6 Things I Look Forward to in ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 3
A few years ago, I never would have expected a “true crime’ comedy to become one of my newest shows since I’m not generally a true crime sort of person, but Only Murders in the Building has become the quirky exception. First off, it comes across as more cozy mystery comedy rather than gritty and gory. Second of all, the team up of Selena Gomez as Mabel with Martin Short and Steve Martin as Oliver and Charles respectively is simply too much fun to pass over. Audiences seem to agree with that last one as it received an Emmy nomination this last year for Best Casting in a Comedy Series. I have found myself eagerly awaiting the release of the next season (August 8th) as well as the drop of the trailer.
The trailer finally arrived this past week (yay!) and there is already a list of things that I can’t wait for. You can see the trailer for yourself below.
WARNING! The trailer and the article may contain spoilers for season 3 of Only Murders in the Building.
1) Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep. Like Oliver Putnam, we might as well start big or go home. The last season ended with an amazing cliffhanger that let us know the next murder went down on the stage of Oliver’s opening night comeback instead of at the Arconia. As the internet was quick to squee over, the victim was none other than the very beloved Paul Rudd playing Ben Glenroy, Oliver’s leading man. From the trailer, we can see that Ben is a jerk (which is somehow extra amusing when played by Paul Rudd, given his reputation for being one of the most genuine and nicest guys in the business). Of course, the way of this show is, you don’t end things there. The particular target of Ben’s jerkiness seems to be Loretta, played by Meryl Streep. He thinks Loretta stinks and wants her off the production. Watching the absurdity of the legendary Meryl Streep pretending to have a terrible accent at a table read and Paul Rudd of all people saying she’s a “stinkerooney” is probably worth the watch just for that. While some of the big guest stars of prior seasons have been more briefly used (like Sting and Amy Schumer), these two are going to be taking center stage much more. Yay!
2) Our favorite trio. The heart of Only Murders in the Building will always be Mabel, Charles, and Oliver. It doesn’t look like it’s going to take long at all for them to get back into the murder investigating game as Mabel asks them if they’d like to make a podcast with her again. Of course, part of the fun of their dynamic is the generational difference, which is always played as funny together rather than combative. Mabel references how much time she spends teaching the guys to connect to Bluetooth. At the same time, Mabel isn’t quite as hip among her peer group as she thinks she is and an awkward attempt to “girl talk” with one of the other suspects has both Oliver and Charles facepalming in secondhand embarrassment.
3) A new love interest for Mabel. If all signs are correct, it looks as though this season has a new love interest for Mabel in the form of Jesse Williams, whose character Tolbert is seen not only at what looks like a fancy dinner date with Mabel but also taking part in the investigating. Her fling with Oscar was more trauma bonding and her relationship with Alice began with Alice using Mabel’s trauma as a sort of muse for her own art. How this new guy fits into things will be interesting to see.
4) Charles’s awkwardness and Oliver’s chaotic energy. Between Charles’s pronunciation of “meme,” Steve Martin’s ability to do slapstick, and Oliver telling Charles he needs him to draw attention to himself, which Charles gladly adheres to in as Charles a way as possible, Steve Martin is absolutely killing it in this role. Having Martin Short’s chaotic Oliver energy to bounce off of serves both actors well. It’s so easy to see how these two became such an amazing comedic duo together.
5) The supporting characters. It takes quite a bit to steal scenes from our favorite trio, but the creators and writers have managed to bring out a series of minor characters who are often capable of doing exactly that. There was a quick flash of Tina Fey’s Cinda Canning, the opportunistic podcaster that may need to rebuild some rep after the subject of her biggest success proved to be not dead but her unappreciated underling who was the murderer of season two. Detective Williams (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) is also back and probably still 100% done with all Arconia-adjacent shenanigans and murders. Speaking of the Arconia, how can anyone forget the quirky residents of our favorite old apartment building? Howard is clearly still around (and we need to know if he made things work with his cat-allergic boyfriend from last season). While Bunny (Jayne Houdyshell) may be gone due to having been the victim of season two, we still have Uma Heller (played by Jackie Hoffman) around. Her delivery of thanking the trio through Charles for keeping the body out of the building this time kills me every time I re-watch the trailer.
6) The music. The music of this show has always been particularly amazing but this season they’re adding original music by the composers of La La Land, Waitress, and Hairspray. Clearly, the show is getting enough attention to get more pull in who they want to bring in, which is getting extra fun to watch (and listen to).
The new season of Only Murders in the Building starts streaming on Hulu on August 8th.
