Blow-Up

"Blow-Up"
Season	4
Episode	6
Director	Jessica Yu
Writer	Rick Wiener & Kenny Schwartz
Original air date	October 1, 2024
Episode chronology
← Previous	"Adaptation"
Next →	"Valley of the Dolls"

"Blow-Up" is the sixth episode of the fourth season of Only Murders in the Building, starring Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short. It originally aired on October 1, 2024.

Short Summary

A documentary film is made by The Brothers Sisters.

Full Summary

Tawny tells the audience what they're about to see is a testimony of the accused in their native language: film. The footage is from many angles, locations, and lenses to give a multi-dimensional perspective of the truth.

Trina says she and Tawny got their first camera when they were nine.

Trina calls action, prompting Tawny to hit herself in the face, causing a nosebleed. Tawny then spreads the blood on her fingers and face.

Tawny says they saved all their money for it, but it wasn't enough, so they stole it. Their films encompassed voyeurism and body horror. They didn't fit in in high school.

Trina and Tawny, dressed as birds, peck at food in their school cafeteria as other students watch and comment on how weird they are.

Then they met their film professor and their lives were changed. He said what made them weird would also make them successful. All they had to do was keep shooting.

Trina and Tawny's film professor tells their class to capture the world with their cameras and never look away, even when it's chaotic. He picks up his own camera and focuses on Trina and Tawny in the front row.

Tawny says they really took his words to heart.

Shots ring out. Howard calls that they've been shot. All three "Olivers" are face-down on the floor. The crowd starts to race toward the exits. Someone points out a bullet hole in a window. Charles checks on Glen, who has been shot, but is alive. Mabel rolls another Oliver and finds it's Zach, who has also been shot. He says they got him in his fat. Mabel gives him a cloth and tells him to put pressure on it. Oliver finally looks up and asks if it's over. He's uninjured.

Act I. The Inciting Incident

Oliver, Charles, Mabel, and Howard run outside and get in a taxi. Oliver tells the driver to take them anywhere in the Upper West Side. Mabel wonders if Glen and Zach will be okay. Charles hopes so because he can't have anyone else dying because of them. Mabel asks if either of them saw Tawny when the shot was fired. All Oliver saw was his life before his eyes. Howard asks if they're thinking Tawny took the shot and if they think it was meant for Oliver. Charles says if so, they could be coming for Mabel next. Howard is filming them because he was told never to stop rolling. The Brothers sisters told him that, but he flips loyalty to the trio. Mabel asks why they'd jeopardize their own film to kill Oliver. Charles says it makes sense. They just can't make sense of it.

Uma is unhappy to see the trio, claiming they've ruined the building. Because of them, workers have installed cameras everywhere. They can't do anything anymore without being watched. Charles says they need to get somewhere safe. Mabel says someone was killed in his apartment from her apartment, that leaves Oliver's place. As they get on the elevator, Charles notices Trina and Tawny approaching with their cameras. Oliver presses the close button, despite Charles informing him that most of those buttons don't work since the Americans with Disabilities Act. The doors close before Trina and Tawny get to them.

Charles, Oliver, and Mabel wonder why Trina and Tawny are in their building. Oliver is startled when it settles in that he almost died. And all he could think about was Loretta. He wonders why he's living another moment without her by his side. Charles offers him a drink as Oliver asks him what he regrets. When Charles can't come up with anything, Oliver and Mabel make suggestions. There's a knock at the door. Charles and Oliver panic, but Mabel goes to answer it. It's Detective Williams, who called to say she was coming up. Williams is angry because her one request was that they not let anything happen to Zach. Oliver says someone is trying to kill them, but Williams understands because she's wanted to kill them for the past three years. She says Glen is stable but unconscious. The bullet hit the plate in his head and deflected to Zach. But it didn't hit any organs. Williams notices Howard filming and orders him to turn the camera off. Charles tells Williams she should arrest the Brothers sisters. Tawny's boots match the print left by the killer. Williams says she needs more than that to get a warrant. Charles adds that Tawny was carrying a long, black case right before the shooting. It's possible the murder weapon is in there. Williams tells him to find it. After a second, Charles realizes she's messing with him.

Trina hides a camera and tells Tawny to remember it's there.

Williams tells them Dudenoff isn't in Portugal as the Westies claimed. He's been cashing social security checks in a bodega on 125th Street. He's back in New York. Mabel thinks he must have something to do with this. Williams says there's definitely someone after the three of them. Williams has to get back to the crime scene. Someone has spotted Jan nearby. Williams pulls a box out of her bag. It's Sazz's remains. She thought it would be better to have her with him than sitting on an evidence shelf. He says he'll add those to his mason jar. Williams tells them not to be heroes because she doesn't want to have to identify them.

Charles sits on the couch and opens the box with Sazz's remains. He sees Howard filming and asks him to turn off the camera. Howard's phone dings and he says Bev has just called for an emergency production meeting. Oliver asks if they should go up there, but Oliver says no. They need to stay away from the sisters and get out of town. Mabel says they can't run because they need to know why the sisters want them dead. Mabel suggests having Howard film them as they go upstairs, so they stay safe. Charles agrees to go as long as Howard keeps the camera rolling. Oliver speaks directly into the camera as if he's talking to an audience. Howard reminds him he's supposed to ignore the camera, but he says the camera loves him.

