🕷️ Crawler Inspector

URL Lookup

Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 54 (from laksa100)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa054.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.pluggedin.com/tv-reviews/only-murders-in-the-building/\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.pluggedin.com/tv-reviews/only-murders-in-the-building/\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/only-murders-in-the-building\/","crawl_time":1773822645,"first_indexed_time":1630522902,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,pluggedin!www,\/tv-reviews\/only-murders-in-the-building\/ s443","src_root_hash":"14088412650892074654","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Only Murders in the Building - Plugged In","meta_descriptions":["Only Murders in the Building is fun, but the show is guilty of lack of restraint in the second degree—a senseless crime if ever there was one.","It’s fun, but the show is guilty of lack of restraint in the second degree—a senseless crime if ever there was one."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"TV Series Review\nEveryone loves a good murder.\nDon’t believe me? Take a look at the myriad of CBS crime procedurals or Netflix’s murder documentaries or the roughly three gazillion true-crime podcasts out there. In the entertainment world, \nkilling\n is \nmaking\n a killing.\nBut Charles, Oliver and Mabel are producing a different sort of true-crime podcast. For one, the clues are still fresh. Why, the blood hasn’t dried on the crime scene floor yet. Two, our intrepid podcasters don’t know anything about investigating murders or investigative journalism or podcasting. We should be pretty proud that they even knew how to turn on the equipment.\nOh, and three … they’ve been on the scene for\neight\ndifferent murders in their building now (and at least one out-of-building murder, too). How lucky is\nthat\n? Well, not lucky for the victims, but still.\nThis American Strife\nTheir podcast, titled \nOnly Murders in the Building\n, features an odd trio to begin with. Looking at them, they don’t seem to share much but a love of true crime and apartments in the same building—Manhattan’s ultra-fashionable Arconia.\nCharles is an actor, best-known as a ’90s TV cop named Brazzos. But in real life, he tends to get nosebleeds when he talks to strangers, making him a less-than-ideal podcast interrogator. Oliver is a gregarious Broadway director who’s always looking for someone to finance his next big idea. And he’s producing this podcast in the meantime. And Mabel … well, she’s about a half-century younger than her podcast cohorts and loves\nHardy Boys\nmysteries and art.\nThey bonded over another true-crime podcast, obsessing over \nEverything’s Not OK in Oklahoma\n. They solidified their friendship investigating (and solving) the murders of Arconia residents Tim Kono, Zoe Cassidy, Bunny Folger and Milton Dudenoff. They became household names cracking the cases of the additional murders of famous actor Ben Glenroy, Glen Stubbins (Ben’s stunt double), Sazz Pataki (Charles’ own stunt double) and Rex Bailey—who admittedly was trying to kill the trio when Charles’ and Sazz’s ex-girlfriend shot him with a sniper rifle from across the courtyard.\nAnd for a while, things seemed to be looking up.\nThe podcast was turned into a\nmovie\n. Oliver’s latest show had a successful run on Broadway. And now he’s a newlywed, too. Mabel renovated and sold her aunt’s Arconia apartment before moving into the building’s west tower with a much more reasonable rent. Charles revived his role as Brazzos for a while. Then he joined Oliver on Broadway. And he finally broke up with Jan, his murderous ex-girlfriend.\nBut just as things began to settle down, murder reared its ugly head once again.\nLester Coluca, who has been the Arconia’s doorman the past 32 years, is found bleeding out in the building’s courtyard fountain, just after Oliver’s wedding. The police say it was an accident, but the trio isn’t so sure. They’ve been asked to investigate the disappearance of Nicky Caccimelio, and one of Oliver’s wedding photos reveals that he was talking to Lester just before Lester’s untimely end.\nLooks like the fifth season of\nOnly Murders in the Building\n(both the TV series and the podcast) will have plenty of mysteries for this Scooby-Doo-esque crew to unravel.\nUp and Banished\nThe Hulu show \nOnly Murders in the Building\n, starring longtime comedy amigos Steve Martin and Martin Short paired with Millennial darling Selena Gomez, is a self-aware whodunit that manages to be both flip and grim, grafting Martin’s sneakily high-brow comedy onto a guilty-pleasure CW-style mystery.\nYes, it’s a strange combination, but it sometimes works. Gomez has always had a talent for dry, deadpan humor, which offers a nice contrast to Short’s gloriously over-the-top character and Martin’s physical comedy. The three work well together, and the show’s central mysteries offer some zany twists and turns. Moreover, the characters themselves have plenty to hide. And as Martin’s Charles reminds us, sometimes it’s far easier to ferret out someone else’s secrets than deal with our own.\nBut none of that justifies the crimes committed against the discerning viewer: the language, the gore, the sexual allusions. (In Season 2, Gomez’s character becomes sexually involved with another woman, and a painting of a nude couple plays a key role in the plot.)\nOh yes, Oliver, Charles and Mabel are just like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew—if the Hardy Boys were in their 70s, Nancy Drew used a lot of f-words, and they never stopped listening to themselves talk.\nWorse yet, these violations feel both premeditated and completely without motive. Does the show \nneed\n the f-words? Hardly. (And the creators seem to know that since Mabel mocks a cop when he goes on a particularly foul-mouthed tangent.) Do we\nneed\nto see someone’s head partly blown away? Or a woman stabbed with a knitting needle? Not at all.\nAnd yet, the evidence is there.\nOnly Murders\nis guilty of lack of restraint in the second degree—a senseless crime if ever there was one. With more thought, it could’ve escaped, rot free.\n(Editor’s Note:\nPlugged In\nis rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at\nletters@pluggedin.com\n, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)\nEpisode Reviews\nSept. 8, 2025 – S5, E1: “Nail in the Coffin”\nAs the Arconia’s residents attend a memorial service for the beloved Lester, the Only Murders podcast crew discovers a severed\nfinger\ninside the leftover shrimp from Oliver’s wedding. They conclude that this means Lester’s death\nwasn’t\nan accident (as police determined) but rather a\nmurder\n.\nA man says he’s worried that his boyfriend may be cheating on him. He then wonders whether the new doorman is “hot.” Someone asks Charles if he’s gay, and he responds, “a little” (it seems he may have been trying to appease the questioner). Someone mentions an adult magazine. There’s a bit of double entendre. A woman says her husband had a history of using drugs, gambling and sleeping with other women. Charles flirts with her and checks her out.\nAt Lester’s wake, Charles checks to see if the missing finger might be Lester’s. He reaches into the coffin to feel the man’s hand, since they aren’t visible, but attendees mistake Charles’ actions for something perverse.\nWe see flashbacks to when Lester’s body was found in the fountain, bleeding out into the water. Oliver discovers another corpse hanging on a dry cleaner’s rack of clothes, and the body falls on top of him.\nAs stated already, the crew finds a finger in the cocktail shrimp—and Oliver narrowly avoids eating it by accident. But rather than hand the evidence over to police, they keep it, carrying it around in a travel mug filled with ice.\nThe sons of a known mobster act threateningly toward the podcast crew, telling them some scary stories about mob activity in the ‘70s and even pulling a gun on them. However, it’s revealed that the guys weren’t trying to scare them, they were just pitching a podcast idea of their own. And the gun isn’t real; it’s a Bluetooth speaker. (The guys’ grandmother verbally threatens some people.)\nCharles and Oliver spew a slew of offensive Italian stereotypes as they discuss the possibility of mob involvement. Mabel calls them out, but the show continues to poke fun with more jokes and comparisons throughout the episode. Oliver admits he’s scared of the mob, since he borrowed some money once and never paid it back.\nThe mayor tries to manipulate Lester’s death into an opportunity to garner voter support, giving a eulogy full of familiar platitudes. Someone drinks wine. The gang discovers a hidden casino.\nWe hear three uses of the f-word, as well as “a–,” “b–tard,” “d–n” and “h—.” God’s name is misused about eight times, once paired with “d–n.” And Jesus’ name is also abused a few times.\nOliver spends much of the episode making Lester’s death about himself. However, in private, we see that he truly cared for the doorman and misses him.\nAug. 8, 2023 – S3, E1: “The Show Must…”\nWhen the star actor in Oliver’s play dies on opening night, Oliver, Charles and Mabel come together to try and solve the mystery.\nBlood drips from an elevator ceiling onto Charles’ face. He and other elevator passengers leap out of the way as a dead body falls through an opaque glass ceiling. A flashback shows Ben (the lead in Oliver’s show) fall dead, bleeding from his mouth. [\nSpoiler warning\n] Later, Ben shows up at a cast party, remarkably resuscitated by doctors, stating that the blood on his mouth was from biting his tongue when he fell.\nAn actress reads lines from a script about a nanny who admits she would kill to protect the children in her care. Many people talk about death and murder. We hear a TV show has paused filming since its producer is on trial for sexual harassment. A man makes a crude euphemism using a woman’s name, making her visibly uncomfortable. There are several jokes about murder. Someone slaps Oliver’s cheek.\nA woman kisses her son on the mouth in an inappropriate way, then defends that she can do that since her son is gay. An actor flirts with his costar, telling her that he’s trained as an “intimacy coordinator.” There’s a reference to Shakespearean times when male actors played all the roles, including the female ones.\nOliver’s producer speculates that Oliver might be cursed, saying that she thinks he angered a witch in a past life. Someone jokes about the Pope. A character says he “saw the light” when he “died” and vows to atone for his past wrongs.\nA few people brag and show off. There are some fart jokes. People exchange rude insults. A man worries over his own narcissism. A man says his stomach was pumped and that he “barfed a ton.” Folks drink throughout the episode. A woman says she wants to get “trashed.”\nWe hear 11 uses of the f-word and four uses of the s-word. God’s name is abused 15 times, once paired with “d–n.” We also hear “a–,” “a–hole,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “h—” and “p-ss.”\nJune 28, 2022 – S2, E1: “Persons of Interest”\nCharles, Oliver and Mabel become persons of interest in a murder investigation after police find them with the freshly dead body of their building manager.\nFlashbacks show Mabel stumbling upon Bunny, the building manager, as she dies, covered in blood with a knitting needle poking out of her chest. We later learn she was stabbed eight times with a knife, which is what killed her, not the needle. We hear that Oliver was responsible almost killing 12 actors in a stage accident. A cop replays a clip from the podcast, in which Mabel recounts a dream where she stabs a home invader with a knitting needle. Fans of the podcast love that Mabel might be a murderer. Mabel cleans Bunny’s blood from her apartment floor, but it leaves a stain. Oliver worries that his the notes he wrote to Bunny telling her to “drop dead” might be taken seriously.\nA painting shows a fully nude man and woman together (and Charles reveals that the man in the painting is his father). Other people describe the painting as “porny.” Some women wear outfits baring cleavage. Someone references male genitals. Charles imagines that a woman shares his bed (in a non-sexual way).\nPeople lie and steal. The trio breaks into someone’s apartment. Mabel is rude to a cop. People talk about drinking. A man says his producer used to use cocaine. We learn a woman taught her parrot several profanities. We hear 16 uses of the f-word, as well as the s-word, “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “d–k” and “h—.” God’s name is abused nine times, once paired with “d–n.”\nAug. 31, 2021 – S1, E3: “How Well Do You Know Your Neighbors?”\nThe episode opens with a flashback to Oliver in 2005, looking for investors for his Broadway extravaganza\nSplash: The Musical\n—an effort that we learn was a monumental disaster. In the present, Mabel and Charlie interview the owner of Evelyn (the dead cat) to see if he might’ve had something to do with the murder and find something deeply chilling—and chilled—in the guy’s freezer.\nThe frozen object? Evelyn herself, which the owner believes Tim Kono poisoned. The frozen cat corpse tumbles to the kitchen floor and one of her legs breaks off; Charlie pockets the thing and pulls it out later to show someone. “It’s warm now, and that smell is new,” he says. Charlie also gets a bloody nose during the interview, which causes Evelyn’s owner to faint dead away. Mabel suggests that seems to put him in the clear for being present during a very bloody murder, but Charlie believes the man is bluffing. Oliver recounts for Charlie why\nSplash: The Musical\nwas such a disaster (or, at least, one of the reasons). While he had a pool constructed underneath the stage, which was supposed to retract, the hydraulics went haywire during the first preview show. Twelve divers dove straight into the floor (though Oliver stresses that no one actually died).\nDuring a sequence where Oliver imagines he’s auditioning would-be suspects for the main part of killer, a counselor slaps his wrist effeminately and coyly says “I’m a\nbad\ntherapist.” Evelyn’s effeminate owner is in the lineup, too, wearing a\nFlashdance\n-like sweatshirt. (Female auditioners wear form-fitting leotards and the like.)\nIn a flashback, Oliver entertains dinner guests at a table loaded with wine glasses. Later, he brings down a bottle of wine and two glasses, hoping to woo a neighbor to invest in the podcast. He tries to flatter the would-be investor, telling him that he never seems to age. “I need the name of your witch,” he jokes. He also makes a 1980s cocaine reference.\nCharacters say the f-word nine times and the s-word three times. We also hear “a–,” “b–ch” and “h—.” God’s name is misused four times, and Jesus’ name is abused twice.\nAug. 31, 2021 – S1, E2: “Who Is Tim Kono?”\nEven though Mabel knows quite a bit about Tim Kono, she pretends otherwise and the three begin trying to figure out what made the victim tick. They go to an apartment memorial service and discover that most folks in the building hated the guy. “Nobody liked him, but can we all be grateful he’s gone?” the officiant says. Oliver convinces an apartment supervisor to hand over all the complaints residents filed about the guy (in exchange for buying several cases of a product she’s selling called “gut milk”), and they learn that Tim’s apartment is scheduled to be cleaned out the next day. They break in and tramp through the apartment looking for clues.