Mabel Mora is a main character in Only Murders in the Building. She is part of the podcast trio.
She is portrayed by Selena Gomez.
History
Father's Death
When Mabel was a child, her parents told her her father had to move out for work. She visited him at his new place, where they did puzzles together, using tricks to make them more of a challenge. Mabel became frustrated when her father began breaking promises to her. Unbeknownst to Mabel, her father had stomach cancer. When he ended up in the hospital, Mabel visited him and lay in his bed with him.[4]
After Mabel's father died, Mabel's mother didn't come out of her room for six months. Mabel watched "Girl Cop" by herself during this time and came to realize her mother was watching it too, in her own room. They ended up watching it together in their own rooms for months.[5]
The Hardy Boys
Mabel grew up in Bayport, Long Island, where she lived with her mother, Silvia Mora, who was a single mother after the death of Mabel's father. She would spend every school break at the Arconia with her wealthy aunt, Salma Ramirez, who lived in Apartment 12E.
In 2002 or 2003, while spending time at the Arconia, Mabel met Tim Kono in the building's inner courtyard when she was drawing at the fountain, interrupting Tim's game. Tim became interested in a book Mabel was reading, The Missing Chums from The Hardy Boys series. The two eventually became good friends, and would reunite every school break when Mabel visited the Arconia to read The Hardy Boys book series and pretend they were the Hardy Boys, solving mysteries they would make up around Tim's apartment for years. At some point, Mabel and Tim met Oscar Torres and Zoe Cassidy. Oscar, whose dad is the Arconia's superintendent, copied his dad's key so The Hardy Boys could break into any apartment while the owners were out of town. Although Zoe and her family lived on the entire 11th floor of the Arconia, she would steal things of value whenever the Hardy Boys broke into an apartment.[6]
New Year's Eve Incident
During one New Year's Eve where the Hardy Boys attended a party on the roof of the Arconia, Zoe was pushed from the roof and died. Tim told Mabel that he saw someone other than Oscar arguing with Zoe, but Tim refused to tell the police, allowing Oscar to be sent to prison for Zoe's murder.[6] Zoe's death and Oscar's arrest deeply affected Mabel and made her mother very concerned about Mabel.
Returning to the Arconia
Ten years after Zoe's death, Mabel returned to the Arconia to remodel her aunt's apartment. She went to see Tim, telling him Oscar was about to be released from prison, and telling him he could still go make things right and tell what he'd seen. He said he didn't know what she was talking about and told her to pretend she didn't know him if she saw him in the hallway.[6]
Starting a Podcast
When Mabel's aunt decided to renovate her apartment at the Arconia, she asked Mabel to do it and allowed Mabel to live in the apartment during the renovation. One afternoon Mabel arrived at the Arconia and got in the elevator with Charles-Haden Savage and Oliver Putnam. Oliver tried to talk to Mabel about her headphones, but Mabel ignored him. Tim Kono got on the elevator with a bag of garbage while on the phone before getting off the elevator again a few floors later. Oliver started to tell Charles and Mabel a story, but was interrupted by the elevator reaching his floor. That night, Mabel was listening to Cinda Canning's podcast "All Is Not Ok in Oklahoma" when the fire alarm went off. Mabel went to a nearby restaurant where Charles and Oliver had begun to bond over their listening to the same podcast. Oliver recognized Mabel from the elevator and invited her to sit with them. Mabel was reluctant at first before realizing they were discussing the podcast and the three sat together while talking about it. Oliver asked how Mabel could afford to live in the Arconia, but Mabel didn't answer him. The three decided to go back to the building to find out what happened. After discovering that a body had been found, Charles said that he could get them to the freight elevator to the ninth floor to take a peek. Mabel agreed but said they should go to the eighth floor because there would be cops at the ninth floor, impressing Oliver and Charles.
The three got to the crime scene and discovered that the victim was Tim Kono, whom they rode the elevator with earlier that day. The three are caught by Donna Williams, who told them it was a suicide. They started asking questions, making Williams realize they had been listening to a true crime podcast. Annoyed, she sent them away, telling them it was a textbook suicide. Later that night, Mabel realized that it was strange for Tim to take a bag of garbage onto the elevator when there are garbage chutes on every floor. When she got to the elevator, Charles was on it, having also realized about the garbage bag. They were then joined by Oliver who wondered if they were all thinking the same thing, but was apparently not thinking about the garbage bag. Oliver tried to persuade Charles and Mabel to make a podcast about the death of Tim. The three went down to the garbage and went through the trash, where they found several notes written by Tim Kono. They appeared to be drafts of a suicide note and the three decided the police must have been right about it being suicide.
Mabel then heard her neighbor Bunny and remembered that a few of Tim Kono's packages were delivered to her by mistake. She went to Charles, remembering that Tim was on the phone trying to get a hold of a package. While Charles picked the lock to Bunny's apartment, Mabel told him about The Hardy Boys, omitting that Tim was one of them. Charles told her about his father's poor treatment of his mother, explaining why he was never married. They got into the apartment and got Tim's package. They discovered an engagement ring and wondered why Tim would kill himself just hours after being desperate to get hold of an engagement ring.[7]
Memorial for Tim
Charles started recording a second episode of the podcast, this one focused on telling the world who Tim was. Unfortunately, they had very little information about him, forcing them to resort to pedestrian facts. Hoping to find someone who knew Tim, the three of them attended a memorial for Tim in the lobby of the Arconia. At the memorial, they learned that Tim was almost universally hated in the building. They also learned that Howard Morris' cat, Evelyn had died the same evening as Tim and people were much more upset about her death than Tim's. As the memorial ended, they decided to go talk to Ursula, the building manager, to see who had complaints about Tim. Mabel said she had a migraine and told Oliver and Charles to go without her.
Mabel went back to her apartment, where she recorded a video about her relationship with Tim, starting when they met at age ten.
Oliver and Charles came back from talking to Ursula and told Mabel they were cleaning out Tim's apartment the next day. She decided to join them to look for clues. In the apartment, Mabel looked at Tim's large collection of Hardy Boys books. Oliver found a pile of past due bills, backing up the cops' statement that he was having money problems. Oliver also found a box of sex toys. They bagged up some things and took them back to Charles' place. Oliver said he thought they had enough to paint a clear picture of Tim, including that he was unlikable. Mabel said that didn't mean he deserved to die. They all agreed to be more respectful. After a bit of an argument, they also agreed no more lying to each other and to trust each other.
Mabel then went back to Tim's apartment, where she started opening his Hardy Boys books and found jewelry inside.
