【2003 Archives】

Ever since Serialkicked off this golden age of true crime podcasts003 Archives thousands of amateur sleuths have spent their days obsessing over the details of some grisly murder or other. True crime podcast obsessives are a macabre and growing subculture, with their own forums, lingo, and tropes. With all of those people spending so much of their time thinking about crime, the question remains: Do true crime podcasts render their listeners paranoid about murder — or prepared to solve one on their own?

That question is the setup for Only Murders in the Building, a half-hour Hulu comedy about three strangers whose only commonalities are living in the same ritzy Upper West Side apartment building and being obsessed with a popular true crime podcast. When one of their neighbors suffers a mysterious and violent death, those same strangers apply their true crime knowledge to solving his apparent murder while making a podcast of their own.

The resulting adventure is a polished, hilarious, and compelling comic mystery that draws on the considerable strengths of its all-star cast to mine gold from true crime stereotypes. The legendary Steve Martin plays Charles, an actor best known for playing a cheesy detective in a procedural drama from the 1970s. The equally legendary Martin Short is Oliver, a Broadway (and off-off-off Broadway) director who hasn't worked in years but retains his flair for staging drama. The third member of their trio is Selena Gomez as Mabel, a mysterious millennial with secrets, cool boots, and more common sense than Charles and Oliver combined.

Both Martin and Short individually have decades of experience in comedy, but the two of them also have a long history of performing together as a duo. Only Murders in the Buildingbenefits immensely from their chemistry and the kind of magical timing that looks easy but in actuality took 30-plus years for them to develop. Watching Charles and Oliver's mutual dislike melt into a partnership built around their fatherly affection for Mabel and, of course, a heinous murder, is the show's funniest and most interesting journey; every one of their scenes is a masterclass in how comedy legends get it done.

Even with the podcast, Charles and Oliver wouldn't be friends if not for Mabel. Selena Gomez, who is also an executive producer of Only Murdersalong with Martin and Short, plays her as a cool girl with a past and a sarcastic edge, but she also imbues her with a sweet vulnerability that charms Charles and Oliver into a super cute "instant grandpa" mindset. Many of the show's biggest twists hedge on what Mabel may or may not be hiding, and Gomez deftly layers multiple meanings in Mabel's dialogue to keep her neighbors (and the audience) on their toes.

Only Murders in the Building is fantastically written (Steve Martin is a co-creator and writer on the show as well) with rapid-fire jokes, references, and episodic callbacks that make watching the show more than once a veryrewarding experience. It's also intensely New York-y, from the title credits and font intentionally evoking a New Yorkercover to a very involved series-long joke about a movie-turned-musical that isn't Spider-Man: Turn Off the Darkbut harmed almost as many working actors. Only Murdersis never over the top with its New Yorkness or with anything else, giving each episode a Goldilocks-esque quality where nothing is ever too much or too little. In the cast's experienced hands, everything is just right.

If you want to wait until after the finale, Only Murders in the Buildingis more than good enough to be enjoyed all at once, but its twisty nature and jaw-dropping cliffhangers make it a perfect week-to-week watch as well. Only Murderscaptures the magic of waiting for a new episode of a true crime podcast, and it deserves to be the kind of show where half the fun is talking about theories with your friends while you wait for the next drop. So let's get ready to settle into an armchair and strap on our deerstalkers — we've got a mystery to solve.

Only Murders in the Buildingis streaming on Hulu.

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