Josh Reviews Only Murders in the Building Season Three

One of the great TV pleasures of the last few years was the magical combination of Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez in Only Murders in the Building.  In the show’s third season, the three amateur sleuths find themselves embroiled in the mystery of the death of star Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd), right in the middle of the opening night performance of the play produced by Oliver (Martin Short).

I feel like this third season hasn’t gotten a lot of love online, and that surprises me.  I’ll admit the shows’s premise is a little played out – it stretches credulity that these three are now involved in a THIRD murder investigation.  And I can’t help noticing that the show’s title doesn’t seem to match the story anymore with this latest murder (which didn’t take place in the Arconia and has only a passing connection to the building).  But I’m OK with suspending my disbelief for this and any future seasons for the show to be able to continue telling new stories about these characters who I love and the latest unfortunate murder they’re investigating.

I’ve also seen the show criticized online for not being as funny this season as it used to be.  I’m not sure that was the case.  It’s been a while since I watched those first two seasons, but I don’t recall their being laugh-out-funny… I feel like the show’s tone was always wry amusement more than it was laugh-out-loud jokes.  So I don’t think that’s changed.

For me, I thoroughly enjoyed these ten new episodes, and I remain enthusiastic about many more seasons.  I enjoyed the new mystery this season, and as always I enjoyed the way the show slowly peeled the layers off the onion and shifted perspectives from character to character as the season unfolded, allowing us to see things from different perspectives and challenging our original assumptions.

The show’s central trio remain strong.  It continues to be a pure joy to see such a great vehicle for Steve Martin and Martin Short’s specific talents.  They have the dramatic chops to give their characters emotional depth, but they’re also so funny, able to give each line they deliver the perfect spin to add that extra special bit of spice and humor.  They’re never funnier than when they’re together.  It was fun to see Oliver back in the theatre-producing game this season.  I liked the way he had a more personal connection to the murder this time, as Ben’s death disrupted Oliver’s dream of a triumphant return to Broadway.  Steve Martin was very funny depicting Charles’ mounting fear in performing (and singing!) live, and I also liked seeing the development (and emerging complications) of his romance with his former makeup artist Joy.  (Though I will say that one of my only disappointments was that Joy was written out mid-season and never returned.  They were doing such fun stuff with Joy, developing her and her fish-loving kookiness, and then bang, she was gone.  I was surprised we didn’t see Charles try to repair their relationship by the end of the season.  Joy is played by Andrea Martin, the wonderful actress who originated the role of Ishka on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and I wish she’d had more to do in the back half of the season.)

Then there is Selena Gomez, who also continues to be great.  The unique spark between her and her older male co-stars is central to the magic of this show.  It felt a little this season like the writers were straining a bit to know what to do with Mabel and to give her a reason to continue to be hanging out with Charles and Oliver. They actually seemed to push her in the opposite direction, having her forced to move out of the Arconia, tempted to start a podcast with the manipulative Cinda Canning (Tina Fey), and then having her actually start a podcast of her own along with her new boyfriend Tobert (the charismatic Jesse Williams) and Theo Dimas (James Caverly, who I was pleasantly surprised to see back on the show this season).  I didn’t understand why the show was pushing Mabel away from Charles and Oliver, as I think the show is at its best when the three of them are together.  (And frankly, if the show was going to go that route in an attempt to add some drama and tension between the leads, I wish they’d leaned more heavily into one of those storylines.  Why wasn’t Mabel more tempted by earning real money working for Cinda?  And once she did take the bold step of recording the podcast on her own, I wish the show hadn’t abandoned that so quickly but allowed her to go down that path for a few episodes.)

Of course, the big additions to the cast this season were the two huge guest stars, Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep.  Both were wonderful!  It was fun to see the extremely likable Paul Rudd lean into the selfish jerkiness of pampered star Ben.  Mr. Rudd was so funny, as he always is, and he also really landed the drama inherent to this broken fellow.  (There’s a scene late in the scene in which we see Ben slap himself in self-loathing, and it’s truly heartbreaking… while also being just a little bit funny at the same time, an extremely difficult balance!)  When we saw Mr. Rudd’s character die at the end of the season two finale, I wasn’t sure how much of a presence he would actually be this season, so I was thrilled that, through the clever use of flashbacks, Mr. Rudd was a HUGE part of the story this year.

Meryl Streep, meanwhile… wow!  Meryl Streep was amazing as she always is!!!  She brought a deep humanity to Loretta, who, as we later learn, has been yearning her whole life for the big break that her being cast in Oliver’s play seems to offer her.  We’ve seen both Charles and Mabel have love interests on the show, so I loved the idea that Loretta and Oliver would get together.  Ms. Streep and Mr. Short were a lot of fun to watch on screen together.  I was very taken with how Ms. Streep crafted Loretta to be so empathetic and, in a way, innocent and naive, that we’d be rooting for her… while also giving her just enough strangeness and awkwardness that we’d think, wait, is she the innocent she seems on the surface to be?  That was great.

Other thoughts:

• I liked the change to the opening credits this season, seeing Howard walking outside the Arconia, rather than the now-deceased Bunny.  (I’d wondered throughout season two why Bunny was still there.)
• I enjoyed the development of the new-to-the-show characters of the Death Rattle cast and crew (though I missed the Arconia’s denizens who the show therefore didn’t have room for this season.)
• I loved the snippets of Death Rattle music we got.  In particular, Charles’ “patter song” was a delightful ear-worm. (“Which of the Pickwick triplets did it…?”). I loved how well, in the finale, the Death Rattle plot mirrored the real-life events happening around it.
• I was surprised the season ended with Mabel’s still no longer living in the Arconia.  (Where is she living now…?)
• I loved seeing Matthew Broderick on the show this season, playing a very funny asshole version of himself.  And they got Mel Brooks, too!!!  Wow!!!
• I was thrilled to see Jane Lynch back as Charles’ former stunt double Sazz, though I was bummed where they left her.  (I’m hoping that, as Paul Rudd was, she can still be a major part of season four!!)

I got a lot of enjoyment from season three of Only Murders in the Building… bring on season four!