The murderer is finally revealed and an Oliver Putnam production helps make the reveal in the season 2 finale of “Only Murders in the Building.” A character we had barely seen until a few episodes ago has been living a double life, but her insistence on trying to move up in the world of true crime podcasting ends up being her downfall when Cinda Canning helps Oliver, Charles and Mabel expose her. Then, a year later, another murder happens around our beloved trio, this time during a play that Oliver is directing and Charles is co-starring in.

This episode plays out like a big game of “Clue.” The trio suspects Cinda Canning is the murderer because they believe she helped frame a small town mayor to get her most successful podcast off the ground. But, in the end, when the killer is revealed to not be the character played by Tina Fey, there’s a nice little runaround bringing us back to some of the previous suspects before we finally land on Cinda’s assistant, a woman the show had gone out of its way to make us believe couldn’t be the killer, right up until her bird allergy is revealed.

The eventual way they are able to catch her is a tried and true method, but has been used to death, no pun intended. The perpetrator reveals themselves by saying too much at a time when someone else appears to be the suspect. This happened recently in “Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” when Wanda accidentally reveals she’s the one chasing America Chavez by revealing to Dr. Strange she knows America’s name even though he hasn’t told her yet. And it happens here when Poppy, or Becky, reveals she knew there was a girl in the hidden passages when she sneezed even though the trio had not revealed that Lucy was in there at the same time the murderer was fleeing. It’s a common trope, but an effective one.

I was worried about the show losing some steam in the second season, but this season was just as good as the first. The show has been greenlit for a third season and it appears Paul Rudd will be playing the victim. While that looks to be entertaining, it also seems like that’s where the show plans to end. Both Steve Martin and Martin Short have hinted the show will end after three seasons and that may be a great idea. I don’t know if they will be able to keep this up in a third season, much less beyond that, but I’m excited to see them try.

Ranking: 4 stars

What did you think of the season finale of “Only Murders in the Building?”

Jeremy Brown

Jeremy has been a big Disney fan since he was a kid growing up during the Disney Renaissance. One day he hopes to go to every Disney Park in the world.

View all posts