TV Recap: “Only Murders in the Building” Season 3 Episode 3 – “Grab Your Hankies”

Attend the tale of another episode of Only Murders in the Building to see if you can figure out who killed Ben Glenroy. The primary suspects are the entire cast of Oliver Putnam’s failed play, “Death Rattle,” now being workshopped as a musical called “Death Rattle Dazzle.” And with the new episode, fans get a new song called “Look for the Light” performed by Meryl Streep and Ashley Park, written by Sara Bareilles (Waitress), Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul (The Greatest Showman). Here is a recap of episode 3, titled “Grab Your Hankies,” and after that song, you’re gonna need ‘em!

Episode 3: “Grab Your Hankies” – Written by Matteo Borghese and Rob Turbovsky

Kimber (Ashley Park) provides the narration this week with an intro about finding your creative spark. As she talks, we find Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) at the piano in his apartment, banging keys and singing ad-hoc lyrics to his sleepy assistant Howard Morris (Michael Cyril Creighton) and his boyfriend/star of the show Jonathan (Jason Veasey). Even Oliver’s dog Winnie ends up snoozing through the all-night writing session. With just minutes to spare before the producers arrive, Howard tries to convince Oliver that a single night isn’t enough time to write an entire musical. Howard suggests an alternative funding source, saying he has a cousin named Moses who works for State Farm’s investment branch. “Everything we need is right here,” Oliver declares, pointing to the cast’s headshots on his wall. “And they’re all killers!”

Oliver meant that the cast are killers at acting, but in another apartment, we find Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin) and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) looking at the same faces on their suspect board. The entire cast was not only at the theater when Ben collapsed but also in The Arconia when he was finally murdered. Mabel already has suspicions that the killer used a poison that would’ve dissipated by the time a toxicology test could’ve been run (succinylcholine chloride), and Charles brings up three suspects who had a likely motive: Jonathan, Ben’s understudy who was told he would never get to perform the role by Ben; Donna and Cliff, producers who were sick of the movie star’s excessive demands; and Kimber, the TikTok queen who seemingly had a romantic affair with Ben. Mabel brings up the hankie and asks Charles to try and figure out who amongst the cast is missing theirs. When Charles gets summoned to Oliver’s apartment, Mabel decides to sneak into Ben’s penthouse before his brother Dickie can clean it out.

Oliver unveils the poster for “Death Rattle Dazzle” to Donna (Linda Emond) and Cliff (Wesley Taylor), which excites Cliff and annoys his mother. She points out that musicals are more expensive and she can’t see this making money unless it has a true showstopper. Oliver promises it will be nothing but showstoppers if he has three months. Debbie gives him just three days as she steps out to go on a long weekend in the Hamptons. Soon after, the entire cast is waiting in Oliver’s apartment, minus Loretta, whom Howard can’t reach. Charles tries to talk to the cast about their hankies, suggesting they put theirs together and create a quilt to honor Ben. But they’re interrupted by Howard’s whistle, which calls rehearsal together. Oliver pitches the musical version to the cast.

Mabel enters the elevator, surprised to find documentary filmmaker Tobert (Jesse Williams) there. He has to reintroduce himself to her; sharing his name is like “Robert with a T.” They bond over having names that other people commonly mispronounce or misunderstand. Tobert playfully calls Mabel by other names that begin with an “M.” They’re both heading to the penthouse, and Tobert asks Mabel what she’s looking for. She creates a story that Ben told her he signed a “Girl Cop” headshot for her and that it’s somewhere in his apartment. Robert says he left some of his equipment there. He lets her in with his key, and Mabel seems charmed by all of the self-absorbed artwork of Ben Glenroy that covers the walls.

Oliver leads the cast in singing a new song called “Creature of the Night,” which he thinks is their showstopper. Loretta Durkin (Meryl Streep) applauds as the song finishes, having arrived late while they were singing. She apologizes to Oliver, saying that she had a meeting with Dickie, who offered to be her manager and got her an audition for a part in “An offshoot of an offshoot of Grey’s Anatomy.” The cast doesn’t seem to be loving his musical adaptation, but Loretta calms Oliver’s nerves by saying she was in the workshop of Little Shop of Horrors, recalling how nobody understood the concept until they saw how much heart the show had. She tells Oliver he just needs to find the heart.

Tobert is allegedly looking for a boom mic, but Mabel notices he’s checking in small places like desk drawers. “We’re both clearly up to something,” he responds to her questioning. But they’re interrupted by a key in the door, ducking into an armoir just in time as Dickie Glenroy (Jeremy Shamos) enters to pack up his brother’s things. Mabel and Tobert whisper while stuck in the armoire, with Tobert confessing that he recognized Mabel’s voice from the podcast. “I liked the first season a little better than the second season,” he jokes as he refers to the show as “Cute.” They hear a crash and peek out to see that Dickie through a “Cobro” egg at a lamp in frustration and broke it. “I’m so sorry, Ben,” he cries but is then interrupted by a phone call. “Go for Ben,” he responds before correcting himself, saying, “Go for Dickie.”

Oliver has choreographed “Creature of the Night,” and a run-through goes terribly. The cast doesn’t understand why they’re playing breeding crab men on the rocks, and when Loretta enters as the nanny at the end of the song, she hits her head by accident with the prop lantern. Frustrated, Oliver goes into another room, and the cast hears him yelling at himself about the end of his career. He returns composed, telling the cast that they’re close and suggesting they break for the day. As the cast packs up, Oliver pulls Charles aside and mentions how much the cast hates him. “Nothing brings people together like a common enemy,” he declares. That gives Charles an idea, who asks his friend’s permission to throw Oliver under the bus with the cast. “Knock yourself out,” he approves.

