TV Recap: “Only Murders in the Building” Movie Screenwriter Becomes a Suspect in Season 4, Episode 5

Who killed Sazz Pataki? Why is Bev Melon holding a gun in Sazz’s trampoline park shed? Who is the muscular arm in all of Loretta Durkin’s recent Instagram posts? We find out to answer to some, but not all, of these questions in the fifth episode of Season 4 of Only Murders in the Building.

Episode 5: “Adaptation” – Written by JJ Philbin & Ella Robinson Brooks

This week’s narration comes from screenwriter Marshall (Jin Ha), who has written the film adaptation of the Only Murders podcast. He speaks of imposter syndrome, a feeling he knows all too well. We get a glimpse into his home life, an apartment filled with vintage movie posters and books about screenwriting. In a fake-it-until-you-make-it moment, we see him putting on fake facial hair to make him look more like his idols, including Charlie Kaufman (a screenwriter whose work includes 2002’s Oscar-winner, Adaptation). We learn that the Only Murders movie is Marshall’s big break. When Bev Melon gave it the greenlight, he thought his imposter syndrom with dissipate… it didn’t.

In Sazz Pataki’s trampoline park equipment shed in Paradise, NJ, Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) stand on the business end of a pistol. The person at the other end of the gun is film producer Bev Melon (Molly Shannon), who flips a light on and is relieved that it’s the podcast trio. She says she was on edge and found the gun in the shed. It doesn’t make sense that Bev would be there. “Bev, did you kill her?” Charles asks. “No I did not,” Bev responds, “but I think someone on the movie may have.”

Bev’s alibi for the night Sazz died is that she was at a Hollywood party (Variety’s 100 Most Powerful Women Under 100), but while she was there, she got a voicemessage from Sazz warning here that there is a problem with the movie. The time stamp was 11:07 pm. Mabel realizes that’s right after Sazz left to get Charles’ wine. Bev came to Sazz’s shack to see if she could find out what she was talking about, but all she’s found are trampoline blueprints and the loaded gun. Mabel uses a cloth to take the weapon from Bev. The producer hopes the podcascters can find the killer and save the movie. Bev’s career is riding on it.

Detective Williams (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) is brought to Charles’ apartment, where Mabel gives her the gun that was found in Sazz’s shack. Williams is frustrated with Charles as he shows her not one, but three murder boards. Charles says they will cross a few suspects off the list today in the production office.

Oliver has been trying to solve a mystery of his own, the muscular arm in Loretta Durkin’s Instagram posts. He enters Charles’ apartment with a copy of Page Six and a full page article with a shirtless muscle hunk, Jack Jonk, who has a four-episode arc on Loretta’s TV show.

The life rights checks have arrived, and Mabel can’t believe how big it is. She feels like a fraud, unable to describe what she’s receiving it for. Charles suggests that she’s a Podcast Producer. Mabel smiles because the title feels right.

The film’s production office is The Arconia’s penthouse apartment. Directors Trina (Catherine Cohen) and Tawny Brothers (Siena Werber) are preparing a promotional photo shoot for the film, and they’re inspired when they see Charles, Oliver, and Mabel arrive, asking the real podcasters to be part of it. They feverishly bark notes at a meek assistant, who writes everything down on a tablet. Oliver can’t shut up about Jack Jonk, and Bev knows him to be so sex-crazed that “Jonk” is a verb in Hollywood. Oliver tries to inflate his own ego, comparing his physique to the built Hollywood hearthrob.

Howard Morris (Michael Cyril Creighton) walks through the apartment with a cupholder full of smoothies, having been given a job as a Production Assistant on the film. He asks Charles and Mabel to step on the sticky flooring before entering to get dust and dirt off their shoes. It’s one of Eva Longoria’s business ventures, “Tacky Mats.” The apartment is buzzing with activity, and Charles uses his phone to take pictures of every detail while pretending to be on a call. Mabel thinks this is hopeless, but Charles says their lead suspect will probably look anxious to see them poking around up there. And just then, they see the screenwriter, Marshall, looking alarmed to see them there. He trips on a Tacky Mat as he tries to turn back towards the elevator.

Marshall, who is in awe of being so close to the characters he’s spent so much time writing about, was actually just worried that the trio, like everyone else, had notes about the script. He’s actually relieved that they’re just considering him a suspect in the case. Charles invites him to his place, and they’re all about to head down together when Bev asks Mabel to hang back.

Alone, Bev asks Mabel what she’s going to do with her life right’s check. Mabel says she’s going to invest it in her podcast empire. Bev’s ears perk up because she’s looking for another podcast to adapt, asking Mabel what other podcasts she has. Mabel searches the room for inspiration, saying there’s one about people and another about buttons, hoping to get out of this conversation. But Bev seems overly interested in these broad ideas, offering to set Mabel up with a meeting with the head of her podcast division. Mabel seems anxious about it, but Bev says, “They’re not buying the idea as much as they’re buying you.”

