STEVE MARTIN, DA’VINE JOY RANDOLPH, SELENA GOMEZ
Time to take a step back from the billionaires of New York and look a little bit closer, into the familiar hallways we know and love, at the staff of the Arconia.
In Only Murders in the Building Season 5 Episode 5 ‘Tongue Tied,’ the true crime trio take a trip to the basement. Well, Mabel and Oliver do. Charles is busy trying to get answers from Sofia Caccimelio (Téa Leoni, Madam Secretary), after they previously shared a moment back in Staten Island.
Detective Williams (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers) makes a return to kick off this episode, just when we were wondering when we’d see her this season! But having her on the case helps the trio tie together their loose ends. Beyond seeing Detective Williams, we also see a return of Oliver’s wedding shrimp, scattered in the poker room. It seems like his shrimp might play a role in this whodunnit.
After checking out the gambling room with Detective Williams – and seeing that the billionaires cleaned everything up, leaving no trace of evidence – the trio decide it’s time to look into the Arconia staff. Mabel and Oliver are on the case! We’re reunited with gut milk lover Ursula, who tells the crew about another person that was involved with the poker room: Tommy the Tongue. It sounds questionable right off the bat, but you don’t choose your suspects. They also meet the new trash guy, Miller, who learns a lot about the residents through their trash. Perhaps they should’ve befriended him a few seasons ago, since the murders all take place in the building…
None of the staff are overjoyed to chat with Mabel and Oliver – and the two of them catch some blame for their podcast making the Arconia into the murder building. Still, it all comes to a head when the pair stumble into the staff locker room, where “Die Lester Die” is scratched into the table.
Randall (Jermaine Fowler, Sorry to Bother You) admits he’s responsible – but it isn’t about lovable doorman Lester, it’s about the new robot LESTR taking over the building. The staff are worried about their jobs being taken by robots and A.I., so in an effort to find out more, Mabel and Oliver rally the troops and propose a building meeting to get answers.
Not much comes of this, other than Miller killing robot LESTR (which destroys all of Lester’s old doorman files and Howard’s ranking of the residents), but Miller does give them an art piece made out of trash. Yay? Luckily, the trash art features garbage that was thrown out the day Lester died. This could lead to a lot more being added to their murder board, so it looks like a lucky turn of events.
Only Murders in the Building Season 5 Episode 5 also shows us Charles on testosterone. Not a sentence this writer ever thought would be written in this review, but as expected, Mabel and Oliver get their fair share of jokes in. Charles is signed up for the elderly dating app, Last Gasp. He’s also, in general, acting all over the place and like he hasn’t seen a woman in ten years.
This leads to him and Sofia Caccimelio bonding over hibachi – where Charles tries to get answers, and instead is only left with more questions. For example: where is his phone? And did Sofia Caccimelio take it, since he left it in her minivan after the two of them made out? Considering there are photos of Nicky’s autopsy and their murder board on there, things are not looking so hot.
They follow Mabel’s Find My iPhone to track Charles’ cell, which leads them to Sofia’s location in Flatbush. They surprisingly spot her meeting Lorraine (Dianne Wiest, Bullets Over Broadway), Lester’s wife. Detective Williams calls the trio at the same time, and reveals that Tommy the Tongue isn’t a person – it’s a company, worth a ton of money. We will definitely find out much more about Tommy the Tongue and what lies beneath the surface. Who could want that money enough to kill the men…and is it their wives? Maybe it’s hard to believe in this circumstance, given the way they lovingly speak of them and the heartfelt flashbacks of Lester and Lorraine, but it is the oldest twist in the book.
They aren’t the only ones hiding something. Oliver hid the offer he got on his apartment unit, which he’s seriously considering; it just won’t be the same with one of our trio leaving the building, but is this setting us up for murders outside of the building? He also reveals he grew up near the address where they track down Sofia and Lorraine, which is something the group never knew about him. Perhaps we’ll find out more about all of the characters – even our protagonists, who still have secrets up their sleeves.
