Only Murders in the Building Reveals Loretta’s Connection to [Spoiler] — Has Ben’s Killer Been Captured?
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One of Only Murders‘ Season 3 mysteries has been solved — but is Ben’s killer still on the loose?
Episode 8 reveals that Meryl Streep’s Loretta Durkin is Dickie’s biological mother. During the cold open, Loretta writes Dickie a letter explaining that she left him with Michael and Eloise Glenroy to pursue her Broadway dreams. Over the years, she followed Dickie from afar — hence the scrapbook! — and saw Death Rattle as an opportunity to reconnect with the son she left behind.
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On the day of the show’s most critical rehearsal, Loretta intends to clear the air — but before she can hand Dickie the letter she wrote, Detective Willians barges into the Gooseberry, determined to catch a killer. She wants to speak to Cobro’s put-upon brother, who’s currently Mabel’s No. 1 suspect, but Loretta puts a stop to it. She interrupts sitzprobe and claims that she killed Ben!
But did Loretta really do it? We have our doubts. Most likely, her decision to take the fall for Ben’s murder is inspired by two pivotal conversations that precede her on-stage confession. The first is with Death Rattle producer Donna DeMeo, who’s applying lipstick when she tells Loretta that it’s only natural to do whatever it takes to protect your child. (Hmm….) That’s followed by a run-in with Dickie, who admits that he “felt free” for a few fleeting moments after Ben was poisoned. Once he was resuscitated, Dickie felt “trapped again,” and he “couldn’t take it anymore.” Does that mean he pushed Ben down the elevator shaft?
Below, series co-creator John Hoffman breaks down the climactic installment.
TVLINE | Loretta is Dickie’s mother! How long was that idea in the works?
I pitched this to Meryl while we were still in the writers’ room [arcing Season 3]. One of our brilliant writers, Elaine Ko, pitched this story for Loretta, and it was a moment you felt in the room — one of those things that gets you very excited. Meryl wanted something juicy… and it’s a re-contextualizing of this character that reshapes who she is and why she arrived at that audition, and what she was really thinking when she recited that monologue about caring for a child that may not be physically hers.
TVLINE | The big reveal, and Loretta’s subsequent arrest, coincide with sitzprobe. That’s a lot for one episode! Why was this critical rehearsal the right setting for so many of this season’s biggest developments?
“Sitzprobe” is an episode that I was very excited about from the beginning. Sitzprobe is not a term a lot of people know, and the idea of [unleashing these developments] at this critical point — a play that maybe shouldn’t be a musical, but we’re giving it a whirl, matching up with an orchestra and hearing it for the first time where it either soars or it doesn’t — that felt like where we could [sync up] with our mystery, where the trio could [reconcile] their relationship… but particularly for Loretta, this felt like a great opportunity to reframe everything you’ve watched since Episode 1.
TVLINE | Loretta and Donna’s conversation about doing whatever it takes to protect your child stuck with me. I was also intrigued by Donna applying lipstick in that scene. Earlier this season, a tube of lipstick was used to write “f–king pig” on Ben’s dressing room mirror. Is there something there, or am I reading too much into that scene?
A lipstick is a running thru line, for sure. There’s great resonance to that scene — certainly, this notion of putting the pressure on Loretta in that moment to make the decision that she’s got to make in her mind for the son that she gave away — but there are other elements in that scene, beyond the lipstick, that may tether out as well.
TVLINE | You mean to tell me we don’t have all the answers yet?
[Laughs] You do not have all the answers yet.
TVLINE | Before we wrap things up, can we take a moment to reflect on Steve Martin’s performance? That patter song couldn’t have come easy.
It gets me emotional every time I talk about it. Steve is the kindest person. He’s also very hard on himself. Once he is tasked with something, he dives in in a consuming way and he drives toward perfection. When you’re with him and he’s creating this thing, it’s brilliant to watch.
That night, I texted a picture of Steve on stage doing the patter song to Paul Rudd, who was already back making Ghostbusters. There, in the audience, was Meryl and Marty. They didn’t need to be there anymore — they were finished shooting — but there was a good crowd there for Steve as he was doing that. And he was doing it live, full out. That night I wrote Steve and said, “I don’t know that I’ve witnessed greater night, or a greater moment for you doing this show, than watching everyone watching you, and getting so dazzled by what you were doing. It was an impossibly difficult task.”
My other favorite moment was when Steve’s wife Anne, who is absolutely lovely, said “Thank you, John. I want you to know that I know every lyric of that song and can sing it backwards because Steve’s been singing it constantly.” [Laughs]
What did you think of Tuesday’s Only Murders in the Building? And with just two episodes to go, we have to ask: Who’s at the top of your suspect list? Sound off in Comments.
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