Only Murders In The Building Season 3 Review: The Show Must Go On With Some Novel Twists
It makes all-too-perfect sense that the third season of Hulu's hit mystery-comedy "Only Murders in the Building" would set its sights on Broadway. The show has proudly been set and filmed in New York since its inception, and many of the supporting players have had long careers on the Great White Way in between appearing on the program, which focuses on a disparate trio living in a swanky apartment building who become podcasters and sleuths while trying to solve a mysterious death in their abode. The limits of the premise of the series — as former TV star Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin) specified in the series premiere, they should keep their focus on what stories to tell to where they live — were clear, though. At a certain point, if people kept dying in their building, it would strain credulity. With the third season of "Only Murders in the Building," the writers get to have their cake and eat it too (in a way) while maintaining a solid blend of comedy and thrills thanks not only to Martin and his co-stars Martin Short and Selena Gomez, but to the arrival of two very big new players.
If you watched last season of "Only Murders in the Building," it does not constitute a spoiler to reveal that one of those big players is Paul Rudd, playing movie star Ben Glenroy, and that Ben Glenroy winds up dead. Last year ended with a few new details. First, a year after the previous murder was solved, Charles was co-starring with Ben in a new Broadway show directed by his friend and fellow podcaster Oliver Putnam (Short). Second, Charles and Ben seemed to nakedly loathe each other. And third, Ben collapsed on stage during the opening performance of their show, to the shock of all, including Charles and Oliver's friend Mabel (Gomez). The new season introduces the other big name immediately: none other than Meryl Streep, as Loretta Durkin. Loretta is another performer in the show, "Death Rattle," with the framing that she's that quintessential type of actor who's always been this close to getting a big role before they fail to make it happen. But it's evident even before the animated opening sequence returns that Loretta is immensely talented (in part because ... well ... y'know, she's played by Meryl Streep), and may yet have some cutthroat plans in store.
The presence of Rudd and Streep suggests that this season of "Only Murders" is spreading itself further than just the Arconia, the apartment building our three heroes call home. The Arconia is still a key presence in the events surrounding what occurred at the end of season 2, but to go into detail would be far too spoilery. (To note: I've seen eight of the season's ten episodes.) Charles is weighing his new relationship with makeup artist Joy (Andrea Martin), Mabel is questioning what her future will be considering that a podcast with Charles and Oliver may only last for so long, and Oliver is finally finding romance of his own with Loretta. As noted above, it comes as no surprise that Streep is captivating as ever to watch, but it's doubly enjoyable to watch her instant chemistry with Short, as the two make a powerful connection that causes trouble for everyone else.
Another big new mystery
That, of course, is because of the nature of "Only Murders in the Building." Though Ben's death creates a shock wave, it also introduces a host of potential new suspects, including Loretta. There's also Jesse Williams as a documentarian following Ben on his first Broadway show since his wildly popular series of superhero films (not "Ant-Man," of course; Ben's in a series of films as "CoBro," a guy who turns into a cobra), as well as Ashley Park as one of Ben's younger, prettier, and more tenacious co-stars on stage. The burgeoning cast — it's also heartening to see Michael Cyril Creighton moving up from recurring to a regular cast member, as the prickly Howard becomes Oliver's assistant this year — doesn't change a general rule of thumb with this show that can be both expected and a little frustrating: the concept of the red herring.
Even in spite of the larger scope and cast of the season, it's still a ten-episode series in which the killer isn't unmasked instantly. (Again, eight episodes in, there has not been some grand reveal of whodunit. "Columbo," this is not.) What that means is that many episodes end with teases for potential killers, before very quickly establishing reasonable alibis for those very same suspects. If you choose to wait to binge-watch the season, that up-and-down style of storytelling may not stand out quite as much. But "Only Murders in the Building" builds buzz by being a weekly release (the first two episodes premiere on August 8, but all other episodes drop once per week), yet it's a little vexing to constantly get new red herrings, simply to cause some level of confusion.
But that quibble aside, "Only Murders in the Building" remains immensely charming thanks to that aforementioned cast. We now have more than two years' worth of proof that, as funny as Steve Martin and Martin Short are together, they make an inexplicably delightful combination with Selena Gomez, who bounces off them with aplomb and ease as they attempt to counterbalance their fuddy-duddy nature as Charles and Oliver with her more modern sensibility. Streep and Rudd (the latter of whom is understandably enjoying himself, when depicted in flashbacks, as an outrageously vain superstar) fit in well with the ensemble, too. If anyone stands out this season, it's Short, who's long been one of the funniest people working in Hollywood, but has depth and range beyond that as evidenced in his work this season. There's always the chance that "Only Murders in the Building" won't stick the landing in its third season, but for its bulk, it's starting out pretty strong.
/Film Rating: 8 out of 10