she checked the message boards for their podcast, and their fans have been wondering where they’ve been. The elevator arrives, and although it seems fixed, Charles seems nervous to get in. “We’re good at living on the edge,” Mabel says as she leads them in. But once the elevator begins its descent, they hear a strange mechanical noise. On the way down, something drips on Charles’ hat. They look down and see a small puddle of blood on the floor of the elevator. They look up at the frosted glass roof and see the silhouette of a body. The glass is starting to crack under the weight. The doors open, and the trio jump out just in time for a body to come crashing through the ceiling, landing like a pancake on the elevator floor. “You gotta be [CENSORED] kidding me,” Uma says in the lobby as she sees the dead body of Ben Glenroy.

Episode 2: “The Beat Goes On” – Written by Ben Smith and Joshua Allen Griffith

Mabel watches an old episode of Girl Cop on her laptop, remembering how he secretly took photos of Ben Glenroy’s dead body in the elevator when she was left alone with it for a second. She then hallucinates that the deceased actor is sitting with her on the couch in his Girl Cop frosted tips. She tells the fictional actor that she’s almost 30 and doesn’t have a career or a place to stage. He tells her how he was 31 when he was cast in Girl Cop, playing a teenager while his acting peers were performing highbrow art and his childhood friends were starting families. “You can afford to take your time, Mabel,” he encourages her. “What you can’t afford to do is waste it.”

In Charles’ apartment, we see him open his opening night gift from Ben. His handkerchief includes a rude note from the late actor, which Charles obscures when Oliver bursts in. Ben’s funeral is today, and Oliver wanted Charles’ advice on his scarf, surprised that Charles is even going. Oliver is stressed because Donna and Cliff won’t answer his calls, and they’ve ordered the Death Rattle sets to be demolished. He’s hoping he can convince them to keep the show going at the funeral. As they leave Charles’ apartment, they find Mabel in the hallway, who asks if she can tag along.

When they get to the church, Oliver is outraged to find that he and Charles aren’t in the actual funeral but rather the third overflow room, which is the same place Mabel is sat as an uninvited guest. They’re surrounded by the rest of the Death Rattle cast, but Mabel ends up chatting with Gregg (Adrian Martinez), who says he was one of Ben’s security guards. He tells her he believes the killer was Kimber, Ty, or Bobo, offering to show her files at his apartment that contain evidence. Mabel asks if Gregg has shown it to the cops yet. “I don’t trust the cops,” he tells her. Meanwhile, Charles watches on the video monitor as Dickey recounts Ben’s earliest days in acting, having gotten fired from his first TV job when he was just 8. Mabel interrupts to tell Charles she has a lead.

Charles and Mabel enter Gregg’s apartment, which is full of Ben Glenroy posters and memorabilia. Charles was reluctant to remove his shoes, citing his plantar fasciitis as the reason, but was made to do so. Mabel is impressed by a collection of items Ben gave Gregg, including the car keys from Girl Cop. But Charles has a bad feeling and asks Gregg why he’s never seen him at rehearsals if he worked security for Ben. Gregg says he’s just really good at his job. When Gregg steps away, Charles points out some framed photos of Gregg with Ben, which are obviously photoshopped. He heads down the hallway towards his shoes, but when he turns around, he sees Mabel has collapsed on the floor. Rushing back to help her. Charles finds a handkerchief full of chloroform suddenly covering his mouth.

Oliver failed to find Donna and Cliff after the service, but he did bump into legendary theater critic Maxine (Noma Dumezweni). He practically begs her to publish her review of Death Rattle since she sat through a press preview prior to opening night. However, she sits Oliver down to tell him she thought the show was bad. She trashes Ben Glenroy’s acting and tells Oliver that the production “Didn’t sing.” After Maxine leaves Oliver alone in the hallway, the disheartened director stands up and is taken aback. He leans against the wall, looking pale as he clutches his chest.

Mabel and Charles find themselves chained to a pillar in a basement. Mabel says this is all her fault, but Charles says it appears she found Ben’s killer on their first try. “Usually, it takes us at least 8 episodes,” he applauds her. She reveals why Ben Glenroy means so much to her, sharing that after her dad died, her mom didn’t leave her bedroom for 6 months. Mabel watched a lot of Girl Cop during that time and one day, she heard her mom laugh for the first time since her father died. She soon realized that her mom was also watching Girl Cop from her bedroom and that the show was bringing them both moments of joy during times of sadness. She adds that she knows Ben was a jerk to Charles but that he meant a lot to her. Looking sad, Charles confesses that he was a jerk to Ben.

In a flashback, we see Ben Glenroy working in private with Oliver on a monologue he’s having difficulty with. It’s about your heartbeat, the first sound you ever hear, yet one you tone out most of your life until you’re about to die. Ben has a breakdown, fearing that he’s not a good actor without a gimmick premise. But Oliver assures him that he is enough and that he can see the spark of something great in him. Encouraged, Ben tries the monologue again and delivers it beautifully. From a crack in the door, we see that Charles has been watching. When Oliver exits, Charles steps in to congratulate Ben, only to find that the celebrity actor hates him. Charles asks what he did, and Ben reveals that his first acting job was a recurring role on Brazzos when he was 8. However, he was fired after one table read because the lead actor said he was bad. “Every job I go to, I’m still that little boy who can’t hack it, even now,” Ben scolds Charles, blaming him for being the root of his insecurities. Ben tells Charles that he thought about having him fired from this play, but instead decided to make his life hell during it.

In the basement, Charles tells Mabel that he missed his chance to make things right with Ben just as Gregg enters the basement with a cart full of torture equipment. Gregg believes Charles murdered Ben and is about to torture him for information when the police burst into the basement, led by Detective Riswas (Gerrard Lobo), who has heard all about Mabel and Charles from Detective Williams. Riswas had been tracking Gregg since Ben’s death because he was spotted on security cameras sneaking into The Arconia the night Ben died and leaving with stolen souvenirs and evidence from Ben’s apartment. Among the items stolen was another of Ben’s handkerchief gifts, which Mabel secretly pockets before they’re released.

Oliver’s son Will Putnam (Ryan Broussard) is upset as Doctor Douglas (Harry Sutton, Jr.) visits with his father in his apartment. Oliver had a mild heart attack and needs to reduce his stress in addition to eating better. Oliver argues that having heart attacks is normal for theater directors, referencing Bob Fosse’s five heart attacks. When Oliver falls asleep, he has a fever dream in which Mabel, Charles, and Will perform a Fosse-style number about how he needs to quit the show. However, what Oliver actually takes away from that experience is a desire to turn Death Rattle into a musical. “I’m gonna make it sing!”, he declares, taking Maxine’s critique literally.

Charles and Mabel return to The Arconia. In the lobby, Mabel tells Charles that Gregg couldn’t be the killer since he wanted to find the killer so badly. But she’s confused about the handkerchief, showing Charles the photos she took of Ben’s body. In the images, Ben is holding a handkerchief like the one he gave everybody in one of his hands. Since they now know it wasn’t his own, this means the killer was either wearing it or holding it at the time of the murder. They rush to Oliver’s apartment and he gleefully shares the good news about the play. But he realizes Mabel has her on-the-go podcast recording microphone in her hand. Charles announces that they’re doing a new season of the podcast because one of the stars of the show is a murderer!

Next Week:

Only Murders in the Building is back with Episode 3 on Tuesday, August 15th, titled “Grab Your Hankies,” written by Matteo Borghese and Rob Turbovsky.

Oliver races to bring new life to his show as Mabel’s investigation into the actual murder collides with a surprising ally. Charles bonds with the cast, and Loretta proves her voice is invaluable.