Only Murders in the Building spoilers follow.
They say that only three things are certain in life: death, taxes and Only Murders in the Building ending a season with a cliffhanger murder. This time around the victim was…Charles Haden-Savage.
Psych! A precious moment passes during that tenth episode in which the Disney+ show tries to trick us into believing it actually is the Brazzos star (Steve Martin) who is shot sniper-style through an Arconia window, but the injured party is in fact Charles' long-time body double Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch). RIP.
Before all that, we finally learn the truth of how Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd) fell down that precariously gaping lift shaft. It turns out Ben had called Cliff (Wesley Taylor) "boy" one too many times, pushing the nepo baby beyond the end of his tether. Although, with just two strips of hazard tape in between Ben and certain death, perhaps the Arconia health and safety board is also a little bit liable?
Anyhoo, after an entertaining trail of twists and red herrings, we found out it was the producers behind it all. As we foresaw! Let's take a moment for a victory lap.
Once Cliff and Donna (Linda Emond) have been led away in handcuffs, the season-three finale leaves us with another season to set up in its closing moments. And our next murder victim poses an interesting prospect, because whoever fired that fatal bullet into Charles' apartment was obviously trying to kill the Only Murders podcaster himself, and the killer probably believes they succeeded.
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When Sazz shows up to Oliver's 'My Broadway musical is a smash success' soiree, she is wearing an identical outfit to Charles, down to the jaunty box hat. The pair even pose for a lookalike selfie together.
Charles then tells his podcasting colleagues he's heading up to his place to retrieve a bottle of his prized 1966 Argentinian Malbec. Moments later, someone in that unmistakable fedora is rustling around Charles' apartment in the dark while whistling the 'Pickwick Triplets' ditty. Then: Bang! A bullet flies through the window and the rustler is down.
Back downstairs at Oliver's place, Mabel (Selena Gomez) says Charles went to fetch the vino, only for him to appear and tell us Sazz actually went on the errand after all. We see Sazz's final, heartwrenching moments on the Arconia's signature geometric tiled floor before the show fades to black.
So, which of the Arconia's occupants did it? Who of the crew would commit this crime? We certainly have a couple of suspects on the docket already. Firstly, there's Charles' ill-fated former fiancé Joy (Andrea Martin) – might that romantic feeler text she sent actually have been a classic piece of misdirection?
Then there's whoever or whatever is behind the "sensitive" information Sazz tells Charles she needs to discuss with him when she first arrives at the Arconia with a cold case of beer. We're guessing she never managed to get Charles aside for a word, but perhaps the trio will be able to get to the bottom of it next season.
While we don't have any official news of a fourth season of the show, it seems like a foregone conclusion. We now have the open question of Sazz's murder to solve and it seems we could even see this inherently New York show head over to the west coast, with both inexplicably-named Tobert (Jesse Williams) and up-and-comer Loretta (Meryl Streep) moving to the sunnier climes of Los Angeles for work.
Or more likely their characters will just be quietly phased out with a throwaway line of dialogue next season. It certainly wouldn't be the first time.
Only Murders in the Building is available to stream on Disney+ in the UK and Hulu in the US.
Previously Deputy TV Editor at Digital Spy and, before that, a TV Reporter at The Mirror, Rebecca can now be found crafting expert analysis of the TV landscape, when she's not talking on the BBC or Times Radio about everything from the latest season of Bridgerton or The White Lotus to whatever chaos is unfolding in the various Love Island villas. When she's not bingeing a boxset, in-the-wild sightings of Rebecca have included stints on the National TV Awards and BAFTAs red carpets, and post-match video explainers of the reality TV we're all watching.
