Up and vanished season 3 paul11/27/2023 To what end, really, was that entire side plot about Charles's father and the mystery artist (who turned out to be Shirley MacLaine) with whom he was in love? You could say the same about Charles's daughter figure, Lucy, or even the mystery paternity of Oliver's son. What aggravated me during long stretches of Only Murders Season 2 was the sense that the show was taking meandering detours into the characters' personal lives soley in service of treading water until the mystery of who killed Bunny (Jayne Houdyshell) could get solved. And while that investigation ended up tying in to things like Mabel's personal history, those personal details were supplemental to the mystery. Only Murders in the Building didn't thrive solely on Agatha Christie-level mystery storytelling in its first season, and it definitely owed a lot of its success to the charm and chemistry of Martin, Short, and Gomez as its leads, but the Tim Kono murder was very satisfying to puzzle through as our protagonists/podcasters amassed clues, investigated suspects, hit dead ends, and ultimately figured it out. I don't think I ended up with quite the same bad taste in my mouth for Season 2, although I'll chalk that up to a final 15-20 minutes in the finale that sold me with a lot of chutzpah and energy (if not a super satisfying solution to the mystery, but I'll get to that), not to mention a tease for Season 3 that worked on me despite all my higher faculties telling me not to be such a sucker.īut you're right that there was something lacking at the center of this season, and I agree that that's where a satisfying mystery should have gone. Joe Reid: The only person who needs to cool it is Michael Rappaport doing his usual Michael Rappaport thing in yet another TV show. Did this bother you at all, or do I need to cool it? I’m not saying I need the show to be “realistic,” but you can’t just toss in any old revelation to move the story forward. We’ve never heard about this before, even though plenty of stressful stuff has befallen her, but I guess when the writers are too lazy to justify their choices in any other way, the sudden revelation of selective amnesia will do. How fortunate! And how very convenient that immediately after Mabel (Selena Gomez) stabs a bad guy on a train, we learn that she enters a fugue state when something stressful happens and then can’t remember anything. This season, however, the writers seemed almost hostile to the idea of delivering a coherent mystery plot.įor instance, Charles (Steve Martin) gets one of his biggest clues when he inexplicably decides to pry the back off his dad’s old watch, where he just happens to find an engraved message. I mean… I know I didn’t dream it, but I also know that Season 1 was especially pleasurable because it worked as a murder mystery as much as it did a comedy. Did I maybe dream that I found it to be such sparkling entertainment? And hoo boy, the back half of this season was such a trainwreck that I’m almost doubting whether I enjoyed the first season. I’d heard from others that the series had dropped off in quality, but at that point it still had everything I loved from the first year: Smart writing, great jokes, excellent performances, and production design that made me want to move into the Arconia, no matter how many people have died there. ![]() Mark Blankenship: Joe, when we first agreed to talk about the second season of Only Murders in the Building, I was only five episodes in, and I felt confident I’d be a cheerleader. Was it worth the return visit? We put that question to Mark Blankenship and Joe Reid, Primetimer’s Reviews Editor and Managing Editor. A second season was inevitable, and it has just dropped its finale. ![]() Hulu’s mystery-comedy - which stars Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez as neighbors who start a podcast about the murders in their fancy New York apartment building - was one of TV’s breakout hits last year, and its first season is currently nominated for a whopping 17 Emmys. Primetimer’s own Aaron Barnhart recently argued that all shows should end after their first batch of episodes, and he was only sort of kidding.īut when a series is as popular, critically lauded, and awards-laden as Only Murders in the Building, the fear of diminishing returns is not going to stand in the way. Second seasons can be notoriously tricky. ![]() The following post references the Season 2 finale of Only Murders in the Building, which releases today on Hulu.
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