\nIn the apartment, Oliver finds what he believes are sex toys. “Nothing shameful about deviant sexual pursuits” as he dives into the box. He and the Arconia’s president, Bunny, exchange a few bitter sexual allusions.\nIn flashback, we see part of Mabel’s history with the Arconia, including hanging out with three friends as young adults—breaking into other people’s apartments. Mabel’s friend, Zoe, would sometimes apparently swipe jewelry, and in one apartment she finds a fully stocked medicine cabinet and announces they’ll be camping out there for the night. She makes a very crude reference to masturbation. Mabel and Zoe wear slightly revealing eveningwear during the night (Zoe’s boyfriend Oscar expresses his appreciation of Mabel’s outfit). Later, Zoe accuses Oscar of cheating on her—shortly before her body’s discovered on the street below.\nIn the present, Oliver and Charlie track blood throughout the dead man’s apartment. They also discover a cat’s footprints in the blood—a telling clue, given that a beloved Arconia cat (Evelyn) died the same night Tim Kono did. Mabel finds jewelry stashed in Tim’s apartment. Meanwhile, she seems unwilling to give back Tim’s engagement ring that she and Charlie recovered (and stole) last episode. Mabel seems to talk with Tim’s disfigured spirit (his gunshot wound to the head still quite visible).\nPeople drink during a party. After Charlie gets caught in an odd lie, the podcasters promise to be truthful with one another. (After the pact is made, Mabel leaves and Oliver confesses, “I don’t trust her at all.”) Characters say the f-word 11 times and the s-word seven times. We also hear “a–,” “d–n” and “d–k.” God’s name is misused a half-dozen times (twice with the word “d–n”).\nAug. 31, 2021 – S1, E1: “True Crime”\nCharlie, Oliver and Mabel all leave the Arconia during a fire alarm and discover at a nearby restaurant that they all love the same true-crime podcast\n(All Is Not OK in Oklahoma)\n. When they return, they learn that someone died in the building—apparently by his own hand—and the three of them sneak in to check out the crime scene. Convinced the man was murdered, they launch into their own investigation—and their own podcast. But Charlie and Oliver don’t realize that Mabel has an unexpected tie to the victim.\nWe see the apparent suicide victim lying on the floor. Though he’s still identifiable, part of one side of his head is missing (and what’s underneath is obviously covered in gore). Mabel admits to having a recurring nightmare (dramatized here) in which a stranger is standing over her bed, staring at her: She hits him in the crotch, whips out a knitting needle and stabs him to death with it. (We don’t see the needle hit its mark ever, but it’s clear that Mabel is an enthusiastic stabber.) In a flash forward elsewhere, someone leans over a dead body. Both are covered in blood. We see a couple of people fall off platforms in dream-like sequences, bouncing harmlessly back.\nMabel showers, and we see her bare back and a quick glimpse at the side of her breast. On “All is Not OK in Oklahoma,” a dog apparently retrieves the panties of the victim.\nMabel and Charlie break into someone’s apartment to retrieve a package belonging to the victim—then open the box and keep what they find inside. They, along with Oliver, sneak into the building the night of the murder, despite police orders not to do so.\nOliver begs his son for money—using gifts for the grandkids as an excuse to come over and ask. When his son tells him no and that he needs to move out of his expensive apartment and lavish lifestyle, Oliver refuses. “It’s all I have, it’s all I am.” His son, thinking about family, says, “Obviously, it makes me very sad to hear you say that.” All three of them lie or mislead during the episode—some more than others. Characters say the f-word six times and the s-word thrice. We also hear “h—,” and about nine misuses of God’s name (once with the word “d–n”).","attrs_markdown":"[![](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/FOTF-Favicon-300x300.png)](https:\/\/www.focusonthefamily.com\/)\n\n[![](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/AIO_Master_Full_Color_RGB-300x147.png)](https:\/\/www.focusonthefamily.com\/adventures-in-odyssey\/)\n\n[![Icon for Plugged In by Focus on the Family](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/plugged-in-menu-icon-updated-300x300.png)](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/)\n\n[![](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Brand-Bar-Boundless-Mobile-Color.png)](https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/)\n\n- [Store](https:\/\/store.focusonthefamily.com\/)\n\n[![Logo for Plugged In by Focus on the Family](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/plugged-in-logo-updated-1024x410.png)](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/)\n\n[DONATE](https:\/\/donate.focusonthefamily.com\/plugged-in?utm_source=pluggedin.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=donate-now-promo-box&refcd=2119607)\n\n- [Movies](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/movies\/)\n- [TV](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv\/)\n- [Music](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/music\/)\n- [Games](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/games\/)\n- [Books](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/books\/)\n- [YouTube Channels](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/youtube\/)\n- [Blog](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/blog\/)\n- [Videos](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/pluggedin)\n- [About](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/about\/)\n- [Donate](https:\/\/donate.focusonthefamily.com\/plugged-in?utm_source=pluggedin.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=donate-now-promo-box&refcd=2119607)\n\n- [Movies](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/movies\/)\n- [TV](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv\/)\n- [Music](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/music\/)\n- [Games](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/games\/)\n- [Books](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/books\/)\n- [YouTube Channels](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/youtube\/)\n- [Blog](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/blog\/)\n- [Videos](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/pluggedin)\n- [About](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/about\/)\n- [Donate](https:\/\/donate.focusonthefamily.com\/plugged-in?utm_source=pluggedin.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=donate-now-promo-box&refcd=2119607)\n\n[DONATE](https:\/\/donate.focusonthefamily.com\/plugged-in?utm_source=pluggedin.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=donate-now-promo-box&refcd=2119607)\n\n- [Movies](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/movies\/)\n- [TV](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv\/)\n- [Music](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/music\/)\n- [Games](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/games\/)\n- [Books](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/books\/)\n- [YouTube Channels](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/youtube\/)\n\n- [Movies](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/movies\/)\n- [TV](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv\/)\n- [Music](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/music\/)\n- [Games](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/games\/)\n- [Books](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/books\/)\n- [YouTube Channels](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/youtube\/)\n\n- [Movies](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/movies\/)\n- [TV](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv\/)\n- [Music](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/music\/)\n- [Games](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/games\/)\n- [Books](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/books\/)\n- [YouTube Channels](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/youtube\/)\n- [Blog](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/blog\/)\n- [Videos](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/pluggedin)\n- [About](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/about\/)\n- [Donate](https:\/\/donate.focusonthefamily.com\/plugged-in?utm_source=pluggedin.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=donate-now-promo-box&refcd=2119607)\n\n- [Movies](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/movies\/)\n- [TV](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv\/)\n- [Music](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/music\/)\n- [Games](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/games\/)\n- [Books](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/books\/)\n- [YouTube Channels](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/youtube\/)\n- [Blog](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/blog\/)\n- [Videos](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/pluggedin)\n- [About](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/about\/)\n- [Donate](https:\/\/donate.focusonthefamily.com\/plugged-in?utm_source=pluggedin.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=donate-now-promo-box&refcd=2119607)\n\n- [Blog](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/blog\/)\n- [Videos](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/pluggedin)\n- [About](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/about\/)\n\n- TV Review\n# Only Murders in the Building\n- [TV-MA](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/blog\/tv-rating\/tv-ma\/)\n\n- [Comedy](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/blog\/tv-genre\/comedy\/), [Crime](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/blog\/tv-genre\/crime\/), [Drama](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/blog\/tv-genre\/drama\/)\n\n![](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/only-murders-in-the-building-1024x587.jpg)\n\n### Credits\n#### Cast\n- Steve Martin as Charles; Martin Short as Oliver; Selena Gomez as Mabel; Meryl Streep as Loretta; Michael Cyril Creighton as Howard; Jason Veasey as Jonathan; Jayne Houdyshell as Bunny; Jackie Hoffman as Uma; Teddy Coluca as Lester Coluca; Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Detective Williams; Jane Lynch as Sazz; Nathan Lane as Teddy Dimas; James Caverly as Theo Dimas; Zoe Margaret Colletti as Lucy; Amy Ryan as Jan; Paul Rudd as Ben Glenroy; Jeremy Shamos as Dickie Glenroy; Aaron Dominguez as Oscar; Julian Cihi as Tim Kono; Olivia Reis as Zoe Cassidy; Cara Delevingne as Alice; Jesse Williams as Tobert; Ryan Broussard as Will; Andrea Martin as Joy; Tina Fey as Cinda Canning; Adina Verson as Poppy White; Michael Rapaport as Detective Kreps; Linda Emond as Donna DeMeo; Wesley Taylor as Clifford DeMeo; Ashley Park as Kimber; Richard Kind as Vince Fish; Kumail Nanjiani as Rudy Thurber; Molly Shannon as Bev Melon; Jin Ha as Marshall P. Pope\/Rex Bailey; Bobby Cannavale as Nicky Caccimelio; Téa Leoni as Sofia Caccimelio; Dianne Wiest as Lorraine Coluca; Shirley MacLaine as Leonora Folger; Amy Schumer as herself; Sting as himself; Zach Galifianakis as himself; Eugene Levy as himself; Eva Longoria as herself\n\n#### Network\n- Hulu\n#### Reviewer\nPaul Asay\n\nEmily Tsiao\n\n## Jump to:\n[Episode Reviews](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/only-murders-in-the-building\/#episode-reviews)\n\n## TV Series Review\nEveryone loves a good murder.\n\nDon’t believe me? Take a look at the myriad of CBS crime procedurals or Netflix’s murder documentaries or the roughly three gazillion true-crime podcasts out there. In the entertainment world, *killing* is *making* a killing.\n\nBut Charles, Oliver and Mabel are producing a different sort of true-crime podcast. For one, the clues are still fresh. Why, the blood hasn’t dried on the crime scene floor yet. Two, our intrepid podcasters don’t know anything about investigating murders or investigative journalism or podcasting. We should be pretty proud that they even knew how to turn on the equipment.\n\nOh, and three … they’ve been on the scene for *eight* different murders in their building now (and at least one out-of-building murder, too). How lucky is *that*? Well, not lucky for the victims, but still.\n\n## **This American Strife**\nTheir podcast, titled *Only Murders in the Building*, features an odd trio to begin with. Looking at them, they don’t seem to share much but a love of true crime and apartments in the same building—Manhattan’s ultra-fashionable Arconia.\n\nCharles is an actor, best-known as a ’90s TV cop named Brazzos. But in real life, he tends to get nosebleeds when he talks to strangers, making him a less-than-ideal podcast interrogator. Oliver is a gregarious Broadway director who’s always looking for someone to finance his next big idea. And he’s producing this podcast in the meantime. And Mabel … well, she’s about a half-century younger than her podcast cohorts and loves *Hardy Boys* mysteries and art.\n\nThey bonded over another true-crime podcast, obsessing over *Everything’s Not OK in Oklahoma*. They solidified their friendship investigating (and solving) the murders of Arconia residents Tim Kono, Zoe Cassidy, Bunny Folger and Milton Dudenoff. They became household names cracking the cases of the additional murders of famous actor Ben Glenroy, Glen Stubbins (Ben’s stunt double), Sazz Pataki (Charles’ own stunt double) and Rex Bailey—who admittedly was trying to kill the trio when Charles’ and Sazz’s ex-girlfriend shot him with a sniper rifle from across the courtyard.\n\nAnd for a while, things seemed to be looking up.\n\nThe podcast was turned into a *movie*. Oliver’s latest show had a successful run on Broadway. And now he’s a newlywed, too. Mabel renovated and sold her aunt’s Arconia apartment before moving into the building’s west tower with a much more reasonable rent. Charles revived his role as Brazzos for a while. Then he joined Oliver on Broadway. And he finally broke up with Jan, his murderous ex-girlfriend.\n\nBut just as things began to settle down, murder reared its ugly head once again.\n\nLester Coluca, who has been the Arconia’s doorman the past 32 years, is found bleeding out in the building’s courtyard fountain, just after Oliver’s wedding. The police say it was an accident, but the trio isn’t so sure. They’ve been asked to investigate the disappearance of Nicky Caccimelio, and one of Oliver’s wedding photos reveals that he was talking to Lester just before Lester’s untimely end.\n\nLooks like the fifth season of *Only Murders in the Building* (both the TV series and the podcast) will have plenty of mysteries for this Scooby-Doo-esque crew to unravel.\n\n## **Up and Banished**\nThe Hulu show *Only Murders in the Building*, starring longtime comedy amigos Steve Martin and Martin Short paired with Millennial darling Selena Gomez, is a self-aware whodunit that manages to be both flip and grim, grafting Martin’s sneakily high-brow comedy onto a guilty-pleasure CW-style mystery.\n\nYes, it’s a strange combination, but it sometimes works. Gomez has always had a talent for dry, deadpan humor, which offers a nice contrast to Short’s gloriously over-the-top character and Martin’s physical comedy. The three work well together, and the show’s central mysteries offer some zany twists and turns. Moreover, the characters themselves have plenty to hide. And as Martin’s Charles reminds us, sometimes it’s far easier to ferret out someone else’s secrets than deal with our own.