It’s finally here, the highly anticipated Only Murders in the Building Season One Finale. It’s been a long ride with our crime-fighting trio as they investigate who killed Tim Kono. In this episode, we finally find out.
There are major spoilers ahead for the season finale so proceed with caution!
As we discovered in the previous episode, Charles’ (Steve Martin, Cheaper by the Dozen) girlfriend Jan (Amy Ryan, The Office) began looking highly suspicious. Not only did she lie about being the first-chair bassoonist, but she left a bassoon cleaner at Tim Kono’s apartment! It couldn’t look worse for her. In this episode, we have a short narration from Tim (Julian Cihi, The Tick) himself as he describes how he got in the elevator with three strangers (our podcasters) and died 12 minutes later. It’s nice to hear from Tim, especially because he reveals that he was, in fact, a lonely guy who got comfort from Jan and entered a sexual and/or romantic relationship with her. That’s all the confirmation we as viewers need, but the gang doesn’t know all of this for certain just yet.
Oliver (Martin Short, Schmigadoon!) and Mabel (Selena Gomez, Hotel Transylvania) are sure Jan killed Tim after the evidence they found, but Charles, who rushed home from Jan’s recital in confusion over why she lied to him, needs a bit more convincing and kicks them out as they try to explain this to him.
Oliver and Mabel don’t let anything stop them as they hurry to Jan’s apartment. She’s at the recital and that means no one’s inside of her place, making for one last perfect opportunity to snoop. The pair discover poisons in her apartment, labeled “Jan’s Lil Toxins.” Terrifying. Even worse: they find the emerald ring Tim was after in her apartment. Meanwhile, Charles invited an apologetic Jan in for a drink…sound familiar? That’s the exact way Tim Kono died.
Charles reveals that the others are onto her, but that he doesn’t care, and confesses that he’s falling for Jan. She returns his affections, but the conversation slowly changes. Charles reveals he wasn’t taking real sips of his drink and was lying to her because he knows what Jan did to Tim Kono. He says he realized it when he compared the notes in Tim’s trash and the note Jan left him. There’s just one problem: Jan didn’t poison the drinks or the cups. This time, it was his handkerchief, and suddenly Charles is falling to the floor. It turns out she wasn’t as boring as she made it seem, but a crazed murderer who gets into relationships with big age differences and hates being a second choice.
She voices this to Charles, saying she thought Tim was seeing someone else after she found the emerald ring (which we all know wasn’t actually for someone Tim was romantically involved with). So, she killed Tim Kono. She says she loved watching Tim as he begged for his life in his final moments, and she intends to do the same to Charles. Well, she gets halfway there.
Jan does poison Charles via the handkerchief before she leaves his place, but he was recording the whole conversation and attempts to get to the elevator. It’s supposed to be humorous as he scrambles across the floor to reach the lobby (or Oliver and Mabel, who begin searching for him) but none of the residents seem to pay much attention to his odd behavior, writing it off as a way he’s coping with his eviction, and Charles keeps missing Oliver and Mabel by a few seconds, so it’s really stressful.
Eventually, the duo finds him and they realize Jan plans to gas the whole building and hurt everyone inside, so they rush to the boiler room, dragging Charles along. They’re able to get in and turn it off, but surprise surprise, Jan is there with a gun. Charles makes a barely decipherable speech, which is actually quite sweet because we as viewers are let into what he meant to say, which is that Oliver and Mabel made him feel alive again.
Still, Jan has a gun and is pointing it at them. But Oliver pushes Charles into Jan, effectively throwing off her balance and causing her to shoot elsewhere. Then Mabel steps on the weapon and knocks Jan out with the emerald ring on her finger, proudly stating: “This is for Tim.” It’s, all in all, a very satisfying ending to this mystery.
Case closed, right? Jan ends up in a police car and the trio celebrates on the roof. Oliver and his son have a better relationship, Mabel paints a pretty mural of all the residents on her wall, and Charles reaches out to Lucy, who he views as his daughter and hasn’t spoken to in a long time. So, peace falls over the Arconia….oh please, it’s the Arconia, after all. Nothing stays peaceful for long.
In fact, as they celebrate the conclusion of their podcast, they hear sirens blaring. Oscar and Charles get a text telling them to get out of the building. Mabel, who went to get them more champagne, is inside so the pair rush in to get her. They open the door to find Mabel covered in blood, which turns out to be Bunny’s (Jayne Houdyshell, Little Women). Mabel says Bunny just rushed into Mabel’s room, but she was stabbed with Mabel’s own knitting needle. And of course, this happens after, earlier that night, Bunny reinstated them as residents. Mabel responded saying that Bunny is “the most hated person in the building” and a “cranky old bitch.” This does not look good.
Everyone watches as the three of them are dragged out by the cops, including podcaster Cinda Canning (Tina Fey, 30 Rock) who’s already planning to release a new podcast, one that her assistant dubs “Only Murderers in the Building.” Well, it seems like this might be true. Sure, the beloved true-crime lovers we’ve watched all season may not have done it, but somebody sure did. And it’s going to be one hell of a mystery. It seems like we’re going to have to wait until next season to see how the crew are going to get out of this one and solve the question that’s keeping them locked up: who is the real murderer in the building?
Only Murders in the Building Season Finale is now streaming on Hulu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V1rQdXXXyI&t=4s
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