Back at her place, Mabel finished recording her video and saved it as, "IN CASE I'M NEXT."[6]
Narrowing the Suspects
As Mabel started working on a mural of the Arconia's residents on the wall of the apartment, Charles recorded another episode of the podcast, asking their audience how well they know their neighbors. Charles texted her after they finished inviting her to go over suspects with them. They looked over the evidence board, where Charles had put up photos of all the suspects and matched them with complaints against Tim. Charles wanted to eliminate the suspects one at a time, but Oliver said instead, he wanted to do the opposite. Charles added tie-dye guy to the board as well as Tim's fiancé, leaving Mabel to wonder if they might be the same person.
Oliver used a mental line-up to narrow the suspects down to Howard, leaving Mabel and Charles to visit him and try to get a confession. Oliver warned them that legally, they had to let Howard know he was being recorded. On their way to Howard's, Mabel and Charles ran into Jan Bellows in the elevator. After watching Charles exchange some friendly conversation with Jan, Mabel suggested he try to get a date with her, but Charles refused.
Mabel and Charles got to Howard's place and were surprised by the mess. He said he didn't want to touch anything of Evelyn's because it made it easier to pretend she was still around. While Charles grew increasingly awkward in his attempts to let Howard know he was being recorded, Mabel proceeded with questioning him about Tim. Howard said he'd heard Tim was fired for losing a client a lot of money. He was also upset that Tim left his window open and then got mad that Evelyn visited his apartment. When Charles made another attempt to let Howard know he was being recorded, he got so nervous, his nose started bleeding and Howard fainted. Mabel told Charles to get ice. He went to the freezer, where her found Evelyn's body. He accidentally knocked it to the floor, breaking off her leg. He put the leg in his pocket and grabbed some ice. Howard explained that he fainted at the sight of blood and said the cat was in his freezer because he was getting a toxicology report done. He believed Tim poisoned Evelyn and then killed himself.
As they left Howard's, Mabel asked Charles about the nosebleeds, and he told her it was anxiety, that it happens sometimes when he talks to people. Mabel said that Howard had an alibi, given that he couldn't be around someone who was bleeding without fainting, but Charles didn't buy it.
From there, Mabel went to José Torres's door. She told him she was looking for Oscar. He told her to leave and not come back as Oscar needed a fresh start.
Back at home, Mabel looked through Tim's things and found a note that said, "G.M. 1/31 @ 4:40 PM Shore Road." She checked her phone and saw that it was January 24.
Later, Oliver surprised Mabel and Charles by telling them that he'd posted the first episode. He'd also gotten them a sponsorship from Teddy Dimas, which compelled him to change the name to "Dimas Chicken Wraps Presents: Only Murders in the Building". Mabel checked and found they had four listens and a review. Despite Oliver's assurances that he had it, Mabel and Charles were still worried.[8]
Confronting Sting
Mabel was pondering over who G.M. might be when she got a text from Oliver that the killer had come for his family. She and Charles went to Oliver's place, where he told them that the killer had poisoned his dog, Winnie. He also told them he was sure it was Sting, based on a hostile interaction between Sting and Winnie in the elevator. Mabel found out that Sting had lost millions when his money was mismanaged by an investment firm, the same firm Tim worked for. They also remembered Tim got fired for losing a client a lot of money. Sting was also among the list of people who stayed in the building the night of Tim's death, during the fire alarm. They decided they needed help from an expert, namely Cinda Canning. Charles said he might have a way to get a meeting with her and used his connection with Arnav to set it up.
On their way to the meeting, they met Jan in an elevator. After a conversation between Jan and Charles went from flirty to awkward, Mabel and Oliver tried to get Charles to ask her out. Charles said it wasn't the right time.
At the meeting, Charles, Oliver, and Mabel were surprised to find that both of Cinda's employees, Cindy and Poppy White, strongly resembled Cinda herself. Their conversation was also interrupted when Cinda got a call, which she said was due to them being on the verge of being purchased for $30 million. They asked Poppy if that meant Cinda would stop making podcasts, but she told them Cinda was the thing being purchased. When she finished her call, Cinda tried to refer them to a class, but they explained what they suspected about Sting and asked how they could get him to confess. Cinda said she got a confession out of the mayor for "All Is Not OK in Oklahoma" by bringing a fully cooked turkey to his house, meaning he couldn't turn her away. She also told them to embrace the mess.
Mabel and Oliver went to Charles' place to talk about what their turkey should be. Mabel asked Charles if he'd asked Jan out, and he said that he found dating exhausting. Mabel encouraged him to relax and have fun. She and Oliver then left so he could go on his date. While he was on his date, Oliver and Mabel decided their turkey would also be a turkey. Oliver started cooking it, but when his oven went out, he brought it to Charles' place to finish. While he was there, Oliver also told Charles that Sting had moved up his tour so he was leaving in two days, and he was renovating his entire apartment while he was gone, two things they found suspicious. They decided they needed to bring him the turkey early in the morning.
The next morning, they went to Sting's door with the turkey, which greatly confused him. They told him they thought it would be a great community builder to bring a turkey to a different neighbor each week.
As they sat down to chat, Sting remembered that they were the ones doing the podcast. He apologized to Oliver for how he was with Winnie, saying he was having a rough day. Then he talked about Tim working for him until he fired Tim. When they asked him about Tim losing his money, indicating that may have made him snap, Sting admitted that Tim's death was his fault. The day Tim died, Sting screamed at him and told him to kill himself. Then Tim did that. Anita, Sting's assistant, then came in and told them that Sting wasn't a murderer or a dog poisoner. Sting then said he felt responsible for Tim's death, which was why he moved up his tour and why he was renovating his whole apartment. Charles, Oliver, and Mabel then left.
Mabel went back to her place, where she looked at one of Tim's Hardy Boys books. She looked up the title and found out that it was about the Hardy Boys trying to catch a thief named Gus Montrose. She added that to jewelry and found Montrose Gems in New Jersey. As Mabel went to leave the Arconia, she was followed by a figure in a tie-dyed hoodie.[9]
Going to Tavo's
Mabel realized she was being followed and turned down an alley, where she tackled the person and held up a knitting needle threateningly. After a moment, she recognized the person as Oscar. She was happy to see him and upset that he'd gotten out a week prior, but hadn't come to see her. He said he wanted to hang out with her, but she told him she was on her way to Jersey. He offered to drive her there. She directed him to Teaneck. On the way, he told her he'd spent the week he was out enjoying all the things he couldn't do in prison. She asked if he knew about Tim and he said he did, that he was there that night. She looked at his hoodie and realized he was Tie-Dye Guy. While they were driving, Charles called, and she lied and told him she was at the park.