\n\nBut none of that justifies the crimes committed against the discerning viewer: the language, the gore, the sexual allusions. (In Season 2, Gomez’s character becomes sexually involved with another woman, and a painting of a nude couple plays a key role in the plot.)\n\nOh yes, Oliver, Charles and Mabel are just like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew—if the Hardy Boys were in their 70s, Nancy Drew used a lot of f-words, and they never stopped listening to themselves talk.\n\nWorse yet, these violations feel both premeditated and completely without motive. Does the show *need* the f-words? Hardly. (And the creators seem to know that since Mabel mocks a cop when he goes on a particularly foul-mouthed tangent.) Do we *need* to see someone’s head partly blown away? Or a woman stabbed with a knitting needle? Not at all.\n\nAnd yet, the evidence is there. *Only Murders* is guilty of lack of restraint in the second degree—a senseless crime if ever there was one. With more thought, it could’ve escaped, rot free.\n\n*(Editor’s Note:* Plugged In *is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at* [*letters@pluggedin.com*](mailto:letters@pluggedin.com)*, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)*\n\n## Episode Reviews\n### Sept. 8, 2025 – S5, E1: “Nail in the Coffin”\nAs the Arconia’s residents attend a memorial service for the beloved Lester, the Only Murders podcast crew discovers a severed *finger* inside the leftover shrimp from Oliver’s wedding. They conclude that this means Lester’s death *wasn’t* an accident (as police determined) but rather a *murder*.\n\nA man says he’s worried that his boyfriend may be cheating on him. He then wonders whether the new doorman is “hot.” Someone asks Charles if he’s gay, and he responds, “a little” (it seems he may have been trying to appease the questioner). Someone mentions an adult magazine. There’s a bit of double entendre. A woman says her husband had a history of using drugs, gambling and sleeping with other women. Charles flirts with her and checks her out.\n\nAt Lester’s wake, Charles checks to see if the missing finger might be Lester’s. He reaches into the coffin to feel the man’s hand, since they aren’t visible, but attendees mistake Charles’ actions for something perverse.\n\nWe see flashbacks to when Lester’s body was found in the fountain, bleeding out into the water. Oliver discovers another corpse hanging on a dry cleaner’s rack of clothes, and the body falls on top of him.\n\nAs stated already, the crew finds a finger in the cocktail shrimp—and Oliver narrowly avoids eating it by accident. But rather than hand the evidence over to police, they keep it, carrying it around in a travel mug filled with ice.\n\nThe sons of a known mobster act threateningly toward the podcast crew, telling them some scary stories about mob activity in the ‘70s and even pulling a gun on them. However, it’s revealed that the guys weren’t trying to scare them, they were just pitching a podcast idea of their own. And the gun isn’t real; it’s a Bluetooth speaker. (The guys’ grandmother verbally threatens some people.)\n\nCharles and Oliver spew a slew of offensive Italian stereotypes as they discuss the possibility of mob involvement. Mabel calls them out, but the show continues to poke fun with more jokes and comparisons throughout the episode. Oliver admits he’s scared of the mob, since he borrowed some money once and never paid it back.\n\nThe mayor tries to manipulate Lester’s death into an opportunity to garner voter support, giving a eulogy full of familiar platitudes. Someone drinks wine. The gang discovers a hidden casino.\n\nWe hear three uses of the f-word, as well as “a–,” “b–tard,” “d–n” and “h—.” God’s name is misused about eight times, once paired with “d–n.” And Jesus’ name is also abused a few times.\n\nOliver spends much of the episode making Lester’s death about himself. However, in private, we see that he truly cared for the doorman and misses him.\n\n### Aug. 8, 2023 – S3, E1: “The Show Must…”\nWhen the star actor in Oliver’s play dies on opening night, Oliver, Charles and Mabel come together to try and solve the mystery.\n\nBlood drips from an elevator ceiling onto Charles’ face. He and other elevator passengers leap out of the way as a dead body falls through an opaque glass ceiling. A flashback shows Ben (the lead in Oliver’s show) fall dead, bleeding from his mouth. \\[*Spoiler warning*\\] Later, Ben shows up at a cast party, remarkably resuscitated by doctors, stating that the blood on his mouth was from biting his tongue when he fell.\n\nAn actress reads lines from a script about a nanny who admits she would kill to protect the children in her care. Many people talk about death and murder. We hear a TV show has paused filming since its producer is on trial for sexual harassment. A man makes a crude euphemism using a woman’s name, making her visibly uncomfortable. There are several jokes about murder. Someone slaps Oliver’s cheek.\n\nA woman kisses her son on the mouth in an inappropriate way, then defends that she can do that since her son is gay. An actor flirts with his costar, telling her that he’s trained as an “intimacy coordinator.” There’s a reference to Shakespearean times when male actors played all the roles, including the female ones.\n\nOliver’s producer speculates that Oliver might be cursed, saying that she thinks he angered a witch in a past life. Someone jokes about the Pope. A character says he “saw the light” when he “died” and vows to atone for his past wrongs.\n\nA few people brag and show off. There are some fart jokes. People exchange rude insults. A man worries over his own narcissism. A man says his stomach was pumped and that he “barfed a ton.” Folks drink throughout the episode. A woman says she wants to get “trashed.”\n\nWe hear 11 uses of the f-word and four uses of the s-word. God’s name is abused 15 times, once paired with “d–n.” We also hear “a–,” “a–hole,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “h—” and “p-ss.”\n\n### June 28, 2022 – S2, E1: “Persons of Interest”\nCharles, Oliver and Mabel become persons of interest in a murder investigation after police find them with the freshly dead body of their building manager.\n\nFlashbacks show Mabel stumbling upon Bunny, the building manager, as she dies, covered in blood with a knitting needle poking out of her chest. We later learn she was stabbed eight times with a knife, which is what killed her, not the needle. We hear that Oliver was responsible almost killing 12 actors in a stage accident. A cop replays a clip from the podcast, in which Mabel recounts a dream where she stabs a home invader with a knitting needle. Fans of the podcast love that Mabel might be a murderer. Mabel cleans Bunny’s blood from her apartment floor, but it leaves a stain. Oliver worries that his the notes he wrote to Bunny telling her to “drop dead” might be taken seriously.\n\nA painting shows a fully nude man and woman together (and Charles reveals that the man in the painting is his father). Other people describe the painting as “porny.” Some women wear outfits baring cleavage. Someone references male genitals. Charles imagines that a woman shares his bed (in a non-sexual way).\n\nPeople lie and steal. The trio breaks into someone’s apartment. Mabel is rude to a cop. People talk about drinking. A man says his producer used to use cocaine. We learn a woman taught her parrot several profanities. We hear 16 uses of the f-word, as well as the s-word, “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “d–k” and “h—.” God’s name is abused nine times, once paired with “d–n.”\n\n### Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E3: “How Well Do You Know Your Neighbors?”\nThe episode opens with a flashback to Oliver in 2005, looking for investors for his Broadway extravaganza *Splash: The Musical*—an effort that we learn was a monumental disaster. In the present, Mabel and Charlie interview the owner of Evelyn (the dead cat) to see if he might’ve had something to do with the murder and find something deeply chilling—and chilled—in the guy’s freezer.\n\nThe frozen object? Evelyn herself, which the owner believes Tim Kono poisoned. The frozen cat corpse tumbles to the kitchen floor and one of her legs breaks off; Charlie pockets the thing and pulls it out later to show someone. “It’s warm now, and that smell is new,” he says. Charlie also gets a bloody nose during the interview, which causes Evelyn’s owner to faint dead away. Mabel suggests that seems to put him in the clear for being present during a very bloody murder, but Charlie believes the man is bluffing. Oliver recounts for Charlie why *Splash: The Musical* was such a disaster (or, at least, one of the reasons). While he had a pool constructed underneath the stage, which was supposed to retract, the hydraulics went haywire during the first preview show. Twelve divers dove straight into the floor (though Oliver stresses that no one actually died).\n\nDuring a sequence where Oliver imagines he’s auditioning would-be suspects for the main part of killer, a counselor slaps his wrist effeminately and coyly says “I’m a *bad* therapist.” Evelyn’s effeminate owner is in the lineup, too, wearing a *Flashdance*\\-like sweatshirt. (Female auditioners wear form-fitting leotards and the like.)\n\nIn a flashback, Oliver entertains dinner guests at a table loaded with wine glasses. Later, he brings down a bottle of wine and two glasses, hoping to woo a neighbor to invest in the podcast. He tries to flatter the would-be investor, telling him that he never seems to age. “I need the name of your witch,” he jokes. He also makes a 1980s cocaine reference.\n\nCharacters say the f-word nine times and the s-word three times. We also hear “a–,” “b–ch” and “h—.” God’s name is misused four times, and Jesus’ name is abused twice.\n\n### Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E2: “Who Is Tim Kono?”\nEven though Mabel knows quite a bit about Tim Kono, she pretends otherwise and the three begin trying to figure out what made the victim tick. They go to an apartment memorial service and discover that most folks in the building hated the guy. “Nobody liked him, but can we all be grateful he’s gone?” the officiant says. Oliver convinces an apartment supervisor to hand over all the complaints residents filed about the guy (in exchange for buying several cases of a product she’s selling called “gut milk”), and they learn that Tim’s apartment is scheduled to be cleaned out the next day. They break in and tramp through the apartment looking for clues.\n\nIn the apartment, Oliver finds what he believes are sex toys. “Nothing shameful about deviant sexual pursuits” as he dives into the box. He and the Arconia’s president, Bunny, exchange a few bitter sexual allusions.\n\nIn flashback, we see part of Mabel’s history with the Arconia, including hanging out with three friends as young adults—breaking into other people’s apartments. Mabel’s friend, Zoe, would sometimes apparently swipe jewelry, and in one apartment she finds a fully stocked medicine cabinet and announces they’ll be camping out there for the night. She makes a very crude reference to masturbation. Mabel and Zoe wear slightly revealing eveningwear during the night (Zoe’s boyfriend Oscar expresses his appreciation of Mabel’s outfit). Later, Zoe accuses Oscar of cheating on her—shortly before her body’s discovered on the street below.\n\nIn the present, Oliver and Charlie track blood throughout the dead man’s apartment. They also discover a cat’s footprints in the blood—a telling clue, given that a beloved Arconia cat (Evelyn) died the same night Tim Kono did. Mabel finds jewelry stashed in Tim’s apartment. Meanwhile, she seems unwilling to give back Tim’s engagement ring that she and Charlie recovered (and stole) last episode. Mabel seems to talk with Tim’s disfigured spirit (his gunshot wound to the head still quite visible).\n\nPeople drink during a party. After Charlie gets caught in an odd lie, the podcasters promise to be truthful with one another. (After the pact is made, Mabel leaves and Oliver confesses, “I don’t trust her at all.”) Characters say the f-word 11 times and the s-word seven times. We also hear “a–,” “d–n” and “d–k.” God’s name is misused a half-dozen times (twice with the word “d–n”).\n\n### Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E1: “True Crime”\nCharlie, Oliver and Mabel all leave the Arconia during a fire alarm and discover at a nearby restaurant that they all love the same true-crime podcast *(All Is Not OK in Oklahoma)*. When they return, they learn that someone died in the building—apparently by his own hand—and the three of them sneak in to check out the crime scene. Convinced the man was murdered, they launch into their own investigation—and their own podcast. But Charlie and Oliver don’t realize that Mabel has an unexpected tie to the victim.\n\nWe see the apparent suicide victim lying on the floor. Though he’s still identifiable, part of one side of his head is missing (and what’s underneath is obviously covered in gore). Mabel admits to having a recurring nightmare (dramatized here) in which a stranger is standing over her bed, staring at her: She hits him in the crotch, whips out a knitting needle and stabs him to death with it. (We don’t see the needle hit its mark ever, but it’s clear that Mabel is an enthusiastic stabber.) In a flash forward elsewhere, someone leans over a dead body. Both are covered in blood. We see a couple of people fall off platforms in dream-like sequences, bouncing harmlessly back.\n\nMabel showers, and we see her bare back and a quick glimpse at the side of her breast. On “All is Not OK in Oklahoma,” a dog apparently retrieves the panties of the victim.\n\nMabel and Charlie break into someone’s apartment to retrieve a package belonging to the victim—then open the box and keep what they find inside. They, along with Oliver, sneak into the building the night of the murder, despite police orders not to do so.\n\nOliver begs his son for money—using gifts for the grandkids as an excuse to come over and ask. When his son tells him no and that he needs to move out of his expensive apartment and lavish lifestyle, Oliver refuses. “It’s all I have, it’s all I am.” His son, thinking about family, says, “Obviously, it makes me very sad to hear you say that.” All three of them lie or mislead during the episode—some more than others. Characters say the f-word six times and the s-word thrice. We also hear “h—,” and about nine misuses of God’s name (once with the word “d–n”).\n\n[Back to Top](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/only-murders-in-the-building\/#top)\n\n![](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/6-150x150.jpg)\n\n##### Paul Asay\nPaul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.\n\n[More by Paul Asay](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/contributors\/paul-asay\/)\n\n![](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3-150x150.jpg)\n\n##### Emily Tsiao\nEmily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.\n\n[More by Emily Tsiao](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/contributors\/emily-tsiao\/)\n\n## Latest Reviews\n[![](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/web-topper-12-768x440.jpg)](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/young-sherlock\/)\n\nCrime\n\n### [Young Sherlock](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/young-sherlock\/)\nIt may suffer from an identity crisis, but Young Sherlock is still much cleaner than other recent interpretations of the iconic detective.