There are certain pairs of performers that when they work together, magic happens. Whether it’s their chemistry together, the charm they bring to the screen, or they’re bringing out the best in one another, certain pairs of performers can make or break a movie potentially. I’m not necessarily talking about people who have been in franchises together, but mainly all original movies that a pair of performers are in that bring out the best in one another. For instance, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were in so many great films with one another such as Good Will Hunting, Dogma (among other Kevin Smith movies), and most recently The Last Duel. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling have a pretty amazing track record together with Crazy, Stupid, Love, Gangster Squad (admittedly a dud but they were both great in it), and La La Land. Steve Martin and Martin Short are in a category all their own. Their run, including such movies as Three Amigos and the two Father Of The Bride movies, also transcends stage and television. Their most recent collaboration on television has been really great, and they just released a new season recently.
Only Murders In The Building, created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman, is about three true crime podcast lovers who run into a mystery of their own in the building they live in New York City. Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) all rally together to solve who killed one of the residents in the building. All the while, they also record a podcast of their own. Only Murders In The Building is ten episodes and is currently streaming on Hulu. Ahead of the season two premiere, the show was renewed for season three.
Before we get into what actually happens in season two, let’s try to catch up on what happened in the previous season.
Previously on Only Murders In The Building season one:
During a fire drill on a night in New York City, resident Tim Kono (Julian Cihi) is found dead in his department. The police immediately rule out his death as suicide but Charlie, Oliver, and Mabel all think something suspicious is going on. The three starts to investigate what is going on and uncover multiple suspects including their sponsor Teddy Dimas (Nathan Lane) among others. Once they figure out who the killer is, they find out the suspect is someone they are close to. The season ends with a body being discovered in Mabel’s apartment and the crew being suspected of murder.
One of the best parts of Only Murders In The Building is the dynamics between our three leads. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that not only Gomez would have fit in so naturally with these two, but even upstage them at times.
We knew Martin and Short were going to have great chemistry together because they’d worked together on multiple projects.
Mabel is a great counterbalance to both Charles and Oliver. Since she’s female and younger, she helps keep them in check. I really like Mabel as a character, but Gomez does a phenomenal job of balancing them out. Season two is no different, as they continue to have a strong bond with one another and fit incredibly well together. Their comedic chops together are great, however this season they also have some great emotional heft to their performances.
Season two is filled with some great emotional beats for all our characters. Mabel begins to deal with her trauma as well as make progress with her love life. She meets an artist that has their eyes on Mabel. The two make a surprisingly good pair with one and they help each other deal with each other’s traumatic past. Oliver is dealing with issues surrounding his family, specifically when it comes to his son Will (Ryan Broussard). They have some wonderful moments together but they also have some hard truths they discover about one another. Charles is dealing with the fallout of what happened last season with Jan (Amy Ryan) as well as having someone from his past come back to be part of his life. That relationship was probably my favorite part of the season and I certainly hope we see more of that in the coming season.
Something I liked about this season is how meta it got with sequel seasons and the podcast format.
The commentary this has on what true crime’s place in society is really great.
It had some great comedic moments, particularly involving Oliver and a guest star who wanted to buy the rights to the podcast to make it into a series. Everyone feels like they can solve a crime but that doesn’t mean everyone should be trying to solve crimes and not leave it to professionals. It also talks about how true crimes are hot ticket items right now. Whether someone is looking for a new hit podcast or the next crime to make into a movie or a TV series, true crime is something everyone is looking for now.
This season’s mystery is filled with lots of twists and turns. The victim was someone from the previous season so there are a lot of suspects. There were a few elements of the mystery that made sense and happened organically but others felt a little like plot conveniences. Some elements of the past felt like they mattered and I didn’t understand why they were included. Overall, the mystery felt a little all over the place and wasn’t as crisp as season one. The ending though was satisfying, even if it felt a little over the top.
Let’s talk about that ending. I thought how it played out was really well done and theatrical. I like how everyone got involved and how the killer was eventually revealed. I like how it didn’t pan out the way that they thought it was going to and there was an element of misdirection. Does the killer’s reveal make sense? Not really. At the end of the day, I enjoyed the conclusion of the season and I also liked where all of our characters are at the end of the mystery. I’m very curious to see how the next season plays out as season three’s mystery also begins at the end of season two.
It wasn’t always pretty this season, but it’s hard for me to not appreciate what it brings to the table.
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Only Murders In The Building has a great sophomore season that sometimes doesn’t make sense but still manages to give us great character development and comedy. As long as these three continue to do this show, I will probably continue to watch it. The majority of the elements this season, particularly ones that involve relationships, were emotionally gratifying and helped the story progress forward. I’m very excited to see what happens in season three. Until then, I’ll be waiting patiently for any news regarding what’s to come.
Grade: 8/10