Still waiting for Dickie to leave, Tobert apologizes for being rude about the podcast, telling Mabel it’s well done. He starts an anecdote about filming a nature documentary in Botswana. He talks about vetkoek, a pastry he fell in love with there that he gets every morning at an African cafe. He talks about filming the flooding of the Okavango Delta and how as a documentarian, he’s not supposed to intervene. But one day, a baby elephant got stuck as the flood waters were rising. Mabel interrupts his story, asking why he’s not back in Africa if Ben’s dead and his other documentary is canceled. “I was with Ben opening night,” Tobert shares. “He ripped away my camera and stormed off into his dressing room, but it was still recording.” He plans to use the footage he found to make a film about Ben Glenroy being murdered by his biggest fan. They hear Dickie leave and finally emerge from the armoire. Mabel asks how the baby elephant story ends. Tobert tells her he spent three hours working to free it. Despite continuously referring to Mabel by different names, when he ultimately leaves, Tobert says, “I’ll see you around, Mabel.”

Charles has the entire cast over at his apartment for drinks after rehearsal, with everyone venting their frustrations about Oliver. Charles suggests they gather their hankies and throw them at Oliver’s feet to make a statement. James and Kimber both say they’ll bring their hankies tomorrow, while Ty (Gerald Caesar) and Bobo (Don Darryl Rivera) stay quiet. Ultimately, Kimber speaks on behalf of the cast in their agreement that turning “Death Rattle” into a musical is disrespectful to Ben’s memory. They task Charles with telling Oliver that they all refuse to do it any other way than as a play.

Loretta sits at Oliver’s piano, examining his song ideas written on a Chinese take-out menu. “What do I have to do to get people to see what I see?”, Oliver asks her. As Loretta thumbs through the music, she lands on a lullaby written for her character, the nanny. Oliver begins to play the tune but stops in frustration, declaring that it’s not the flashy showstopper he promised Donna and Cliff. Loretta says that underneath every big Oliver Putnam show, there’s a vulnerability that makes it special. She sees this song as proof of that. They’re interrupted by Dickie, who enters to announce that Loretta booked the role on “Grey’s New Orleans Family Burn Unit.” Loretta is ecstatic as she hears that filming begins next week in LA and that the series has a guaranteed pickup, meaning she will have stability. Oliver is stunned and asks about his show. As Loretta stammers, he snaps and says, “I discovered you.” Oliver declares that Loretta is under contract, which causes her and Dickie to leave his apartment. He curses at himself in frustration.

The next morning, Mabel finds Tobert eating vetkoek at the African cafe he told her about as he works on his laptop. He congratulates her on swiping his external hard drive without him noticing as Mabel demands the password. He tells her if she wants to see the footage, he will happily get her a ticket to see his film when it’s released. She tells him it’s urgent, that she doesn’t think Gregg killed Ben. She tells him to go back to Batswana if he doesn’t want to help her. Tobert decides to come clean. He confesses that he didn’t actually save the baby elephant, he just kept filming. Thankfully, its mother arrived and saved it just in time, but this time he doesn’t want to sit back and watch. He wants to help Mabel find Ben’s killer.

“No one wants to do the musical,” Charles anxiously tells Oliver five minutes before Donna and Cliff arrive to see the progress they’ve made. But he’s more concerned with Loretta when she walks in. Oliver goes to her and apologizes, asking her to just sing the nanny’s lullaby for the showcase today, and he will let her leave the show to take the TV show. She’s reluctant since they haven’t rehearsed it, but he says she’s the only one who can get the producers to see the show he envisioned. Donna and Cliff sit with the rest of the cast as Loretta begins to sing “Look for the Light” to a trio of bassinettes. Kimber is so moved that she starts to harmonize with Loretta. She even ends up on stage with her, turning the song into a duet. After the performance, Donna still wants to pull out, but Cliff is obsessed with the show. He demands that his mother support his decision to produce the play and she caves in.

Mabel and Tobert sit together at his laptop in the cafe. The footage his camera got only shows Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd) in his dressing room. “You’re not supposed to be here; go,” he demands to an offscreen person who remains silent. “We both know you’re bad,” he says, shaking his head. “I want you so [censored] bad, but you’re going to ruin my career.”

“When a spark finally catches fire and everyone can see it, then the only place you want to be is at the center of that fire,” Kimber’s narration concludes as we watch her finish singing with Loretta. “But if one person is shining a little bit brighter than the other, it’s a competitive business… You may need to snuff them out.” Kimber watches Loretta get all the attention with envy in her eyes.

After the performance, Loretta tells Oliver she’s staying with the show. He’s so overjoyed that he kisses her. Charles approaches Kimber to tell her how beautiful she sounded in the song. “I feel so much lighter about Ben and the musical,” she tells him. He reminds her to bring her hankie. “I must’ve thrown it away or donated it to a good cause,” she says as she walks away.

At the cafe, Mabel gets a text from Charles. He’s repeated the same phrase twice for effect. “Kimber doesn’t have her hankie.”

Season 3 of Only Murders in the Building continues on Tuesday, August 22nd, only on Hulu. Here’s a description of the 4th episode, titled “The White Room,” written by JJ Philbin.

Charles’s stage fright reaches unimaginable heights, involving a break from reality and multiple baby dolls.  Mabel is confronted by a mysterious individual from her past with a pivotal proposal.