\n\n[![](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/web-topper-11-768x440.jpg)](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/ted\/)\n\nComedy\n\n### [Ted](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/ted\/)\nTed is one toy bear that’s only good for giving to the dogs as a chew toy.\n\n[![](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/web-topper-8-768x440.jpg)](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/sesame-street\/)\n\nAnimation\n\n### [Sesame Street](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/sesame-street\/)\nThe opening song asks how one might get to ‘Sesame Street,’ and we’ll help you decide whether or not you should go.\n\n[![](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/web-topper-10-768x440.jpg)](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/one-piece\/)\n\nComedy\n\n### [One Piece](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/one-piece\/)\nBefore you dive into one piece of One Piece, you’ll want to consider the issues that sail along with it.\n\n[Back to Top](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/tv-reviews\/only-murders-in-the-building\/#top)\n\n### **Weekly Reviews** Straight to your Inbox\\!\n[Subscribe](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/newsletter-sign-up\/)\n\n[![Logo for Plugged 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Policy](https:\/\/www.pluggedin.com\/cookie-policy\/)\n\nNotifications","attrs_readable_markdown":"## TV Series Review\nEveryone loves a good murder.\n\nDon’t believe me? Take a look at the myriad of CBS crime procedurals or Netflix’s murder documentaries or the roughly three gazillion true-crime podcasts out there. In the entertainment world, *killing* is *making* a killing.\n\nBut Charles, Oliver and Mabel are producing a different sort of true-crime podcast. For one, the clues are still fresh. Why, the blood hasn’t dried on the crime scene floor yet. Two, our intrepid podcasters don’t know anything about investigating murders or investigative journalism or podcasting. We should be pretty proud that they even knew how to turn on the equipment.\n\nOh, and three … they’ve been on the scene for *eight* different murders in their building now (and at least one out-of-building murder, too). How lucky is *that*? Well, not lucky for the victims, but still.\n\n## **This American Strife**\nTheir podcast, titled *Only Murders in the Building*, features an odd trio to begin with. Looking at them, they don’t seem to share much but a love of true crime and apartments in the same building—Manhattan’s ultra-fashionable Arconia.\n\nCharles is an actor, best-known as a ’90s TV cop named Brazzos. But in real life, he tends to get nosebleeds when he talks to strangers, making him a less-than-ideal podcast interrogator. Oliver is a gregarious Broadway director who’s always looking for someone to finance his next big idea. And he’s producing this podcast in the meantime. And Mabel … well, she’s about a half-century younger than her podcast cohorts and loves *Hardy Boys* mysteries and art.\n\nThey bonded over another true-crime podcast, obsessing over *Everything’s Not OK in Oklahoma*. They solidified their friendship investigating (and solving) the murders of Arconia residents Tim Kono, Zoe Cassidy, Bunny Folger and Milton Dudenoff. They became household names cracking the cases of the additional murders of famous actor Ben Glenroy, Glen Stubbins (Ben’s stunt double), Sazz Pataki (Charles’ own stunt double) and Rex Bailey—who admittedly was trying to kill the trio when Charles’ and Sazz’s ex-girlfriend shot him with a sniper rifle from across the courtyard.\n\nAnd for a while, things seemed to be looking up.\n\nThe podcast was turned into a *movie*. Oliver’s latest show had a successful run on Broadway. And now he’s a newlywed, too. Mabel renovated and sold her aunt’s Arconia apartment before moving into the building’s west tower with a much more reasonable rent. Charles revived his role as Brazzos for a while. Then he joined Oliver on Broadway. And he finally broke up with Jan, his murderous ex-girlfriend.\n\nBut just as things began to settle down, murder reared its ugly head once again.\n\nLester Coluca, who has been the Arconia’s doorman the past 32 years, is found bleeding out in the building’s courtyard fountain, just after Oliver’s wedding. The police say it was an accident, but the trio isn’t so sure. They’ve been asked to investigate the disappearance of Nicky Caccimelio, and one of Oliver’s wedding photos reveals that he was talking to Lester just before Lester’s untimely end.\n\nLooks like the fifth season of *Only Murders in the Building* (both the TV series and the podcast) will have plenty of mysteries for this Scooby-Doo-esque crew to unravel.\n\n## **Up and Banished**\nThe Hulu show *Only Murders in the Building*, starring longtime comedy amigos Steve Martin and Martin Short paired with Millennial darling Selena Gomez, is a self-aware whodunit that manages to be both flip and grim, grafting Martin’s sneakily high-brow comedy onto a guilty-pleasure CW-style mystery.\n\nYes, it’s a strange combination, but it sometimes works. Gomez has always had a talent for dry, deadpan humor, which offers a nice contrast to Short’s gloriously over-the-top character and Martin’s physical comedy. The three work well together, and the show’s central mysteries offer some zany twists and turns. Moreover, the characters themselves have plenty to hide. And as Martin’s Charles reminds us, sometimes it’s far easier to ferret out someone else’s secrets than deal with our own.\n\nBut none of that justifies the crimes committed against the discerning viewer: the language, the gore, the sexual allusions. (In Season 2, Gomez’s character becomes sexually involved with another woman, and a painting of a nude couple plays a key role in the plot.)\n\nOh yes, Oliver, Charles and Mabel are just like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew—if the Hardy Boys were in their 70s, Nancy Drew used a lot of f-words, and they never stopped listening to themselves talk.\n\nWorse yet, these violations feel both premeditated and completely without motive. Does the show *need* the f-words? Hardly. (And the creators seem to know that since Mabel mocks a cop when he goes on a particularly foul-mouthed tangent.) Do we *need* to see someone’s head partly blown away? Or a woman stabbed with a knitting needle? Not at all.\n\nAnd yet, the evidence is there. *Only Murders* is guilty of lack of restraint in the second degree—a senseless crime if ever there was one. With more thought, it could’ve escaped, rot free.\n\n*(Editor’s Note:* Plugged In *is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at* [*letters@pluggedin.com*](mailto:letters@pluggedin.com)*, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)*\n\n## Episode Reviews\n### Sept. 8, 2025 – S5, E1: “Nail in the Coffin”\nAs the Arconia’s residents attend a memorial service for the beloved Lester, the Only Murders podcast crew discovers a severed *finger* inside the leftover shrimp from Oliver’s wedding. They conclude that this means Lester’s death *wasn’t* an accident (as police determined) but rather a *murder*.\n\nA man says he’s worried that his boyfriend may be cheating on him. He then wonders whether the new doorman is “hot.” Someone asks Charles if he’s gay, and he responds, “a little” (it seems he may have been trying to appease the questioner). Someone mentions an adult magazine. There’s a bit of double entendre. A woman says her husband had a history of using drugs, gambling and sleeping with other women. Charles flirts with her and checks her out.\n\nAt Lester’s wake, Charles checks to see if the missing finger might be Lester’s. He reaches into the coffin to feel the man’s hand, since they aren’t visible, but attendees mistake Charles’ actions for something perverse.\n\nWe see flashbacks to when Lester’s body was found in the fountain, bleeding out into the water. Oliver discovers another corpse hanging on a dry cleaner’s rack of clothes, and the body falls on top of him.\n\nAs stated already, the crew finds a finger in the cocktail shrimp—and Oliver narrowly avoids eating it by accident. But rather than hand the evidence over to police, they keep it, carrying it around in a travel mug filled with ice.\n\nThe sons of a known mobster act threateningly toward the podcast crew, telling them some scary stories about mob activity in the ‘70s and even pulling a gun on them. However, it’s revealed that the guys weren’t trying to scare them, they were just pitching a podcast idea of their own. And the gun isn’t real; it’s a Bluetooth speaker. (The guys’ grandmother verbally threatens some people.)\n\nCharles and Oliver spew a slew of offensive Italian stereotypes as they discuss the possibility of mob involvement. Mabel calls them out, but the show continues to poke fun with more jokes and comparisons throughout the episode. Oliver admits he’s scared of the mob, since he borrowed some money once and never paid it back.\n\nThe mayor tries to manipulate Lester’s death into an opportunity to garner voter support, giving a eulogy full of familiar platitudes. Someone drinks wine. The gang discovers a hidden casino.\n\nWe hear three uses of the f-word, as well as “a–,” “b–tard,” “d–n” and “h—.” God’s name is misused about eight times, once paired with “d–n.” And Jesus’ name is also abused a few times.\n\nOliver spends much of the episode making Lester’s death about himself. However, in private, we see that he truly cared for the doorman and misses him.\n\n### Aug. 8, 2023 – S3, E1: “The Show Must…”\nWhen the star actor in Oliver’s play dies on opening night, Oliver, Charles and Mabel come together to try and solve the mystery.\n\nBlood drips from an elevator ceiling onto Charles’ face. He and other elevator passengers leap out of the way as a dead body falls through an opaque glass ceiling. A flashback shows Ben (the lead in Oliver’s show) fall dead, bleeding from his mouth. \\[*Spoiler warning*\\] Later, Ben shows up at a cast party, remarkably resuscitated by doctors, stating that the blood on his mouth was from biting his tongue when he fell.\n\nAn actress reads lines from a script about a nanny who admits she would kill to protect the children in her care. Many people talk about death and murder. We hear a TV show has paused filming since its producer is on trial for sexual harassment. A man makes a crude euphemism using a woman’s name, making her visibly uncomfortable. There are several jokes about murder. Someone slaps Oliver’s cheek.\n\nA woman kisses her son on the mouth in an inappropriate way, then defends that she can do that since her son is gay. An actor flirts with his costar, telling her that he’s trained as an “intimacy coordinator.” There’s a reference to Shakespearean times when male actors played all the roles, including the female ones.\n\nOliver’s producer speculates that Oliver might be cursed, saying that she thinks he angered a witch in a past life. Someone jokes about the Pope. A character says he “saw the light” when he “died” and vows to atone for his past wrongs.\n\nA few people brag and show off. There are some fart jokes. People exchange rude insults. A man worries over his own narcissism. A man says his stomach was pumped and that he “barfed a ton.” Folks drink throughout the episode. A woman says she wants to get “trashed.”\n\nWe hear 11 uses of the f-word and four uses of the s-word. God’s name is abused 15 times, once paired with “d–n.” We also hear “a–,” “a–hole,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “h—” and “p-ss.”\n\n### June 28, 2022 – S2, E1: “Persons of Interest”\nCharles, Oliver and Mabel become persons of interest in a murder investigation after police find them with the freshly dead body of their building manager.\n\nFlashbacks show Mabel stumbling upon Bunny, the building manager, as she dies, covered in blood with a knitting needle poking out of her chest. We later learn she was stabbed eight times with a knife, which is what killed her, not the needle. We hear that Oliver was responsible almost killing 12 actors in a stage accident. A cop replays a clip from the podcast, in which Mabel recounts a dream where she stabs a home invader with a knitting needle. Fans of the podcast love that Mabel might be a murderer. Mabel cleans Bunny’s blood from her apartment floor, but it leaves a stain. Oliver worries that his the notes he wrote to Bunny telling her to “drop dead” might be taken seriously.\n\nA painting shows a fully nude man and woman together (and Charles reveals that the man in the painting is his father). Other people describe the painting as “porny.” Some women wear outfits baring cleavage. Someone references male genitals. Charles imagines that a woman shares his bed (in a non-sexual way).\n\nPeople lie and steal. The trio breaks into someone’s apartment. Mabel is rude to a cop. People talk about drinking. A man says his producer used to use cocaine. We learn a woman taught her parrot several profanities. We hear 16 uses of the f-word, as well as the s-word, “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “d–k” and “h—.” God’s name is abused nine times, once paired with “d–n.”\n\n### Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E3: “How Well Do You Know Your Neighbors?”\nThe episode opens with a flashback to Oliver in 2005, looking for investors for his Broadway extravaganza *Splash: The Musical*—an effort that we learn was a monumental disaster. In the present, Mabel and Charlie interview the owner of Evelyn (the dead cat) to see if he might’ve had something to do with the murder and find something deeply chilling—and chilled—in the guy’s freezer.\n\nThe frozen object? Evelyn herself, which the owner believes Tim Kono poisoned. The frozen cat corpse tumbles to the kitchen floor and one of her legs breaks off; Charlie pockets the thing and pulls it out later to show someone. “It’s warm now, and that smell is new,” he says. Charlie also gets a bloody nose during the interview, which causes Evelyn’s owner to faint dead away. Mabel suggests that seems to put him in the clear for being present during a very bloody murder, but Charlie believes the man is bluffing. Oliver recounts for Charlie why *Splash: The Musical* was such a disaster (or, at least, one of the reasons). While he had a pool constructed underneath the stage, which was supposed to retract, the hydraulics went haywire during the first preview show. Twelve divers dove straight into the floor (though Oliver stresses that no one actually died).\n\nDuring a sequence where Oliver imagines he’s auditioning would-be suspects for the main part of killer, a counselor slaps his wrist effeminately and coyly says “I’m a *bad* therapist.” Evelyn’s effeminate owner is in the lineup, too, wearing a *Flashdance*\\-like sweatshirt. (Female auditioners wear form-fitting leotards and the like.)\n\nIn a flashback, Oliver entertains dinner guests at a table loaded with wine glasses. Later, he brings down a bottle of wine and two glasses, hoping to woo a neighbor to invest in the podcast. He tries to flatter the would-be investor, telling him that he never seems to age. “I need the name of your witch,” he jokes. He also makes a 1980s cocaine reference.\n\nCharacters say the f-word nine times and the s-word three times. We also hear “a–,” “b–ch” and “h—.” God’s name is misused four times, and Jesus’ name is abused twice.