‘Only Murders In The Building’ Season 4, Episode 1 Review: New Stars Join The Crew

(This review contains spoilers for episodes of Only Murders In The Building preceding Season 4.)

Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) and Charles Haden-Savage (Steve Martin), residents of the Arconia, an apartment building in Manhattan, bond over a shared interest in a true crime podcast. After several murders fall right on their doorstep, they start their own podcast, which is met with increasing success. Season 4 picks up right where Season 3 left off; Oliver’s play is shut down after getting swept up in last season’s murder, but shattered hopes of Broadway are quickly replaced by promises from Hollywood. The trio is off to L.A., where a movie deal excites Oliver, bewilders Mabel, and tears Charles’s attention between a huge opportunity and the disappearance of his old stunt double and friend, Sazz (Jane Lynch).

As someone who has grown a little bored of media about Hollywood by Hollywood (or the Hollywood-adjacent), I wasn’t initially thrilled to watch the main cast migrate from their New York home, but the L.A. trip gives the characters some lighter moments of excitement and self-reflection before a devastating discovery. It’s so far unclear how prominent the podcasters’ potential film deal will be, or indeed how it will weave into the mystery ahead.

Episode 1 introduces Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria and Zach Galifianakis. The episode leans pretty hard on new celebrity appearances, but likely not to the detriment of the story; with Only Murders, it’s impossible to know which details will come into play. 

Though most of Episode 1 didn’t deal directly with murder, it’s probably worth paying attention to; the show is generally successful at replacing the all-too-common “I didn’t see that coming” with the deeply satisfying “I should have seen that coming,” so anything could matter.

Even this episode hosts some moments of realization for the trio that are pretty chilling, even when the audience is already in on the information. The dark ending is especially impactful, foreshadowing an investigation with stakes that our podcasters might not be ready for.