Oscar saw the note Mabel was working from and asked if she was sure Tim was going to a jewelry store. She explained how she came to that conclusion, but Oscar offered an alternative explanation that the GM was her cousin Tavo, who has a tattoo shop on Shore Road. Mabel redirected Oscar to Bayport. On the way, they stopped at a gas station for supplies and Mabel embarrassed Oscar in front of the cashier by asking for condoms and lube. Unbeknownst to either of them, Charles and Oliver were following them in a car driven by a man called, Lucien, alongside his cousin, Vaughn. They had their own horticultural podcast called, Yard Dogs.
When they arrived at the shop, Oscar tried to get Mabel to let it go and leave with him to do things he couldn't do in prison. Mabel said she understood that he couldn't be part of it, but she felt she needed to do it. While she went inside, he left. Inside the shop, she waited for Tavo to finish his work. When she saw Charles and Oliver walking in, she asked them what they were doing there. Charles confronted her about lying, and she realized they'd been following her. Mabel apologized for lying and admitted that she knew Tim. Tim was her friend, which is why she got so obsessed with solving his murder. While they talked, Oscar came back in, saying he changed his mind. Mabel introduced him to Charles and Oliver and assured them he also wasn't the killer. Oscar admitted that he'd lied to Mabel, and he went to Tim's apartment that night, not hers. He wasn't there to kill Tim, but maybe was going to beat him up a little. He fled when he heard the gun shot. Tavo came out just then and was shocked to find out Tim had been murdered. He said Tim had been worried that would happen because he was working to take down a black market jewelry dealer named Angel. Mabel showed them the jewelry she'd taken from Tim's place.[10] Tavo recognized some of the pieces and said it were all from Angel, but there was one piece Tim really wanted that he never got. He told Mabel he'd find a picture of it and send it to her. Their conversation was interrupted when Silvia Mora came in. She was upset that Mabel had come to Bayport and hadn't told her.
The group went back to Silvia's house, where Silvia learned that Tim had died and Mabel was investigating his death with Charles and Oliver. She wanted Mabel to stop, despite Mabel's insistence that she was fine. She regretted ever sending Mabel to her aunt's apartment for school breaks after seeing how Mabel got lost in her grief after Zoe died. Mabel talked to Charles and Oliver and told them they could keep doing the podcast without her. They both said it was the most alive they'd felt in a decade, then left to go back to Manhattan.
Mabel then went to her room, where she and Oscar looked at old pictures and talked. One of the pictures was of the four of them the night Zoe died. Mabel recognized the ring on Zoe's finger as the one Tim had been looking for. Oscar then said Zoe wasn't wearing it when she died. Then he said he didn't want to talk about death anymore. Mabel said she'd kind of been waiting for him. They leaned in to each other and kissed.
Mabel talked to her mother again and said that even though her mother thought Charles and Oliver were sad characters, they were the first friends Mabel had made in years, and she needed to see the case through.
Mabel went back home, where she brought dip and tamales as an apology gift for Charles and Oliver. She told them she felt she needed to finish the story with them. She also showed them Tim's phone, which had been left in an envelope at the desk for her. They just needed the password to get in. Charles then told Mabel that Teddy was Angel and now their prime suspect.[11]
Investigating Teddy and Theo
While Oliver distracted Teddy, Mabel and Charles broke into Charles's place, where they found a hidden room full of urns labelled, 'Shine On Funeral Home'. When they heard Theo coming in, they hid and slipped out around him just before Oliver and Teddy returned to the apartment.
Charles went on his date and Mabel and Oliver went to the funeral home. They followed a man down some stairs and found a secret room. In the room, they found a jar of fillings. When they left the room, they found a new body on a slab. They watched as Theo came in and started to remove the person's jewelry from their body. Before they could get out, Theo spotted them. He bound and gagged them, then drove them away in a van.[12]
Recording the Finale
Theo drove them to a dump, where Teddy met up with them and offered them a ride home. Theo drove while Teddy sat in the back and told Oliver and Mabel they were going to release one final episode of the podcast in which they said they were wrong and Tim's death was a suicide. If they refused, he reminded them that he knew where they lived.
As they got out of the car at the Arconia, they were stopped by Sam, Grant, Marv, and Paulette, their fans. Oliver was delighted, while Mabel was horrified and pulled Oliver inside with her when he tried to stop and chat with them. They went up to Charles's place, where Jan opened the door and told them Charles was out getting bagels. When Charles returned, they told him what had happened with Teddy and Theo. Jan said they had spent the morning going through Tim's phone and learned a lot more about him, particularly that he was a meticulous record keeper and that Tim was trying to take Teddy down because Tim saw Theo push Zoe off the roof. Jan said she still wasn't convinced that Teddy killed Tim, so Mabel and Oliver pulled Charles to the side and reminded him that they only had until 7 AM to take Teddy down, meaning they needed real help, from Detective Williams.
They met Williams in a secluded area. She refused to confirm that she had sent them Tim's phone, but asked them to publish a new episode with all the evidence they had. She also said she was running a tox screen and fingerprints on the laptop the killer used to type his suicide note. She told them the rest was on them. They needed to make a tight case.
Mabel, Charles, and Oliver went back to Charles' place, where they started a board with everything they knew. They were interrupted by Jan, bringing pizza rolls. Then Oscar came in and told them he'd talked to Tim's jewelry connection and learned that Tim got the ring the day before he died. Mabel concluded that Teddy and Theo must be the killers because no one else would care to take the ring. Jan said it was all circumstantial without the ring.
When Oliver found that the superfans were still downstairs, he brought them up to his apartment and introduced them around. He said they were there to help work out the how of the murder. They know more, as superfans, than the trio themselves. Oliver directed the fans as they each played a roll and reenacted Tim's death with Theo as the killer. It was 5:30, giving them only an hour and a half before the deadline, so Mabel wanted to start recording immediately. Jan still wanted them to look at Howard again, but Charles told her they'd started the podcast as a team, the three of them. Jan left, upset that she wasn't part of the team.
