Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 3 recap & review: Two for the Road

As a dedicated viewer of crime dramas who’s seen one too many cliffhangers, let me tell you, the latest episode of “Only Murders in the Building” had me on the edge of my seat! The way they seamlessly combined the ongoing storylines while incorporating new characters was nothing short of masterful.

This week’s episode of “Only Murders in the Building” masterfully combines the main plotlines by having the characters from our show join forces with their cinematic equivalents, resulting in one of the most hilarious episodes yet for the series.

Before diving into the details, let me remind you that the following discussion may reveal plot points from this week’s episode. So, if you haven’t seen it yet, take note that potential spoilers lie ahead!

At the start of the show, Mabel, Oliver, and Charles are constructing their murder board when an unexpected ally, Detective Donna, offers assistance. It transpires that federal authorities have taken charge of the case, and they aren’t keen to collaborate with her. However, she’s come to share some valuable information with the Only Murders team to aid their investigation – fully aware they won’t abandon their quest for the truth.

While the feds think Jan has something to do with Sazz’s death and hired someone to do it, Detective Donna isn’t buying it. Before she leaves, she tells the team that they found a shell casing in apartment 14F; that the apartment belongs to an M. Dudenoff, a retired professor who the neighbors in the West Tower say is in Portugal; all of the neighbors said they were playing cards with the exception of Mr. Christmas All Year; Sazz’s phone has been turned off; and she too believes that Charles was the target, not Sazz.

As Detective Donna concludes her speech reminiscent of Olivia Benson’s style, Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, and Zach Galifianakis arrive, eager to observe Oliver, Mabel, and Charles for their upcoming film project.

The group, with hesitation, consents to being monitored, and they begin discussing their hypotheses, eventually concentrating on two primary suspects: the man known as Pink Eye or Vince Fish, and another individual called Mr. Christmas, also recognized as Rudy Thurber.

Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 3 recap & review: Two for the Road

Mabel and Eva look into Mr. Christmas

After Charles hints at potentially upsetting Mr. Christmas Guy by persuading the entire building to sign a petition against real Christmas trees one year, Mabel becomes certain he’s their prime suspect and decides to dig deeper. Eva proposes joining her, but Mabel prefers to work independently and sets off alone to investigate further.

To Eva’s astonishment, she found that Mabel had not gotten to Mr. Christmas Guy’s apartment first; instead, Eva was there already when Mabel arrived. Trying to keep things calm, Mabel reacted nonchalantly, but Eva chose a different route and decided to take extreme measures. In an attempt to provoke Mr. Christmas Guy (whose real name is Rudy), she destroyed his decorations and pointed a gun at him, though the weapon turned out to be a replica. It appears that both the gun and Rudy were mere facades.

Rudy, in truth, dislikes Christmas, but due to a popular Christmas workout video he shared that went viral, he’s been compelled to adopt this persona. It appears the key to his content’s success lies in employing Christmas-themed puns – he even maintains a naughty list on his well-toned and exceptionally muscular abs.

With his assistance, Mabel realized the strand of ornaments she picked up at the crime scene was not actually tinsel, since genuine tinsel is flammable and this wasn’t. Additionally, she was surprised to find he owned a ham radio, and it caught her off guard when she heard the theme song from “The Perfect Strangers” playing on it – I’ll share more about that later.

Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 3 recap & review: Two for the Road

Charles and Eugene investigate pink eye guy

As Mabel and Eva examine Rudy, Charles and Eugene move towards Vince Fish, whom they refer to as “pink eye guy”, since Charles suspects that the redness in his eye isn’t actually pink eye, but rather a concealment for a bruise caused by the gun he used to shoot at Charles’ apartment.

In a creative twist, Charles and Eugene devise a scheme to make Vince remove his eyepatch: they attempt a funny, unexpected sneeze (spit-take) to achieve this. Prior to executing their plan, they first propose using some unique eye drops to persuade him to expose his eye. Unfortunately, this strategy fails, so they resort to the spit-take scheme. This results in Eugene receiving a blow to the nose and Vince ultimately admitting that he does indeed have pink eye.

Just before departing, Charles and Eugene notice a photograph of Vince alongside his West Tower friends. Interestingly, someone has crossed out an individual’s face in this picture.

Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 3 recap & review: Two for the Road

Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 3 ending explained

In this episode, while the rest of their group pursues leads, Oliver mainly focuses on winning Zach over and getting him involved in the movie project. Eventually, with a heartfelt speech from Howard, Oliver manages to achieve his goal. However, the motivation that inspires Zach doesn’t come directly from what Oliver had hoped; instead, it stems from observing Oliver’s failed attempts.

In the final moments of the episode, I found myself huddled with Oliver and Charles in our shared apartment, 14F. Mabel, with a determined glint in her eyes, unveiled her daring plan: she aimed to squat the apartment as a means to lure Dudenoff out from hiding. Charles seemed hesitant, his worry for me evident, but I reassured him that this move could potentially crack our case open while also ensuring mutual surveillance.

While everyone gathers on the floor, Mabel initiates humming the melody from the show “The Perfect Stranger“. This tune has been playing in her mind ever since she picked it up on Rudy’s ham radio. As she brings it up, Oliver reminisces about Howard tuning into the same song earlier in the day while documenting the ham radio broadcast.

He shares with the group that someone called and said, “Let’s meet at 4:45,” and it was around this time that Charles mentioned the photograph from Vince’s apartment, expressing doubt about whether the voice might have been that of the enigmatic figure in the picture.

The team discovers that 445 is a radio channel and swiftly adjust their ham radios to this frequency to broadcast a message, curious if anyone would respond. To their astonishment, a woman with an accent replies and advises them against using this particular frequency. As they question the unknown voice about Dudenoff and whether there’s any threat to Charles, the voice delivers a clear warning instead.

The individual who recently posed these queries met an unfortunate end. Let me make it clear, cease your investigation or you may suffer the same fate,” the voice cautions the gathering as the episode concludes.

Without a doubt, this installment has dropped one whopper of a cliffhanger for the season yet! The intertwining storylines are moving at a smooth pace now, and I can’t wait to see how Mabel, Oliver, and Charles delve deeper into solving Sazz’s murder. With the break in the case, who knows what mysteries will unfold next? Here’s hoping the show maintains its knack for juggling the various plotlines as gracefully as it did in episode 3, where the chemistry between Eugene, Eva, and Zach bouncing off Mabel, Charles, and Oliver made this one a joy to watch!

Don’t miss new episodes ofOnly Murders in the BuildingTuesdaysstreaming on Hulu!

2024-09-10 07:28