Only Murders In The Building Season 5 Episode 1-3 recap: Arconia’s latest murder takes podcast trio head-to-head with New York’s new mob

A wedding at the Arconia should have been the happy ending at the end of Season 4 of Only Murders In The Building . After the podcasting trio – Charles Haden Savage (Steve Martin), Mabel Mora (Selene Gomez) and Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) crack the mystery behind Sazz Pataki’s (Jane Lynch) death, the residents of the Arconia got together to celebrate Oliver’s (Martin Short) wedding with Loretta Durkin (Meryl Streep). But with a new season having been commissioned, there’s no way that Season 4 could end without another dead body and mystery for the trio to investigate.

This time around, the unfortunate victim is Lester Coluca (Teddy Coluca), the building’s long-serving doorman, who’s found dead in the fountain. When we return to the scene of crime in Season 5, it turns out that despite their hunch that foul play may have been involved, the cops have written off Lester’s death as accidental.

But when Charles, Oliver and Mabel find a picture from the night of the wedding with Lester and missing mobster Nicky Caccimelio (Bobby Cannavale) in the background, presumably engaged in a conversation and with one passing an envelope to the other, the murder theory is back up on their board. To add to the mystery, they’ve also stumbled upon a severed finger, but who does it belong to – Lester, Nicky or someone else?

Also read: Only Murders in the Building Season 4 review: Formulaic and lame sums up show about podcast trio 

Season 5 of Only Murders in the Building opens with a 3-episode drop that introduces audiences to aspiring actor-turned-doorman Lester, his connection to the mob through Nicky, and how the torch of the mafia and control of the city has been passed from fearsome gangsters to billionaires in their power suits. Turns out, unbeknownst to the residents of the Arconia, a few decades ago, the stables in the basement had been converted into a velvet room for high rollers. Lester’s deal with Nicky was to ensure these guests found their way in and out of the Arconia, without being detected by the cameras in the premises, for some pocket money, of course.

When Nicky is also found dead and the cops are set to turn a blind eye on that too, Charles, Oliver and Mabel have to sneak into the velvet room to find out who’s missing a digit and could be behind the deaths of both Lester and Nicky. And that is where they get a glimpse of three of New York’s city’s ‘new mob’, the city’s rich and powerful – Bash Steeg (Christoph Waltz), Jay Pflug (Logan Lerman) and Camila White (Renee Zellwegger) – one of who is, as it turns out, is missing a finger. Something went down in the velvet room that left two dead and a third without a finger – and that is what the latest edition of the Only Murders in the Building podcast has to figure out.

*Episodes 1-3 of Only Murders In The Building Season 5 are now streaming on JioHotstar (via OTTplay Premium also)

FAQs:

Q. Is there a season 5 for Only Murders in the Building?

A. Only Murders in the Building Season 5 officially premiered on September 9, 2025, on JioHostar (OTTplay Premium) in India.

Q. Will Meryl Streep be in season 5 of Only Murders in the Building?

A. Meryl Streep is returning for season 5 of Only Murders in the Building. The Academy Award-winning actress appeared in a video with Selena Gomez to mark her return to the beloved Hulu series.

Q. What is the plot of Only Murders in the Building season 5?

A. The trio discovers a deeper divide between their storied city they thought they knew and the new New York evolving around them – one where the old mob fights to hold on as newer, even more dangerous players emerge.