When they finished recording, Mabel said they needed to show someone a sneak preview, and they sent it to Williams. The episode went out at 7 AM and reached a wide audience. Teddy and Theo were both arrested for Tim's murder. Mabel, Charles, and Oliver toasted to their success. Things took a turn when Williams called and said that the medical examiner's report had come back and Tim was poisoned before he was shot. She also had timestamped photos from the night Tim died of Teddy and Theo outside before the fire alarm even went off, meaning they couldn't have done it. Charles was upset that the other two hadn't listened to him or Jan and went to see her.[13]
Eviction Meeting
In light of the new evidence, Oliver released a retraction, saying that Teddy and Theo didn't kill Tim. Mabel listened to this retraction as she painted a portrait of Teddy and Theo on the wall. While she worked, a paper was slipped under her door and she learned it was a meeting to discuss the podcast and its effect on the building's residents. Mabel talked to Oscar, who was happy that the Dimases got falsely accused of something after what they'd put him through. Mabel agreed, but didn't like that they still didn't know who killed Tim. Mabel and Oscar then went to Charles's place, where Jan was recovering from being stabbed. She was shocked to meet Sazz Pataki, whom she mistook for Charles. Sazz, Charles's stunt double, had a theory that Tim's murder was a crime of passion, perpetrated by a jilted lover. She told them they needed to find the person who was in love with Tim. Oliver then reminded them that since Bunny had locked him out of his place, he was currently homeless, and they needed to go to the meeting to paint themselves as the heroes to avoid getting kicked out. Sazz offered to stay with Jan while they went.
At the meeting, several people aired their grievances against the trio, saying that their kids couldn't sleep and people didn't want to come to the building because they were scared of getting murdered. Howard tried to defend them, saying their actions may have led to him getting answers about Evelyn's death, but Bunny reminded him there were also complaints about him and advised him to vote in favor of evicting them. When the vote revealed a majority in favor, Bunny said she'd start the process immediately.
As they left, Mabel decided that if they found the murderer, it would change people's minds and the board would have to reconsider. Charles was frustrated, saying the two of them never stopped. His girlfriend was stabbed, and now he's losing his home. He told them he was done.
Since he was locked out of his place, Oliver spent that night at Mabel's, without a wall separating her bedroom from where he was sleeping on the couch.
The next morning, Oliver said he wasn't so sure that Charles was as done as he said he was. Mabel said the only way to fix it was to solve the case. They explored Sazz's theory that it was a crime of passion and went over the events of that night. Mabel realized that the bag Tim was carrying couldn't have come from his place as the ties on the bag were a different color from the bags in his apartment. They decided to go speak to his neighbor, Ndidi. Ndidi told them she never saw anyone coming or going, but she did hear someone, a very loud woman during sex with Tim.
Oliver was upset that they'd never previously considered that Tim had a girlfriend, despite having found an engagement ring. Maybe they had followed the wrong ring. Oliver pulled the sex toys back out, saying he wanted to know what they did. He found one was from "eXotic Instruments" and had Mabel look that up. Mabel did and found out that eXotic Instruments didn't sell sex toys, but musical instruments. The toy in question was actually a bassoon cleaner.[14]
Solving the Murder
Mabel and Oliver raced to tell Charles they thought Jan was the killer. Charles told them they sounded crazy, but they laid out all the evidence that pointed to her. Charles forced them all to leave, wanting to preserve the first romantic relationship he'd had in years. Mabel and Oliver told him to look at what was in front of him and be careful. They then went to search Jan's place for more proof. In Jan's bathroom, they found a pill case labelled "Jan's Lil Toxins." They also found a knife in her bathroom grate and realized she'd stabbed herself. They also found the emerald ring in her apartment, cementing the case. They realized Charles was in danger and raced to help him. They went up to Charles's place, but he was gone. They went back downstairs, where they asked Lester if he'd seen Charles. Lester said he'd found elevator drunk in the elevator and sent him back home. Mabel and Oliver raced back to Charles' place. They found Charles lying in the doorway of the elevator and pulled him to safety. He was able to show them that he'd recorded his conversation with Jan, in which she admitted to killing Tim. They used his face to unlock it and play the message. Then Arnav came out and asked if they were dizzy. This made them realize Jan was trying to poison everyone with gas. They loaded Charles into Oliver's dog stroller and went down to the boiler room, where they fixed what Jan had done, then managed to attack and disarm Jan. Jan was arrested and Charles was taken to the hospital to get his stomach pumped. Bunny then told them in light of recent events, they were no longer in danger of being evicted, though she promised to keep trying to get Oliver out.
Mabel finished the final portrait, one of herself, then looked at the whole wall with Oscar. He said it was fantastic. He asked if she was okay, and she said she was and for the first time in a long time, she was able to say that honestly.
Once Charles was better, he recorded the final episode of the podcast.[15]
Bunny's Death
On Bunny's last day as board president, the trio was celebrating their victory in solving Tim's murder. They joyfully told the tale to a crowd outside the Arconia and that evening, they all celebrated in Mabel's apartment. While they were celebrating, Bunny came to the door with a bottle of real champagne for them. In exchange, they gave her a podcast hoodie. After they closed the door, they wondered if they should have invited Bunny to join them. Mabel looked out to see she was still there, and then they heard her start crying, but by the time Mabel opened the door, Bunny was gone. They decided to move their celebration to the roof. They toasted their success and when they ran out, Mabel went back to her apartment to get more champagne, but she found Bunny in her apartment, having just been stabbed.[15][16]
Arrest and Gallery Opening
Mabel, Oliver, and Charles were arrested and taken to the police station, where they were separated and questioned by Kreps and Williams. Kreps played a clip from the podcast in which she talks about her recurring dream of stabbing an intruder with her knitting needle. At that point, Mabel asked for her lawyer. Williams said that she wanted to believe Mabel, but her story was too far-fetched. Mabel maintained that she went to get champagne and Bunny was just there and then asked for a lawyer again. Williams asked Mabel what she did with the knife, which surprised Mabel, as she hadn't known a knife was involved. Mabel said they had three people, who solved two crimes the detectives couldn't, who were being framed, and they didn't even have the real murder weapon.
After this, the three of them were released, though Williams warned them they were still persons of interest, which meant they could be charged as more evidence surfaced. She also told them not to investigate the crime or make a podcast about it, suggesting they take up safer hobbies.
Back at the Arconia, Mabel told Charles and Oliver that Bunny was just there. She didn't see anyone else. Oliver said he was ready for them to do another podcast, but Mabel refused, saying she needed a life away from death. She said they could hang out, but not investigate. Then she went home, removed the crime scene tape from her door, and started scrubbing the blood off the floor.
While scrolling through Instagram, Mabel saw that many people had posted pictures of her being arrested and her latest post, a picture of the mural of the Arconia residents, had over 20,000 likes and many glowing comments. She also had a video message from Alice Banks, from a nearby gallery, inviting Mabel to her gallery opening.
