Only Murders In The Building throws a groovy murder mystery party

Halfway through its second season, Only Murders In The Building is excelling at putting up smokescreens. I know I shouldn’t be wary about a puzzle box setup like this one taking its time to unveil meaningful clues. That’s the point of a whodunit: To invoke a thrilling slow burn that gradually plucks off the suspect list while examining their psyche via tense circumstances (like Knives Out and The Afterparty did recently as well). But I wonder when OMITB’s case will whip into shape with only five more episodes left. My concern stems from how this week’s outing felt especially devoted to an obvious kind of wild goose chase. To wit, Jan suggests the killer is an artist as the next scene zooms in on Alice (Cara Delevingne) was extremely on the nose.

Hulu’s comedy has interestingly delved into bits of Bunny Folger’s past to shed light on why she might’ve been killed. The finger already points to whoever knew the value of and desperately wanted Rose Cooper’s expensive painting; the same one that went missing from Bunny’s apartment and showed up in Charles’. So it makes sense to consider Alice, who romantically swooped into Mabel’s life right after Bunny’s death, as a potential killer. The logic isn’t wrong, but OMITB (through Oliver’s morbid party game) going out of the way to blame her in “The Tell” makes me think otherwise.

There’s definitely something shady going on with Alice regardless. Is she only a poor daughter of a plumber from Essex faking her way through New York City’s art scene by pretending to be a posh Oxford graduate? She probably only got close to Mabel because, as Alice tells her at the end of the episode, she didn’t know anyone even vaguely interesting until now. Enter: Bloody Mabel. At this point, Gomez’s complex character could be nothing more than a muse for Alice. Is she only interested in Mabel’s weird clout? If so, I wonder how Mabel—who already told Alice about her trust issues—will deal with it. Not well, I imagine.

The suspense portion of “The Tell” was average at best, but props to director Cherien Dabis (who scored a well-deserved Emmy nod last week for season one’s “The Boy From 6B”) for swiveling between present-day and the retro ‘70s setting as Oliver publicly questions Alice on her true motives and identity. Dabis’ transitions were seamless. There may be some fallout with Mabel because of his actions, but Oliver still made decent progress by getting the diner’s security tape from Ivan (Ariel Shafir), who silently returned the wads of cash Bunny tipped him with on the day she died. That’s a good dude right there.

In retrospect, it’s also surprising that OMITB waited this long to throw a murder mystery party. Or parties, if we count the brief flashbacks to Oliver’s scandalous one from the ‘70s. For a show that revels in its love for true crime—even as it satirizes the genre—they picked an insane (if not fake) game. Based on New York City serial killer David Berkowitz, a Son of Sam card deck might seem exploitative (maybe it is), but what an oddly perfect fit, right? What an intriguing way to get into Oliver’s mindset too. Of course, he’s always loved solving a puzzle and boasting about knowing who’s lying—even if he isn’t always right. The game actually unveils both his overconfidence and vulnerabilities.

If last week’s episode focused on Charles as a father figure, this one does the same for Oliver. The emotional beats of this half-hour work far better than anything else. Since OMITB began, Oliver has struggled to connect with his son, Will (Ryan Broussard). Their bond seems a lot more stable in season two. But as soon as “The Tell” begins with Will’s narration hinting at a secret he’s unintentionally keeping from his father, you know a major truth bomb is about to drop. Oh, and a big reveal it is. There’s a good chance Willy is the product of an affair between Oliver’s wife Roberta and good ol’ Teddy Dimas, who recently threatened his friend with an excellent, fuck-laden warning in the elevator.

This is quite a gut punch, huh? Willy and Theo might be semi-related, similar to how Charles found out he may be Bunny’s half-sibling. All we need is some kind of family-related news about Mabel now. Is her dad truly dead? OMITB is using the second season to really unpack the trio’s personal lives. “The Tell” has subplots on each of their individual romances—Mabel forgives Alice for deceiving her, Charles gets back with Jan, and Oliver discovers his wife’s infidelity in the past—that flesh out their characters in fresh, interesting ways.

Charles reconnecting with Jan (who never assumed they officially broke up even though she tried to kill him) makes for comedy gold. Amy Ryan is clearly enjoying playing a wickedly horny madwoman, and Steve Martin’s subtle performance makes it believable why Charles would continue to be entrapped by Jan. Heck, even Oliver points his gullibility out when Alice instantly wins him over in one second by praising his work in that Swedish film he worked in. Charles is clearly not heeding Lucy’s warning to “toughen up” unless he’s playing mind games with his ex-lover.

Getting back to the mystery at hand, a new suspect emerges in “The Tell” in the form of Marv (Daniel Oreskes). Hear me out: The podcast’s superfan reveals that he knew about the Arconia’s secret passageways (!) because he does molding work for the building. He’s one of the few people aware of the Arcatacombs existence, so is there a chance he used it for his own nefarious purposes and is invested in the podcast for selfish reasons? It was still a great meta moment when all the superfans discussed amongst themselves that Charles, Oliver, and Mabel haven’t had concrete leads beside a talking parrot and Nina Lin so far. I echo this sentiment. They, and OMITB, need to step up and hit the accelerator in the remaining half of season two.

Stray observations:

• Kudos to Dickinson’s Samuel Farnsworth, who nails his take on what Oliver in the ‘70s would look and talk like in the flashbacks.
• A couple of favorites from Charles and Jan’s many great exchanges in this episode:
  “Charles: Are you insane? Jan: You mean like legally? I wish.” And Charles’ comment to Jan about how “Neurotics make very good sex partners.”
• Oliver and Charles spiraling about who’s explaining the Iran-Contra affair to Mabel better is quite entertaining, especially because she couldn’t give a damn.
• I’m glad Mabel revealing she’s bisexual wasn’t a whole thing, and both men reacted exactly the way I expected they would: Charles with a subdued “Oh,” and Oliver by saying he used to have a lesbian lover back in the day.
• Surprising no one, Jan reveals she uses her 10 minutes of internet time for pornography and TikToks. She would absolutely get a thrill out of Chrles’ Swedish porno movie about the tempestuous threesome.
• Suspect list update for who killed Bunny: Howard, Alice, Ivan, Uma, Marv, Nina, and/or her husband, or someone else altogether. Who would you put your bets on as of episode five?