This week’s episode of Only Murders in the Building is called “Lifeboat,” and while it doesn’t find the podcast trio stranded at sea, it does find them trapped, both spiritually and figuratively. Will they get a new breakthrough in the case? Let’s find out!
(Disney/Patrick Harbron)
Episode 8: “Lifeboat” – Written by Kristin Newman & Jake Schnesel
Milton Dudenoff (Griffin Dunne) fittingly narrates this episode, which uncovers the mystery surrounding his death. The narration is like one of his film class lectures, this one on Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat. The film finds a group of disparate characters forced together with a shared goal of survival. He likens it to living in a New York City apartment building.
Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) Have returned to New York City, with Oliver’s car, Aphrodite, breaking down once they get into the city. The actors playing them in the film adaptation of their podcast have been calling nonstop, and Oliver finally answers the call. Zach Galifianakis (Himself), Eugene Levy (Himself), and Eva Longoria (Herself) feel indispensable after helping the podcasters make a breakthrough in the case, and they want to remain involved. Charles says they need to find a safe place away from The Arconia. Eugene Levy says he knows just the place.
Charles seems anxious as he examines a movie set recreation of his apartment, frustrated by tiny inaccurate details and obsessively trying to fix them. The actors want to force The Westies into coming clean. Eugene Levy suggests bringing them to Tony Danza’s extravaganza, where they will become loose-lipped on account of the TV star's charisma. Eva Longoria suggests a “ding dong,” a soap opera TV trick of introducing a sexy surprise guest that shakes everyone up. Mabel merges the ideas together – a celebrity game of Oh Hell at Oliver’s apartment. They all agree it’s a good idea.
Oliver goes to craft services to take a call from his fiance, Loretta Durkin, while filling up a plate full of dips. Zach Galifianakis overhears and asks Oliver about his wedding details. He’s upset when he learns they’re planning a courthouse wedding, saying the ceremony sets the tone for the marriage, and that just precludes a courthouse divorce. He and his wife have quarterly weddings to keep their marriage happy. Oliver disagrees until the assistant director (Zo Tipp) pulls Zach to rehearse “Scene 13,” in which Oliver tells the trio about his failed first marriage. It seems to cause him to rethink things.
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Meanwhile, Eugene Levy tries to probe Charles about his anxious habits. He says it would be helpful for his character study to see Charles release his anger, but Charles talks about his coping mechanism – straightening up a room. Eugene tries to get him to break by dropping his prop omelet, and while he seems to bring Charles to the edge of releasing his anger, Charles holds it in.
At the same time, Eva Longoria tells Mabel about her latest business venture – the Lady Longoria 19-in-1 multitool. The actress uses the red light to shrink her pores while demonstrating its multitool, nail gun, vibrating head, and voice recorder with autotune.
“Oh, hell-o,” Alfonso (Desmin Borges) says as he and The Westies arrive for Oliver’s game night, with the three actors having already arrived. They wheel in a luggage cart with a smoked ham leg and a knife hanging from it. After entering, Vince Fish (Richard Kind) locks the door and blocks it with the trolley. “We know you know about the checks,” Rudy Thurber (Kumail Nanjiani) announces. They collect everyone’s phones.
(Disney/Patrick Harbon)
The trio and actors sit on the couch as The Westies explain their full history with Dudenoff. Alfonso runs a restaurant with his wife, Inez (Daphne Rubin-Vega), and daughter, Ana (Lilian Rebelo). Dudenoff was a frequent customer, but when his wife passed away, he stopped coming regularly. They would instead bring dinners to his apartment after closing time, and their friendship grew. Soon, they were being invited to weekly games of Oh Hell at the professor’s apartment in the West Tower. Asked about their dreams, Alfonso shares his vision for a line of sauces, saying he already has a promissory investor – Tony Danza.
Rudy first met Dudenoff eight years ago when he was a struggling actor. He had already taken an acting class when he decided to join Dudenoff’s film class. Dudenoff was impressed by Rudy’s delivery of a monologue from A Few Good Men and invited him to his apartment. Rudy noticed the professor’s ham radio and learned that they’re one of his many hobbies. Dueenoff asked Rudy what his happy ending would be it his life were a movie. Rudy said he’d like the chance to stay in New York to pursue his acting dreams.
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When Vince’s wife passed away, she made him promise her that he wouldn’t become a lonely old man. As a cinephile, he perceived a flier advertising Dudenoff’s class as a sign, so he enrolled. While Vince didn’t gel with a class full of young adults who didn’t appreciate Dudenoff’s example of a perfectly cast film – It’s a Wonderful Life – Vince did bond with his professor, a fellow widower. During a game of Oh Hell at Dudenoff’s apartment, the professor told all of his guests that his wife was a music teacher who gradually purchased his entire floor of the West Tower. With them all there, he felt like he’d found his life’s perfect cast of players. Like Vince, Dudenoff didn't want to be a lonely old man, inviting his friends to live on his floor in rent-controlled apartments.
Their stories all told, The Westies say that Dudenoff’s other dream was to live in Portugal, but to keep their rent low, it needed to appear that he was still a resident of New York. Hence, they’ve kept his apartment empty and are cashing his checks at the bodega. They haven’t heard from him since.