After a dramatic haircut, Mabel went to the gallery opening, where she got a lot of attention for being "Bloody Mabel." Alice found her and took her to see a three-dimensional portrait of Frida Kahlo. Mabel told Alice that her father got her a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle of Kahlo for her fourth birthday, which she finished the day before she turned five. Alice told Mabel that she wanted new energy for their collective and invited Mabel to come back with her paints. Mabel asked if it was a cult, but Alice wouldn't answer.
When the trio learned that Cinda was starting a new podcast about the murder and the three of them called "Only Murderers in the Building," they became upset at Cinda stealing their format. Mabel said that Cinda didn't know what happened that night, and it was still pretty blurry for her. She remembered Bunny saying "Fourteen," but they couldn't figure out what that meant. Despite this, Mabel still didn't want to investigate. This conversation was interrupted by a voice saying, "Fuck off." They followed the voice and found that it was coming through the vent from Bunny's apartment. They crawled through and found her bird, Mrs. Gambolini. While they were in there, Oliver asked them to go through her things to find the incriminating notes he'd written to Bunny. While they were searching, Uma Heller and Howard Morris came into the apartment to retrieve a painting of Bunny's to have it appraised, forcing them to hide in the closet. While they were hiding there, Mabel found a door in the back of the closet which led to an elevator. They took the elevator down and ended up outside the building. With the new element of the missing painting, Mabel agreed to join their investigation and podcasting.
While looking at the stain in her apartment again, Mabel had more flashbacks to Bunny's death and remembered her saying, "Savage." While she was looking, she got a text from Charles, asking her to come to his place. She and Oliver arrived to find Charles' groceries spilled on the floor and Charles looking up at the wall, where Bunny's painting had been hung.[17]
Bunny's Memorial and The Painting
The three of them discussed how to get the painting out of Charles' place without being noticed. When they took it down, Mabel noticed that the painting was called "Savage" and told the others that Bunny had said, "Savage" before dying. They wanted to get rid of the painting, but were interrupted by a knock on the door. Mabel and Oliver hid the painting in the bedroom while Charles answered the door to find Howard, who invited them to a memorial for Bunny. Charles didn't want to go, as it would make them look guilty, but Howard said that they needed to go and find the person who looked guiltier than the three of them. They decided to attend the party and use the secret elevator they'd discovered, to sneak the painting back into Bunny's apartment. At the party, the new board president, Nina Lin, said she would make sure Bunny's death didn't adversely affect any of them. Howard told the three that Bunny had nothing on Nina in terms of meanness, but refused to elaborate at the party. They were interrupted by Leonora Folger, Bunny's mother, entering the party and demanding her painting. She had the original bill of sale from the artist. While Charles talked to Leonora about the painting, Mabel and Oliver went back to Charles' apartment, retrieved the painting, and took it out to the alley. When Charles went to let them in, he accidentally let the door shut behind him, locking all of them out. Not wanting to be caught with the painting, Oliver tried to put it in the dumpster, but was stopped by the other two. When they heard voices approaching, they hid it between two dumpsters and promised to come back for it later.
After hiding the painting, Mabel went back to the gallery, to meet Alice, who had asked her to come over. At the gallery, Mabel asked Alice about Rose Cooper and learned she'd died mysteriously. Alice then told her that after months being blocked, she'd finally sculpted Mabel. She handed Mabel an ax and set up cameras to record her destroying it. She believed it would make Mabel feel better. Once Alice was gone, Mabel destroyed the sculpture. Alice returned and Mabel said she felt better, then kissed Alice.
Mabel went back to the Arconia to tell them what she'd learned, but before she could, Oliver said that Amy Schumer had the painting, which was overheard by Leonora, who had been speaking to Charles. They all went up to Amy's apartment, but Leonora quickly discovered that the painting was a forgery.
Mabel and Oliver speculated why Bunny would have a replica of the painting made, but Oliver suggested it might have been the killer, doing it to frame them. While they were talking, Uma came to the door and delivered Mrs. Gambolini, saying Bunny had willed the bird to Oliver. They were soon joined by Charles, who told them that his father had had an affair with Bunny's mother. He wondered if Bunny could be his sister. Mrs. Gambolini then said she knew who did it, drawing their attention to her.[18]
Tracking Bunny's Last Day
The trio tried to get Mrs. Gambolini to tell them who did it, even impersonating Bunny. When Mabel found some receipts from the day Bunny died, they decided to track her last day and record a podcast episode about it. They got the meeting minutes from the board meeting that took place that day and hung them on the suspect board. They decided that Nina was their main suspect because she and Bunny had fought at that meeting.[16]
Secret Passageways
When Lucy surprised Charles by coming to Manhattan, he brought her back to his apartment, where he asked Mabel to talk to her because he didn't understand anything she was saying due to her use of slang and recent pop culture references. Mabel tried to talk to her only to find she also couldn't understand what Lucy was saying. Charles liked seeing Lucy again, but when she discovered the knife used to murder Bunny in his knife block, he tried to get her to leave, as he didn't want her involved in the investigation. She instead went to the bathroom, where she opened a secret passageway she had used to play hide and seek as a child. She led the trio through the passageways, telling them she believed that was how the killer had gotten access to their apartments to plant evidence. They used the passageway to look into Nina's apartment, where they saw a picture of the Arconia with a space-age dome on top of it and heard her talk to Jared McGregory about whether or not they'd done the right thing. This led to them believing Nina had killed Bunny in order to change the Arconia. They decided to go to Nina's apartment and try to goad her into a confession. They put together a gift basket and took it over. Then they started questioning her, but the questioning ended fairly abruptly, when Nina went into labor and her water broke. They called for paramedics to take her to the hospital and Charles comforted her and helped keep her calm while they waited. Nina expressed sadness that Bunny wasn't there because she was so excited about the baby. She begged them to find Bunny's killer.[19]
Party
When a leak at the gallery prevented Alice from holding a party there, Mabel agreed to host it at her apartment instead. While she was on the phone with Alice, Mabel also discovered a matchbook from The Pickle Diner with what appeared to be blood on it in the passageway leading into her apartment. She called Oliver and Charles to her, and they debated if the stain was blood or ketchup. Charles also wondered if Bunny said "passage" that night instead of "savage" because Mabel couldn't be sure.
They made a trip to The Pickle Diner, where they got a list of Ivan's regulars, hoping the killer would be on that list. While talking about the matchbook, they drew the attention of their superfans, who were sitting nearby. When Mabel got a message from Alice, Oliver and Charles were immediately suspicious of her, especially since Jan had told Charles they were looking for an artist who had recently gotten close to them. Mabel insisted that Alice wasn't the killer. Then they got up and left the diner.
