The time has come. Spooky season is wrapping up, and with it, comes the unmasking of our mystery murderer. It feels a little bit like murder roulette, and everyone’s name is on the wheel – but we do get a satisfying conclusion to the season in “The House Always…” Grab your leftover Halloween candy and get ready for some spoilers.
The Only Murders in the Building Season 5 Finale kicks off with a flashback of Sofia (Téa Leoni, Madam Secretary) and Nicky (Bobby Cannavale, Ant-Man), one of the many romances we glimpsed this season. Their relationship started off beautiful and slowly went sour, and we see Nicky confront Sofia about her having an affair. Sofia also recognized the murderer’s finger when she saw it, which means this is undoubtedly tied to the murder and her affair. Nonna and Sofia’s sons were stealing the finger back for her, since the billionaires were offering big bucks for it, but they did not have anything to do with the murder. It’s not really about greed for love – it’s all about the money.
While we have clues flying around left and right, we must take a second to think about the Arconia. After all, Camila White (Renée Zellweger, Chicago), is turning it into a beige casino. How sad. The tenants are all packed up and ready to leave, but are we? The Arconia is the heart of the series, and Only Murders in the Building would never exist without the building itself.
There’s still time for one last murder board. When the crew talks about the key to their plan, this writer can’t help but think of who has the keys to the city. After all, we’ve been saying that we think the mayor is responsible for the murder. The billionaires are definitely suspicious as hell, but they don’t get anywhere without leaning on some fellow toxic friends.
Our true crime trio makes their way to the velvet room for the final time before the building is destroyed, ready to confront everyone who was there the night Lester (Teddy Coluca, The Blacklist) died. Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton, American Fiction) is watching the door, but while the trio observes the billionaires, another familiar – and guilty – face comes into the room, and the truth comes undone.
It turns out, we were right all along! The flashback we’ve been waiting for is here, showing us the night Lester and Nicky died. Nicky had pictures of the mayor (Keegan Michael Key, Key & Peele) and Sofia kissing and went on an angry rampage. He chops off Mayor Tillman’s finger, and Lester jumps in to stop the madness and to stand up to Nicky. He’s a doorman, not a doormat, Nicky! He hits Nicky with his elevator crank and then, in the tussle, Nicky falls on the knife Lester’s holding.
The mayor’s finger is still on the table, but Lester grabs it and, as we know, it ends up in the wedding shrimp sent to Oliver’s room. But there’s no question it’s him – Lester sent his wife a text when he died, saying “it’s beautiful.” Mabel gets the same text from Howard, guarding the velvet room as Mayor Tillman busts in. Only, he didn’t mean, “it’s beautiful,” he meant, “it’s Beau Tillman,” and so did Lester. Screw you, autocorrect.
This is a wild series of events, with an even wilder set of people, but what happens next is bizarre beyond all belief. Mayor Tillman admits to killing Lester and traps the trio in the secret room that leads to the dry cleaner’s, that no one knows about. They’re chained up and trapped, and they will be demolished right along with the beloved Arconia. Talk about supervillain vibes.
Still, our trio have been in sticky situations before, and they’ve managed just fine. This time around, Mabel and Oliver try to convince Charles he’s the man, who is upset that he was in the testosterone placebo group when he was taking testosterone a few episodes back. It’s up to him to do something, it seems, and that something is shimmy up the pole they are chained to and get a hanger from the ceiling so that they can pick their handcuff locks.
But they aren’t the only ones trying to save the day. Camila White is hosting a press conference, alongside the mayor, about the casino. Miller the trash guy (David Patrick Kelly, Twin Peaks) finds the trio’s phones from the chute, and gives them to Howard who realizes there’s trouble. THÉ (Beanie Feldstein, Booksmart) decides it’s her time to step up (and shine) and distracts everyone at the press conference. She leads the fans to the velvet room and buys the trio some time.
Once they bust out, they reveal they didn’t need their phones after all. They hid a recording device in the room, and it caught Mayor Tillman revealing that he killed Lester. Jay Pflug (Logan Lerman, The Perks of Being a Wallflower) also reveals many answers we were still curious about, for example the freezer burn on Nicky’s body or how Nicky got to the dry cleaners. He’s rich, so it could have been nice for him to buy back the building instead of just bonding with creepy Bash Steed (Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Bastards), but what really happens is he confesses to the cops and the billionaires are arrested along with Mayor Tillman. The casino is no more, and the Arconia is saved!
Well folks, that’s one mystery solved, but it’s certainly not the last. We have a time skip to Sofia in Positano; she did invite Charles, but he turned her down since he’s no longer trying to be with dangerous women. However, she’s staying busy, as she is on the phone with family – seemingly unbothered – as Nonna passes away, and she sends Rainey (Dianne Wiest, Bullets Over Broadway) some money as a fellow widow.
There are some other updates, especially the fact that Howard is now dating one of the Caccimelio sons and they share some cute moments. The trio, though, is the same as ever. They’re sitting on a sofa listening to the new Cinda Canning podcast. It feels like the ghost of season one, but luckily some things never change. In the final moments of the episode, we – of course – see the next murder victim, and this time, it’s someone you may not be expecting.
The bigger question is, does the murder classify as in the building? The person technically dies right outside the gate, only to revive, gasp, and let their hand fall on the gate’s railing, making this Oliver, Charles, and Mabel’s problem. Maybe the victim travelled to the Arconia, just to ensure their murder was solved by the best in the biz. One thing’s for sure, the show always finds a creative way to live up to their title, and even seasons later, we’re still eating it up.
