Only Murders In The Building Gets In The Ring In Its New Episode

We're in the home stretch of the second season of Hulu's "Only Murders in the Building," with just two episodes (this week's and next week's finale) to go. Last season waited until the cliffhanger moment of its penultimate episode to clue us in on who the killer was — Jan (Amy Ryan), a psychopathic bassoonist. But this season of "Only Murders" could very well have swerved, by cluing us in last week to whether or not the grouchy Detective Kreps (Michael Rapaoport) was secretly Glitter Guy, a black-clad mystery person who appears to have killed Bunny Folger.

And just like last season's penultimate episode, this one, "Sparring Partners," does feature voiceover narration from that potential killer. Last year, it was Jan; this time, Kreps does the voiceover at the start. But I've gotten ahead of myself. I really want to start by talking about how a TV show teaches you how to watch it, as critics have pointed out in the past. Sometimes, the way a show teaches you to watch is through how it builds character via plot or dialogue; sometimes, it's through expected gags or musical cues. And sometimes, a show tips you off by its recaps. I will presume here that the "Previously on" recap on Hulu matches the one present in my screener, meaning I presume the recap leans heavily on clips from the very first moments of the "Only Murders" pilot, in which we see and hear clips from "All is Not OK in Oklahoma," a true-crime podcast hosted by Cinda Canning (Tina Fey), which focused on the disappearance of a young woman named Becky Butler. You probably haven't thought too much about Becky Butler since the pilot, as Canning's podcast is what brought together our heroes Mabel (Selena Gomez), Charles (Steve Martin), and Oliver (Martin Short). But the recap for the second season's second-to-last episode, by including these clips, is trying to jog our memory. On one hand, it's appropriate, as you'll soon find out. On the other, such a random callback is enough to make you almost distractedly suspicious. Why would the recap mention these clips if there wasn't a good reason? And ... well, there is a good reason.

But for now, I digress. As mentioned, Kreps narrates this episode: "Last year, the NYPD had a budget of $5.5 billion," he says as we watch him in the boxing ring, slow-motion sparring with a partner. (See? Because ... because the episode is called "Sparring Partners." Never mind.) But his salary is "a drop in the bucket," especially since it doesn't account for his alimony payment, taxes, and the mortgage he pays on the boxing gym, where he also lives. "So you take other jobs," he says as we see Kreps sneak his way into an evidence room and grab a sealed hair sample. This explains two things: first, his narration clarifies that he does work a side gig as Coney Island security. (Why would Kreps have been masked at his own second job, as we saw when Mabel visited Coney Island? I still don't quite get that detail, outside of hiding his identity for better dramatic purposes.) It also teases an answer to my digression above, as Kreps notes that he's also helped out police departments in smaller towns across the country when they can't handle big cases. Big cases that inspire big podcasts, perhaps? Kreps notes that "sh*t gets really crazy" when you meet a woman who seems to take special notice of you, as we see him in a bar staring down ... well, we don't know who yet. But I think we can all take a guess.

Oliver is back in his apartment, hearing from Will about the pitfalls of his "Wizard of Oz" production. "It's going to be a disaster and it's all my fault," Will says woefully, but Oliver tells him that "the theater is in your blood ... for real." Will is unsurprisingly emotional, noting that the question of his parentage had weighed heavily on him. They embrace, but Oliver continually saying "You're a Putnam" to Will is ... well, it's beginning to lose its sense of honesty, and I think you and I both have a good guess as to why.

Charles, still grasping that Leonora Folger is not who we thought she was, is looking at the watch he's held onto for years, fiddling with it after seeing it displayed once again in the original painting of his father. After Charles tweaks it with some watch tools, the watch springs open and we see an address in Lake Placid emblazoned on the inside; this leads to Charles Google-searching it, finding a phone number, calling it, and hearing a very familiar-if-crotchety voice on the other end. This discovery is cross-cut with Mabel, in her apartment, looking at the file on Kreps with his listed address, leading to Excessive Force Boxing Gym. "Looks like we're in for a fight," Mabel says to herself, before recording the line on her phone and correctly chiding herself for needing a life.

