Only Murders in the Building Season 3 Review: A Recurring Pattern That Does Not Lose Its Shine

Cast: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Michael Cyril Creighton, Meryl Streep, Paul Rudd

Creators: Steve Martin, John Hoffman

Streaming Platform: Hulu and Disney+

Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars)

Only Murders in the Building Season 3 returns on August 8, 2023, on Hulu and Disney+. Steve Martin, Selena Gomez, and Martin Short grappling with Broadway, yet another crime, podcasts, and… Meryl Streep. There are many ways to signal that your show is successful: you can allow yourself to be consumed by doubts, immolate the budget in an orgy of pretentious excess, and multiply without constructing backgrounds and storylines. Or, much more simply (and effectively), you hire Meryl Streep. Having said that, Only Murders in the Building is back with its eagerly awaited third season starting August 8, 2023, on Hulu and Disney+, initially with the first two episodes, then continuing at a rate of one a week until October (10 in all). Crime, humor, true crime podcast, friendship across a lot of things (age, philosophy of life), New York. An interesting combination, but there’s always the risk of getting to the point where you have nothing more to say, but you carry on anyway.

The right question, after three seasons, is the following: how do you keep the freshness of the premise, without betrayal and opening up to new things? A sensible answer may be going to Broadway. Only Murders in the Building is the creation of Steve Martin, Dan Fogelman, and John Hoffman. In this third season, the curtain rises on the anxieties, joys, efforts, and secrets of musical theatre. The world’s most desired stages, the most glittering show. Death is certainly violent but immersed in a humorous setting. With Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Paul Rudd, Ashley Park, and, it goes without saying, Meryl Streep. It is with her that the story begins, correct that the review adapts.

Only Murders in the Building Season 3 Review: The Story Plot

We had left Charles, Oliver, and Mabel with their lives straightened out again after true crime podcast fans themselves were suspected of murder. Then, the turning point: in the last minutes of the second season the dead man escaped us again, this time on a stage. It was Ben Glenroy, the protagonist of the new Broadway show directed by Oliver, who kicked the bucket, and the third cycle of episodes shows the sequelae of that death, with the reactions of the trio of protagonists and the reconstruction of the events that led to that unexpected twist in the middle of the theatrical performance. Who killed Ben? And what will be the impact of his departure on the events of our heroes? At least this time, as Uma points out as she takes the elevator with Charles.

Only Murders in the Building Season 3 Review and Analysis

Successful series stand out when, while remaining themselves, they dare to change the cards on the table, mixing the successful elements and daring small changes to refresh the formula. This is what the third season of the show conceived by Steve Martin and John Hoffman tries to do, with discrete results, separating for the first time the irresistible protagonist trio and staging conflicts between the protagonists who, for the first time since when we know it, they seem to serve different purposes. There is still the Podcast element that brought them together early on, but it comes long after the investigation has begun and this time it seems to be a break rather than a bonding factor. Mabel, Charles, and Oliver seem intent, this time, on giving priority to their lives rather than solving the case, and this narrative choice gives a new movement to the series, without betraying its spirit.

The Only Murders in the Building Season 3 therefore always proposes the same tone as the previous cycles, a perfect mix between comedy and mystery, with various situations bordering on reality, which insistently court the comedy of the absurd and then always remain within of a context of verisimilitude which is the element that most retains the public. The decision to separate, for a certain period, the paths of the three protagonists is certainly dictated by the need for renewal but takes away from the show its most successful aspect: the alchemy between Short, Martin, and Gomez, which fortunately, once restored sets the story sailing towards a surprise ending (which the writer has not yet seen since the episodes available to the press were only the first 8 of 10).

For its third murder to be solved, Only Murders in the Building seems to follow a precise pattern that puts our heroes back at the center of the investigation, that makes them suspects in some way or that puts them very close to the real culprits, in a game of misunderstandings and illuminations that does not lose its edge, even though the mechanism has now been revealed. The new characters are eagerly awaited this season, which given the caliber of the interpreters certainly cannot be relegated to simple side extras. Attention therefore to Loretta (Meryl Streep) and Ben (Paul Rudd), both at the center of the intrigues, and both champions who embellish a product that confirms itself as one of the greatest blessings that the comedy genre has enjoyed in recent years of saturation from platforms.