The audience of Charles, Oliver, Mabel, Eugene, Zach, and Eva don’t seem to buy all of the Westies’ explanations. The doorbell rings, a literal “ding dong” that Mabel arranged inspired by Eva Longoria’s suggestion. The Westies are shocked as Helga (Alexandra Templer) enters with another piece of the Dudenoff puzzle.
Disney/Patrick Harbron)
Helga inherited her father’s locksmith business when he passed away. One of her frequent clients was Dudenoff, who reminded her of her father. Despite being from another country, Dudenoff was charmed by her knowledge of Perfect Strangers and its theme song and the fact that she used to play Oh Hell with her dad, a fact he learned when she installed a punch code lock on his door and asked him to pick a code – 773440. Helga was soon invited to game nights and eventually offered an apartment on the floor.
Years later, Helga received a note from Dudenoff on her door saying he hates goodbyes and he’s leaving for Portugal. It was the night of the power surge from the first season of the podcast, a phenomenon in The Arconia typically attributed to the old incinerator being fired up. After that, the rest of the Westies seemed aloof and distant from Helga. It coincided with the debut of the podcast, which put Helga on alert that one of her neighbors could be a murderer. She grew suspicious and ultimately decided to move out, having to leave behind her pet pig, Hammy Fay Baker.
The Westies insist they didn’t kill Dudenoff, but Mabel presents key evidence – a metal shoulder joint, later identified as Dudenoff’s, which was found in the incinerator. Eugene Levy tries to get Charles to release his anger and frustration, which he does by miming. Eugene is able to interpret because he’s so deep into his character's psyche. They implicate the Westies in murdering Dudenoff, killing Sazz when she began snooping around, and trying to kill Oliver most recently. The Westies come clean.
The other Westies received a different note from Helga – theirs an invitation to attend Dudenoff’s “funeral” in the basement. In the basement, the professor awaited them, sitting in front of one of his cameras. He told them that he was terminally ill and was given just a few months to live. With his perfect cast of characters assembled, he didn’t want his “movie” to end with them being pulled apart. He had already taken pills to end his life, and he left his friends with instructions to burn his body in the incinerator and to continue to cash his social security checks to keep up the appearance that he was alive. “And you can’t tell Helga,” he ordered them. With his friends present, he recorded a farewell message to Helga explaining what happened in case she grew suspicious.
The party moved to Vince’s apartment to watch Dudenoff’s farewell to Helga. Losing her father was hard enough, he wanted to shield her from losing another fatherly figure. “Here’s looking at you, kid,” he signed off his video with a Casablanca quote. The Westies apologize to Helga and beg her to move back in. She agrees since it’s the only apartment that will allow her to have a pet pig. Rudy admits that he lied about Helga being his ex-girlfriend when the trio heard her warning on the ham radio.
Eva Longoria recorded the entire confession on the Lady Longoria multitool, saying it would make a great podcast episode. But Mabel vows not to use it. She recognizes that she, Charles, and Oliver were similarly aimless until they found each other and bonded over the podcast. She doesn’t want to take that experience away from the Westies. And, in fact, she’s kind of one of them now that she lives in Dudenoff’s old place.
As everyone goes their separate ways, Oliver tells Zach that he is planning to marry Loretta at The Arconia, the place where they fell in love and will continue to fall in love every day for the rest of their lives. Charles thanks Eugene for helping him let his emotions out. Eugene promises not to use it in the film.
“Whether or not everyone makes it back to shore in the movie Lifeboat, I’ll leave for you to discover,” Dudenoff’s narration concludes as we see Mabel return to his apartment, her home now. She draws the face of a pig around the thermostat on the wall, with the device becoming the pig’s nose. The narration finishes with an explanation that Lifeboat is a film about found families fighting for survival, a challenge made harder when you’re all alone.
That night, Mabel finds herself back at Oliver’s apartment, with Charles unboxing the murder board from their trip. She expresses her wish for them to receive a ding dong since they could use a new lead. Just then, they get a knock on the door – Helga with Hammy Fay Baker, whom she took back from Howard.
(Disney/Patrick Harbron)
Helga came to tell them what she knows about Sazz, saying it didn’t feel right to share with the rest of the group present. She met Sazz over the ham radio, with Charles’ friend reaching out to ask about plot holes from the podcast’s debut season. Helga is how Sazz got all of her intel about the West Tower. “There was another thing, though,” Helga adds. “She talked about a stuntman on a movie called Project Ronkonkoma. She says he was her protégé but that he had messed up pretty badly and he was harassing her. She said he’s dangerous, and he’s going to be the death of me.” Mabel looks up the movie on IMDB and looks for the stunt person credits. “Who’s the stunt person?” Oliver anxiously asks. “Is it someone we can talk to?” Mabel looks up from her phone in shock. “Not exactly,” she says.
The final shot is stuntman Glenn Stubbins (Paul Rudd) in the hospital on life support, a gunshot wound in his head.
Only Murders in the Building returns next Tuesday, October 22nd, with the ninth episode of Season 4, titled “Escape From Planet Klongo.”
Seeking a critical clue, Charles, Oliver & Mabel must infiltrate a film set to get the real "background" on why Sazz was killed.