CHRISTOPH WALTZ, STEVE MARTIN, MARTIN SHORT, SELENA GOMEZ
Grab your binoculars and put your bird watching hat on! It’s time for episode four of Only Murders in the Building, ‘Dirty Birds’ and this time the three billionaires are spending more than just their money – they’re spending some quality time with our favorite sleuthy podcasters.
The episode opens by telling us a little bit more about the billionaires we previously met. Camila White (Renée Zellweger, Chicago) is very prim and proper with expensive taste, Bash Steed (Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Bastards) is an ageless walking internet search engine, and Jay Pflug (Logan Lerman, The Perks of Being a Wallflower) is a nepo baby with over half a million viewers on his social media livestreams.
But they’re not the only people we meet. Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton, American Fiction) introduces the true crime trio to Robot Lester, otherwise known as LESTR, the new robot doorman of the Arconia. LESTR will inevitably come into play later – perhaps with a piece of evidence he catches on camera? Or someone’s identifying qualities or preferences he learns and enters into his system – which later helps crack the case?
We also see the crew meet up with Vince again (Richard Kind, Inside Out), who featured prominently in season four and was birding buddies with Lester (Teddy Coluca, The Blacklist). He’s there to provide a bit of insight as, this time, Oliver tackles making the murder board rather than Mabel. The gang even hatches a plan to let Jay Pflug subtly know they are onto him (due to his missing finger).
Jay lets the trio know he’ll be over to chat with them one night – but all three billionaires happen to show up to Oliver’s, not just Jay. They’re arguing, accusing one another of showing up just to throw the others under the bus and blame them for the deaths of Nicky and Lester. Well, there’s only one way to deduce the truth: it’s time for some good old trio sleuthing! Oliver, Charles, and Mabel separate, each taking one billionaire and grilling them. Camila wants to redo Oliver’s entire apartment, Charles ends up bonding with Bash, and Mabel opens up to Jay. Who would’ve thought?
Our favorite detectives also question the billionaires about what happened the night of the poker game, a.k.a. the night Jay’s finger was supposedly chopped off. They all have the same story…almost as if it was rehearsed? The story is one of self defense, where Jay protected Bash from Nicky, who apparently had a cleaver and then chaotically chopped Jay’s finger off. After sharing their perspectives, the billionaires also beg Oliver, Charles, and Mabel not to mention their names in the podcast, as they are not involved.
Now, for any fellow fans who grew up Tumblr users or Wattpad lovers, this is a very big day. Not only is there a Tumblr reference in the big year of 2025 (which this writer is very satisfied with), Logan Lerman and Selena Gomez are finally starring opposite one another. It feels like taking a time machine back a decade, and finally getting the casting everyone dreamed of. It really is Tumblr time. It’s also exciting to see that sparks might be flying for Mabel once again – her heart certainly fluttered during her conversation with Jay.
During their talk, Mabel vented about how she finds it hard to trust people now, because of what happened when ex-bestie Althea (Beanie Feldstein, Booksmart) – or Thē – completely changed and ditched Mabel for new friends. Jay also shares a piece of lore: he hired his friend as a CEO of his company, who then stole all the money. Because of this, Mabel even confesses that when she saw Thē earlier, she lied and said the true crime trio was signed by Wondify with an exclusive podcast deal – just to impress Thē.
Well, it turns out Jay has connections to Wondify, and the crew gets what they wished for. They also all come to the conclusion that the billionaires are not guilty…perhaps the trio really found their soft spots and there is some good in them. Or maybe, the billionaires are lying through their teeth to the trio’s faces.
They find out the truth when Wondify does offer them the podcast deal and they sign an exclusive, three-year contract, with just one catch: they can’t talk about any company stakeholders, which just so happens to be the three billionaires. It happens right as they discover the finger does not belong to Jay. The finger he’s missing curves the other way, which means the billionaires were just bullshitting this whole time; he’s not the owner of the missing finger and there is still much more of the mystery left to solve.
This cliffhanger hurts BAD, when all the trio sets out to do is tell the genuine, raw truth. Now, they’re bound by the standards of Wondify and won’t be able to talk about their biggest suspects. Oh no.The billionaires really are “dirty birds,” as the episode title suggests, and they are definitely hiding something, if they are already going to these lengths in order to do so.
Only Murders in the Building Season 5 Episode 4 ‘Dirty Birds’ is very fun, as season five has been overall so far. We get to hear Charles’ valley girl accent come out and Mabel drops another iconic line: “what is that, the Magna Carta?” You’ll just have to watch to find out what she’s talking about. If you need more bird references or are still curious whose finger that is, like this writer, this wait will be agonizing – but luckily for us, the story is just beginning.
