Only Murders In The Building Season 5 review: Autocorrect’s the big villain in this snooze fest

Only Murders In The Building Season 5 review: What's OMITB without a murder podcast? A boring, directionless season with no heart

Selena Gomez, Martin Short, Steve Martin in Only Murders in the Building Season 5

Only Murders In The Building

Only Murders In The Building Season 5 story: The Arconia’s long-serving doorman Lester (Teddy Coluca) is found dead under a fountain in the building’s courtyard, hours after Oliver Putnam’s (Martin Short) wedding. Although no foul play is suspected, the podcast trio think otherwise, and as they begin sleuthing, they stumble upon a casino for the ultra-rich operated out of the Arconia’s basement. Nicky Caccimelio (Bobby Cannavale), the brain behind this venture, also ends up dead, leading to a suspect pool that not only includes three of New York’s richest, but also the widows of the deceased men and the new doorman.

Only Murders In The Building Season 5 review: Yet another all fluff and no substance season of Only Murders In the Building goes by. The mystery comedy, which began with a bang has been on a downward spiral for a while, trading entertaining story telling for a star-stuffed cast. It’s no different this season, but the trouble is that having the likes of Renee Zellweger, Tea Leoni, Dianne Wiest and Christoph Waltz, among others, and promoting Meryl Streep to series regular, does it no good.

This season, in particular, was an absolute killjoy. Most of the Arconia residents have been bought out by Camilla White (Renee Zellweger), a billionaire keen to turn it into New York’s first casino. Apparently, all that she needs is 51% ownership to tear the building down. I don’t get how that’d be possible, but that’s the reality the residents of Arconia face and everyone’s packing up and leaving. For the trio – Charles (Steve Martin), Mabel (Selena Gomez) and Oliver (Martin Short) – it gets worse; they are shut out of podcasting by their suspects. So, in effect, they’ve got nothing to do.

The proceedings were so dull and dreary that even at the start of the final episode, when they decide to have one last hurrah before it’s curtains on the Arconia, their murder board only had questions and, literally, no answers. New York’s new mob turned out to be bad guys, but not the mega villains one would have expected and the final reveal was not much of a surprise. Apparently autocorrect was to blame for the trio to run around like headless chicken and solve the case and for audiences to be subjected to 10 episodes of snooze-worthy balderdash.

Frankly, Only Murders In The Building has long overstayed its welcome. Charles falling for villainous, murderous women, Oliver’s snort and Mabel’s clenched jaw have been tiresome to watch for a while. But what is most unpardonable is that comedy, which was what made Only Murders In The Building so likeable right from the first episode, was discarded not long after and the makers have really not bothered to have the show claw its way back. Season 5 quite literally feels like a last gap, sadly a painful laboured one, and not the mighty bang it should have been.

It ends with a potential lead in for another season, which has not been greenlit yet. But given the murder victim this time, there’s hope that Season 6 will give Only Murders In The Building a good shot of adrenaline.

Also read: Will Only Murders In The Building return for Season 6?

Only Murders in The Building Season 5 verdict: Two murders that hardly anyone’s interested or invested in, a bunch of bland characters, a barely-there plot, and a non-existent podcast – that about sums up Season 5 of Only Murders In the Building. It’s lazy and boring and will need a massive upgrade if it does return to solve the murder at the gate of the Arconia.

Share