At the halfway point in Only Murders in the Building season 4, Mabel (Selena Gomez), Oliver (Martin Short) and Charles (Steve Martin) still don't know for sure if Sazz (Jane Lynch) was the intended target. So far, investigations into the West Tower residents and the stunt bar have raised more questions than answers.
Now, with the help of the Only Murders in the Building movie screenwriter, Marshall (Jin Ha), they take a closer look at the movie crew that is currently in production. A photoshoot featuring the famous cast (Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria and Zach Galifianakis) and the podcast trio provide the perfect setting to find the person who killed Sazz. Still, the day ends in tragedy when gunfire breaks out.
Here's our complete breakdown of Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 5.
Bev Melon's big clue
The episode picks up where it left off after episode 4, with Bev (Molly Shannon) pointing a gun at the trio in a darkened shack. But Bev immediately turns friendly when she realizes Mabel, Oliver and Charles are standing before her. Bev found the loaded gun while looking through Sazz's things, claiming she didn't see anything else worthwhile.
Bev is following up on a phone call Sazz made the night she died at 11:07 pm, explains she didn't realize the significance of the voicemail until after Sazz's murder became known. Mabel notices this call occurred in the window of time when Sazz went to get the wine from Charles' apartment. All Sazz said to Bev was something is wrong with the Only Murders movie adaptation.
It doesn't take an expert to connect the dots, and Bev thinks someone from the movie production killed Sazz to ensure it gets made. Despite Bev needing this movie to work as she still deals with the fallout from passing on Barbie, she's quickly ruled out as she has an ironclad alibi: she was at a Variety party on the west coast when Sazz died.
Tightening the case
Back at the Arconia, Charles gives Detective Williams (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) the gun and an update on the case. Williams rightly calls him out for having three murder boards and tells Charles they need to reduce the number of suspects because they are making zero headway.
Mabel is distracted by the life rights check she has received and still seems unsure of how to present herself even with this success. "I'm a professional what?" Mabel asks. They land on "podcast producer," but she still doesn't sound entirely convinced.
Oliver also struggles to focus as the mystery behind the bicep in Loretta's (Meryl Streep) Instagram photo has been solved thanks to a Page Six article. It belongs to Olympic swimmer-turned-actor Jack Jonk, who plays Lorettas love interest in a four-episode arc of her TV show. Oliver is intimidated. "Sounds like your girlfriend's about to get jonked," Bev says to Oliver later.
Narrowing down the suspects
The trio head to the penthouse, doubling as a production office, and the Brothers' Sisters suggest they should be in the marketing photoshoot with the actors wearing their season 1 outfits. Charles uses this opportunity to snap sneaky shots of everyone on the production but mostly takes blurry photos of his own face. They do notice that screenwriter Marshall looks incredibly guilty when he sees them and take this to mean he is a prime suspect.
Instead, they find out Marshall is worried they want him to rewrite the script, he's actually thrilled when they start interrogating him. For starters, it gives him additional insight into their process. Marshall isn't worried about being a suspect as he has an alibi — he was doing a standup set in Los Angeles. What he is afraid of is being discovered as a fraud. Mabel notices that his beard is fake, while he also admits he doesn't wear glasses, but he wants to dress similarly to writers like Charlie Kaufman. Marshall's imposter syndrome about being a screenwriter is something can Mabel relates to.
Ruling Marshall out isn't the only productive moment of this conversation. When Charles lays out his timeline for the murder, Marshall observes that the person who killed Sazz had only 12 minutes between firing the shot and putting her body in the incinerator. Oliver volunteers to show that this timeline is possible (to prove his physical stamina), but it takes him 38 minutes to get from the West Tower to Charles' apartment.
The photo shoot sting operation
Neither Charles nor Oliver is in the mood for the photoshoot (which shows how desperate things are), but Mabel has spotted a footprint on a tacky mat (to catch dust particles) in the penthouse that matches the one left by the killer on the windowsill. Mabel comes up with a plan to find out who it belongs to.
Using Eva Longoria’s star power, Howard's (Michael Cyril Creighton) new job working on the movie as a documentarian and talent liaison and Marshall in his capacity of observer, they set a trap placing multiple tacky mats around the shoot.
Zach Galifianakis brings up the rewrites to Oliver as Marshall has added insecurity to his character after seeing how much Oliver is spiraling about Jack Jonk. Meanwhile, when Charles goes to get his makeup retouched, he has a moment with Eugene that sparks something: instead of one killer, there could be one shooter and one person to dispose of the body.
At the same time, Mabel clocks the matching shoe print and realizes it belongs to both the Brothers Sisters, which adds credibility to this two-person theory. In the chaos of the bustling set they can only locate Trina (Catherine Cohen). Where is Tawny Brothers (Siena Werber)?
Oliver is in the middle of having photos taken with Zach, and Ben Glenroy's old stuntman Glen Stubbins (Paul Rudd), as he is there as a stand-in. Out of nowhere, shots are fired, and at least one of the three Olivers has been hit. But who is injured (or worse?!), and where is Tawny?
New episodes of Only Murders in the Building release Tuesdays on Hulu in the US and Disney Plus in the UK.