Charles and Oliver invited themselves to the party at Mabel's, where Alice charmed Charles by recognizing him from an obscure film role. Oliver remained suspicious and used a game called 'Son of Sam' to interrogate her. When the game got down to Mabel, Oliver, and Alice, Oliver was convinced she was both the Son of Sam and Bunny's killer and began to interrogate her. She finally admitted she'd lied about her backstory, as she didn't think she could make it in the art world as a plumber's daughter. Mabel followed her out of the party to the bathroom, where Alice apologized for lying and promised not to tell any more half-truths. Alice and Mabel spent that night together.[20]
Contacting the Killer
The next morning, Mabel made breakfast for herself and Alice, a recipe she and her dad used to make together. When Alice asked about Mabel's dad, Mabel said she liked that Alice didn't know much about her history, as so many people were obsessed with her past and Alice made her feel new, a feeling she liked.
Oliver and Mabel went to the Brazzos set to visit Charles while he was filming. While waiting for Charles, Oliver showed Mabel the footage he had from the diner. They were sure the person in the video was the murderer and the matchbook they took was the one from Mabel's apartment. Mabel looked at the matchbook and saw what looked like a fingerprint in the blood. Still convinced the person who texted them to get out of the building was Detective Williams, Mabel took Charles's phone and texted that number, asking to run prints on it. They got a response asking them to meet and not to tell anyone. Then a cop approached them and said that Kreps wanted to meet them in Bunny's apartment to talk about the case.
When they arrived, they found Cinda and Poppy there as well. Kreps told them all to stop podcasting, as it was interfering with the case. At this meeting, they also learned that Cinda had interviewed a former co-worker of Mabel's, Jimmy Russo, who accused Mabel of cutting off his finger and serving it to customers. Mabel said that Jimmy was a liar who got too handsy. When Poppy and Cinda left, Mabel followed them out and talked to Poppy about how Cinda treated her, saying she wasn't getting the respect she deserved.
Back with Charles and Oliver, Mabel learned that Kreps had told them that Williams was on maternity leave in Denver, meaning she wouldn't have texted them to meet up. They texted the number again and were told to leave the evidence in the park to be retrieved later, confirming that it wasn't Williams and was instead probably the killer. They talked about it and decided to make a glitter bomb, which would explode on the killer when they came to get the matchbook.
After planting the bomb, they waited nearby so they could see who showed up. While they were waiting, the new episode of "Only Murderers in the Building" was released, and they started listening to it. Mabel defended herself to Oliver and Charles, telling them that really Jimmy was a creep and the first time she fought back, he got his finger stuck in the meat slicer. Charles wanted to play some music on his phone to break the tension, but Oliver noticed several calls with Hopestill on his phone, tipping them off that he was talking to Jan again. This upset Mabel, who reminded him that Jan had killed her friend. Mabel went to leave and saw someone running away with the bag, covered in glitter. By the time they got to the bomb, the person was gone. Mabel said she needed some space and decided to walk instead of going back with Oliver and Charles.
Mabel went to Alice's gallery, where she found Alice recreating Bunny's murder with the help of some actors. Horrified, Mabel left, over Alice's objections that she was trying to help Mabel with her trauma. She got on a subway to go home as Poppy called her, telling her that Cinda was a liar and a monster and offering everything she knew up to the trio to take her down. The conversation was interrupted when Mabel noticed someone standing nearby, covered in glitter. When that person approached her, Mabel stood up and stabbed them.[21]
Visit to Coney Island
When Mabel woke up, she was lying down on a bed, in an unfamiliar apartment, her bloody coat after the stabbing was situated at her feet. She hid when she heard someone coming in and hit Theo Dimas on the head with a lamp as he entered. He told her he was trying to help her and showed her the video of her stabbing someone on the subway. She had no memory of the incident, so Theo told her that he'd watched from the next car as a man attacked Mabel, and she stabbed him. Then the man and Mabel both exited the car. The man had Mabel's bag and dropped a Coney Island security badge. When Mabel saw that, she decided she needed to go to Coney Island to look for Glitter Guy. Theo wanted to help, but Mabel did not want his help, given their shared background, but after telling her that the person she thinks he is, isn't who he really is, Mabel let Theo drive them to Coney Island and help with her search.
At Coney Island, Theo got Mabel into the security office, where she started looking through employee records. Mabel started to panic that maybe she was the kind of person who went into fugue states and stabbed people. When Mabel walked out, Theo bagged up the files and brought them with him. She apologized to him, saying that he was just helping. His ankle bracelet beeped, informing him that it needed to be charged, so Mabel helped him find a plug, then also plugged in an arcade game for him to play. Next, he tried a claw game, but when he failed multiple times, he decided to open the front of the machine and grab a prize. Inside was a ring similar to the one Zoe had. Theo signed that, every night before he went to sleep, he replayed that moment in his head, wondering if she slipped or if he pushed her. Mabel said she couldn't walk past the front gate or Tim's door without seeing their bodies. It disturbed her that she was the kind of person who could stab someone and not remember it, a thought that scared her. Theo indicated that he didn't understand what she said, but she thought that might be better. Theo's ankle bracelet was finished charging, so Mabel said she needed to use the bathroom before they headed back to the city. In the bathroom, Mabel noticed glitter in the sink drain and a bloody tissue in the trash can. She hid in a locker, but the man found her. She shoved the locker door into him and ran. She found Theo, who was anxiously waiting for her and they hid together. After the man, whom Mabel dubbed Glitter Guy, passed them, they went back to the car. Mabel checked the bag and found the matchbook was missing. She also found something that prompted her to tell Theo they needed to go back immediately.
Back in the city, Mabel attempted some ASL and thanked Theo for taking her, telling him also, that he wasn't the person she thought he was and advised him not to push things away, including his father. Then she went inside the diner, where Charles and Oliver were waiting for her. She showed them a picture she'd found in the bag of Lucy with Charles. Charles immediately called Lucy, who said she was in Charles's apartment. Before he could tell her what to do, a black-out engulfed the city in darkness.[4]
Blackout
When they were unable to make contact with Lucy again, Mabel, Charles, and Oliver left the diner and went back to the Arconia. They went right for the stairs, which upset Oliver. As they climbed, Oliver started to slow down quickly, blaming it on his newly replaced knees. Charles suggested that getting up the stairs would be easier if Oliver dropped the bag of dips Ivan had given him. Oliver tucked the dips away and they continued their ascent. When they got up to the eleventh floor, they had to drag Oliver the rest of the way. They got to Charles's apartment, where they found the passageway open and deduced that Lucy had gone in there to run from Glitter Guy. They entered the passageway, but quickly got lost. Lucy found them there and led them out. When they saw a flashlight approaching, they rushed to get out and down the stairs, with a figure in a jumpsuit following them. When they got to the bottom of the steps, Mabel used the bag of dips to hit the figure, causing him to fall. She removed his mask to reveal Marv. Marv explained that he wasn't the killer, that he was just trying to protect Lucy from the Sixth Avenue Strangler. He just wanted to be part of things. Lucy confirmed that he wasn't the person who had chased her and believed he'd actually scared the killer off. Oliver agreed to let Marv record an episode with them, saying they were low on quality content.
