If last season told us anything, it’s safe to say we weren’t sure what to expect heading into the Only Murders in the Building Season 2 finale. This season was full of dead-end leads, mixed-up secrets, and somewhat random suspects, and the finale pulls off a reveal that combines all of these elements. Hell, at one point it even seemed like Rose Cooper, Marv the podcast stan, or Amy Schumer could be in on it.
All in all, the ending comes as a shock because of all the different twists it throws at us. Truthfully, the reveal was something we might have seen coming in the back of our minds. But the way it’s presented is in true flashy, intense Only Murders in the Building style and makes it that much more compelling. This review will contain spoilers, so proceed with caution!
We start out by seeing a sneak peek into Becky Butler’s (Adina Verson, The Strain) “miserable life,” as she dubs it. Her job is boring and her boss, the mayor, harasses her, while her father treats her poorly, and she has little means to change that. But she does listen to podcasts… any guess whose? That’s right, none other than Cinda Canning’s (Tina Fey, 30 Rock).
Becky wants to disappear from her mundane and dreary life, so she does, and shows up right at the doorstep of her favorite podcaster. She pitches an idea – with a new makeover, of course – and Cinda lets her in, which is the first step for Becky to transform into “Poppy” and leave her old life behind.
Now, Becky is flat-out ignored by Cinda for a long time, despite the fact that she is the creative mind behind All Is Not OK in Oklahoma. But the true-crime trio decides to approach her for ways to get under Cinda’s skin. They want to break Cinda down and learn about her fears so they can invite her over for a “Killer Reveal Party” (both a party that reveals the killer and is killer in nature, apparently).
Becky helps them with this, but she also helps them with something else without even knowing it. Let’s get back to that, though. First, the crew throws their Killer Reveal Party with other residents of the Arconia, and they all play a role. When Cinda walks in, the livestream broadcasts Martin Short’s Oliver, Steve Martin’s Charles, and Selena Gomez’s Mabel using Cinda’s fears (see: slow motion and insides of tomatoes) to get her to break. But she won’t. Why? Because as ridiculous as Cinda can sometimes be, she’s not a murderer.
So who is? Mabel points the finger at Alice (Cara Delevigne, Suicide Squad), and claims that she committed this murder to make art based on it. She connects the price of the artwork to 14 Savage somehow, and then Alice stabs Charles and shit hits the fan. Everyone’s in a panic, including yours truly (who suspected Alice might be more involved than we thought). Cinda even congratulates Mabel for being so intelligent in cracking the case and offers her a job.
Now that is the final breaking point. Not for Cinda who the true-crime trio was initially trying to get to, but for Becky. She gets upset that Cinda never recognizes her work and fights back…but she also starts sneezing, because apparently, she’s allergic to Mrs. Gambolini. Bunny’s killer also sneezed the night of the murder, as Lucy told the trio. Yup, that is the final piece of the puzzle that unveils Becky as Bunny’s killer.
But the group (including Alice, Cinda, and all the residents) were in on this scheme to out Becky as the true murderer. Mabel got a call from Detective Williams earlier that day, saying that the prints on the knife belong to a missing person who was pronounced dead in Oklahoma. A.K.A. Becky Butler! Oh shit. If Becky never told Mabel she was really Becky, this case may have been harder to solve. Still, we don’t have to worry about that, because Becky also orders the #14 Sandwich off the diner’s menu, something Bunny hated. Doesn’t 14 Sandwich sound like…14 Savage? Yup, that was the true meaning of 14 “Savage” and a subtle hint this whole time.
To tie up all the loose ends, Detective Kreps actually fell for Becky in that bar, not Cinda, and he was an accomplice to her plan. It makes a lot of sense that it’s Becky because she was always lingering at the edges of this season and was relevant enough to be around for a couple of episodes while not being too glaringly obvious. Not to mention she had a motive: getting Cinda’s attention with a genius podcast idea that would make it big.
The true crime trio got to the bottom of this case and is able to move on from this. We see Oliver telling his son the truth about his fatherhood and getting a director role on Broadway. Charles makes it big on set and gets a promotion and a date, and Mabel paints over the beloved Arconia mural to make room for something fresh.
Flash forward to a year from now: Oliver is putting on his Broadway show and the others are all invited. Charles is in a fight with the main actor (over something we don’t really know about), who is played by none other than Paul Rudd! Mabel is with other residents in the crowd, eager to watch the show go on. But when the Broadway star falls to his knees and dies the moment after the curtain is lifted, all hope of peace in the group’s life dies with him.
In Mabel’s words: “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Thankfully the trio is back for a Season 3, as this series is one of Hulu’s best right now, so we can look forward to untangling what happened in the crew’s murder-free year that led up to a cliffhanger as shocking as this one.
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