The premise of Hulu mystery comedy series Only Murders in the Building doesn't seem like it would lend itself to multiple seasons, yet the show remains vibrant and funny as it enters its fourth season this week. While the setup has become a bit formulaic, the characters are still a joy to spend time with, and co-creator and showrunner John Hoffman continues to come up with clever ways to place them in the middle of murder investigations.
As the title implies, each season's murder occurs within the confines of the Arconia, the upscale New York City apartment building that's home to amateur sleuths and true-crime podcasters Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez). That makes the Arconia one of the most dangerous places in the city, like the Manhattan equivalent of Cabot Cove, the cozy, murder-filled Maine town where Angela Lansbury's Jessica Fletcher lived on Murder, She Wrote.
In what's become the show's tradition, the central murder of the new season took place at the end of the previous season, when Charles' friend and TV stunt double Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch) was shot by a sniper while standing in Charles' dark apartment. The first episode of the new season doubles back a bit, beginning with the increasingly rare sight of the characters actually recording their podcast, wrapping up the case of murdered actor Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd).
It takes a little while for them to discover that Sazz has been killed, since she first appears simply to be missing, and the trio are slightly preoccupied by the offer from a movie producer (Molly Shannon) to adapt their podcast into a feature film. While the third season focused on Broadway, with Oliver directing a play starring both Charles and Ben Glenroy, this season takes the characters to Hollywood, although they quickly return to the Arconia once they find out about Sazz's murder.
The entire film production moves with them, and Shannon proves to be the season's best new addition, doing a variation on her overzealous showbiz mom from Max sitcom The Other Two. This season goes a bit overboard on celebrities playing themselves, as opposed to previous seasons' celebrity cameos as Arconia residents. This time, Eugene Levy, Zach Galifianakis and Eva Longoria make substantial multi-episode appearances as themselves, cast to play Charles, Oliver and Mabel in the Only Murders in the Building movie. Longoria has the most fun playing with her image, but a little of the self-referential humor goes a long way, and it gets a bit tiresome for both the audience and the characters as the movie stars keep inserting themselves into the investigation.
One of the greatest strengths of Only Murders in the Building is its vast ensemble of oddball supporting characters, which is a key reason that the show doesn't feel stale even as it runs through its familiar cycle of cliffhangers and red herrings. There are welcome returns from several recurring characters (including some genuine surprises), although they sometimes get crowded out by the new faces. The movie stars aren't the only significant additions, since the investigation leads the main trio to a previously unmentioned second Arconia building, inhabited by the so-called "Westies." They're a bit like the infamous "Tailies" on Lost, a whole set of new characters who've allegedly existed in the background the entire time.
It's a lot to juggle, but Hoffman and the writers keep things energetic and goofy, without losing sight of the core relationship that makes the show work. Charles, Oliver and Mabel spent too much time apart in the third season, pursuing various love interests and feuding over the future of the podcast. This season places them back together where they belong, and while Oliver is still dating actress Loretta Durkin (Meryl Streep), she has a much smaller presence than she did in the previous season.
Even when the murder investigations get unwieldy, Only Murders in the Building is always worth watching for the delightful interplay among Martin, Short and Gomez, and their chemistry is as strong as ever. They excel at witty banter, but they also bring pathos to these sometimes ridiculous characters, which is another way the show keeps the audience engaged. This season gives Charles a bit of an existential crisis as he mourns a friend and colleague he realizes he never truly appreciated, and Lynch makes the most of her expanded spotlight as Sazz in flashbacks and dream sequences.
The seven episodes available for review offer up a nonstop array of suspects, and it's possible that the remaining three episodes will fail to wrap up the mystery in a satisfactory way. Then again, as the movie stars themselves point out, these mysteries are always full of holes, and that doesn't make them any less entertaining. Only Murders in the Building may already be at the point where it's making fun of its own shortcomings, but those shortcomings are just as endearing as the punchlines they inspire, and both deserve to continue as long as the talented cast and creators want to keep going.
Only Murders in the Building
Created by Steve Martin & John Hoffman
Starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez
Streaming on Hulu
