Only Murders in the Building Recap: Party Fowl

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The Arconia building has a new doorman – a robot named LESTR, which stands for Logic Engineered Secure Tenant Robot. This comes after the passing of Lester, the building’s longtime human doorman. While Randall still has his job thanks to his union, Howard is hoping LESTR can help with some of the work. It’s a funny situation, but honestly, seeing a robot like LESTR (similar to those in grocery stores) wouldn’t even surprise me anymore. Still, I’m confident humans will always come out on top, especially with Jackie Hoffman on our side.

Good news for fans: Richard Kind is back as Vince this episode, and his eye patch is gone, suggesting he’s recovered from his eye infection. Meanwhile, Oliver is trying to show he’s not self-centered by taking the lead on the investigation. He’s assembled the murder board and brought in Vince for help. Since both Vince and Lester are birdwatchers, Vince might be able to connect the birds listed in Lester’s ledger to the billionaires who were at the casino the night of the crime.

Usually, a large group of birds attends these gatherings, but this time there were only five. The group has identified which birds represent Nicky, Jay, Camila, and Bash, linking their bird-like traits to the personalities of each billionaire. While it’s fun to hear Richard Kind imitate various bird calls, this doesn’t reveal the identity of the fifth bird. It likely isn’t Lester, so who could it be? The three seem too focused on Jay’s missing finger to investigate further, meaning we’ll have to wait to find out.

Honestly, I was on the edge of my seat when they decided to try and reach Jay! They came up with this really clever plan – they released a short podcast clip absolutely *filled* with puns about fingers, hoping it would get his attention and let him know they were onto him. And it totally worked! Not long after they posted it, Jay responded with a video saying he’d show up at seven that night to explain everything. I couldn’t believe it!

Before all that, Mabel has an awkward encounter with her rival, Thē, and tries hard to make a good impression. We also get a quick listen to Thē’s new song (don’t worry, Mabel, it’s not as catchy as “Single Soon”). Mabel gets competitive over a podcast called *Drunk Sluts Do Murder* that Thē loves, and even lies, claiming her podcast has a big deal with Wondify. Though it doesn’t yet, Mabel decides to pitch the idea to Wondify to try and make the lie come true. During the conversation, Mabel explains more about her history with Thē, revealing they used to be very close until Zoe’s death (Oliver remembers from season one!), after which Thē changed and ended their friendship.

That night, Jay was soon joined – or rather, followed – by Camila and Bash, who showed up uninvited. They wanted to make sure Jay didn’t blame them for anything, and even threatened to sue him for spreading false information if he did. Mabel brought up that she and the others had seen them near the casino where a murder happened, but Camila and Bash claimed the news reported the victim was found at a dry cleaner. Things escalated when Mabel accidentally revealed they’d been investigating the death themselves, giving each side something to hold over the other. The conversation was going nowhere, so they decided to separate into smaller groups, hoping to get to the bottom of things.

These pairings feel more like casual chats than serious questioning for the three characters. Oliver finds himself asking Camila, a lifestyle guru who blends the styles of Gwyneth Paltrow and Martha Stewart, for advice on whether he should move to create a home for himself and Loretta. Elsewhere, while cooking dinner, Bash tells Charles, who is preoccupied with aging, that staying young isn’t just about technology (or his secret plasma donors) – it’s about constantly reinventing yourself. A charming moment occurs when Charles accidentally drops his grandmother’s recipe into the sauce, seemingly lost forever, until Bash quickly finds a decades-old video of Charles demonstrating the recipe on Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee. This is a sweet tribute, as the show’s writer and executive producer, J.J. Philbin, is Regis Philbin’s daughter.

Mabel and Jay discuss his feeling that he’s unfairly judged because of his family connections and his attempts to prove himself by doing good deeds, but constantly misjudging people. Mabel understands, and overshares her own experiences with Thē. It’s clear she’s attracted to him, even though Charles is usually the one falling for suspects, as Oliver observes. They learn that the story is Nicky arrived furious, with a meat cleaver, and Jay tried to intervene, resulting in him losing a finger.

Honestly, it felt like a miracle when Mabel found out her pitch to Wondify was accepted – a total game changer, maybe even better than winning the lottery. She was so focused on finally getting one over on Thē that she didn’t really question *why* this opportunity landed when it did. We signed the contract, got the grand tour, and settled into our amazing new studio, and that’s when it hit me: the finger we found didn’t match Jay’s hand. The billionaires had completely lied to us! But before we could even process that, our new boss at Wondify dropped a bomb – there’s a clause in our contract that *forbids* us from investigating Wondify’s management… which now includes Camila, Bash, *and* Jay. Talk about a twist!

These billionaires, as they explained at the start of the show, aren’t motivated by money – they thrive on competition and winning. They’re so skilled at it, they managed to trick Mabel, Charles, and Oliver into believing they were playing a completely different game. Now that the others have figured it out, it’s too late to change things, at least for the duration of their three-year deal. However, contracts often have ways around them.

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2025-09-16 19:56