“If You’re Going to Tell Us Not to Investigate, You’re
Wasting Your Time.” “After Three Seasons, I Get That.”
Thanks to the magic of short seasons, I was able to binge season 4 of Only Murders in the Building in about a week. While this season had a more serious tone at times, it was another fun, delightful season overall.
When we join our hero’s this season, only moments have passed since the season 3 cliffhanger. That means that, yes, we are investigating the death of Sazz (recurring guest star Jane Lynch), Charles’s long-time stunt double and friend. This hits home since it is someone Oliver and Mable (Martin Short and Selena Gomez) liked. For Charles (Steve Martin), it is devastating since he treasured their relationship. Plus, he thinks he might have been the target since she was killed in his apartment. The trio quickly realize the killer used a sniper rifle from an apartment across the courtyard. Does one of those residents hate Charles that much?
Meanwhile, Hollywood has come calling, and the trio are being courted to give their blessing on a movie version of their exploits. Will that help or distract from the case?
Even though Sazz has only been in the show for a handful of episodes, her death hit me hard. Harder than any of the deaths we’ve investigated so far. Couple that with Charles’s reaction to the death of his friend and you can see why this season has more of a somber tone early on. It’s the right thing, and I respect that choice. I also felt they balanced out Charles’s concern for his own safety with his mourning of Sazz’s passing perfectly. He never came across as shallow or selfish, which it would be easy to do.
With the movie crew in town, we get some meta comedy. Some of it worked for me, but other parts didn’t. Normally, I’m a fan of meta jokes; maybe this was just too inside Hollywood for me.
And yes, we do still have plenty of banter to enjoy. It might not be the wittiest season of the show, but there are still some great lines.
I felt like the mystery this season was the strongest we’ve gotten to date. Yes, there are still red herrings and detours, but when we reached the climax, I was impressed with how things were set up.
And what a list of famous guest stars we have this season. With the Hollywood storyline, we had more than most seasons, which is saying something. We got Jane Lynch (appearing more after death than she did before), Zach Galifianakis, Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, Scott Bakula, and Molly Shannon in the first episode alone. Yes, Meryl Streep pops up again. I’ll leave the other surprises for you to discover yourself.
Also, I was glad to see that Mable’s living situation is a key part of this season. I had to point that out since I complained about how it felt dropped when I reviewed season 3.
Once again, I do want to point out the show is rated TV-MA. As long as you take that rating seriously when you sit down to watch, you will be fine.
Also, because of spoilers, it’s best to watch this show from the beginning since previous seasons are spoiled this season.
A detour here is you will. I’m one of the people often bemoaning the shorter TV seasons we get today. But I do feel that Only Murders is a bit different. It’s telling one story over the course of the season. 10 episodes feels right. It helps that we get a new season every year, at least so far. I do think there is a place for shorter, more focused seasons and shows like this one and the longer seasons we used to always get on networks. I hope we can soon find a way to have both options.
Obvious, I completely enjoyed season 4 of Only Murders in the Building. If you haven’t watched this season yet, you are in for a treat. I’m glad I’m caught up so I can finish out season 5 live.
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