The following story contains spoilers for seasons 1-3 and mild spoilers for Only Murders in the Building season 4.
I love murder mysteries.
I own multiple unsolved case file board games and even more Hunt the Killer games, and truly, I consume more Whodunnit media than I would likely care to admit. I’m constantly in search of a perfect murder mystery that encapsulates my love for the genre; the more complex, the better. As someone absolutely terrible at guessing plot twists, it doesn’t take much to entertain me. I love piecing together evidence at the same time as the characters.
This is why A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is one of my favorite book series, and naturally, I love Only Murders in The Building. So when I heard that season four would be released, I was ecstatic about a new weekly episode to binge. After an altogether disappointing season three that is typically regarded as the worst of the rest, I was afraid that the show would continue in a downward spiral of quality. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the improvement in season four, which gives me hope and excitement for the future of the series.
Season four was set up in the final episode of season three, like in previous seasons, with the death of Charles’ (Steve Martin) beloved friend and stunt double, Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch). Sazz had never been a particular favorite character of mine, but the direction of this season and the artful storytelling quickly put her in my top favorite character’s spot. Similarly to prior seasons, Sazz narrated many episodes in which she described her childhood, her motivations and goals, her friendship with Charles, and how she was constantly thrust into his shadow and overlooked.
This season grapples with Charles’s immense guilt about letting down his friend and looking back on their memories together to be unpleasantly surprised by how he treated her in the past. It is also a continuity of the previous season’s blooming romance between Oliver (Martin Short) and Loretta (Meryl Streep); this plot point wasn’t a personal favorite as it felt forced and unnecessary within the realms of the season’s issues. They deal with the problem of Loretta finding fame in L.A. and Oliver’s jealousy of her popularity and stardom while he is stuck across the country.
One of the standout aspects of season four was the character development. Each character gained more depth and personality than in previous seasons, making the storytelling more engaging. The season culminated in the resolution of two major storylines: Sazz’s murder and the mysterious “Westies.”
Despite my love for the complexities of season four, which weren’t fully developed in the past three seasons, I think they overextended themselves with the number of plot points and stories going on at once. This ultimately led to a narrative that felt scattered and unfocused, which was a disappointment.
The many plot points consist of the Hollywood and movie production crew, Oliver and Loretta’s love story, Sazz’s murder, the Westies, the tie-backs to season one, and their careers. It felt like a hat on a hat to simplify it.
Although I love the complexity and overlaying stories, this was simply overdone. Because they tried to do so much at once, they ended up with six partially developed storylines and a crudely put-together, basic overlaying theme, which was disappointing, in all honesty.
The show was also trying to fit under two genres at once while trying to enhance the emotional aspect of the show further while remaining a comedy. The mix between the two was jarring at times and a bit of an emotional roller coaster between a hard-hitting line followed by a sudden punch-line negating the emotional depth they were hoping to achieve.
Season 4 finale retrospect Contains spoilers for the season four finale; read with caution.
Now, on to the most disappointing part of the season: the conclusion. After watching the conclusion, I felt deceived by the previously set-up idea of a complicated and non-linear solution that most of the other seasons followed, and I was majorly let down.
I spent the entire season thrilled and enthralled with the idea of murder, tying all the way back to season one and fixing some plot holes and loose ends that were never concluded. I thought it would be a well-thought-out finale with a satisfying conclusion. There were so many chances, too. So this is my long list of complaints and reasoning as to why the season four conclusion is vastly disappointing.
My first complaint would have to be that I simply don’t believe the murder was possibly under the parameters they gave themselves, and the simple and unbelievable solutions they utilized to explain away these plot holes are disappointing. First, I don’t believe Marshall (Jin Ha), later revealed as Rex, would’ve been able to tell it was Sazz and not Charles from across the apartment complex in complete darkness with the two of them dressed identically.
My second is how he supposedly scales the entirety of the building and walks on the ledge surrounding the courtyard, with no one around noticing, in under five minutes.
My third is his explanation of how he got access to the Dudenoff apartment; he just knew, after listening to season one, magically discovered the password in Sazz’s notes, and knew it would make the perfect murder location.
My fourth is that they stated in the previous episodes that the killer and murder had to be tied back to season one and who poisoned Oliver’s dog, Winnie; they leave a supposed solution that it was one of the Westies but never give a concrete answer after a seemingly promising one.
My fifth is the altogether pitiful motive for the murder: a stolen screenplay. There have been worse reasons for murder, such as season two, for example, but come on, a screenplay, really? It was great for developing Sazz’s motivations and life goals, but it seems so trivial for Marshall to kill over an issue that insignificant, and I was expecting and hoping for a solid reason for her death after how happy I was with the story setup.
My sixth is the attempted full-circle moment of Marshall’s upbringing as a hunter and his desire to be an author. It is what had so much potential to be a powerful monologue about his struggles choosing between creating life through his writing and ultimately choosing death. This could have easily been one of my favorite moments of the series if they had done it correctly, yet instead, they offered a half-baked, poorly-delivered monologue.
So, as a final message to the show’s creators, you did everything right for the first nine episodes and ruined it with the finale. I am excited for season five but have significantly lowered my expectations after this trainwreck of a conclusion.
