Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 3 recap: Hollywood stars try to help with the investigation

It was only a matter of time before the cast of the Only Murders in the Building movie adaptation flew to New York to get a taste of the podcast trio in their home. Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, and Zach Galifianakis (all playing versions of themselves) have been encouraged to spend the day with who they will be portraying. Still, with a fresh new investigation, it is a distraction only some are thrilled to undertake in Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 3.

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The FBI has taken over the case and have processed the basement and apartment where the sniper killed Sazz. They think Jan (Amy Ryan) has something to do with Sazz's murder, but our trio continues to look into the Arconia residents in the West Tower. But why would a Westie want to kill Sazz? Or was Charles (Steve Martin) the actual target?

Pairing off

With the FBI on the case, Detective Williams (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) is not taking the lead this time, but she stops by Charles' apartment to inform them the FBI thinks retired professor Dudenoff (whose apartment is where the sniper shot from) is in Portugal. However, Williams believes this is suspicious (and so does Mabel). The neighbors were playing card games when they heard the shot, except for Christmas-all-the-time-guy Rudy Thurber (Kumail Nanjiani), who claims he was out of town that night. Williams also doesn't know if Sazz is the target, but she loses her train of thought when Eugene, Eva and Zach make their entrance, wanting to observe the podcasters for their movie.

Of the famous figures, Eugene is most enamored with his counterpart and has a wealth of knowledge about Brazzos . Eva has been practicing her own version of Mabel (Selena Gomez). Meanwhile, Zach is unenthusiastic about the assignment. It isn't an excellent time for this exercise, but Oliver (Martin Short) needs Zach to fall in love with him.

The expanded team goes through the murder board to prioritize who they must question. Vince (Richard Kind) needs a follow-up visit to see if he has pink eye or if the patch covers a bruise from the gun. Charles got real Christmas trees banned from the Arconia as they are a fire hazard, giving Rudy a motive, and a silver substance that looks like tinsel was found at the crime scene.

The decision is to divide and conquer, giving all the actors time with the person they will play; Eugene and Charles head to Vince's; Mabel and Eva are assigned Rudy; and Oliver says he will monitor the ham radio with Zach.

Questioning Rudy

Friction between Eva and Mabel continues when Eva says she wants to try a different name that doesn't sound so old, landing on "Ma-Belle" as a moniker that sounds more like a woman of action. Rather than talk to Rudy together, Mabel explains she likes to work alone. But when Mabel arrives at Rudy’s place, she finds an eager Eva, who has told Rudy they are looking for the killer.

When Mabel can't find any tinsel in Rudy's apartment, an impatient Eva tries to get a confession out of Rudy by the time she goes for dinner with Roger Federer, Anderson Cooper, Michelle Obama, and "the lady from Shark Tank ." The theme song from Perfect Strangers ("Nothing's Gonna Stop Me") starts playing on Rudy's ham radio, but he quickly switches it off.

Eva starts trashing Rudy's apartment to speed up the confession, but it brings out an unexpected big secret: he hates Christmas. He's a fitness influencer who invented this persona as only his Yuletide themed videos go viral. He also shows that the silver material Mabel thinks is tinsel must be something else as it isn't flammable.

Removing the Patch and the Ollies

Eugene is nervous about working with Charles, but the duo proves equally blundering when they try to improvise getting Vince to take his patch off. Both of them wear eyepatches (over their glasses) to pretend they also have pink eye and say they have an eye drop that can get rid of it. It fails, so they resort to an inelegant spit-take plan, which leads to Vince punching Eugene in the face. When Vince removes his patch, they realize he is telling the truth.

It also turns out Charles and Vince read each other as rude when they look away from each other through the window, but it is awkwardness, not hatred.

At Oliver's apartment, Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton) arrives to monitor the ham radio while Oliver gets to work on Zach. Oliver tries to share with Zach, who finally understands that Oliver doesn't want to be forgotten.

A montage set to the Perfect Strangers theme shows the pair getting along, including returning from a shopping trip together. Howard is jealous of this blossoming friendship but then they overhear Zach on the phone with his agent calling Oliver "a pocket-size flop-sweat Willy Wonka" and a "one-dimensional narcissist." Howard passionately describes how Oliver never quits, no matter how bad it gets. Zach realizes he got Oliver utterly wrong as he is a "technicolor cockroach who refuses to die."

Mabel's housewarming

Mabel thanks Eva for being direct, as it saved weeks of pointless investigating. She decides to take a page from her book by entering the Dudenoff apartment, where she decides to become a squatter. She invites Charles and Oliver over for an impromptu housewarming, pointing out that based on New York City squatters' rights, Dudenoff must physically be present in New York if he wants his apartment back. The trap is set!

When Mabel starts humming the Perfect Strangers theme, Oliver recalls Howard also heard this song on the ham radio and revealed a frequency to meet on. They set the radio to that frequency and ask if anyone is there. A voice answers, telling them to "drop this or you will be next," as the other person who asked about this "got killed." Considering what happened to Sazz, they know this person isn't kidding around, but there is no way they will heed this advice. Who is pulling the strings and why?

New episodes of Only Murders in the Building season 4 premiere every Tuesday on Hulu in the US and Disney Plus in the UK.