Only Murders in the Building Recap: Man vs. Machine

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We’ve gotten used to LESTR, the robot doorman at the Arconia, but it’s still a mystery how he ended up there. It turns out the robot arrived before the original Lester died. We see a flashback of human Lester receiving the robot and deciding to hide it in the basement. Even though it wasn’t working as a doorman yet, LESTR was still able to observe everything. Hidden in the breakroom, it witnessed important events, like Lester admitting he’d been ignoring suspicious activity and Randall hiding the bloody elevator crank. This robot could be crucial to solving the mystery, just like a parrot who sees a crime.

When the three of them try to confront Randall after seeing him with the murder weapon on the building’s security camera, he runs away, which doesn’t look good for him. With the threat of losing their homes in the Arconia looming, and their prime suspect now reportedly in Cuba, their investigation has stalled.

With the Arconia building about to be sold, the residents are left to drink and say goodbye, including a surprise visit from a familiar face. Teddy, played by Nathan Lane, is newly released from prison, but he might still be under someone’s control. LESTR has been running things very strictly, even replacing Howard as building administrator with one of Camila’s associates. A frustrated Howard dramatically protests, channeling Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, declaring he won’t be ignored. However, there’s a bright spot: Oliver is planning a memorable Last Supper-themed party to celebrate their final night, inspired by a similar event in And Just Like That or, of course, the biblical story.

Mabel and Detective Williams are feeling down in the game room, and Mabel is seriously considering giving up her detective work to travel to the Maldives with Jay. However, she notices a flip-flop print on the floor, which leads them to discover another hidden passage. Inside, they find bloodstains, the same white paint that was on Nicky’s clothing, a connection to the dry cleaner, and a large painting that Mabel identifies from a photo Randall posted from Cuba. This proves Randall hasn’t left the country – he’s still somewhere in the building.

The group is still debating Charles’ coldness when a food delivery arrives for an empty apartment, which seems strange. It turns out the apartment isn’t empty at all – Randall has been secretly living there. They head over to confront him, and he tries to run, but they eventually trap him in the building’s lobby. Randall insists he’s done nothing wrong, even while fleeing, and claims Lester told him to keep quiet. It’s suspicious that a deceased man is the only one who can verify his story, especially since no one else witnessed anything… or did they?

The robot, LESTR, claims to have been present during the events and offers video evidence of what it saw. The footage shows a wounded Lester frantically telling Randall to get Oliver some shrimp. Lester clarifies the blood isn’t his and explains he didn’t intend to harm anyone, but he couldn’t allow a gangster to destroy his building – a place he’d been turning a blind eye to wrongdoing in for too long. He warns Randall to stay silent for his own protection and reveals he saved the Arconia using a piece of its history: the elevator crank. It’s a surprisingly touching moment, suggesting Lester killed Nicky to protect the building he cared for deeply.

The question of who killed Lester remains unanswered, but the residents are now determined to finish what he started – finding the killer and protecting their building. They all gather at Oliver’s Last Supper, and Oliver, even in this serious situation, can’t resist a quirky reference, saying, “Thank goodness Miller brought our murder board back to us.”

Things were really looking up with everyone reconnecting, but then Jay showed up, planning a trip to the Maldives – I can just picture him in flip-flops! – and Mabel suddenly wasn’t so sure. She’s back to focusing on this mystery, and with him still being a suspect, getting back together felt wrong. Honestly, seeing how much damage a rich guy can do by just buying everything he wants really soured Mabel on the whole billionaire thing.

Gathered around the evidence board, Howard identifies a scuff mark found near Charles’s refrigerator – the same one that appeared after the finger was taken. Randall suggests it matches the marks LESTR has been leaving in the lobby, but Howard dismisses that idea, and not just because he has feelings for the robot. He explains that, having cared for his mother for years (something we saw in an earlier episode), he’s certain the mark was made by a motorized scooter. This realization immediately clicks for the group, as they remember Nicky’s mother is the one who uses a scooter throughout the investigation.

The episode showed a flashback of Camila and her grandsons retrieving the severed finger before heading to the dry cleaner to confront someone. When caught, she exclaims a curse in Italian. However, with one episode left, many mysteries remain. While Camila seems capable of questionable acts, it’s unclear if she could have killed Lester, even after he killed her son. Her grandsons, though, appear eager to help her with anything. We now know what happened to the finger, but its origin is still unknown. Camila’s constant glove-wearing might be connected to all of this, perhaps a nod to her great grandmother and something more.

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2025-10-21 19:55