\n\n### Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E2: “Who Is Tim Kono?”\nEven though Mabel knows quite a bit about Tim Kono, she pretends otherwise and the three begin trying to figure out what made the victim tick. They go to an apartment memorial service and discover that most folks in the building hated the guy. “Nobody liked him, but can we all be grateful he’s gone?” the officiant says. Oliver convinces an apartment supervisor to hand over all the complaints residents filed about the guy (in exchange for buying several cases of a product she’s selling called “gut milk”), and they learn that Tim’s apartment is scheduled to be cleaned out the next day. They break in and tramp through the apartment looking for clues.\n\nIn the apartment, Oliver finds what he believes are sex toys. “Nothing shameful about deviant sexual pursuits” as he dives into the box. He and the Arconia’s president, Bunny, exchange a few bitter sexual allusions.\n\nIn flashback, we see part of Mabel’s history with the Arconia, including hanging out with three friends as young adults—breaking into other people’s apartments. Mabel’s friend, Zoe, would sometimes apparently swipe jewelry, and in one apartment she finds a fully stocked medicine cabinet and announces they’ll be camping out there for the night. She makes a very crude reference to masturbation. Mabel and Zoe wear slightly revealing eveningwear during the night (Zoe’s boyfriend Oscar expresses his appreciation of Mabel’s outfit). Later, Zoe accuses Oscar of cheating on her—shortly before her body’s discovered on the street below.\n\nIn the present, Oliver and Charlie track blood throughout the dead man’s apartment. They also discover a cat’s footprints in the blood—a telling clue, given that a beloved Arconia cat (Evelyn) died the same night Tim Kono did. Mabel finds jewelry stashed in Tim’s apartment. Meanwhile, she seems unwilling to give back Tim’s engagement ring that she and Charlie recovered (and stole) last episode. Mabel seems to talk with Tim’s disfigured spirit (his gunshot wound to the head still quite visible).\n\nPeople drink during a party. After Charlie gets caught in an odd lie, the podcasters promise to be truthful with one another. (After the pact is made, Mabel leaves and Oliver confesses, “I don’t trust her at all.”) Characters say the f-word 11 times and the s-word seven times. We also hear “a–,” “d–n” and “d–k.” God’s name is misused a half-dozen times (twice with the word “d–n”).\n\n### Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E1: “True Crime”\nCharlie, Oliver and Mabel all leave the Arconia during a fire alarm and discover at a nearby restaurant that they all love the same true-crime podcast *(All Is Not OK in Oklahoma)*. When they return, they learn that someone died in the building—apparently by his own hand—and the three of them sneak in to check out the crime scene. Convinced the man was murdered, they launch into their own investigation—and their own podcast. But Charlie and Oliver don’t realize that Mabel has an unexpected tie to the victim.\n\nWe see the apparent suicide victim lying on the floor. Though he’s still identifiable, part of one side of his head is missing (and what’s underneath is obviously covered in gore). Mabel admits to having a recurring nightmare (dramatized here) in which a stranger is standing over her bed, staring at her: She hits him in the crotch, whips out a knitting needle and stabs him to death with it. (We don’t see the needle hit its mark ever, but it’s clear that Mabel is an enthusiastic stabber.) In a flash forward elsewhere, someone leans over a dead body. Both are covered in blood. We see a couple of people fall off platforms in dream-like sequences, bouncing harmlessly back.\n\nMabel showers, and we see her bare back and a quick glimpse at the side of her breast. On “All is Not OK in Oklahoma,” a dog apparently retrieves the panties of the victim.\n\nMabel and Charlie break into someone’s apartment to retrieve a package belonging to the victim—then open the box and keep what they find inside. They, along with Oliver, sneak into the building the night of the murder, despite police orders not to do so.\n\nOliver begs his son for money—using gifts for the grandkids as an excuse to come over and ask. When his son tells him no and that he needs to move out of his expensive apartment and lavish lifestyle, Oliver refuses. “It’s all I have, it’s all I am.” His son, thinking about family, says, “Obviously, it makes me very sad to hear you say that.” All three of them lie or mislead during the episode—some more than others. Characters say the f-word six times and the s-word thrice. We also hear “h—,” and about nine misuses of God’s name (once with the word “d–n”).","meta_canonical":null}

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Meta Description	Only Murders in the Building is fun, but the show is guilty of lack of restraint in the second degree—a senseless crime if ever there was one., It’s fun, but the show is guilty of lack of restraint in the second degree—a senseless crime if ever there was one.
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Boilerpipe Text	TV Series Review Everyone loves a good murder. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the myriad of CBS crime procedurals or Netflix’s murder documentaries or the roughly three gazillion true-crime podcasts out there. In the entertainment world, killing is making a killing. But Charles, Oliver and Mabel are producing a different sort of true-crime podcast. For one, the clues are still fresh. Why, the blood hasn’t dried on the crime scene floor yet. Two, our intrepid podcasters don’t know anything about investigating murders or investigative journalism or podcasting. We should be pretty proud that they even knew how to turn on the equipment. Oh, and three … they’ve been on the scene for eight different murders in their building now (and at least one out-of-building murder, too). How lucky is that ? Well, not lucky for the victims, but still. This American Strife Their podcast, titled Only Murders in the Building , features an odd trio to begin with. Looking at them, they don’t seem to share much but a love of true crime and apartments in the same building—Manhattan’s ultra-fashionable Arconia. Charles is an actor, best-known as a ’90s TV cop named Brazzos. But in real life, he tends to get nosebleeds when he talks to strangers, making him a less-than-ideal podcast interrogator. Oliver is a gregarious Broadway director who’s always looking for someone to finance his next big idea. And he’s producing this podcast in the meantime. And Mabel … well, she’s about a half-century younger than her podcast cohorts and loves Hardy Boys mysteries and art. They bonded over another true-crime podcast, obsessing over Everything’s Not OK in Oklahoma . They solidified their friendship investigating (and solving) the murders of Arconia residents Tim Kono, Zoe Cassidy, Bunny Folger and Milton Dudenoff. They became household names cracking the cases of the additional murders of famous actor Ben Glenroy, Glen Stubbins (Ben’s stunt double), Sazz Pataki (Charles’ own stunt double) and Rex Bailey—who admittedly was trying to kill the trio when Charles’ and Sazz’s ex-girlfriend shot him with a sniper rifle from across the courtyard. And for a while, things seemed to be looking up. The podcast was turned into a movie . Oliver’s latest show had a successful run on Broadway. And now he’s a newlywed, too. Mabel renovated and sold her aunt’s Arconia apartment before moving into the building’s west tower with a much more reasonable rent. Charles revived his role as Brazzos for a while. Then he joined Oliver on Broadway. And he finally broke up with Jan, his murderous ex-girlfriend. But just as things began to settle down, murder reared its ugly head once again. Lester Coluca, who has been the Arconia’s doorman the past 32 years, is found bleeding out in the building’s courtyard fountain, just after Oliver’s wedding. The police say it was an accident, but the trio isn’t so sure. They’ve been asked to investigate the disappearance of Nicky Caccimelio, and one of Oliver’s wedding photos reveals that he was talking to Lester just before Lester’s untimely end. Looks like the fifth season of Only Murders in the Building (both the TV series and the podcast) will have plenty of mysteries for this Scooby-Doo-esque crew to unravel. Up and Banished The Hulu show Only Murders in the Building , starring longtime comedy amigos Steve Martin and Martin Short paired with Millennial darling Selena Gomez, is a self-aware whodunit that manages to be both flip and grim, grafting Martin’s sneakily high-brow comedy onto a guilty-pleasure CW-style mystery. Yes, it’s a strange combination, but it sometimes works. Gomez has always had a talent for dry, deadpan humor, which offers a nice contrast to Short’s gloriously over-the-top character and Martin’s physical comedy. The three work well together, and the show’s central mysteries offer some zany twists and turns. Moreover, the characters themselves have plenty to hide. And as Martin’s Charles reminds us, sometimes it’s far easier to ferret out someone else’s secrets than deal with our own. But none of that justifies the crimes committed against the discerning viewer: the language, the gore, the sexual allusions. (In Season 2, Gomez’s character becomes sexually involved with another woman, and a painting of a nude couple plays a key role in the plot.) Oh yes, Oliver, Charles and Mabel are just like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew—if the Hardy Boys were in their 70s, Nancy Drew used a lot of f-words, and they never stopped listening to themselves talk. Worse yet, these violations feel both premeditated and completely without motive. Does the show need the f-words? Hardly. (And the creators seem to know that since Mabel mocks a cop when he goes on a particularly foul-mouthed tangent.) Do we need to see someone’s head partly blown away? Or a woman stabbed with a knitting needle? Not at all. And yet, the evidence is there. Only Murders is guilty of lack of restraint in the second degree—a senseless crime if ever there was one. With more thought, it could’ve escaped, rot free. (Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com , or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.) Episode Reviews Sept. 8, 2025 – S5, E1: “Nail in the Coffin” As the Arconia’s residents attend a memorial service for the beloved Lester, the Only Murders podcast crew discovers a severed finger inside the leftover shrimp from Oliver’s wedding. They conclude that this means Lester’s death wasn’t an accident (as police determined) but rather a murder . A man says he’s worried that his boyfriend may be cheating on him. He then wonders whether the new doorman is “hot.” Someone asks Charles if he’s gay, and he responds, “a little” (it seems he may have been trying to appease the questioner). Someone mentions an adult magazine. There’s a bit of double entendre. A woman says her husband had a history of using drugs, gambling and sleeping with other women. Charles flirts with her and checks her out. At Lester’s wake, Charles checks to see if the missing finger might be Lester’s. He reaches into the coffin to feel the man’s hand, since they aren’t visible, but attendees mistake Charles’ actions for something perverse. We see flashbacks to when Lester’s body was found in the fountain, bleeding out into the water. Oliver discovers another corpse hanging on a dry cleaner’s rack of clothes, and the body falls on top of him. As stated already, the crew finds a finger in the cocktail shrimp—and Oliver narrowly avoids eating it by accident. But rather than hand the evidence over to police, they keep it, carrying it around in a travel mug filled with ice. The sons of a known mobster act threateningly toward the podcast crew, telling them some scary stories about mob activity in the ‘70s and even pulling a gun on them. However, it’s revealed that the guys weren’t trying to scare them, they were just pitching a podcast idea of their own. And the gun isn’t real; it’s a Bluetooth speaker. (The guys’ grandmother verbally threatens some people.) Charles and Oliver spew a slew of offensive Italian stereotypes as they discuss the possibility of mob involvement. Mabel calls them out, but the show continues to poke fun with more jokes and comparisons throughout the episode. Oliver admits he’s scared of the mob, since he borrowed some money once and never paid it back. The mayor tries to manipulate Lester’s death into an opportunity to garner voter support, giving a eulogy full of familiar platitudes. Someone drinks wine. The gang discovers a hidden casino. We hear three uses of the f-word, as well as “a–,” “b–tard,” “d–n” and “h—.” God’s name is misused about eight times, once paired with “d–n.” And Jesus’ name is also abused a few times. Oliver spends much of the episode making Lester’s death about himself. However, in private, we see that he truly cared for the doorman and misses him. Aug. 8, 2023 – S3, E1: “The Show Must…” When the star actor in Oliver’s play dies on opening night, Oliver, Charles and Mabel come together to try and solve the mystery. Blood drips from an elevator ceiling onto Charles’ face. He and other elevator passengers leap out of the way as a dead body falls through an opaque glass ceiling. A flashback shows Ben (the lead in Oliver’s show) fall dead, bleeding from his mouth. [ Spoiler warning ] Later, Ben shows up at a cast party, remarkably resuscitated by doctors, stating that the blood on his mouth was from biting his tongue when he fell. An actress reads lines from a script about a nanny who admits she would kill to protect the children in her care. Many people talk about death and murder. We hear a TV show has paused filming since its producer is on trial for sexual harassment. A man makes a crude euphemism using a woman’s name, making her visibly uncomfortable. There are several jokes about murder. Someone slaps Oliver’s cheek. A woman kisses her son on the mouth in an inappropriate way, then defends that she can do that since her son is gay. An actor flirts with his costar, telling her that he’s trained as an “intimacy coordinator.” There’s a reference to Shakespearean times when male actors played all the roles, including the female ones. Oliver’s producer speculates that Oliver might be cursed, saying that she thinks he angered a witch in a past life. Someone jokes about the Pope. A character says he “saw the light” when he “died” and vows to atone for his past wrongs. A few people brag and show off. There are some fart jokes. People exchange rude insults. A man worries over his own narcissism. A man says his stomach was pumped and that he “barfed a ton.” Folks drink throughout the episode. A woman says she wants to get “trashed.” We hear 11 uses of the f-word and four uses of the s-word. God’s name is abused 15 times, once paired with “d–n.” We also hear “a–,” “a–hole,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “h—” and “p-ss.” June 28, 2022 – S2, E1: “Persons of Interest” Charles, Oliver and Mabel become persons of interest in a murder investigation after police find them with the freshly dead body of their building manager. Flashbacks show Mabel stumbling upon Bunny, the building manager, as she dies, covered in blood with a knitting needle poking out of her chest. We later learn she was stabbed eight times with a knife, which is what killed her, not the needle. We hear that Oliver was responsible almost killing 12 actors in a stage accident. A cop replays a clip from the podcast, in which Mabel recounts a dream where she stabs a home invader with a knitting needle. Fans of the podcast love that Mabel might be a murderer. Mabel cleans Bunny’s blood from her apartment floor, but it leaves a stain. Oliver worries that his the notes he wrote to Bunny telling her to “drop dead” might be taken seriously. A painting shows a fully nude man and woman together (and Charles reveals that the man in the painting is his father). Other people describe the painting as “porny.” Some women wear outfits baring cleavage. Someone references male genitals. Charles imagines that a woman shares his bed (in a non-sexual way). People lie and steal. The trio breaks into someone’s apartment. Mabel is rude to a cop. People talk about drinking. A man says his producer used to use cocaine. We learn a woman taught her parrot several profanities. We hear 16 uses of the f-word, as well as the s-word, “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “d–k” and “h—.” God’s name is abused nine times, once paired with “d–n.” Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E3: “How Well Do You Know Your Neighbors?” The episode opens with a flashback to Oliver in 2005, looking for investors for his Broadway extravaganza Splash: The Musical —an effort that we learn was a monumental disaster. In the present, Mabel and Charlie interview the owner of Evelyn (the dead cat) to see if he might’ve had something to do with the murder and find something deeply chilling—and chilled—in the guy’s freezer. The frozen object? Evelyn herself, which the owner believes Tim Kono poisoned. The frozen cat corpse tumbles to the kitchen floor and one of her legs breaks off; Charlie pockets the thing and pulls it out later to show someone. “It’s warm now, and that smell is new,” he says. Charlie also gets a bloody nose during the interview, which causes Evelyn’s owner to faint dead away. Mabel suggests that seems to put him in the clear for being present during a very bloody murder, but Charlie believes the man is bluffing. Oliver recounts for Charlie why Splash: The Musical was such a disaster (or, at least, one of the reasons). While he had a pool constructed underneath the stage, which was supposed to retract, the hydraulics went haywire during the first preview show. Twelve divers dove straight into the floor (though Oliver stresses that no one actually died). During a sequence where Oliver imagines he’s auditioning would-be suspects for the main part of killer, a counselor slaps his wrist effeminately and coyly says “I’m a bad therapist.” Evelyn’s effeminate owner is in the lineup, too, wearing a Flashdance -like sweatshirt. (Female auditioners wear form-fitting leotards and the like.) In a flashback, Oliver entertains dinner guests at a table loaded with wine glasses. Later, he brings down a bottle of wine and two glasses, hoping to woo a neighbor to invest in the podcast. He tries to flatter the would-be investor, telling him that he never seems to age. “I need the name of your witch,” he jokes. He also makes a 1980s cocaine reference. Characters say the f-word nine times and the s-word three times. We also hear “a–,” “b–ch” and “h—.” God’s name is misused four times, and Jesus’ name is abused twice. Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E2: “Who Is Tim Kono?” Even though Mabel knows quite a bit about Tim Kono, she pretends otherwise and the three begin trying to figure out what made the victim tick. They go to an apartment memorial service and discover that most folks in the building hated the guy. “Nobody liked him, but can we all be grateful he’s gone?” the officiant says. Oliver convinces an apartment supervisor to hand over all the complaints residents filed about the guy (in exchange for buying several cases of a product she’s selling called “gut milk”), and they learn that Tim’s apartment is scheduled to be cleaned out the next day. They break in and tramp through the apartment looking for clues. In the apartment, Oliver finds what he believes are sex toys. “Nothing shameful about deviant sexual pursuits” as he dives into the box. He and the Arconia’s president, Bunny, exchange a few bitter sexual allusions. In flashback, we see part of Mabel’s history with the Arconia, including hanging out with three friends as young adults—breaking into other people’s apartments. Mabel’s friend, Zoe, would sometimes apparently swipe jewelry, and in one apartment she finds a fully stocked medicine cabinet and announces they’ll be camping out there for the night. She makes a very crude reference to masturbation. Mabel and Zoe wear slightly revealing eveningwear during the night (Zoe’s boyfriend Oscar expresses his appreciation of Mabel’s outfit). Later, Zoe accuses Oscar of cheating on her—shortly before her body’s discovered on the street below. In the present, Oliver and Charlie track blood throughout the dead man’s apartment. They also discover a cat’s footprints in the blood—a telling clue, given that a beloved Arconia cat (Evelyn) died the same night Tim Kono did. Mabel finds jewelry stashed in Tim’s apartment. Meanwhile, she seems unwilling to give back Tim’s engagement ring that she and Charlie recovered (and stole) last episode. Mabel seems to talk with Tim’s disfigured spirit (his gunshot wound to the head still quite visible). People drink during a party. After Charlie gets caught in an odd lie, the podcasters promise to be truthful with one another. (After the pact is made, Mabel leaves and Oliver confesses, “I don’t trust her at all.”) Characters say the f-word 11 times and the s-word seven times. We also hear “a–,” “d–n” and “d–k.” God’s name is misused a half-dozen times (twice with the word “d–n”). Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E1: “True Crime” Charlie, Oliver and Mabel all leave the Arconia during a fire alarm and discover at a nearby restaurant that they all love the same true-crime podcast (All Is Not OK in Oklahoma) . When they return, they learn that someone died in the building—apparently by his own hand—and the three of them sneak in to check out the crime scene. Convinced the man was murdered, they launch into their own investigation—and their own podcast. But Charlie and Oliver don’t realize that Mabel has an unexpected tie to the victim. We see the apparent suicide victim lying on the floor. Though he’s still identifiable, part of one side of his head is missing (and what’s underneath is obviously covered in gore). Mabel admits to having a recurring nightmare (dramatized here) in which a stranger is standing over her bed, staring at her: She hits him in the crotch, whips out a knitting needle and stabs him to death with it. (We don’t see the needle hit its mark ever, but it’s clear that Mabel is an enthusiastic stabber.) In a flash forward elsewhere, someone leans over a dead body. Both are covered in blood. We see a couple of people fall off platforms in dream-like sequences, bouncing harmlessly back. Mabel showers, and we see her bare back and a quick glimpse at the side of her breast. On “All is Not OK in Oklahoma,” a dog apparently retrieves the panties of the victim. Mabel and Charlie break into someone’s apartment to retrieve a package belonging to the victim—then open the box and keep what they find inside. They, along with Oliver, sneak into the building the night of the murder, despite police orders not to do so. Oliver begs his son for money—using gifts for the grandkids as an excuse to come over and ask. When his son tells him no and that he needs to move out of his expensive apartment and lavish lifestyle, Oliver refuses. “It’s all I have, it’s all I am.” His son, thinking about family, says, “Obviously, it makes me very sad to hear you say that.” All three of them lie or mislead during the episode—some more than others. Characters say the f-word six times and the s-word thrice. We also hear “h—,” and about nine misuses of God’s name (once with the word “d–n”).
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Martin Short as Oliver; Selena Gomez as Mabel; Meryl Streep as Loretta; Michael Cyril Creighton as Howard; Jason Veasey as Jonathan; Jayne Houdyshell as Bunny; Jackie Hoffman as Uma; Teddy Coluca as Lester Coluca; Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Detective Williams; Jane Lynch as Sazz; Nathan Lane as Teddy Dimas; James Caverly as Theo Dimas; Zoe Margaret Colletti as Lucy; Amy Ryan as Jan; Paul Rudd as Ben Glenroy; Jeremy Shamos as Dickie Glenroy; Aaron Dominguez as Oscar; Julian Cihi as Tim Kono; Olivia Reis as Zoe Cassidy; Cara Delevingne as Alice; Jesse Williams as Tobert; Ryan Broussard as Will; Andrea Martin as Joy; Tina Fey as Cinda Canning; Adina Verson as Poppy White; Michael Rapaport as Detective Kreps; Linda Emond as Donna DeMeo; Wesley Taylor as Clifford DeMeo; Ashley Park as Kimber; Richard Kind as Vince Fish; Kumail Nanjiani as Rudy Thurber; Molly Shannon as Bev Melon; Jin Ha as Marshall P. Pope/Rex Bailey; Bobby Cannavale as Nicky Caccimelio; Téa Leoni as Sofia Caccimelio; Dianne Wiest as Lorraine Coluca; Shirley MacLaine as Leonora Folger; Amy Schumer as herself; Sting as himself; Zach Galifianakis as himself; Eugene Levy as himself; Eva Longoria as herself #### Network - Hulu #### Reviewer Paul Asay Emily Tsiao ## Jump to: [Episode Reviews](https://www.pluggedin.com/tv-reviews/only-murders-in-the-building/#episode-reviews) ## TV Series Review Everyone loves a good murder. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the myriad of CBS crime procedurals or Netflix’s murder documentaries or the roughly three gazillion true-crime podcasts out there. In the entertainment world, killing is making a killing. But Charles, Oliver and Mabel are producing a different sort of true-crime podcast. For one, the clues are still fresh. Why, the blood hasn’t dried on the crime scene floor yet. Two, our intrepid podcasters don’t know anything about investigating murders or investigative journalism or podcasting. We should be pretty proud that they even knew how to turn on the equipment. Oh, and three … they’ve been on the scene for eight different murders in their building now (and at least one out-of-building murder, too). How lucky is that? Well, not lucky for the victims, but still. ## This American Strife Their podcast, titled Only Murders in the Building, features an odd trio to begin with. Looking at them, they don’t seem to share much but a love of true crime and apartments in the same building—Manhattan’s ultra-fashionable Arconia. Charles is an actor, best-known as a ’90s TV cop named Brazzos. But in real life, he tends to get nosebleeds when he talks to strangers, making him a less-than-ideal podcast interrogator. Oliver is a gregarious Broadway director who’s always looking for someone to finance his next big idea. And he’s producing this podcast in the meantime. And Mabel … well, she’s about a half-century younger than her podcast cohorts and loves Hardy Boys mysteries and art. They bonded over another true-crime podcast, obsessing over Everything’s Not OK in Oklahoma. They solidified their friendship investigating (and solving) the murders of Arconia residents Tim Kono, Zoe Cassidy, Bunny Folger and Milton Dudenoff. They became household names cracking the cases of the additional murders of famous actor Ben Glenroy, Glen Stubbins (Ben’s stunt double), Sazz Pataki (Charles’ own stunt double) and Rex Bailey—who admittedly was trying to kill the trio when Charles’ and Sazz’s ex-girlfriend shot him with a sniper rifle from across the courtyard. And for a while, things seemed to be looking up. The podcast was turned into a movie. Oliver’s latest show had a successful run on Broadway. And now he’s a newlywed, too. Mabel renovated and sold her aunt’s Arconia apartment before moving into the building’s west tower with a much more reasonable rent. Charles revived his role as Brazzos for a while. Then he joined Oliver on Broadway. And he finally broke up with Jan, his murderous ex-girlfriend. But just as things began to settle down, murder reared its ugly head once again. Lester Coluca, who has been the Arconia’s doorman the past 32 years, is found bleeding out in the building’s courtyard fountain, just after Oliver’s wedding. The police say it was an accident, but the trio isn’t so sure. They’ve been asked to investigate the disappearance of Nicky Caccimelio, and one of Oliver’s wedding photos reveals that he was talking to Lester just before Lester’s untimely end. Looks like the fifth season of Only Murders in the Building (both the TV series and the podcast) will have plenty of mysteries for this Scooby-Doo-esque crew to unravel. ## Up and Banished The Hulu show Only Murders in the Building, starring longtime comedy amigos Steve Martin and Martin Short paired with Millennial darling Selena Gomez, is a self-aware whodunit that manages to be both flip and grim, grafting Martin’s sneakily high-brow comedy onto a guilty-pleasure CW-style mystery. Yes, it’s a strange combination, but it sometimes works. Gomez has always had a talent for dry, deadpan humor, which offers a nice contrast to Short’s gloriously over-the-top character and Martin’s physical comedy. The three work well together, and the show’s central mysteries offer some zany twists and turns. Moreover, the characters themselves have plenty to hide. And as Martin’s Charles reminds us, sometimes it’s far easier to ferret out someone else’s secrets than deal with our own. But none of that justifies the crimes committed against the discerning viewer: the language, the gore, the sexual allusions. (In Season 2, Gomez’s character becomes sexually involved with another woman, and a painting of a nude couple plays a key role in the plot.) Oh yes, Oliver, Charles and Mabel are just like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew—if the Hardy Boys were in their 70s, Nancy Drew used a lot of f-words, and they never stopped listening to themselves talk. Worse yet, these violations feel both premeditated and completely without motive. Does the show need the f-words? Hardly. (And the creators seem to know that since Mabel mocks a cop when he goes on a particularly foul-mouthed tangent.) Do we need to see someone’s head partly blown away? Or a woman stabbed with a knitting needle? Not at all. And yet, the evidence is there. Only Murders is guilty of lack of restraint in the second degree—a senseless crime if ever there was one. With more thought, it could’ve escaped, rot free. (Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [letters@pluggedin.com](mailto:letters@pluggedin.com), or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.) ## Episode Reviews ### Sept. 8, 2025 – S5, E1: “Nail in the Coffin” As the Arconia’s residents attend a memorial service for the beloved Lester, the Only Murders podcast crew discovers a severed finger inside the leftover shrimp from Oliver’s wedding. They conclude that this means Lester’s death wasn’t an accident (as police determined) but rather a murder. A man says he’s worried that his boyfriend may be cheating on him. He then wonders whether the new doorman is “hot.” Someone asks Charles if he’s gay, and he responds, “a little” (it seems he may have been trying to appease the questioner). Someone mentions an adult magazine. There’s a bit of double entendre. A woman says her husband had a history of using drugs, gambling and sleeping with other women. Charles flirts with her and checks her out. At Lester’s wake, Charles checks to see if the missing finger might be Lester’s. He reaches into the coffin to feel the man’s hand, since they aren’t visible, but attendees mistake Charles’ actions for something