Everything seemed to be working out for the podcast crew in Only Murders in the Building Episode 8, ‘Fan Fiction.’ Teddy Dimas (Nathan Lane, The Lion King) and his son Theo (James Caverly, Chicago Med) were caught red-handed and the mystery was neatly tied up. But in episode 8 it’s clear that there’s still more to this case than it seems. And once again we find ourselves asking, who really killed Tim Kono?
The episode kicks off with a disoriented Oliver (Martin Short, Schmigadoon!) and Mabel (Selena Gomez, Hotel Transylvania), who were thrown into the back of Theo’s truck. Teddy meets up with them and threatens them to stay silent, or he’ll basically kill them the next day. It seems like, at this point, Teddy is definitely the murderer. He’s not denying that he killed Tim, and he’s saying he’ll do the same thing to them if they don’t keep quiet and end their podcast by announcing that Tim’s death was exactly what it looked like: a suicide.
Okay, so Teddy’s guilty! Or so it seems. Oliver and Mabel rush to tell Charles (Steve Martin, Cheaper by the Dozen) this information, only he’s distracted after a night with Jan (Amy Ryan, The Office). The two have been combing through Tim’s phone, which they discovered the night prior, and have information that reveals that Theo was the one who pushed Zoe off the roof on New Year’s Eve all those years ago. This only serves to make the already suspicious Dimas family look even more guilty. They also find out that Tim retrieved their precious ring the night before he died, which gives the family even more of a motive.
Though this seems like a clear-cut case, Jan voices her opinions, saying that she doesn’t think this is the full story. However, Oliver and Mabel are annoyed by her input and say that she’s just getting in the way because she wasn’t here from the start and isn’t helping.
The crew then meets up with the detective who gave them the phone, Dee Williams (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dolemite Is My Name), and she says that she’s running a toxicology report on Tim. She says in the meantime, the crew should find out the answers to some important questions: Who, How, Why, and Why Now? But they’re gonna need some help with that.
Oliver recruits a group of podcast fans (the “Arconiacs”) that are camped in front of the building to give them a new perspective on the case. These fans are overjoyed and starstruck as they walk into Oliver’s apartment and bring up new ideas. They ask the crew a bunch of questions like why Tim was holding a garbage bag from a floor he doesn’t live on the night he died, or how the suicide notes were written and discarded on that night. These are ideas the crew never considered, and they help Oliver piece together what he thinks happened. He says that Theo wrote the suicide note after shooting Tim in his apartment, and the sound was masked by the fire alarms. Then, Teddy and Theo escaped with the rest of the residents.
Oliver and Mabel are ready to film this episode and get it out there before the morning (a.k.a. when Teddy’s death threats will turn into more than just threats). Jan, once again, says she thinks this isn’t what happened and Oliver and Mabel basically tell her that she’s not needed. Charles doesn’t necessarily defend her and she walks out, upset. Ouch. After she leaves, she finds a note on her door that says “I’m Watching You.”
Regardless, the crew records the episode, puts it out into the world, and the cops come to arrest Teddy and Theo. Case closed! Well, that is until Detective Williams finds the results of the toxicology report. It turns out Tim Kono wasn’t killed by the gunshot, but by poison beforehand. And it gets worse: street cameras revealed that Teddy and Theo were outside of the Arconia before the fire alarm even went off and thus couldn’t have done it.
Turns out Jan might have deserved way more credit. Charles goes to apologize to her, upset that the case isn’t actually closed, when he finds Jan passed out in her apartment, her side covered in blood. It looks like there might be another murder in the building after all.
Only Murders in the Building Episode 8, ‘Fan Fiction’ reveals that there is way more to this murder than we could have predicted. Oliver, Mabel, and Charles might just have a new one on their hands, too, considering Jan’s situation. Luckily for the Arconiacs who wait eagerly for every podcast episode, there are clearly more to come because this mystery has yet to be solved.
Only Murders in the Building Episode 8, ‘Fan Fiction’ is now streaming on Hulu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V1rQdXXXyI&t=3s