As they arrive at the production office, Trina and Tawny ask if the brush with death has made them feel more alive. Bev calls the meeting to order. She tells them the police are investigating the shooting and it won't affect the production. Behind her, Marshall drops to the floor. Bev just got back from the hospital, where Zach told her the show must go on.

Zach says he told Bev he wanted out of the film and she threatened to sue him. Then she pulled the tube out of his arm and sucked the pain meds out like a Capri Sun.

Bev asks everyone to sign waivers releasing her from any liability and then lies down to take a nap. Charles sees the case Tawny was carrying and tells Howard to zoom in on it. As he does, Trina and Tawny enter the room it's in and close the door, blocking the view. Mabel says she's going to talk to Marshall and see what she can learn about the Brothers sisters.

Mabel asks Marshall how he's holding up. He's not sure how they're supposed to keep going when two people were shot. He asks how Oliver is because people think the killer was going after him. They both realize the only people not thrown off are Trina and Tawny. Marshall isn't surprised they're suspects and asks if Mabel has seen their student film.

Oliver gets dip out of the fridge as Charles tells him to hurry up because they've started the movie. He joins Charles and Mabel on the couch, where they're watching The Desecration of Alice. It's about an elderly artist and identical twin sisters that he made out of clay. As he is their creator, they do his bidding. There's also an anti-sugar message. The twins in the film tell the creator they'll do his bidding, including killing his enemies. The creator leans forward, revealing that he's played by Vince Fish. He tells them to go spill blood in his name.

Act II: The Rising Action

Charles, Mabel, Oliver, and Howard go to Vince's door. He answers with a smile and welcomes them in. He and Rudy are playing with their new toy. They got a drone at an old lady's estate sale and are excited that it works. Mabel asks about The Desecration of Alice, which Vince easily admits he was in. They all took classes with Dudenoff, but at different times. He was their film professor. Vince wasn't much of an actor. He was just doing Dudenoff a favor. Rudy, on the other hand, was in Catch Me If You Can, as a background actor. Vince says Leonardo DiCaprio had it cut because he was threatened, but Rudy admits that he also kept looking into the lens. Dudenoff really made the Brothers sisters. They were his favorites, but not theirs. He brought them to Oh Hell nights and they always fawned over him. They would do anything for him. Rudy and Vince go to pry open the window so they can fly their drone. Oliver, Charles, and Mabel realize that's just like Trina and Tawny's movie. Dudenoff made them, so they do his bidding. Mabel reminds them they still don't know why Trina and Tawny would want them dead in the first place. She wants them to finish watching The Desecration of Alice before basing their whole theory around it. Oliver tells them to go do that while he calls Loretta, who should have wrapped for the day. Plus it's after 5:00, so it won't affect his rollover minutes. Mabel says that hasn't been a thing for like fifteen years, which surprises him. Charles still wants to look inside the rifle case. He plans to enter the production office through the window to get to it. When Mabel comments that it's fifteen stories up, Charles looks at the drone and says he has friends in high places. Charles asks Vince and Rudy if they could get a look in Trina and Tawny's office without anyone seeing. Vince is sure they can. Rudy always knew those sisters were sick. They would film dying animals and set things on fire. Rudy and Vince start to fly their drone and Charles asks if they know why Trina and Tawny would want the trio dead. Vince has no idea. Charles then brings up Dudenoff being back in town. Vince and Rudy are adamant that's not possible because he wouldn't come to town without saying hi to them. The drone suddenly goes out of control. As it heads back to the window, Charles pulls it shut, causing the drone to slam into it.

Oliver calls Loretta and tells her he almost proposed to her in LA, but he choked. He has decided he wants to spend whatever time he has left with her. Loretta makes a groaning sound. He tells her to take it in. Loretta groans again and then hangs up.

Loretta is on set, covered in bandages, as her character has been burned.

Mabel tells Charles she finished The Desecration of Alice and all she got was a deep fear of sugar. Charles says they crashed and burned with the drone. Oliver says the same for him and Loretta. As they talk about that, Howard comes in with Gravey, who has a camera on her collar. Gravey barks and knocks Sazz's remains onto the floor. Howard reminds them that she is a cadaver dog, so that was her job. Among the ashes are her joints. Oliver finds her left shoulder, but Charles says that can't be it because he has her left shoulder. Mabel realizes Sazz's body wasn't the only one in the incinerator. There was another murder in the building.

Act III: The Climax

Charles remembers that Sazz told Jan there was another murder in the building. She was right. Mabel says maybe Dudenoff killed someone, put them in the incinerator, and then when they started podcasting about murders in the building, Dudenoff went into hiding. Oliver says he still needed someone to stop them from investigating. So he got Trina and Tawny to do his bidding. They tried to kill Charles, but got Sazz instead and put her body in the incinerator just like Dudenoff's first victim. Mabel decides to text the serial number from the shoulder to Williams to see if she can ID the victim. Charles wonders how they can get the sisters to confess. After getting irritated with Howard for filming them, Charles decides they can turn the cameras on the Brothers sisters to throw them off so they confess. Oliver gets a text, but it's not from Loretta as he hoped. He pretends he's okay, saying if his soulmate doesn't want to be with him, he doesn't want to be with her. As Oliver goes to get his camera, Mabel asks if Charles is okay. Charles says he has a regret. He'll never forgive himself if their podcast got Sazz killed. Mabel says they're going to solve the case and he says they have to.