When Charles, Oliver, and Marshall get to Charles’ apartment, he has a visitor – Glenn Stubbins (Paul Rudd). Ben Glenroy’s former stunt double stopped by with a gift to say thank you for helping him get a job on the Only Murders film. With his accent, Glenn refers to Marshall as “Lassie” and asks when he grew the beard. Charles is very confused. “That’s not Mabel,” he corrects Glenn.

Marshall is ecstatic about being interrogated, having written so many scenes like this. Charles loves the script, particularly how Marshall has written that his mind is always “thumping” with activity. Oliver, on the other hand, is frustrated with his description as being less than the macho man he wants to be to hold his own against a Jack Jonk type. Marshall’s alibi for the night Sazz died is that he was trying an hour-long stand-up comedy routine at the Laugheteria in West Hollywood, and there’s a YouTube video to prove it.

Mabel asks Marshall if his beard is fake, and he’s surprised she noticed since it’s a high quality cinema-grade piece. Marshall says he can’t grow his own and he wanted to give the illusion of being a real screenwriter on his first film. He shares that his glasses aren’t prescription either. Mabel relates to his imposter syndrome, which Marshall is surprised by, crediting all of the podasters as a source of inspiration since, despite being amateurs, they’ve never missed. He points to the three suspect boards as proof of their unending quest towards a breakthrough. Charles gets bragadocious, showing him a board with four questions – “The Who, the How, the Why, and the Why Now?” Marshall is confused about how “The Who” is up in the air – was the killer trying to target Sazz, or was Charles the real goal? And he’s alarmed by how many questions are in “The Why” section.

Marshall points out something else he noticed on the board. Sazz’s voice message for Bev was left at 11:07, but her body was disposed of in the incinerator at 11:19. He says that’s not enough time for a shooter to make it down, over, and up from the West Tower. Charles tries to prove him wrong, and we see Charles as a James Bond-style man of mystery, suavely executing the murder, turning heads on his way to the East Tower, cleaning up the blood with martini shaker spray bottles, and disposing of Sazz’s body in a garment bag (Charles says one of his is missing). Marshall says the killer would need to be extremely fit, in the best shape of their life, in order to do all of that in just 12 minutes. Oliver says he can do it. Mabel tries to boost his self-esteem, saying he has a lot that Jack Jonk doesn’t, but Oliver is determined to prove himself.

38 minutes later, Oliver returns to Charles’ apartment winded  and looking haggard (and while running through the obstacle course, he had a heated encounter with tennis star John McEnroe). Charles realizes that Marshall is right, his timeline must be wrong. The doorman, Lester (Teddy Coluca), arrives with a rolling garment rack of costumes for Charles, Oliver, and Mabel for the photo shoot. Mabel looks through the photos Charles took, which Oliver printed, and sees a breakthrough. She pins a photo of the Tacky Mat to the murder board next to a photo of the shoeprint from Dudenhoff’s apartment. It’s a match.

The trio arrive back at the penthouse apartment in their costumes, entering a labyrinth of mirrors where they are greeted by their Hollywood actors – Eugene Levy as Charles-Haden Savage, Zach Galifianakis as Oliver Putnam, and Eva Longoria as Mabel Mora. They are also greeted by their stand-ins, with Glenn Stubbins dressed like Oliver. Bev enters excited by the confusing photoshoot, with the mirrors creating multiples of each version of each character. She says it’s confusing, like the podcast. Charles is sent to the makeup chair for a touch up.

Eva Longoria yells at Howard when she notices boxes of her Tacky Mats that haven’t been opened and laid out yet. But Howard has already been promoted to On Set Documentarian/Talent Liason and refuses to be talked down to like a PA, turning and snapping at the PA to unpack the Tacky Mats. Mabel holds the photo of the footprint, looking at the mats, hoping to find who is wearing the same type of shoe.

Zach Galifianakis, Oliver Putnam, and Glenn Stubbins do a photoshoot of the three of them. Between setups, Galifianakis asks Oliver if he saw the latest script update, which has made him more insecure. Oliver realizes Marshall already took his insecurities over Jack Jonk and put them into the script. When Oliver mentions the Hollywood hunk, Galifianakis reveals that he worked with Jonk on a gender-bent version of Snow White, saying he “Jonked” all seven of the dwarfs.

As Charles gets out of the makeup chair, he finds Eugene Levy in his way. After a joke “shall we dance” moment, Charles has an epiphany. “Two people,” he says. Charles rushes over to Mabel to tell her he believes there were two killers working together. Looking around the room, they see so many pairs collaborating, including the Brothers sisters, who are directing the photoshoot. Mabel looks at the Tacky Mat and sees a matching shoe print. Her eyes scan up and she see’s the shoe… on the kneeling foot of Tina Brothers! Tina asks Trina to move Oliver, and Mabel watches as the other Brothers sister effortlessly picks up Oliver and moves him to his mark.

There’s a popping sound, like a gunshot. The screen goes dark. “Oh my God, I’ve been shot!” an unidentified voice shrieks.

Only Murders in the Building returns next Tuesday, October 1st, with the sixth episode of Season 4, titled “Blow-Up.”

A documentary film is made by The Brothers Sisters.