perverse. We see flashbacks to when Lester’s body was found in the fountain, bleeding out into the water. Oliver discovers another corpse hanging on a dry cleaner’s rack of clothes, and the body falls on top of him. As stated already, the crew finds a finger in the cocktail shrimp—and Oliver narrowly avoids eating it by accident. But rather than hand the evidence over to police, they keep it, carrying it around in a travel mug filled with ice. The sons of a known mobster act threateningly toward the podcast crew, telling them some scary stories about mob activity in the ‘70s and even pulling a gun on them. However, it’s revealed that the guys weren’t trying to scare them, they were just pitching a podcast idea of their own. And the gun isn’t real; it’s a Bluetooth speaker. (The guys’ grandmother verbally threatens some people.) Charles and Oliver spew a slew of offensive Italian stereotypes as they discuss the possibility of mob involvement. Mabel calls them out, but the show continues to poke fun with more jokes and comparisons throughout the episode. Oliver admits he’s scared of the mob, since he borrowed some money once and never paid it back. The mayor tries to manipulate Lester’s death into an opportunity to garner voter support, giving a eulogy full of familiar platitudes. Someone drinks wine. The gang discovers a hidden casino. We hear three uses of the f-word, as well as “a–,” “b–tard,” “d–n” and “h—.” God’s name is misused about eight times, once paired with “d–n.” And Jesus’ name is also abused a few times. Oliver spends much of the episode making Lester’s death about himself. However, in private, we see that he truly cared for the doorman and misses him. ### Aug. 8, 2023 – S3, E1: “The Show Must…” When the star actor in Oliver’s play dies on opening night, Oliver, Charles and Mabel come together to try and solve the mystery. Blood drips from an elevator ceiling onto Charles’ face. He and other elevator passengers leap out of the way as a dead body falls through an opaque glass ceiling. A flashback shows Ben (the lead in Oliver’s show) fall dead, bleeding from his mouth. \[Spoiler warning\] Later, Ben shows up at a cast party, remarkably resuscitated by doctors, stating that the blood on his mouth was from biting his tongue when he fell. An actress reads lines from a script about a nanny who admits she would kill to protect the children in her care. Many people talk about death and murder. We hear a TV show has paused filming since its producer is on trial for sexual harassment. A man makes a crude euphemism using a woman’s name, making her visibly uncomfortable. There are several jokes about murder. Someone slaps Oliver’s cheek. A woman kisses her son on the mouth in an inappropriate way, then defends that she can do that since her son is gay. An actor flirts with his costar, telling her that he’s trained as an “intimacy coordinator.” There’s a reference to Shakespearean times when male actors played all the roles, including the female ones. Oliver’s producer speculates that Oliver might be cursed, saying that she thinks he angered a witch in a past life. Someone jokes about the Pope. A character says he “saw the light” when he “died” and vows to atone for his past wrongs. A few people brag and show off. There are some fart jokes. People exchange rude insults. A man worries over his own narcissism. A man says his stomach was pumped and that he “barfed a ton.” Folks drink throughout the episode. A woman says she wants to get “trashed.” We hear 11 uses of the f-word and four uses of the s-word. God’s name is abused 15 times, once paired with “d–n.” We also hear “a–,” “a–hole,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “h—” and “p-ss.” ### June 28, 2022 – S2, E1: “Persons of Interest” Charles, Oliver and Mabel become persons of interest in a murder investigation after police find them with the freshly dead body of their building manager. Flashbacks show Mabel stumbling upon Bunny, the building manager, as she dies, covered in blood with a knitting needle poking out of her chest. We later learn she was stabbed eight times with a knife, which is what killed her, not the needle. We hear that Oliver was responsible almost killing 12 actors in a stage accident. A cop replays a clip from the podcast, in which Mabel recounts a dream where she stabs a home invader with a knitting needle. Fans of the podcast love that Mabel might be a murderer. Mabel cleans Bunny’s blood from her apartment floor, but it leaves a stain. Oliver worries that his the notes he wrote to Bunny telling her to “drop dead” might be taken seriously. A painting shows a fully nude man and woman together (and Charles reveals that the man in the painting is his father). Other people describe the painting as “porny.” Some women wear outfits baring cleavage. Someone references male genitals. Charles imagines that a woman shares his bed (in a non-sexual way). People lie and steal. The trio breaks into someone’s apartment. Mabel is rude to a cop. People talk about drinking. A man says his producer used to use cocaine. We learn a woman taught her parrot several profanities. We hear 16 uses of the f-word, as well as the s-word, “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “d–k” and “h—.” God’s name is abused nine times, once paired with “d–n.” ### Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E3: “How Well Do You Know Your Neighbors?” The episode opens with a flashback to Oliver in 2005, looking for investors for his Broadway extravaganza Splash: The Musical—an effort that we learn was a monumental disaster. In the present, Mabel and Charlie interview the owner of Evelyn (the dead cat) to see if he might’ve had something to do with the murder and find something deeply chilling—and chilled—in the guy’s freezer. The frozen object? Evelyn herself, which the owner believes Tim Kono poisoned. The frozen cat corpse tumbles to the kitchen floor and one of her legs breaks off; Charlie pockets the thing and pulls it out later to show someone. “It’s warm now, and that smell is new,” he says. Charlie also gets a bloody nose during the interview, which causes Evelyn’s owner to faint dead away. Mabel suggests that seems to put him in the clear for being present during a very bloody murder, but Charlie believes the man is bluffing. Oliver recounts for Charlie why Splash: The Musical was such a disaster (or, at least, one of the reasons). While he had a pool constructed underneath the stage, which was supposed to retract, the hydraulics went haywire during the first preview show. Twelve divers dove straight into the floor (though Oliver stresses that no one actually died). During a sequence where Oliver imagines he’s auditioning would-be suspects for the main part of killer, a counselor slaps his wrist effeminately and coyly says “I’m a bad therapist.” Evelyn’s effeminate owner is in the lineup, too, wearing a Flashdance\-like sweatshirt. (Female auditioners wear form-fitting leotards and the like.) In a flashback, Oliver entertains dinner guests at a table loaded with wine glasses. Later, he brings down a bottle of wine and two glasses, hoping to woo a neighbor to invest in the podcast. He tries to flatter the would-be investor, telling him that he never seems to age. “I need the name of your witch,” he jokes. He also makes a 1980s cocaine reference. Characters say the f-word nine times and the s-word three times. We also hear “a–,” “b–ch” and “h—.” God’s name is misused four times, and Jesus’ name is abused twice. ### Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E2: “Who Is Tim Kono?” Even though Mabel knows quite a bit about Tim Kono, she pretends otherwise and the three begin trying to figure out what made the victim tick. They go to an apartment memorial service and discover that most folks in the building hated the guy. “Nobody liked him, but can we all be grateful he’s gone?” the officiant says. Oliver convinces an apartment supervisor to hand over all the complaints residents filed about the guy (in exchange for buying several cases of a product she’s selling called “gut milk”), and they learn that Tim’s apartment is scheduled to be cleaned out the next day. They break in and tramp through the apartment looking for clues. In the apartment, Oliver finds what he believes are sex toys. “Nothing shameful about deviant sexual pursuits” as he dives into the box. He and the Arconia’s president, Bunny, exchange a few bitter sexual allusions. In flashback, we see part of Mabel’s history with the Arconia, including hanging out with three friends as young adults—breaking into other people’s apartments. Mabel’s friend, Zoe, would sometimes apparently swipe jewelry, and in one apartment she finds a fully stocked medicine cabinet and announces they’ll be camping out there for the night. She makes a very crude reference to masturbation. Mabel and Zoe wear slightly revealing eveningwear during the night (Zoe’s boyfriend Oscar expresses his appreciation of Mabel’s outfit). Later, Zoe accuses Oscar of cheating on her—shortly before her body’s discovered on the street below. In the present, Oliver and Charlie track blood throughout the dead man’s apartment. They also discover a cat’s footprints in the blood—a telling clue, given that a beloved Arconia cat (Evelyn) died the same night Tim Kono did. Mabel finds jewelry stashed in Tim’s apartment. Meanwhile, she seems unwilling to give back Tim’s engagement ring that she and Charlie recovered (and stole) last episode. Mabel seems to talk with Tim’s disfigured spirit (his gunshot wound to the head still quite visible). People drink during a party. After Charlie gets caught in an odd lie, the podcasters promise to be truthful with one another. (After the pact is made, Mabel leaves and Oliver confesses, “I don’t trust her at all.”) Characters say the f-word 11 times and the s-word seven times. We also hear “a–,” “d–n” and “d–k.” God’s name is misused a half-dozen times (twice with the word “d–n”). ### Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E1: “True Crime” Charlie, Oliver and Mabel all leave the Arconia during a fire alarm and discover at a nearby restaurant that they all love the same true-crime podcast (All Is Not OK in Oklahoma). When they return, they learn that someone died in the building—apparently by his own hand—and the three of them sneak in to check out the crime scene. Convinced the man was murdered, they launch into their own investigation—and their own podcast. But Charlie and Oliver don’t realize that Mabel has an unexpected tie to the victim. We see the apparent suicide victim lying on the floor. Though he’s still identifiable, part of one side of his head is missing (and what’s underneath is obviously covered in gore). Mabel admits to having a recurring nightmare (dramatized here) in which a stranger is standing over her bed, staring at her: She hits him in the crotch, whips out a knitting needle and stabs him to death with it. (We don’t see the needle hit its mark ever, but it’s clear that Mabel is an enthusiastic stabber.) In a flash forward elsewhere, someone leans over a dead body. Both are covered in blood. We see a couple of people fall off platforms in dream-like sequences, bouncing harmlessly back. Mabel showers, and we see her bare back and a quick glimpse at the side of her breast. On “All is Not OK in Oklahoma,” a dog apparently retrieves the panties of the victim. Mabel and Charlie break into someone’s apartment to retrieve a package belonging to the victim—then open the box and keep what they find inside. They, along with Oliver, sneak into the building the night of the murder, despite police orders not to do so. Oliver begs his son for money—using gifts for the grandkids as an excuse to come over and ask. When his son tells him no and that he needs to move out of his expensive apartment and lavish lifestyle, Oliver refuses. “It’s all I have, it’s all I am.” His son, thinking about family, says, “Obviously, it makes me very sad to hear you say that.” All three of them lie or mislead during the episode—some more than others. Characters say the f-word six times and the s-word thrice. We also hear “h—,” and about nine misuses of God’s name (once with the word “d–n”). [Back to Top](https://www.pluggedin.com/tv-reviews/only-murders-in-the-building/#top) ![](https://www.pluggedin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/6-150x150.jpg) ##### Paul Asay Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul. [More by Paul Asay](https://www.pluggedin.com/contributors/paul-asay/) ![](https://www.pluggedin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/3-150x150.jpg) ##### Emily Tsiao Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings. 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Readable Markdown	## TV Series Review Everyone loves a good murder. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the myriad of CBS crime procedurals or Netflix’s murder documentaries or the roughly three gazillion true-crime podcasts out there. In the entertainment world, killing is making a killing. But Charles, Oliver and Mabel are producing a different sort of true-crime podcast. For one, the clues are still fresh. Why, the blood hasn’t dried on the crime scene floor yet. Two, our intrepid podcasters don’t know anything about investigating murders or investigative journalism or podcasting. We should be pretty proud that they even knew how to turn on the equipment. Oh, and three … they’ve been on the scene for eight different murders in their building now (and at least one out-of-building murder, too). How lucky is that? Well, not lucky for the victims, but still. ## This American Strife Their podcast, titled Only Murders in the Building, features an odd trio to begin with. Looking at them, they don’t seem to share much but a love of true crime and apartments in the same building—Manhattan’s ultra-fashionable Arconia. Charles is an actor, best-known as a ’90s TV cop named Brazzos. But in real life, he tends to get nosebleeds when he talks to strangers, making him a less-than-ideal podcast interrogator. Oliver is a gregarious Broadway director who’s always looking for someone to finance his next big idea. And he’s producing this podcast in the meantime. And Mabel … well, she’s about a half-century younger than her podcast cohorts and loves Hardy Boys mysteries and art. They bonded over another true-crime podcast, obsessing over Everything’s Not OK in Oklahoma. They solidified their friendship investigating (and solving) the murders of Arconia residents Tim Kono, Zoe Cassidy, Bunny Folger and Milton Dudenoff. They became household names cracking the cases of the additional murders of famous actor Ben Glenroy, Glen Stubbins (Ben’s stunt double), Sazz Pataki (Charles’ own stunt double) and Rex Bailey—who admittedly was trying to kill the trio when Charles’ and Sazz’s ex-girlfriend shot him with a sniper rifle from across the courtyard. And for a while, things seemed to be looking up. The podcast was turned into a movie. Oliver’s latest show had a successful run on Broadway. And now he’s a newlywed, too. Mabel renovated and sold her aunt’s Arconia apartment before moving into the building’s west tower with a much more reasonable rent. Charles revived his role as Brazzos for a while. Then he joined Oliver on Broadway. And he finally broke up with Jan, his murderous ex-girlfriend. But just as things began to settle down, murder reared its ugly head once again. Lester Coluca, who has been the Arconia’s doorman the past 32 years, is found bleeding out in the building’s courtyard fountain, just after Oliver’s wedding. The police say it was