‘Only Murders’ Premiere Gets Meta to Remix the Formula

Editor’s Note: This post contains spoilers for “Only Murders in the Building” Season 4, Episode 1, “Once Upon a Time in the West.”

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“It’s kind of a flaw in our business model,” says Mabel (Selena Gomez) in the first episode of “Only Murders in the Building” Season 4 . That model, of course, defined three seasons of Steve Martin and John Hoffman’s hit Hulu comedy and the fictional podcast that provides its name; a dead body is found at The Arconia on New York’s Upper West Side, and then Charles (Martin), Oliver ( Martin Short ), and Mabel solve the case — often narrowly escaping death themselves.

And while the award-winning Hulu series has been mostly consistent in quality and execution, switching things up has proved to be a winning strategy for “OMITB.” Season 3 brought in a fresh cast of characters with Oliver’s Broadway project “Death Rattle Dazzle,” and the murder (and resurrection, and then murder for real) of star Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd). Season 4 follows suit and pushes things even further, sending the central trio out to Los Angeles and far, far away from The Arconia.

In his review of Season 4 (seven episodes of which were screened for critics), IndieWire’s Ben Travers noted that the show may be in danger of celebrity cameo overload, but Season 4 leans in to a gimmick only occasionally deployed by its predecessors. At least three of the celebrities gracing this season play themselves — Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, and Zach Galifianakis — people whom they are acquainted with as much as and in the same way as viewers at home, which does a lot of free character work that doesn’t have to go into the actual writing.

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Going meta with the “Only Murders” film that producer Bev (Molly Shannon) wants to make also allows the show to cheekily address some of its (admittedly minor) criticism, like in casting Longoria as movie Mabel because focus groups found the actual age gap of the leads “creepy.” A little too much of the Season 4 premiere is spent roasting Charles, Oliver, and Mabel, and the characters — ostensibly likable to anyone returning for a fourth escapade at their side — are left stammering and trying to disprove people who think they’re boring (Charles), annoying (Oliver), and mumbly (Mabel). Is this how they feel about each other, or how other characters view them? Is this how the audience or critics feel? (Not this one — okay, she does mumble, but I’m used to it now.) As I often ask when pondering a show’s specific creative choices: who is this for? At the very least, the Hollywood element gives “OMITB” freedom to raise and tackle minor gripes like this with incisive humor — just maybe a little more sharp than in this particular hour.

Season 4’s premiere shakes things up elsewhere too. Every other season included early discovery of a body, and though Season 3 ended with Sazz (Jane Lynch) breathing her last on the floor of Charles’ apartment, she’s nowhere to be found in Season 4, Episode 1. The trio almost find it multiple times during a tense opening, only to reveal that the body and most traces have vanished. They spend the rest of the episode brushing closer and closer to the truth, and either diverting each other or the audience along the way. The episode’s final moments are some of the darkest in this show’s entire history, with no body instead but a pile of ashes presumed to be Sazz’s remains. The victim is not a beloved actor or prickly acquaintance like in Seasons 2 and 3, but a close friend of one of the main trio, like Tim Kono (Julian Cihi) back in Season 1. Charles sits there, holding one of his old pal’s metal joints from Bulgaria, shock and grief washing over him as he stares speechlessly at his friends.

So it’s more of the same on “Only Murders in the Building” — in a good way, as the reveal brings us back to ye olde podcast and TV show business plan, and also with enough creative resets at the top of Season 4 to promise fresh twists in the coming episodes.