Charles, Mabel, Oliver, and Howard enter the production office. Trina and Tawny immediately start filming them. Charles says to put their cameras down as it's time for them to answer some questions. They keep their cameras rolling anyway. Charles asks where they were the night Sazz was killed. Trina and Tawny say they were at the Arconia visiting a friend, Milton Dudenoff. They got into his apartment using his passcode. Charles continues that he was their creator, so they do his bidding. They don't deny that. Mabel asks if that includes killing and they finally lower their cameras.

Other students leave Dudenoff's class commenting on how The Desecration of Alice was creepy and asking if it's too late to drop the class. Trina and Tawny stay in their seats.

Tawny says Dudenoff was the first person who believed in them.

Dudenoff says the other students found the film disturbing, but they should ignore the critics and keep shooting. He gives them each a camera. His bones are too creaky to lug around Super 8s anymore. They ask how they could ever repay him and immediately start filming him.

Tawny says he was their mentor and he was everything to them. They agree that they would kill for him. Charles says it's time to look inside the rifle case and goes to open it. As he brings it into the room, Mabel gets a text from Williams. The other shoulder belonged to Dudenoff. Trina and Tawny are heartbroken. It's been a while since they spoke to him, about three years. They wanted to make bigger movies to earn more money and Dudenoff hated that. They moved to LA and he cut off all communication. Then a movie set in the place where he lived came up and they took it to be closer to him. But he still didn't answer their calls. Now they know why. They start to cry. Charles asks what they've been carrying around in the case if they're not killers. They open the case and find camera equipment. Trina explains they've been making a film within their film. They hid cameras in the production office and in Charles, Mabel, and Oliver's apartments. Charles says that's an invasion of privacy and illegal. Trina says they gave permission in the life rights contracts they signed. Mabel is upset that Charles and Oliver insisted they didn't need a lawyer to look over the contract. Trina says that Dudenoff always told them to keep shooting and the story would reveal itself. He would have been so proud of them. Trina picks up her camera to start filming again as Charles says they have two murders now. They have to find out who killed Sazz and who killed Dudenoff. Mabel adds the question of who was pretending to be Dudenoff and cashing his checks at the bodega. They need to look into that.

Act IV The Denouement

Trina tells Tawny she looks good in the jumpsuit. Tawny got it at the Rikers auction. Something about it sets her free.

Mabel watches as Tawny removes the cameras. She tells her to make sure they get all of them.

Trina takes a drink from a bottle and removes a camera from Oliver's place. Oliver finds a comer and takes it to them, but it's not theirs. Charles wonders whose it is if not theirs. Charles gets a text from Sazz's phone. It's a live feed from that camera. Oliver got one, too, but his is from five days ago. Mabel gets one as well. They have targets on their faces. Trina and Tawny start filming again as Charles says the killer is watching them right now. Mabel adds that they've been watching them. Charles gets another text that says, "I'm watching you." Oliver and Mabel get the same message. Oliver says they're not safe in the building. Mabel agrees and says they need to get out right away. Charles drops the camera and breaks it.

Charles, Mabel, and Oliver run outside and drive away as Trina and Tawny film for their found-footage film about the murder of their mentor.

Tawny says they murdered the rules of narrative storytelling, but nothing more.

Cast

Starring

• Steve Martin as Charles-Haden Savage
• Martin Short as Oliver Putnam
• Selena Gomez as Mabel Mora
• Michael Cyril Creighton as Howard Morris

Special Guest Stars

• Paul Rudd as Glen Stubbins
• Zach Galifianakis as Zach Galifianakis

Guest starring

• Catherine Cohen as Trina Brothers
• Griffin Dunne as Milton Dudenoff
• Jin Ha as Marshall P. Pope
• Jackie Hoffman as Uma Heller
• Richard Kind as Vince Fish
• Kumail Nanjiani as Rudy Thurber
• Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Detective Donna Williams
• Molly Shannon as Bev Melon
• Siena Werber as Tawny Brothers

Co-starring

• Elliot Frances Flynn as Student Film Woman #1
• Bridget Flynn as Student Film Woman #2
• Flora Freytag as Young Trina
• Acelynn Jennings as Young Tawny
• José Ruiz-Gonzalez as Male Crying Student
• Eden Whitvoet as Female Crying Student

Notes and Trivia

Soundtrack

• "Song", performed by Artist
  Written by Composer

Media

Episode Stills

Photography by Patrick Harbron for Hulu.

Behind the Scenes

Videos

Murderers In The Building - Only Murders In The Building- Season 4 Episode 6 Opening Scene - Hulu

The Gang Finds Out Dudenoff Is in Town - Only Murders in the Building - Hulu

See Also

A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here.