Only Murders in the Building – Season 1 Review

Three strangers – Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) – share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one. When a grisly death occurs inside their exclusive Upper West Side apartment building, the trio suspects murder and employs their precise knowledge of true crime to investigate the truth. Perhaps even more explosive are the lies they tell one another. Soon, the endangered trio comes to realize a killer might be living among them as they race to decipher the mounting clues before it’s too late.

As far back as I can remember, I have always adored Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, but for whatever reason, it never dawned on me that they would make an absolutely electrifying trio with some of the best chemistry you can find in the entertainment business, but I’m so glad that their new comedy-mystery show Only Murders in the Building perfectly displays just how good this trio is.

The heart and soul of this show really does come from their chemistry, and they all genuinely feel as though they’re all best friends in real life. From the second they appear on screen together to the last, it’s almost impossible to not smile watching their various misadventures and fun little quirks. The show is absolutely hilarious. You’d think that with so many different writers and directors involved with this season that each episode would feel drastically different tonally from the previous ones but gratefully, that’s not the case here.

A lot of the humor comes from Martin Short, who is one of my favorite people in the entertainment industry. Not only does his character have the funniest and most “WTF” lines in the show, but Short is really the only guy that could’ve played this character and done it justice. He and Steve Martin’s character often get into fun little arguments about silly things and Selena Gomez’ Mabel is usually the one that diffuses everything and tries to get them to see reason.

I love how although this show focuses on a murder mystery front and center – an extremely interesting one at that – it finds plenty of time to focus on our three leads and flesh them out in emotionally rewarding and also shocking ways. By the time the season comes to a close, you, too, will feel as though you personally know these three eccentric podcasters. And, yes, along the way you may even shed a tear or two.

Crafting ten entire episodes where you build up to a murder mystery reveal would be a tricky task for anybody to do, and yet this show makes it look so easy. Just when you think you know who the killer is, the writers throw a big wrench in the story and make you rethink everything you thought you knew. Sometimes in film and TV, this can be frustrating because it can feel like the creative team just did that to annoy you. To hell with making sense, right?

Whenever Only Murders in the Building unveils a new plot twist, it all makes sense and things slowly start to click in your mind that make you go “How did I miss that?”. There was obviously a ton of planning involved with this story, and I’m so glad that it was executed with such brilliance.

It’s also one of the most visually impressive shows I have watched in quite a long time. Chris Teague‘s cinematography is extremely vibrant and comforting to look at. You wouldn’t think a show focusing on a murder would bring with it a cozy vibe, but this show does. Plus the music by Siddhartha Khosla further accentuates the season, bringing out some fun and playful tunes that perfectly match the show’s feel.

Only Murders in the Building is a relentlessly enjoyable, brilliantly written, and deeply intriguing show propelled by its three lead performances.