At the gym, Mabel arrives to see Kreps in the ring. "Where's the dusty grand-pappies?" he snarks, before she dubs him "Great White Dope" and "Raging Bull-sh*tter." "I love boxing movies, and puns," she says before pushing to ask him some pointed questions, like about how he's doing after she stabbed him on the subway. Well then! Kreps says she can ask him questions if she gets into some boxing gear with him. After she does, Mabel notes that she saw the glitter on his neck, the matchbook that has an incriminating fingerprint, and that he knew about the evidence drop-off from a few weeks ago.

Mabel demands to know why Kreps killed Bunny and framed our heroine. "You're just a stupid man," Mabel says, baffled that he could've pulled off something so sophisticated. "You think I'm going to say something I don't want to say? That's not how this works," Kreps taunts. As they continue fighting, and Kreps keeps railing against Mabel and her fellow Zoomers, he says "If I'm so stupid, how was I able to land the smartest woman on the planet?" And ... well, again, if you think about Kreps' opening narration and the recap clips, my friends, we have a good guess about who he means. Kreps continues taunting, saying he's able to do a podcast better than Mabel, which goes against his "I hate podcasts" bit from previous episodes. But he does seem to like one, and wouldn't you know, it's "All is Not OK in Oklahoma." Hmm. Mabel, for her own part, isn't scared of Kreps' thuggish behavior, though she is understandably fascinated when she sees a towel on the ring sporting a familiar chicken logo. 

Hmm.

In a cue that the episode is about to wrap, we return to Chickasha, where it turns out that Detective Kreps was removing the aforementioned hair sample from an evidence room...a hair sample belonging to Becky Butler, "just to make a little extra coin". And then he heads over to the Chicken Chug, where we finally see who he must have been smiling at during the opening scene: Cinda Canning. And as he does so, Mabel presses Poppy in the present just a bit further to find out what makes Cinda so scary. What's the big deal? Why is Poppy hiding something? "...because I'm Becky Butler."

To quote Oliver in the last line of the episode, as Mabel tags Cinda the "Criminal Mastermind" on their corkboard: ...well, sh*t.

"Sparring Partners" is, for a penultimate episode, mostly focused on separating our core trio (as a number of episodes have this season, to be fair), as we get three versions of the episode title. Now, first of all, I am thrilled to have Shirley MacLaine back on the show, though she's understandably less acidic now that we know who her character really is (and that said character is further involved in the mystery of Bunny's death once again makes some kind of sense). And I appreciate, to my concerns from last week, that we got a little bit more awareness of Detective Kreps' place in this whole thing. It would have strained credulity beyond the limit if Kreps was the man behind all of the misdeeds, if only because it just would have required too much heavy lifting to get a non-entity from last season to be involved in both seasons' mysteries to a point. (Though nothing is confirmed here, I would assume we can cross Kreps' name off the list of people who texted our podcasting trio in the final moments of the first season to leave the Arconia.)

Much of the season has been building, arguably, to Cinda being a real nasty customer generally speaking. She's clearly more interested in chasing clout than in uncovering genuine crimes, and she was involved – to a point – in the first season of "Only Murders". But just as Mabel wonders what puzzle piece she was missing before Poppy revealed her true identity, it feels like we're missing something here too. I don't put this as a criticism of "Only Murders" — its very conception means that the whole of its mystery won't become either satisfying or unsatisfying until it concludes. While this episode has a lot of solid jokes, a welcome return of some acting legends, and a genuinely shocking ending, I feel like I won't know until next week how well this piece fits in the larger puzzle.

OTHER THOUGHTS

• Charles, like Mabel two weeks ago, thinks that the ASL for "glitter" is pretty fun. It is!

• "Chickens are so weird-looking." All animals are, if you get right down to it, Mabel.

• "I'm so Greek, I could be Jennifer Aniston's stand-in." A good reference from Oliver.

• Howard wishing Teddy and Oliver to "stay safe" while fighting is particularly funny.

• Some fine meta humor as Nathan Lane grimly notes "That's bad" to the idea of someone being encouraged to join the world of the theater.