The following is a spoiler-free review of the first three episodes of Only Murders in the Building premiering Tuesday, August 31st on Disney+ Star and Hulu
Anytime comedic legends Steve Martin and Martin Short come together for anything, it is an event. Meanwhile, series and podcasts about murder continue to be insanely popular worldwide and that obsession is certainly ripe for comedy. Only Murders in the Building is the latest comedy series to play in that world as it gives its ridiculous characters and murder podcast fans their own mystery to solve and of course podcast about, While listening to podcasts about murder is one thing, being in the middle of one is another and that line between fantasy and reality was a blurry one. Whether or not they would ever take their new situation seriously and whether or not this would get in the way of their amateur investigation remained to be seen but the first three episodes look to deliver a compelling yet silly murder mystery that wasn’t necessarily always what it seemed.
Only Murders in the Building follows three perfect strangers, a washed-up actor named Charles (Martin), an eccentric Broadway director named Oliver (Short), and a young woman named Mabel (Selena Gomez) found themselves bonding over their shared obsession of true crime content after the mysterious death of a man named Tim Kono (Julian Cihi) within their New York City Upper West Side apartment building called the Arconia. Suspecting the death to be a murder, the three decide to use their true crime knowledge to start their own investigation into what may have happened and record their own podcast to document it. From there, the investigation would unravel the secrets of the Arconia and some of its current and past residents that went back decades (with some surprises). But just as they dove deeper into the other residents, the series showed that Charles, Oliver, and Mabel weren’t exactly perfect people either and had plenty of secrets of their own. In the end, it became abundantly clear that whoever the killer was, it was someone living in the Arconia and they would have solve the murder before its too late (before they became the next victims).
As much as Charles, Oliver, and Mabel’s investigation was fun to watch as it saw they and their quirks play off of one another, the series’ look into each character and their lives and their backstories was just as engaging. Each brought different skill sets to the table while they also had their own motivations beyond their obsessions with true crime. Despite this, it did not necessarily absolve each other from suspicion by the others or make them friends at least for now. The first three episodes found the three working together as their investigation and subsequent podcast were in their early stages where they looked into the victim and narrowed down their list of potential suspects to which there were many. However, that list grew as more came to light as what seemed like a simple murder investigation looked to evolve into something more. Suffice it to say that season takes a few turns over the course of the first three episodes and there’s no reason to think that it will not continue.
In the end, the best part of Only Murders in the Building was the writing and performances from Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez and their dynamite chemistry as Charles, Oliver, and Mabel respectively. Beyond the sharp dialogue, the story delivered a surprising amount of depth in establishing countless threads that will hopefully come together later on in the season with these first three episodes only scratching the surface. While Martin and Short were hilarious, the series required them be more than that. They and their range were certainly up to the challenge. Meanwhile, Gomez had her moments and brought some youthful energy to the trio which made for a fun dynamic as she held her own and did not look out of place alongside Martin and Short.
At the end of the day, Only Murders in the Building is a series that fans of Steve Martin and Martin Short will get a kick out of, offering a mystery is sure to leave viewers hooked.
still courtesy of Hulu
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.
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