Mabel said that they'd seen the killer four times, but wondered if it was always the same person. Mabel was horrified to see Lucy talking to Detective Kreps. He said Lucy had filled him in on what they'd just done. While Charles and Oliver led Lucy out of the building, Kreps said he was just in the neighborhood, which Mabel found suspicious. He made it clear he was after Mabel. Just then, Howard walked by, brushing Kreps' arm. He grabbed it, which he said was because he had just gotten a new tattoo there. When he turned his head, she noticed glitter on his neck behind his ear.[22]
Confronting Kreps
Mabel told Charles that Kreps was Glitter Guy and therefore their prime suspect. They speculated on why he might have done it because he didn't seem like the kind of guy who would want the painting. They decided that someone must be pulling the strings behind him, some kind of criminal mastermind. Mabel looked at the bag she'd taken from him, which had a chicken logo she found familiar, but couldn't place. Oliver came in while they were talking, telling them Will was officially his biological child, and he was more Greek than he thought. To celebrate, he brought Mrs. Gambolini to give to Charles. Charles tried to refuse and their fighting over the cage opened a secret compartment at the bottom of the bird cage. Inside the compartment was the painting. They put the original up next to the fake. They wondered why Bunny might have made a fake.
Mabel went back to her apartment, where Alice was waiting for her with a present. Mabel opened it to find it was a puzzle, which Alice said she hand-made during the blackout with an x-acto knife because she knew how much Mabel liked puzzles. Mabel said Alice made her realize how much she didn't want her life to be about the worst parts of it. She said she liked Alice, but she couldn't trust her and couldn't be with someone she didn't trust. Alice said she understood, and she was around if Mabel needed anything.
Mabel looked at Kreps's Coney Island file and got an address. When she went to the address, she found a boxing gym. Inside, Kreps was sparring. She told him she had a few questions, starting with how his arm was after being stabbed. He told her she could only ask questions if she got in the ring with him. Kreps had her hold a bag while he punched it. She said she couldn't figure out how he pulled off such an intricate plan when he was so stupid. He told her he was smart enough not to be tripped up by her insults. Mabel tried to goad him into confessing, but he said the problem with her generation was that they were taught that everyone cared what they had to say, which wasn't true. He said he couldn't be that stupid because he landed the smartest woman in the world and did a better podcast than theirs right off the bat. Kreps vaguely threatened her, saying she was the prime suspect in a murder he was investigating. Then he told her to get out. Mabel saw a towel nearby that had the same chicken logo as the bag.
Mabel went home and started doing the puzzle Alice left while listening to "All is Not Okay in Oklahoma". As Cinda talked about a bar and grill in Oklahoma she frequented called 'The Chicken Chug'. She realized that was the source of the logo.
Mabel went to the studio to see Poppy. Poppy said she'd made a mistake offering her help and couldn't tell Mabel anything. Mabel said she knew the podcast and Kreps were connected, but she didn't know how. Poppy told her to let it go and leave, but Mabel wanted to know what she was so scared of. Poppy said Mabel didn't know what Cinda was capable of. When Mabel asked what that meant, Poppy said that she was Becky Butler.
Mabel went back to Charles's place, where she put Cinda's picture under the label, Criminal Mastermind.[23]
Killer Reveal Party
Charles and Oliver were stunned to find out that Poppy was Becky Butler. Mabel pointed out that that meant Cinda sent someone to prison for murdering someone she knows is still alive and then went on to try to send them to prison for a murder she committed herself. They reviewed everything they knew and Mabel reminded them that Williams had the knife and was running forensics. Mabel texted her to check on that. They decided they needed something they could use to get Cinda to unravel and confess. Mabel reminded them that Poppy drives Cinda crazy.
Charles, Oliver, and Mabel met with Poppy at The Pickle Diner and asked her what would make Cinda crumble. She told them Cinda doesn't like human error, interruption, people working for her who don't look like her, the inside of tomatoes, and slow motion. Poppy was then called away by Cinda, who was recording the finale of "Only Murderers in the Building". She ordered a liverwurst and marmalade sandwich to go, which disgusted Charles, Oliver, and Mabel. Ivan said it was the owner's sister's favorite sandwich, which was why they served it. Mabel then stepped away to take a call from Williams, who informed her there was saliva on the knife that matched a dead girl from way out of town. Mabel realized it was Becky Butler. Mabel then returned to the table and told Charles and Oliver she knew what "14 Savage" meant. She pointed to the menu, which showed that the #14 sandwich was liverwurst and marmalade, the same sandwich Poppy had ordered.
Knowing Poppy was the murderer, they invited many residents of the Arconia, plus Alice, Cinda, and Poppy, to a "Killer Reveal Party" at Bunny's apartment. Oliver, Mabel, and Charles entered the party, where all the Arconia residents were waiting, and explained that they'd solved Bunny's murder and would reveal the killer to them, but only as part of a show they were putting on and wanted them all to participate in. Once they'd all agreed, they began setting up. An hour later, Cinda and Poppy arrived, prepared to record their own podcast because Cinda believed they'd been invited to Mabel's confession. Charles explained that they'd be revealing Bunny's real killer and pointed the finger at Cinda. He declared that she'd killed Bunny and hid her tracks with the help of a crooked cop. She asked how he knew about Kreps. Charles then laid out how instead of solving crimes for her podcast, she made them up. Cinda asked why she'd want to kill a woman she never met. Lester interjected that he had the logs that showed several visits to the Arconia, meaning she did meet Bunny. Cinda said she was just keeping tabs on the Kono investigation. The trio tried more things to unsettle Cinda, but she still couldn't confess. Mabel said that was because she didn't do it and pointed the finger at Alice, saying she wanted the painting and when Bunny asked for too much money for it, Alice killed her to get it. Alice flew into a rage and grabbed a nearby knife, intending to stab Mabel, but hitting Charles instead when he pushed Mabel out of the way. Charles collapsed to the floor while Uma called the police and the others restrained Alice. Oliver and Mabel cried and held Charles' hand as he bled to death.