Only Murders in the Building and its wildcat-esque third season: change a lot so that nothing changes. The fixed points: a crime, a podcast, and three unlikely friends grappling with a tangle of red herrings, morbid passions, and shocking truths. Steve Martin is a prisoner for the life of his funny narcissism and pathological inability to face a life of relationships in a mature way. Selena Gomez hides her frailties and needs for human warmth behind a curtain of implacable sarcasm. Martin Short, the living embodiment of show business, a showman at heart. The surplus of flavor, for this third season, comes from an ingredient that has always exercised a profound influence on the series, never in such an explicit way. Theater.

The theater is a backdrop, a means of expression, a set of staging rules and conventions. The container of a crime with mysterious motives. But that’s not enough. Nope, theater, Broadway, is the not-so-secret crush on Only Murders in the Building. A state of mind, an explosion of lights, colors, and strong emotions. And if the narrative form is the classic one, the sui generis investigative procedural, the series starts from here to explore the ups and downs, the tensions, the follies, and the gratifications of the creative process. A choice of pure consistency. The reflection carried out since the first season and focused on the risks and traps of making life and death spectacular, is led to the extreme consequences. Death is in the theatre; death is the theatre. The theatricality of violence, the theatricality of feelings, actions, and reactions, the over-the-top tone of the story: all for and in the theatre. The environment (Broadway) conditions man and his most secret impulses.

But there is no theater without actors. How this Only Murders in the Building Season 3 will end is not an answer to look for in these lines, the review covers eight episodes, two are missing and who knows how many more things can happen. All suspects, all guilty, all innocent. It is not (yet) given to know what Loretta means to the story. Of course, by accepting to inhabit the character of an actress frustrated by the profession despite her enormous talent, Meryl Streep frontally “attacks” his myth. Drawing the outlines of a gigantic what if – wondering, through Loretta, how would things have gone if I hadn’t made it? – the most important (but not the only) and celebrated American actress explores anxieties, frustrations, and jealousies of a profession. With unusual sincerity. She celebrates her legend by tearing it apart and putting it back together. She makes a show of it. All are shown in Only Murders in the Building. This is the risk; this is the reward.

The secret of the success of Only Murders in the Building is New York, the true crime, the Arconia, the homage to the podcast, also and above all the interaction – perfectly unbalanced – of Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Selena Gomez. Plus, there is a musical theatre. Broadway gives this third season an ideal frame, light, and color. Also, musical numbers are almost musical. Entrusting a resoundingly successful actress like Meryl Streep with the task of giving life to her double – the good one who failed to break through – moreover in a supporting role, is an ironic contrast that releases sparks. Of life, of entertainment. Murder, it’s all to be seen.

In the third round, not without a few meta winks (because otherwise what mystery in a comic key would it be?), the show maintains its freshness, just as effective on the side of mystery as on that of laughter, with the two registers complementing each other with wit and intelligence. Above all, it does so by continuing to show us new sides to the personalities of the main trio, now three old friends – for the viewer – with whom we enjoy spending about forty minutes at a time, discovering additional details that enrich the baggage of characteristics that make them the ideal company in this late summer period. And as for The Afterparty, which adopts a similar approach on Apple TV+, is the perfect context, in a world that is still not completely unused to binge-watching, in which to rediscover the joys of weekly viewing (except the first two episodes, proposed together), a ritual that fuels dramatic and comic tension in equal measure.

Only Murders in the Building Season 3 Review: The Last Words

The third season introduces fun new elements and at the same time remains faithful to what made the series effective, starting with the perfect harmony between the three main actors. By slightly modifying the trajectories of the three protagonists and re-proposing a formula that the viewer knows but loves all the same, Only Murders in the Building is confirmed as one of the greatest blessings that the comedy genre has enjoyed in recent years of platform saturation. The series, now in its third season, has a consolidated formula and structure that can be modified with the addition of guest stars, above all a magnificent Meryl Streep who steals the show in these new episodes. Comedy prevails over crime and it is certainly the component that works best.

Only Murders in the Building Season 3 Review: A Recurring Pattern That Does Not Lose Its Shine - Filmyhype

Director: Steve Martin

Date Created: 2023-08-08 17:38

Editor's Rating:
4

Pros

• The addition of Meryl Streep was a stroke of genius. She's hilarious and she brings a lot of energy to the show.
• The chemistry between the four main actors is still great. They play off each other perfectly and their interactions are always entertaining.
• The mystery is well-written and full of twists and turns. It will keep you guessing until the very end.
• The show explores the characters' relationships with each other in a meaningful way.
• The show is still funny, suspenseful, and heartwarming.

Cons

• The show can be a bit predictable at times.
• Some of the subplots are not as interesting as the main mystery.
• The show is a bit slow-paced at times.