You Might Want a Recap of ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 1 Before Opening the Case on Season 2
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There are so many good TV shows right now, and especially so many good mystery shows, that I feel like when a new one occupies the crime-solving pleasure center of my brain it kicks the previous tenant out. Anybody else? Only Murders in the Building is back for season 2, but if you totally forgot what happened here's an Only Murders season 1 recap to refresh.Who knows, some of those old deets may come in handy for the new mystery.
First, the basics: Only Murders in the Building is about three residents of a building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan called the Arconia: a former television actor named Charles Haden-Savage (Steve Martin), a theatre director named Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), and an artist named Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez). Charles used to be the star of a detective show called Brazzos. Mabel is refurbishing her aunt's apartment but grew up visiting the building. Oliver, meanwhile, is endlessly chipper but broke and estranged from his family.
The three bond over their shared love of true crime podcasts, and when a murder happens in their building they decide to get into podcasting themselves while trying to solve the mystery. But wouldn't you know, the murder ends up involving most of them.
Who died in season 1?
Tim Kono, a resident of the Arconia who had a reputation in the building for being a bit of a jerk, was found dead. The cops thought he died by suicide, but the Only Murders crew suspected otherwise.
Turns out, Tim was a childhood friend of Mabel's. Ten years prior, Tim and Mabel's friend Oscar was arrested for the murder of their other mutual friend Zoe.
Who killed Tim Kono?
The murderer was a woman named Jan, a classical bassoonist who was sleeping with Tim and killed him after they broke up. In order to stay one step ahead of her pursuers, Jan honey-trapped and started dating Charles. The trio figured out she was involved when they found a bassoon cleaner in Tim's treasure trove of sex toys, and barely apprehended her before she killed Charles next.
What else do I need to remember?
There was a big red herring in the season. It looked like Theo and Teddy, a father-son duo in the building, killed Tim to keep him quiet. It was Theo who killed Zoe—accidentally—by pushing her off the roof of the Arconia. Tim witnessed the accident, and Teddy threatened him into silence. But the murdered ended up being Jan instead.
Detective Williams, who was ready to rule Tim's death as a suicide until her wife started listening to the podcast, does not like the trio.
The podcast, also titled "Only Murders in the Building" that Charles, Oliver, and Mabel started has attracted a lot of outside attention. They have superfans who camp outside of the Arconia and even helped put together the final clues. They are also on the radar of Cinda Canning, a professional podcast host played by Tina Fey who resembles Serials' Sarah Koenig and launched a rival podcast about their podcast titled "Only Murderers in the Building." Rude!
Plus, and probably most important to remember, the season ended with Charles and Oliver getting a mysterious text telling them to leave the building ASAP. They then found Mabel over Bunny's dead body with her knitting needle sticking out of her chest. Bunny, as the board president of the Arconia, was the most-hated person in the building after Tim died. So that's not ideal! The murders are not over in the building, leading us perfectly into season 2.
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