Ivan Radford | On 08, Sep 2024

This review is based on the opening two episodes of Season 4.

“What we need is a fresh dead body preferably right here or very near to here.” Those are the ill-fated words of Oliver (Martin Short) at the start of Only Murders in the Building Season 4. Of course, we know that a body did already show up in the Season 3 finale – only to be whisked out of sight before anyone could notice. That alone is a tantalising hook for a show that crafts fiendishly fun murder mysteries every year, but Only Murders… succeeds because it’s much more than only murders – it’s a satire on showbiz, a study of true crime’s popularity, an exploration of loneliness in a digital age and a hilarious comedy showcase for an inspired triple-act. Season 4, impressively, adds another string to its bow.

The body at the end of Season 3 was, of course, that of Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch), the longtime stunt double of Charles Haden Savage (Steve Martin), everyone’s swiftly forgotten TV detective star from the 1980s. Charles has always been a wonderfully pathetic figure, with just the right amount of desperation to balance out his arrogance – he’s the perfect foil to Martin Short’s equally self-inflated theatre director, who flamboyantly balances out his ego with more ego. Between them, Selena Gomez’s “mumbling millennial”, Mabel, is a grounding presence. So when Hollywood comes knocking to make a movie based on their podcast – “Paramount called.” “The Pictures?!” – Mabel’s their secret weapon in making sure they don’t get taken for a ride.

The sequence that sees Charles attempting to hardball in a negotiation is a perfect balance of verbal silliness and shameless slapstick. The Hollywood giggles dial up another level when the trio encounter the actors hired to play them: Zach Galifianakis as Oliver, Eva Longoria as Mabel and Eugene Levy as Charles. All three are clearly having a ball simultaneously sending up themselves and parodying their counterparts – and the resulting interactions are at once deftly insightful (Oliver’s prickled ego, Mabel’s caution) and hysterical. The jaunt to Los Angeles also gives the show a nice excuse to bring back Meryl Streep for an appearance as Oliver’s sweetheart.

But Season 4 smartly doesn’t descend into self-aware send-up. Just as Season 3 took its theatrical setting and turned it into a confined puzzlebox, Season 4 steers clear of losing the show’s identity by immediately returning back to the eponymous Building. After some playful waiting for our leads to discover Sazz’s fate, what ensues is an unexpectedly emotional journey, as Charles grieves the loss of his friend.

This is the first time, really, that the murder being investigated is someone with a real attachment to the central characters. Waiting until the fourth season to deploy that plot device is an inspired move, because it’s given us time to care about the ensemble – and for Sazz to grow from an amusing guest star to a familiar presence in Charles’ life. Her job, as a stunt person, is endearingly selfless in nature – her occupation was to make Charles look good, and the attention-seeking actor has always been grateful to her for that. A lovely touch is some mockumentary footage of her on the set of Charles’ TV series, Brazzos, which lets us enjoy Jane Lynch’s performance all over again. Her amusingly blunt honesty haunts Charles in the present day, as Steve Martin brilliantly brings serious weight to a show that is typically light as a feather – the two tones beautifully merge in a sequence involving her ashes that’s one of the saddest, funniest set pieces you’ll see on a TV this year.

There’s still a mystery to solve, of course, as some witty camerawork shoots across the Arconia’s courtyard and introduces us to the complex’s lesser-known West Side. It’s populated by a veritable treasure trove of eccentrics, notably Richard Kind’s hilariously awkward Vince Fish and Kumail Nanjiani’s Christmas-obsessed Rudy. That promise of newly undiscovered mysteries to unravel is enough to keep Only Murders feeling fresh for another season, but this time your heart’s in it too.

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