Only Murders in the Building Recap: Widow’s Pique

by

It took half a season, but Meryl Streep is back! Loretta and her Wednesday Addams braids return to the Arconia for the first time since her wedding, but unfortunately, it’s under sad circumstances. Her apartment, which she’d lived in for 47 years, burned down, and she lost all of her belongings in the fire. “But let’s put aside the gloom and doom; let’s talk murder,” she says-a phenomenal line.

As you’ll recall from last week’s episode, Sofia and Rainey seem to be plotting something, giving the trio two potential subjects they’re free to discuss on their podcast, thanks to their Wondify contract. On a brighter note, Sofia gave Charles back his phone with no problems, and he’s moved on – now he’s back on dating apps, looking for a new relationship. It seems he’s eager to find someone!

Now that he has his phone back, they realize something else is gone. When Detective Williams comes to pick up the severed finger for analysis, they find the container it was in is empty. It appears someone broke in near Charles’s freezer – the mysterious scuff marks suggest a thief – and stole the finger. So, Charles and Mabel decide to investigate that instead, while sending Oliver and Loretta to see what the widows are doing.

So, we were on our way to Flatbush, back to Oliver’s old neighborhood, and ran into Thē in the elevator. Charles, being Charles, accidentally mentioned we were looking into a possible break-in. Turns out, Thē saw something weird the night before – a light on in an apartment on the 14th floor – while, uh, hanging out with Seth Rogen (or someone who looked a lot like him!). And wouldn’t you know it, it was Charles’s apartment! Honestly, the last thing Mabel wants is Thē getting more involved, but Detective Williams totally sees how we all operate. She basically told Mabel she needs to get over herself and work with Thē if we want to get any more information. It’s a tricky situation, but we’re trying to solve this mystery!

I’ve noticed Mabel doesn’t always take the best advice, at least not right away. When we were all trying to figure out what happened with Charles, we tracked down the replacement LESTR to check the security footage of his door. It was strange – there wasn’t anyone visible, even though Thē claimed she’d been there. I had to ask her if she was being truthful, or if she was just trying to get attention. Of course, she got really upset and stormed out, but just as she did, we caught a weird glitch in the video. It actually proved she *was* there, and someone had clearly messed with the footage! Now, I’m stuck having to apologize to someone I really don’t like – it’s a total nightmare. It’s just… complicated.

When she attempts to do so, a shoe is thrown at her across Thē’s apartment… which, honestly, is understandable. Their long-standing conflict finally reaches a breaking point, and we learn Thē’s side of the story regarding the end of their childhood friendship. Mabel was upset after losing her friend, but Thē didn’t realize that and assumed she was being ignored, which made *her* feel down too-a classic Three’s Company-style misunderstanding when you consider it. She even admits she’s always admired Mabel, and even moved into the Arconia to be more like her. After discussing everything, they reach an agreement, and Mabel now has a renewed friendship with Thē in the building. Beanie Feldstein skillfully transforms this character from the initially over-the-top, self-centered person we first meet into someone much more complex, relatable, and likeable, all without it feeling sudden or forced. It will be interesting to see how she continues to develop, what impact this friendship will have going forward, and, crucially, if the show will ever release Thē’s pop song on Spotify.

At the same time, in Brooklyn, Oliver and Loretta (wearing sunglasses, a hat, and a long coat to avoid being noticed) arrive at Rainey’s house just as she’s holding an open house, allowing them to walk right in. They decide to search separately, and Loretta ends up in a room marked with an “off-limits” sign-which, naturally, seems to be a clear invitation to find something important! But as she starts looking around the room full of keepsakes, Rainey suddenly enters, brandishing a dagger. Dianne Wiest should get to hold weapons more often.

Don’t worry, we soon learn the woman is just a huge opera fan! The item she has is actually a prop used by Maria Callas during her last performance of Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera. Now, she’s selling it, along with her house and many other possessions from her life with Lester. This is hard for Loretta to understand, especially since she’s still upset about losing everything she owned. But Rainey points out that it’s Lester the woman misses, not the things themselves. It’s interesting how often suspects end up giving surprisingly good advice to the detectives investigating them, isn’t it? In the end, Rainey convinces Loretta to buy the dagger, so Rainey can keep it as a reminder of Lester.

Just as she’s explaining to Oliver that she thinks Rainey is innocent, they see Rainey with Sofia exchanging something suspiciously again, so they decide to follow them. However, they quickly get sidetracked and lose track of them. Oliver ends up outside the old theater where he first discovered his love for performing arts as a child. Actually, this trip to Flatbush has been a rather nostalgic journey for Oliver, bringing back memories of being bullied and criticized for his purple scarf and his interest in the arts. This reinforces what we already suspect: Martin Short is the most culturally gay straight man we have. He and Loretta go inside and perform lines they never had the chance to say in their previous roles, and as they finish, they hear applause. Looking down from the balcony are Sofia and Rainey, acting like a reversed-gender version of Statler and Waldorf.

Even though that revelation seemed really unsettling, and they’d been acting strangely, it seems they have a reasonable explanation. They claim the exchange the night before was simply Sofia giving Rainey money that Nicky owed Lester for their work together, and today Sofia was loaning Rainey a prop gun for a production of Newsies she’s directing at the theater. But hold on… is a gun even *in* Newsies? I don’t recall there being a gun in Newsies, yet Loretta and Oliver readily believe this story. If you or someone you know was in a production of Newsies that used a gun, please share in the comments to help clear Rainey’s name.

During this conversation, Rainey reveals that Lester wasn’t scheduled to work at the casino the night he passed away; he had left to go to Oliver’s wedding. She also gives investigators a bird-shaped whistle Lester had with him when he died, hopefully helping with the case. At least Oliver and Loretta are leaving with something as a result.

Upon returning to the Arconia, Oliver privately tells Mabel he’s planning to move out of the building. It feels like we’ve encountered similar storylines before – a bit like the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf – but Oliver assures her he’s not leaving the Upper West Side, so the move shouldn’t affect things too much.

It seems we’ve seen this kind of situation before: Charles is getting romantically involved with someone he shouldn’t. This time it’s a woman he met on a dating app, and he’s sharing too much information about the case to keep her interested. To make matters worse, while Detective Williams shows them the footage of Lester’s death – footage that’s obviously been altered – Charles notices a recognizable logo in the corner. He quickly discovers that the dating app he’s using and the security-camera system are both owned by the same company, and that company, predictably, is owned by… Bash.

The billionaire, played by Christoph Waltz, hasn’t just been watching everything happen – he’s also been manipulating the security footage to show whatever he chooses. And if Charles’s online connection turns out to be a fake, like everyone thinks, Bash might be the one pretending to be her. As if on cue, Charles receives a creepy message, supposedly from Bash pretending to be “Priscilla,” saying, “You’re such a smarty pants, now I need to come hunt you down.” Everyone assumes it’s Bash, but I’m still hoping it’s a genuine woman who just happens to be flirting in a very threatening way.

Read More

2025-09-30 19:58