Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 4 recap: a dead man's return?

The assumption so far during Only Murders in the Building season 4 's investigation into Sazz's (Jane Lynch) murder has so far assumed that Charles (Steve Martin) was the intended target. But what if the killer meant to shoot Sazz after all? That is the approach the podcast trio takes after the voice on the ham radio at the end of last week’s episode made it seem like Sazz was asking too many questions.

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Dealing with guilt, Charles has a dream suggesting there are parts of Sazz’s life he didn't know about, which leads Oliver (Martin Short), Mabel (Selena Gomez) and Charles to a stunt person bar called Concussions in Hell's Kitchen. Plus, Oliver frets about his long-distance relationship with Loretta (Meryl Streep), and Mabel discovers what scheme the Westies are hiding.

Filling in the blanks of Sazz’s life

In the middle of the night, Charles is awoken by a dream in which Sazz tells him she is searching for "paradise." Because of what they heard on the ham radio, Charles makes a second murder board in the middle of the night that focuses on Sazz. After all, she was investigating the West Tower. Charles thinks they need to fill in the gaps of things they don't know about Sazz. Mabel is intrigued by the prospect of looking into the victim as much as the killer.

The early morning meeting is taking its toll on Oliver, however, who hasn't slept much after talking to Loretta on her west coast schedule and then spiraling about who she is hanging out with in Los Angeles.

Oliver admits he almost proposed to Loretta in LA, but got cold feet. For now, Oliver is attached to his iPad and obbessively monitoring her Instagram. While this isn’t initially helpful to the case, the trio discovers Sazz is following Loretta on the social media platform. From here, they see that Sazz’s last post was on the day she died from a bar called Concussions.

Concussions

On the way to Concussions, Oliver reveals he has created a Finsta (fake Instagram account), Ronnie, to engage with Loretta. Oliver's biggest concern is a muscular arm that appears in multiple images. Mabel thinks this is "a disaster in the making."

At the bar, Oliver or Charles are painfully awkward in asking questions — and ordering drinks — and they are on the receiving end of hostile patrons. These stunt performers refer to actors as "faces," and they don’t like faces. They are skeptical of the trios' motives and think they plan to exploit this tragedy for their podcast.

Also in the bar they meet an Irish man called Glenn Stubbins (Paul Rudd) with an eerily similar face to Ben Glenroy. Glenn hallucinates rats in the bar, and the trio quickly departs after Glenn threatens them. As they leave, Mabel From notices the same purple light from Sazz's photo at the back of the bar.

When they get outside, Glenn is friendly and reveals he's struggling after Ben's death. If they can get him a job in the Only Murders movie, he will reveal more about the bar. They agree, and Glenn tells them that a chiropractor, Dr. Maggie (Veanne Cox), works out of the back room. Charles insists he follow up on this lead by himself.

More secrets revealed

Charles thinks chiropractors are a pseudo-science but quickly discovers some home truths on Dr. Maggie's table, including the fact that Sazz was going to retire. Charles has the Sazz dream again, seeing how many injuries she sustained, and worries he is why she planned to retire.

Back at the Arconia, Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton) stays in the Dudenoff apartment while Mabel is out. While he is in the apartment, someone slips a flier under the door about Only Murders auditions, and Howard cannot resist. He auditions for the role of "Howard" but does not get the part.

While the acting world isn't calling, Howard tells Mabel he is exiting their (non-existent) creative relationship. Mabel realizes the apartment she is squatting in is empty, so she runs to ensure Dudenoff hasn't returned. Instead, she discovers the Westies are trying to retrieve some documents hidden in this apartment.

They admit their group isn't a secret ham-eating cult, but they are all illegally subletting rent-controlled apartments from Dudenoff. They each send $200 to Dudenoff, who now lives in Portugal and doesn't want the podcast ruining this real estate miracle. They agree to cut Mabel into the deal with the vacant apartment.

It turns out that the voice on the ham radio was Rudy's (Kumail Nanjiani) ex-girlfriend Helga, and has nothing to do with the case (though they aren't too convincing with this excuse). Vince (Richard Kind) says he hasn't even met Sazz.

Finding Paradise

Over a card game of Oh Hell, Charles, Mabel and Oliver all think they are dropping the ball. Mabel thinks she has let Howard down, and Charles has immense guilt about Sazz. Meanwhile, Oliver understands that if Loretta finds out he has been catfishing her with Ronnie, it will ruin his relationship, so he deletes his Finsta.

Charles realizes he can give something back to Sazz by being her stand-in for once so she can have the funeral she deserves at Concussions. As part of tradition, Charles lies on the bar's pool table as each patron smashes a breakaway bottle on his head. Glenn hits Charles with an actual bottle and then watches the ensuing fight as it is what Sazz would've wanted.

While unconscious, Charles has a vision of a past conversation with Sazz in which she explained her goal is to open the Sazz Pataki Impact Academy to train future stunt performers. This location is the "paradise" Charles has been dreaming about.

The trio heads to where Sazz planned to open the Impact Academy and hears a noise inside a rundown building. Inside they discover Paramount Studio's Bev Melon (Molly Shannon), who points a gun at them and threatens to shoot. Did Bev kill Sazz?

New episodes of Only Murders in the Building season 4 release Tuesdays on Hulu in the US and Disney Plus in the UK.