an accident, but the trio isn’t so sure. They’ve been asked to investigate the disappearance of Nicky Caccimelio, and one of Oliver’s wedding photos reveals that he was talking to Lester just before Lester’s untimely end. Looks like the fifth season of Only Murders in the Building (both the TV series and the podcast) will have plenty of mysteries for this Scooby-Doo-esque crew to unravel. ## Up and Banished The Hulu show Only Murders in the Building, starring longtime comedy amigos Steve Martin and Martin Short paired with Millennial darling Selena Gomez, is a self-aware whodunit that manages to be both flip and grim, grafting Martin’s sneakily high-brow comedy onto a guilty-pleasure CW-style mystery. Yes, it’s a strange combination, but it sometimes works. Gomez has always had a talent for dry, deadpan humor, which offers a nice contrast to Short’s gloriously over-the-top character and Martin’s physical comedy. The three work well together, and the show’s central mysteries offer some zany twists and turns. Moreover, the characters themselves have plenty to hide. And as Martin’s Charles reminds us, sometimes it’s far easier to ferret out someone else’s secrets than deal with our own. But none of that justifies the crimes committed against the discerning viewer: the language, the gore, the sexual allusions. (In Season 2, Gomez’s character becomes sexually involved with another woman, and a painting of a nude couple plays a key role in the plot.) Oh yes, Oliver, Charles and Mabel are just like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew—if the Hardy Boys were in their 70s, Nancy Drew used a lot of f-words, and they never stopped listening to themselves talk. Worse yet, these violations feel both premeditated and completely without motive. Does the show need the f-words? Hardly. (And the creators seem to know that since Mabel mocks a cop when he goes on a particularly foul-mouthed tangent.) Do we need to see someone’s head partly blown away? Or a woman stabbed with a knitting needle? Not at all. And yet, the evidence is there. Only Murders is guilty of lack of restraint in the second degree—a senseless crime if ever there was one. With more thought, it could’ve escaped, rot free. (Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [letters@pluggedin.com](mailto:letters@pluggedin.com), or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.) ## Episode Reviews ### Sept. 8, 2025 – S5, E1: “Nail in the Coffin” As the Arconia’s residents attend a memorial service for the beloved Lester, the Only Murders podcast crew discovers a severed finger inside the leftover shrimp from Oliver’s wedding. They conclude that this means Lester’s death wasn’t an accident (as police determined) but rather a murder. A man says he’s worried that his boyfriend may be cheating on him. He then wonders whether the new doorman is “hot.” Someone asks Charles if he’s gay, and he responds, “a little” (it seems he may have been trying to appease the questioner). Someone mentions an adult magazine. There’s a bit of double entendre. A woman says her husband had a history of using drugs, gambling and sleeping with other women. Charles flirts with her and checks her out. At Lester’s wake, Charles checks to see if the missing finger might be Lester’s. He reaches into the coffin to feel the man’s hand, since they aren’t visible, but attendees mistake Charles’ actions for something perverse. We see flashbacks to when Lester’s body was found in the fountain, bleeding out into the water. Oliver discovers another corpse hanging on a dry cleaner’s rack of clothes, and the body falls on top of him. As stated already, the crew finds a finger in the cocktail shrimp—and Oliver narrowly avoids eating it by accident. But rather than hand the evidence over to police, they keep it, carrying it around in a travel mug filled with ice. The sons of a known mobster act threateningly toward the podcast crew, telling them some scary stories about mob activity in the ‘70s and even pulling a gun on them. However, it’s revealed that the guys weren’t trying to scare them, they were just pitching a podcast idea of their own. And the gun isn’t real; it’s a Bluetooth speaker. (The guys’ grandmother verbally threatens some people.) Charles and Oliver spew a slew of offensive Italian stereotypes as they discuss the possibility of mob involvement. Mabel calls them out, but the show continues to poke fun with more jokes and comparisons throughout the episode. Oliver admits he’s scared of the mob, since he borrowed some money once and never paid it back. The mayor tries to manipulate Lester’s death into an opportunity to garner voter support, giving a eulogy full of familiar platitudes. Someone drinks wine. The gang discovers a hidden casino. We hear three uses of the f-word, as well as “a–,” “b–tard,” “d–n” and “h—.” God’s name is misused about eight times, once paired with “d–n.” And Jesus’ name is also abused a few times. Oliver spends much of the episode making Lester’s death about himself. However, in private, we see that he truly cared for the doorman and misses him. ### Aug. 8, 2023 – S3, E1: “The Show Must…” When the star actor in Oliver’s play dies on opening night, Oliver, Charles and Mabel come together to try and solve the mystery. Blood drips from an elevator ceiling onto Charles’ face. He and other elevator passengers leap out of the way as a dead body falls through an opaque glass ceiling. A flashback shows Ben (the lead in Oliver’s show) fall dead, bleeding from his mouth. \[Spoiler warning\] Later, Ben shows up at a cast party, remarkably resuscitated by doctors, stating that the blood on his mouth was from biting his tongue when he fell. An actress reads lines from a script about a nanny who admits she would kill to protect the children in her care. Many people talk about death and murder. We hear a TV show has paused filming since its producer is on trial for sexual harassment. A man makes a crude euphemism using a woman’s name, making her visibly uncomfortable. There are several jokes about murder. Someone slaps Oliver’s cheek. A woman kisses her son on the mouth in an inappropriate way, then defends that she can do that since her son is gay. An actor flirts with his costar, telling her that he’s trained as an “intimacy coordinator.” There’s a reference to Shakespearean times when male actors played all the roles, including the female ones. Oliver’s producer speculates that Oliver might be cursed, saying that she thinks he angered a witch in a past life. Someone jokes about the Pope. A character says he “saw the light” when he “died” and vows to atone for his past wrongs. A few people brag and show off. There are some fart jokes. People exchange rude insults. A man worries over his own narcissism. A man says his stomach was pumped and that he “barfed a ton.” Folks drink throughout the episode. A woman says she wants to get “trashed.” We hear 11 uses of the f-word and four uses of the s-word. God’s name is abused 15 times, once paired with “d–n.” We also hear “a–,” “a–hole,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “h—” and “p-ss.” ### June 28, 2022 – S2, E1: “Persons of Interest” Charles, Oliver and Mabel become persons of interest in a murder investigation after police find them with the freshly dead body of their building manager. Flashbacks show Mabel stumbling upon Bunny, the building manager, as she dies, covered in blood with a knitting needle poking out of her chest. We later learn she was stabbed eight times with a knife, which is what killed her, not the needle. We hear that Oliver was responsible almost killing 12 actors in a stage accident. A cop replays a clip from the podcast, in which Mabel recounts a dream where she stabs a home invader with a knitting needle. Fans of the podcast love that Mabel might be a murderer. Mabel cleans Bunny’s blood from her apartment floor, but it leaves a stain. Oliver worries that his the notes he wrote to Bunny telling her to “drop dead” might be taken seriously. A painting shows a fully nude man and woman together (and Charles reveals that the man in the painting is his father). Other people describe the painting as “porny.” Some women wear outfits baring cleavage. Someone references male genitals. Charles imagines that a woman shares his bed (in a non-sexual way). People lie and steal. The trio breaks into someone’s apartment. Mabel is rude to a cop. People talk about drinking. A man says his producer used to use cocaine. We learn a woman taught her parrot several profanities. We hear 16 uses of the f-word, as well as the s-word, “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “d–k” and “h—.” God’s name is abused nine times, once paired with “d–n.” ### Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E3: “How Well Do You Know Your Neighbors?” The episode opens with a flashback to Oliver in 2005, looking for investors for his Broadway extravaganza Splash: The Musical—an effort that we learn was a monumental disaster. In the present, Mabel and Charlie interview the owner of Evelyn (the dead cat) to see if he might’ve had something to do with the murder and find something deeply chilling—and chilled—in the guy’s freezer. The frozen object? Evelyn herself, which the owner believes Tim Kono poisoned. The frozen cat corpse tumbles to the kitchen floor and one of her legs breaks off; Charlie pockets the thing and pulls it out later to show someone. “It’s warm now, and that smell is new,” he says. Charlie also gets a bloody nose during the interview, which causes Evelyn’s owner to faint dead away. Mabel suggests that seems to put him in the clear for being present during a very bloody murder, but Charlie believes the man is bluffing. Oliver recounts for Charlie why Splash: The Musical was such a disaster (or, at least, one of the reasons). While he had a pool constructed underneath the stage, which was supposed to retract, the hydraulics went haywire during the first preview show. Twelve divers dove straight into the floor (though Oliver stresses that no one actually died). During a sequence where Oliver imagines he’s auditioning would-be suspects for the main part of killer, a counselor slaps his wrist effeminately and coyly says “I’m a bad therapist.” Evelyn’s effeminate owner is in the lineup, too, wearing a Flashdance\-like sweatshirt. (Female auditioners wear form-fitting leotards and the like.) In a flashback, Oliver entertains dinner guests at a table loaded with wine glasses. Later, he brings down a bottle of wine and two glasses, hoping to woo a neighbor to invest in the podcast. He tries to flatter the would-be investor, telling him that he never seems to age. “I need the name of your witch,” he jokes. He also makes a 1980s cocaine reference. Characters say the f-word nine times and the s-word three times. We also hear “a–,” “b–ch” and “h—.” God’s name is misused four times, and Jesus’ name is abused twice. ### Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E2: “Who Is Tim Kono?” Even though Mabel knows quite a bit about Tim Kono, she pretends otherwise and the three begin trying to figure out what made the victim tick. They go to an apartment memorial service and discover that most folks in the building hated the guy. “Nobody liked him, but can we all be grateful he’s gone?” the officiant says. Oliver convinces an apartment supervisor to hand over all the complaints residents filed about the guy (in exchange for buying several cases of a product she’s selling called “gut milk”), and they learn that Tim’s apartment is scheduled to be cleaned out the next day. They break in and tramp through the apartment looking for clues. In the apartment, Oliver finds what he believes are sex toys. “Nothing shameful about deviant sexual pursuits” as he dives into the box. He and the Arconia’s president, Bunny, exchange a few bitter sexual allusions. In flashback, we see part of Mabel’s history with the Arconia, including hanging out with three friends as young adults—breaking into other people’s apartments. Mabel’s friend, Zoe, would sometimes apparently swipe jewelry, and in one apartment she finds a fully stocked medicine cabinet and announces they’ll be camping out there for the night. She makes a very crude reference to masturbation. Mabel and Zoe wear slightly revealing eveningwear during the night (Zoe’s boyfriend Oscar expresses his appreciation of Mabel’s outfit). Later, Zoe accuses Oscar of cheating on her—shortly before her body’s discovered on the street below. In the present, Oliver and Charlie track blood throughout the dead man’s apartment. They also discover a cat’s footprints in the blood—a telling clue, given that a beloved Arconia cat (Evelyn) died the same night Tim Kono did. Mabel finds jewelry stashed in Tim’s apartment. Meanwhile, she seems unwilling to give back Tim’s engagement ring that she and Charlie recovered (and stole) last episode. Mabel seems to talk with Tim’s disfigured spirit (his gunshot wound to the head still quite visible). People drink during a party. After Charlie gets caught in an odd lie, the podcasters promise to be truthful with one another. (After the pact is made, Mabel leaves and Oliver confesses, “I don’t trust her at all.”) Characters say the f-word 11 times and the s-word seven times. We also hear “a–,” “d–n” and “d–k.” God’s name is misused a half-dozen times (twice with the word “d–n”). ### Aug. 31, 2021 – S1, E1: “True Crime” Charlie, Oliver and Mabel all leave the Arconia during a fire alarm and discover at a nearby restaurant that they all love the same true-crime podcast (All Is Not OK in Oklahoma). When they return, they learn that someone died in the building—apparently by his own hand—and the three of them sneak in to check out the crime scene. Convinced the man was murdered, they launch into their own investigation—and their own podcast. But Charlie and Oliver don’t realize that Mabel has an unexpected tie to the victim. We see the apparent suicide victim lying on the floor. Though he’s still identifiable, part of one side of his head is missing (and what’s underneath is obviously covered in gore). Mabel admits to having a recurring nightmare (dramatized here) in which a stranger is standing over her bed, staring at her: She hits him in the crotch, whips out a knitting needle and stabs him to death with it. (We don’t see the needle hit its mark ever, but it’s clear that Mabel is an enthusiastic stabber.) In a flash forward elsewhere, someone leans over a dead body. Both are covered in blood. We see a couple of people fall off platforms in dream-like sequences, bouncing harmlessly back. Mabel showers, and we see her bare back and a quick glimpse at the side of her breast. On “All is Not OK in Oklahoma,” a dog apparently retrieves the panties of the victim. Mabel and Charlie break into someone’s apartment to retrieve a package belonging to the victim—then open the box and keep what they find inside. They, along with Oliver, sneak into the building the night of the murder, despite police orders not to do so. Oliver begs his son for money—using gifts for the grandkids as an excuse to come over and ask. When his son tells him no and that he needs to move out of his expensive apartment and lavish lifestyle, Oliver refuses. “It’s all I have, it’s all I am.” His son, thinking about family, says, “Obviously, it makes me very sad to hear you say that.” All three of them lie or mislead during the episode—some more than others. Characters say the f-word six times and the s-word thrice. We also hear “h—,” and about nine misuses of God’s name (once with the word “d–n”).
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