Only Murders in the Building Recap: Luck Be a Lady

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The Arconia residents are upset to learn Camila White is trying to turn the building into a casino, but there’s a bright spot for Mabel. She unexpectedly connects with Thē (a name that’s tricky to spell!) and receives an invitation to a private girls’ night. Conveniently, the party is held in a gaming room hosted by Camila herself, giving Mabel a unique opportunity to look into the sale and possibly prevent it.

Mabel was thrilled to tell Oliver and Charles about a special invitation she received, and they were excited for her, though their reaction focused on the idea that a gathering of women would inevitably involve lots of gossip and potentially useful information. The funniest part – what really made me laugh – was when Mabel jokingly suggested bringing tampons as party favors, and Charles immediately scolded her, telling her not to use such language.

Randall jokingly suggests they could use a disguise, but Oliver dismisses the idea. Instead, he calls Loretta, who cuts her trip to New Zealand short to help Mabel. Mabel isn’t typically one for close female friendships; she’s always been more like one of the guys. Loretta arrives with Detective Williams, who intends to use her skill at card games to pressure Camila into confessing after a series of losses. However, Loretta has a different plan: she’s secretly a medium, and she wants to use this hidden talent to appeal to Camila’s belief in the supernatural, since Camila is known for being interested in spiritual things and believes she’s the reincarnation of her great-grandmother.

The show cleverly integrates Meryl Streep’s character, Loretta, into the ongoing story without drastically altering what makes the show work. It’s unusual for a past suspect to become a regular, but her relationship with Oliver as his wife justifies it. The writers also smartly use her work on a TV show filmed in New Zealand to allow her to appear and contribute to the plot – offering comedic moments, supporting other characters, and advancing the story – without feeling like she’s always present.

As the three women head out for a glamorous ladies’ night, they find Rainey upset in the hotel lobby. She’s devastated by the news that everyone believes Lester was murdered, and insists on joining their search for the killer. Since the event doesn’t seem to have a strict guest list, they happily agree to let her come along.

Okay, so the plan started really well. Detective Williams pretended to be a blackjack dealer and kept dealing Camila terrible hands – it was almost too easy! But Rainey just couldn’t handle being near the woman she thinks killed her husband. She totally lost it and Mabel had to pull her away. Back in the lobby, we all kind of fixated on Lester’s old doorman hat they have on display, and that’s when it hit us – the elevator crank is *still* missing. And trust me, that’s going to be important later.

Back downstairs, Loretta keeps up the act of being a psychic, but surprisingly reveals Detective Williams is cheating in an attempt to gain Camila’s confidence. The mission is quickly falling apart, and Loretta is now their only hope of getting anything out of it. She explains to Camila that she’s receiving psychic messages, but the source isn’t her grandmother—it’s someone else. This causes Camila to start having disturbing visions, specifically of a severed finger.

Through flashbacks, we learn Camila didn’t just want Nicky involved in her casino scheme—she was in love with him. He rejected her advances and made it clear he wasn’t leaving his wife, which seemed like a strong motive for revenge. However, things aren’t as simple as they appear. While Nicky was supposedly missing, he discovered his wife was having an affair, completely changing his perspective. He and Camila then began to finalize their plan, with her asking him to arrange a high-stakes poker night for wealthy individuals. It all could have succeeded, according to Camila, if it weren’t for one unexpected obstacle: the doorman.

Oliver and Charles were shocked to learn how many apartments Camila had already purchased in their building. She was just one unit away from owning a majority share, which would effectively mean the end of their life at the Arconia. Fortunately, they tracked down the owner of the last remaining apartment before the sale was finalized. Since he’s a therapist, Oliver and Charles ended up in an impromptu therapy session, trying to convince him not to sell while also unpacking their own personal issues.

Progress only begins when Detective Williams arrives and surprisingly turns out to be a more effective counselor than the actual therapist – she’s so good, she convinces him to stay! However, their relief is brief, as they quickly realize it’s midnight, and the apartment now legally belongs to Camila.

Now everything depends on Loretta, and thankfully she arrives with valuable new information she gathered while posing as a psychic. She even delivers the line about Camila’s doorman with a surprisingly accurate impression of Renée Zellweger. Even better, she’s discovered the murder weapon: Lester’s missing elevator crank, covered in blood and hidden in Nicky’s office.

Okay, so the team continues to mostly let their guest stars do the actual detective work, and this time Richard Kind bursts onto the scene with a potentially big clue. He excitedly shares a notification from a bird-watching app – Lester’s beloved bird has been spotted! But, in a clever twist, it turns out Rainey was actually behind it, using Lester’s old bird whistle to trigger the camera linked to the app. It’s a fun little reveal, though it does make you wonder why the team isn’t doing any of this themselves!

So, there’s a camera Bash Steed doesn’t control. It’s triggered by bird sounds and recorded footage from the night Lester died. The footage shows Lester blowing his whistle to activate the cameras *after* he fell (or was pushed) into the fountain. It then shows Randall picking up the elevator crank covered in blood. When Camila mentioned someone interfering, she wasn’t talking about Lester. And the message ‘DIE LESTER DIE’ that Randall carved wasn’t about the robot – it was clearly about the real Lester, since the robot’s name is spelled LESTR.

So, what was the motive? Was Randall trying to take over Lester’s casino profits, like a typical understudy taking the lead? Or was this about a secret affair with Nicky’s wife, and Randall trying to prevent the sale of the building? Whatever it is, we only have two episodes left to solve these mysteries, and it’s likely even more questions will pop up along the way.

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2025-10-14 18:55