Only Murders in the Building (1×09) Double Time Review

For our review of the last episode of Only Murders in the Building, click here.

Synopsis: With the residents growing upset at the building’s negative publicity, the trio faces a revolt. Charles is visited by an old colleague who sheds light on his past. (IMDb)

For those wondering what the other residents of the titular building may think of Charles, Oliver, and Mabel’s adventures, this penultimate episode of this season of Only Murders in the Building showed the other side of the equation and unsurprisingly, the consensus was not good. With the reveal that essentially exonerated the Dimas’ from at least Tim Kono’s murder, there was still a murderer in the building and finding them would prove to be the key to put them in good favor with the other residents of the Arconia and help to remove the recent stigma placed upon the building. Meanwhile, a new character brought some new perspective in the investigation while the episode perhaps overused a particular bit. Being the last episode before next week’s season finale, it still had room for at least one more shocking reveal but in order to move forward, it had to go back one more time. Hopefully, it keeps moving forward from here.

The episode began with Jan taking a turn at narration while Charles tended to her body as he found her stabbed in her appartment. She had since returned to her apartment where Charles continued to tend to her. This incident was Charles’ breaking point. As far as he was concerned, he was done with the podcast though it was not over with the news of the Dimas’ innocence in Tim Kono’s murder. The emotion of the moment was interrupted once Charles former Brazzos stunt double, a woman named Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch) for whom he still had a relationship with despite a complicated past, showed up. Beyond the gender difference, that gag got old pretty quickly but Lynch’s commitment to Charles’ mannerisms was impressive. However, her personality also wore thin. Her only saving grace was when she presented the notion that Tim Kono’s murder could have been a crime of passion by someone he may have been romantically linked with.

The building finally addressed the podcast by calling all the residents to a building meeting in the lobby where Bunny (Jayne Houdyshell) and the other residents turned on Charles, Oliver, and Mabel whom they threatened with eviction. They already got Oliver who shacked up with Charles before moving in with Mabel which made for an interesting dynamic. In the end, their only chance was to find the murderer. Going back over everything, Oliver and Mabel dove deeper into the lover angle which was confirmed by Tim Kono’s neighbor.

With Charles and Jan’s relationship seeing some friction, he decided to go to her concert against her wishes but that was only the tip of the iceberg as Oliver and Mabel discovered that Tim Kono’s lover and his alleged murderer was Jan.

That’s going to be awkward for Charles but if the season can truly stick the landing, it will surely be something special.

still courtesy of Hulu

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Keith Noakes

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.