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You know those shows that feel like a warm hug whenever they return to our screens, even if their subject matter isn’t always savory? Only Murders in the Building season 5 is exactly that, and for me, it’s by far the best installment of the Hulu show to date.
For anyone that needs a recap, poor Arconia doorman Lester (Teddy Coluca) was bumped off at the end of season 4, leaving our clumsy podcasters Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) to try and solve the crime in new episodes. Pretty much all of our Arconia residents and recurring cast members return for more distant sleuthing, with new guest stars Renée Zellweger, Dianne Wiest and Keegan-Michael Key each having a crucial role to play.
It’s rare that a TV show can get me to laugh out loud, resist fast-forwarding through typical filler scenes and try to jump the gun by deciding who the murderer is even if I’m wrong, but the quickly turned-around season 5 has managed that with ease.
It’s more of the same, unsurprisingly, but you can’t mess with near perfection, can you? We passed the signpost warning us of ridiculous storylines back in season 1… so of course we’re all in for this delicious new round of chaos. Can it be more unhinged? Turns out, yes.
Only Murders in the Building season 5 kicks things up another notch
Obviously, I’d be committing the cardinal whodunnit sin if I gave away any spoilers, but I can tell you that I’ve not enjoyed a season of Only Murders in the Building as much as I have with season 5. Why? Mostly because we’ve got the perfect balance of old and new. Our main cast have embodied their roles so well that they’re essentially symbiotic, while our new players are introduced in ways that continue to surprise and delight.
I started episode 1 thinking season 5 was basically a glorified Disney channel for adults who don’t want to age out of their silliness – and then I realized that’s exactly what the show’s been this entire time. Everything about its composition is incredibly playful, able to manipulate the typical boundaries of genre and structure that we’d normally see our best streaming services rigidly stick to. In a nutshell, it’s in its own lane.
The chemistry between Martin, Short and Gomez is obviously what’s continuing to drive all of this. I genuinely believe that they’re unlikely best friends both on and off camera, and the fact that the podcasters know each other as well as they know themselves only makes the overall story land that much more naturally.
I’m still surprised at how well some of the one-liner zingers land, somehow veering away from cringe-worthy tropes and straight into laughs that register across different generations. This, if nothing else, is the sign that something is well-crafted and knows exactly what it is and what it wants to achieve.
I know Meryl Streep is Meryl Streep, but I need more
If I really had to pick Only Murders in the Building season 5 apart – and I wouldn’t be a good reviewer if I didn’t – there are some small details that could bother me if I let them. We’re effectively just getting more of exactly the same without any distinct changes, and what is different is incredibly far-fetched.
Four people have died in The Arconia by the time season 5 kicks off, and street smarts should tell us that every single resident should have moved out by now. Obviously, the fact that more death is now on the horizon requires a belief suspension so big, it’s practically floating on the ceiling. But if you’ve taken anything seriously up until this point, that’s on you.
My biggest gripe is that season 5 has the least amount of Meryl Streep screen time since her arrival in season 3. When I was 17, I co-founded a Meryl Streep fan club at school called The Mezralites around the time The Iron Lady came out. There were only two of us, and we got t-shirts made. I’ve been the equivalent of Cam in Modern Family ever since (who once said: “Meryl Streep could play Batman and be the right choice”), so nothing short of constant exposure is ever going to be enough for me.
Still, you can find her in the latter half of season 5, and it’s majorly worth the wait. Loretta (Streep’s character) decides to play a Danish clairvoyant for reasons that will become clear when you watch, and my side were splitting watching her. There’s no presence, Awards chat or need to be an icon here: The Arconia is her actor’s playground, and she’s letting rip.
Having said all of this, you don’t fix something that isn’t broke. Of course Only Murders in the Building was never going to deviate away from a hugely successful format and brand, and we should be thanking our lucky stars that season 5 is just as good as it ever was (nay, better). Shoutout to Zellweger for being the best and campiest guest star we’ve had on in the last few years, and being the only person to match Oliver’s unique brand of unhinged self-delusion.
