TV Review: Only Murders In The Building Absolutely Kills
True Crime has become a real obsession for many during this pandemic because it is oddly sickening how soothing or focusing it can be to have Dateline in the backdrop. Even as I write this article, I am listening to a True Crime pod and writing away as a calm voice tries to explain to me how it was NOT Becca’s husband who killed her but, in fact, her son. Again, it is absolutely deranged and even feels wrong, but yet something about the details of death activates people to embrace life more. That is what happens to Selena Gomez’s Mabel, Martin Short’s Oliver, and Steve Martin’s Charles. Separately, they are living quirky, mundane, and rather lonely lives, but now…..with the potential of murder, they not only become friends, they unleash their inner vitality to become…..podcasters.
Admittedly, Only Murders In The Building is not, exactly, the most fast-paced show. There were times that, despite humor and my fandom for its stars, I felt like saying, “Speed it up and get to the true of the crime!” Yet, if I had a bunch of funny superstars, I would feel like I cannot fail either. Selena Gomez is, literally, the most powerful person on Instagram. Despite all attempts to disappear her or act like she isn’t the influential megastar that she is, the fierce Latina persists. Why? Because she is actually talented, and amongst two legendary, comedic heavyweights, Steve Martin and Martin Short, and a slew of comedy icons as guest stars, she manages to steal limelight. I have to say that Only Murders In The Building furthers Hulu’s attempt have more original content, comparable, to Netflix, and its the power of its cast that elevates the platform even more.
It is OMITB’s stellar acting that carries you through from satisfaction to pure glee as each embodies a type of True Crime fan. First, there is Mabel (Gomez) whom embodies the dry humor of a True Crimer, and encapsulates the lonely artists who listen to murder mysteries as they paint moody images and mix emo tracks. Moreover…..there are hints that Mabel may have crime in her own past truths. Then, there is Oliver (Short): a flashy but struggling for rent, theater director whose obsession with True Crime is 100% a gaudy distraction from his bills. Following him in True Crime type-cast fans is Charles, the “solid man” whose wit and nonchalance is used to make an “appearance” of busied indifference to the murder and his own lackluster life choices. Yet, no matter how much they try to act like they do not care THAT much or have their own lives, investigating who killed their neighbor Tony is invigorating. Suddenly, their thoughts are able to construct something potentially successful, like a podcast, compared to what they all have in common: their felt inability to move on in their lives: whether it be in career or family drama.
Sometimes, I wonder if the obsession with death and murder that has swept our nation and podcasting comes from a quiet fear: what if someone took our life before we felt we lived it? I always say that comedy is the choice to laugh at your tragedy rather than cry over it, but even that choice can feel twisted. Mabel, Charles, and Oliver, with Short giving us the biggest laughs, are so dynamically perfect for each other because they are strangely imperfect with themselves. They simply don’t know how to move forward in life, which is why the potential homicide of a neighbor is fascinating; someone literally took their chance to move at all. It may be a dark note, but it is peppered with highly visual, imaginative skits, genuinely blossoming friendships, and enough emotional misfires to make for some really well-written jokes. All in all, Only Murders In The Building kills it.
