Only Murders in the Building – Season 4 Episode 1 Recap & Review

Once Upon a Time in the West

Episode 1 of Only Murders in the Building Season 4 begins with Charles finishing off the closing episode of his latest podcast. As he’s speaking, there is a power surge in the hotel, but it doesn’t last long. 

With the podcast over, Charles, Oliver and Mabel take the elevator up to Charles’s apartment for a nightcap. Oliver is looking forward to their next podcast and hopes they will find another dead body. It could be assumed that they’re about to find a body in Charles’s apartment, as that was where Sazz was killed at the end of the last season. But surprisingly, Sazz’s body isn’t there. 

There are clues to Sazz’s murder in the apartment – including a bullet hole in the window and blood on the floor – but these go unnoticed by the trio.

The next morning, Charles checks his phone to see if he has received a text from Sazz. Unsurprisingly, he hasn’t. Oliver arrives at Charles’s apartment with Mabel. Oliver is distraught because the funding has been pulled from Death Rattle, his latest production.

Charles isn’t concerned about the funding. He’s more worried about the whistling sound in his apartment (he doesn’t realise it’s coming from the bullet hole in the window).  But before he can tell his friends about this, Howard walks in (without knocking) with Gravey, a dog he has just adopted. He pitches Mabel a podcast idea, “Animal Jobs,” and then leaves the room when his dog randomly starts barking.

Mabel and Charles both get an email from Bev Melon, who works at Paramount Studios. The studio wants to turn their podcast into a movie. They are invited to the studio but Charles is unsure about going as he’s more concerned with finding Sazz. Surprisingly, he then gets a text from ‘Sazz’ who tells him she is working in LA with Scott Bakula. 

With Sazz in Hollywood (but not really), the trio now have no excuse not to go. They arrive at Paramount and meet with Bev and other representatives from the studio. Within the group are Trina and Tawny Brothers, a pair of female directors (also identical twins) who have been hired to work on the movie. 

When Mabel leaves the room, Oliver and Charles go after her. She tells them she’s worried that she won’t be portrayed well in the movie. For this reason, she’s not sure about signing up for the movie deal. Oliver and Charles try to put her at ease. 

Still worried about Sazz, Charles decides to visit her apartment at The Sunset Swan with his team. He arrives at her door and rings the bell, but there is no answer. From there they head to a Hollywood party, where they meet the actors lined up to play them in the proposed film – Eugene Levy (Charles), Eva Longoria (Mabel), and Zack Galifianakis (Oliver).

Oliver and Zach fail to hit it off when Oliver fails to remember his name. Zach threatens to leave but Bev manages to make him stay. Meanwhile, Mabel asks Eva why she is playing the role. Eva tells her the studio decided to “age up” the character of ‘Mabel’ because test audiences thought the age gap between the real Mabel and Charles and Oliver was “creepy.”

Loretta turns up at the party and tells the trio about her new acting role on ‘Grey’s Anatomy: New Orleans – Burn Unit.’ While Mabel shares her concerns about the movie with Eva, Loretta sits with Oliver and asks him if he’d consider moving to LA. She then re-affirms her love for him. 

Shortly after, Mabel meets with Bev and strikes up some kind of deal with her. We don’t know what the deal is at this stage. While they’re chatting, Charles looks for Sazz and bumps into Scott Bakula. Scott tells Charles that Sazz never turned up as his stunt double for a TV show they were doing. Concerned by this news, Charles goes back to Sazz’s apartment with Oliver and Mabel. 

They enter her apartment and hear a noise. As they investigate the room, Charles gets a call from Lester, the doorman at the Arconia Hotel. Lester tells Charles he has his note about changing out the glass in his apartment window. Charles is surprised as he didn’t leave a note. He asks Lester if the break in his glass could be a bullet hole. Lester seems to suspect it might be. 

Mabel receives a text from Howard about his animal pitch. When she tells him he has spelt Gravey’s name wrong, he replies, saying Gravey used to be a ‘Cadaver Dog.’ She remembers Gravey barking and realizes at the same time as Charles that they need to head back to the Arconia. 

On arrival at Charles’s apartment, they find the bullet hole in the window. Charles then gets a text, supposedly from Sazz. He replies, telling the sender that he knows they’re not Sazz.

Howard arrives with Gravey. The dog leads them to the incinerator, which contains Sazz’s ashes. Charles then gets a text from the mystery sender who, in a reply to Charles’s text asking for their identity, says “not your f***ing friend.”

The Episode Review

The podcasting trio are back and thrust into another mystery that will hopefully keep us guessing as the season goes on. 

This episode was very enjoyable, with some funny moments between our heroes and the actors lined up to play them, and moments of darkness as Charles and co discovered the truth about Sazz. Who killed her? We don’t know – presumably not Scott Bakula who we don’t think Quantum Leap’d her out of existence – but let us know in the comments if you have any ideas. 

It’s the mix of light humour and dark tragedy that makes Only Murders In The Building such an engaging watch. It’s also a warm show due to the (mostly) supportive friendship between the podcasters. All of these elements were present in this episode, making for satisfying viewing as the plot played out. 

We don’t expect to get closer to the truth behind Sazz’s murder in Episode 2 – we’ll probably get a few red herrings. But the real joy we get from the show isn’t the unravelling of the central mystery. Rather, it’s watching three talented actors at work as they effortlessly work their magic to draw us into their individual characters and their tight-knit relationship with one another.