Don’t Look Now But ‘Only Murders In The Building’ Season 4 Is Turning Out To Be The Show’s Best Season So Far

Only Murders in the Building has always been good. Now that we’re 38 episodes deep into the Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez-led comedy, it’s safe to say that the show remains fun to watch with the family or to rely on for a dependable — if not slightly predictable — laugh. Only Murders in the Building Season 4 , however? That’s a different story.

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After solving the murder of Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd) at the end of Season 3 — spoiler alert, it was a tag-team kill between Donna DeMeo (Linda Edmond) and Cliff DeMeo (Wesley Taylor) — the gang went back to the beloved Arconia to celebrate a successful (re)opening night for Oliver’s musical, Death Rattle Dazzl e, only for yet another murder to happen in the building. Sadly, this time it was Charles’ longtime friend and bodydouble, Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch), who was shot and killed.

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Given the fact that the show is now four seasons in and the audience has become accustomed to the punchline, the writers and producers had every opportunity to phone it in and pump out another good-enough season where the brunt of the comedy comes from the main trio — Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) and Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) — playing off each other.

Thus far, Season 4 has done anything but play it safe.

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Instead of remaining in the Big Apple where the first three seasons took place, the gang started off Season 4 by flying out to Los Angeles and being wined and dined by Paramount, eager to turn their hit podcast into a feature film. It’s in California where we meet back up with Oliver’s girlfriend, Loretta Durkin (Meryl Streep), and are introduced to an all-star roster of actors, producers and directors involved in the film. This season’s recruits include Molly Shannon as Paramount exec Bev Melon, Catherine Cohen and Siena Werber as directing duo the Brothers sisters, Pachinko star Jin Ha as the script’s writer, and Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria and Zach Galifianakis, each portraying a fictionalized version of themself as they have been cast to play the film version of Oliver (Galifianakis), Mabel (Longoria) and Charles (Levy).

What’s more, as the main trio — the real Oliver, Mabel and Charles, that is — figure out at the end of Season 4 Episode 1 that Sazz has been murdered, we are once again introduced to the concept of a murderer hiding in the Arconia. Enter stage left another cast of characters that includes quirky neighbors like Rudy (Kumail Nanjiani), Inez (Daphne Rubin-Vega), and Vince (Richard Kind), who all emerge quickly as suspects in the murder of Charles’ beloved friend and stunt double. Oh, and did we mention that Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Amy Ryan reprise their roles as Detective Donna Williams and Jan, respectively? Or that tennis legend John McEnroe has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in Episode 5?

In most situations, having this many big-name stars on a set is a recipe for disaster — we didn’t even get to mention that Melissa McCarthy shows up in Episode 7 or that Paul Rudd is back as a different character than his Season 3 role, this time playing a down-on-his-luck Irish stuntman… that’s how packed with talent this season is. Time and time again, any show or movie that attempts to put this many incredible people in one room together seems to fail at delivering a finished product that is deserving of praise. Again, we say that is not the case OMITB Season 4.

From the final moments of the season’s premiere episode, the writers and producers make it clear that it will be a different project tonally than previous seasons. While the first three seasons certainly had their tender moments — who can forget Mabel imagining Ben Glenroy (Rudd) telling her, “You can afford to take your time, Mabel. What you can’t afford to do is waste it” — they pail in comparison to season 4, so far.

As Charles is facing a sense of existentialism after losing the closest friend he has ever had, he puts his all into catching her killer as a final act of love, even daydreaming a final walk together and reminiscing on their early years while questioning suspects. Later on, he also faces a tough conversation with his sister, Doreen (McCarthy), which adds to the introspective angle the show appears keen on tackling.

Similarly, Mabel — unsure of who she is or what she doing with her life — is using her endless amounts of free time (when not hunting or being chased by a killer) to try and figure her life out. Don’t let the bittersweet moments fool you, though, it’s been non-stop jokes and delirium in this fourth installment.

Whereas Seasons 1, 2 and 3 kept the show in line with reality (or at least a slightly hyperbolized version of it), Season 4 has tossed that idea out the window. In doing so, the show has effectively had its Pinocchio moment, declaring, “I’ve got no strings” and opting to make itself the most fun version it can be. For example, one scene in Episode 4 sees Glen Stubbins (Rudd) jump onto the hood of a car and toss himself into a trash can to try and impress the main trio.

Earlier in the same episode, Oliver had his own laugh-out-loud moment as he loudly attempted to communicate with his iPad, much to the dismay of Charles and Mabel. “Brightness down! Tablet, brightness down,” Oliver says before attempting to get the attention of Apple’s AI assistant, Siri, by calling her “Susie.” It’s a silly scene but one that had me chuckling in a way I haven’t in a while. It’s also made its way around on social media thanks to Short’s unmatched delivery.

Flash forward to Episode 7 where we go fully off the rails and witness a fight between Loretta and Doreen over Oliver… because, why not? The two brawl in the presence of Bev Melon, the main trio and the actors — Longoria even jumps in and offers advice to Doreen on how to get out of Loretta’s chokehold. The whole ordeal ends with Loretta beating Doreen with her clip-in braids as Doreen retaliates by biting Loretta. Suffice it to say, it makes for glorious television.

Where else in the world will you get to watch one of the most decorated actresses of all time fake a pacemaker attack and then kick a national treasure in the face over Martin Short? Nowhere is the answer.

This is all in addition to the ever-growing mystery over who is trying to kill the Only Murders podcast hosts and who killed Sazz. Even better, it looks like to answer that question, we may be going all the way back to Season 1 and patchin’ up plot holes that went unaddressed at the time. Who left the note on Jan’s door? Who poisoned Winnie the dog? Crafting a well rounded storyline in one season is a feat in and of itself. Going back and also fixing issues that the fanbase has addressed — that’s commitment to good storytelling.

I could go on and on, but the best course of action is for you to pick up your remote and get to watching. You’ll likely find that it is not only the best season of the show but one of the best comedy shows on television right now.

The first eight episodes of Only Murders in the Building Season 4 are now streaming on Hulu and Disney+. New episodes release on Tuesdays and you can watch the first three seasons currently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

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