This article contains spoilers for Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 10.
Only Murders in the Building has wrapped up another star-studded, mystery-flooded, spooky season spectacular! The Hulu series following Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) as they solve homicides in the incredibly cursed Arconia (how many murders can possibly happen here?) took a little bit of a different route than usual in the fourth season finale. We have all the details wrapped up nicely for you right here.
Who Killed Sazz Pataki?
Marshall P. Pope (Jin Ha) killed Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch). The final clues usually come together in the season finale of each Only Murders in the Building season, but the fourth outing decided to reveal the killer in the penultimate episode and subsequently confirm the evidence with a first-hand account delivered by the murderer himself in the climactic half-hour.
Marshall, then known as Rex Bailey, was Sazz’s stuntman, her protege if you will. After a snafu on the set of a Ron Howard movie two years before the events of season 4, Marshall accidentally singes the eyebrows off of Opie at the end of a stunt using fire and gasoline, forcing him out of the stunt business and back to his original dream job: being a writer.
Sazz had been writing a script for the movie that would eventually become the Only Murders in the Building film that is based on the trio’s podcast and has been in pre-production for most of the season (the one starring Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy, and Zach Galifianakis.) Sazz has a hunch that her script is strong and confides in Marshall, allowing him to preview the writing. Marshall sees its brilliance but undermines Sazz by lying and saying the script needs a rewrite.
Seeing an opportunity for his first big break in the writing industry, Marshall offers to take Sazz’s script and help her tweak it. Instead, he brings it to Bev Melon (Molly Shanon) and the story is greenlit for production. Sazz finds out about Marshal’s betrayal and plagiarism and tells him she is going to tell Charles about what happened. This is something she had intended on doing before she even let Marshal read the film as Sazz wanted Charles’ blessing to depict him on screen. Feeling he had no other choice but to salvage his lie and become the writer he always wanted to be, Marshall shoots Sazz through the window to Charles’ apartment.
Marshall receives his just deserts mere moments after his admittance to the crime. Charles’ and Sazz’s ex-girlfriend, the psychotic Jan Bellows (Amy Ryan), shoots Marshal through the window of Mabel’s room as revenge for killing her love. Charles gets vicarious vengeance through Jan before she is once again escorted by police to her next trial. All in all, the whole ordeal is probably the most concrete and unambiguous murder solved in the entire series. But there’s still quite a bit more that happens beyond justice for Sazz.
Are Oliver and Loretta Moving to New Zealand?
Oliver and Loretta (Meryl Streep) finally get the wedding they’ve been talking about for the last few episodes. The couple gathers in front of the Acronia in front of the building’s residents and their closest friends in one of the show’s classic feel-good moments. There’s a problem in the way of a normal marriage, though. Loretta plans to move to New Zealand to finish working on her production, but she just can’t imagine taking Oliver from Charles and Mabel.
Loretta insists her husband stay with the podcasting pals and continue their camaraderie for another season. Thank goodness! What would we do without Oli Putnam? He’s the extra spice needed to make Charles and Mabel live a little and let loose. This clever bit of plotting also gives Streep an out in case she can’t make it back for season 5.
Who Is the Next Murder Victim?
There wouldn’t be a season 5 without a murder victim. Yet again, the show’s season finale ends on a cliffhanger. Right as the group starts to walk off in happy unison, they see blood pouring out and over the complex’s fountain. It belongs to one of the best bit characters in the series, Lester (Teddy Coluca). We don’t know all that much about the doorman besides the small chit-chats he’d had with Charles, Oliver, and Mabel in the past, but we already feel very sorry for him and his family! Why would anyone have beef with poor Lester?
Do We Already Have a Clue About Season 5’s Murder?
A couple of scenes earlier in the episode may have given us early clues about the murder investigation for next season. When Charles and Oliver are in a rush to get to Mabel, Lester stops them at the elevator to inform Oliver that the chuppah for his wedding has arrived. The old men have no time to listen to Lester, but he adds that he got married in front of the same fountain that Oliver will in the courtyard. They are good luck supposedly, but not good enough to save Lester from a morbid fate. What is the importance of the fountain?
The next clue is an ominous visit from a new character played by Téa Leoni. The woman’s name is Sofia Caccimelio and she’s on the search for her deceased husband, Nicky. Charles and Mabel don’t seem all that interested in helping investigate Nicky’s murder yet, but perhaps the mystery will tie in with Lester’s. A double murder investigation might be just what the series needs to stay fresh as it hits a half-decade on Hulu. We can’t wait for next fall to get started!
All episodes of Only Murders in the Building are available to stream on Hulu now.