As Howard comforted Mrs. Gambolini, Uma told them police and the ambulance were three minutes away. Cinda said that she was sorry for Charles's death, but said Mabel was incredible and offered her a job, saying she could even have her own podcast. This upset Poppy, who said there was nothing tying Alice to the murder and her confessing was just pure luck. Meanwhile, Poppy does everything for Cinda. As she talked, Poppy started sneezing. She said she was the one to tell Cinda about the art in the first place. Mabel questioned why and Poppy said it was for a podcast, but Cinda wasn't interested. Poppy continued to sneeze as she talked, prompting Oliver to ask if she had some kind of allergy, perhaps to Mrs. Gambolini. Mabel said the killer sneezed while leaving the crime scene. Poppy challenged that it wasn't uncommon to be allergic to birds and asked if they were going to believe some young girl hiding in the walls. Oliver said that only the killer could have known about Lucy. Cinda then revealed that she knew that Poppy was really Becky Butler, the woman whose "murder" was the subject of Cinda's podcast, "All Is Not OK in Oklahoma". When Poppy asked who told her that, Charles popped out from under the sheet and said it was them. The whole night was staged, including the two false accusations. Poppy said she just wanted to make a good podcast. She wanted Cinda to notice her, but things went wrong. While she talked about why she did it, Williams came in to arrest her while Kreps waited outside, already in handcuffs of his own.
After the arrests, Charles, Mabel, and Oliver recorded the ending of the podcast. Then they said they could get back to talking to each other like people, not just about murders.
Mabel decided that with the murder solved, it was time to renovate her aunt's apartment. She had Alice there to help. Alice looked at the mural Mabel had painted and asked if it would be integrated into the new design and if she herself was. Mabel said no, but said Alice could help. Together, they painted over the mural.[24]
Ben's Death
Over the next few months, Mabel worked on finally renovating her aunt's apartment while Oliver and Charles prepared for the premiere of "Death Rattle". She was excited that Ben Glenroy was playing the lead in the play as she was a fan of his. She went to the first read-through so she could meet him and was pleased when he acknowledged her.
Four months later, on opening night, Ben collapsed on stage and was pronounced dead. They all went back to Oliver's play to attend the party Oliver had planned, where Mabel admitted that her first thought when Ben collapsed was how popular a podcast about his death would be. And them doing a podcast together would mean she could spend more time with Charles and Oliver again, as they were together for play rehearsals while she was left out. After the party orchestrated by Oliver for everyone who was a part of the play, Mabel went home and texted Oliver and Charles to meet her there so they could go to Pickle Diner together. When they showed up, she admitted that she felt out of the loop with them and didn't want to be. They were surprised to learn that her aunt had sold the apartment and Mabel had four weeks to move out.
As they went to leave, they saw that the elevator that had been broken was fixed. They hesitated, but decided to take it. As they were riding down, Charles noted that they couldn't have done the podcast anyway as Ben didn't die in the building. Then Mabel noticed blood dripping onto Charles' hat. They stepped out of the elevator just before Ben's body dropped through the ceiling.[25] As the others ran off to get help, Mabel stopped and took some pictures of Ben's body on her phone.[5]
Ben's Funeral
Mabel asked Charles and Oliver to take her to Ben's funeral with them and quietly admitted to Charles that she was sleuthing. When they arrived, Oliver was upset to be relegated to overflow three, as he wanted to use the funeral to talk to Donna and Cliff. Mabel took the opportunity to look around at the other people attending the funeral. She met Gregg Rivera, who told Mabel he worked security for Ben and was quietly investigating Ben's death. He offered to show Mabel what he had, so Mabel and Charles went back to Gregg's place. Just as they realized that Gregg was actually just a stalker, he knocked them out. They woke up chained to a pole. Gregg threatened them with a torch, and they realized he thought Charles had killed Ben. Mabel said that it wasn't Charles, and they actually thought it was Gregg. Gregg said he loved Ben and didn't kill him. Mabel realized that the hankie that he put in her mouth to muzzle her was one of Ben's opening night gifts. Gregg said he'd taken it from Ben's place while looking for clues and collectables. As Gregg continued to threaten Charles, two cops came in and arrested him. Detective Biswas told them that they'd been following Gregg for two days since someone saw him leaving the Arconia two minutes after Ben's death. He also said that Donna Williams had told him about them, though he noticed one of them was missing, meaning Oliver.
Now free, Mabel told Charles she didn't think Gregg had killed Ben. She showed him that she'd also taken the hankie and said that Ben had a hankie on him when he died, meaning he may have pulled it off someone else as he fell. They went to Oliver, who happily told them he was reimagining "Death Rattle" as a musical. They then told him they were back in the podcast business, and they believed Ben had been murdered by someone involved with the show.[5]
Investigation
While Oliver worked on his show, Mabel and Charles set up an evidence board with all the cast and crew on it. Before they could record anything, Oliver texted Charles to summon him to his apartment for a rehearsal. At the same time, he texted Mabel to tell her she was banned from his apartment and wasn't allowed to investigate during rehearsals. So she told Charles to figure out who didn't have their handkerchief and decided to go to Ben's penthouse to look for clues.
On her way up, she met Tobert, who said he had left some equipment in Ben's place that he needed to get. Mabel lied and said she was looking for a signed headshot Ben had left for her. While they were both searching the apartment, Tobert said it was clear they were both lying. Before they could continue sleuthing, they heard the door opening and hid in the armoire. Still in the armoire, Tobert finally recognized that Mabel was from the podcast. He told her about his time in Botswana filming elephants and how he wanted to make a movie about Ben's death. He showed her that he had footage from the night Ben collapsed on stage, filmed in his dressing room. After they left the armoire, Mabel stole the drive with the footage from Tobert.
Mabel was unable to access the footage on the drive without a password, so she found Tobert at a café, where she told him that the police had the wrong guy, and she wanted to find the real killer. Tobert said he wanted to help her, so she gave him the drive. Together, they watched Ben tell a hidden figure to leave, that he didn't want them there. He then said they'd destroy his career and he'd like it. While they were watching, Mabel got a text from Charles telling her that Kimber didn't have her hankie.[3]
Mabel was eager to continue the investigation and figure out if Ben was poisoned on opening night. If he was, they had a viable suspect in Kimber. After a disastrous rehearsal, Mabel persuaded Oliver to go to the theater with her.
At the theater, they were surprised to find Kimber in her dressing room. Kimber admitted that she ran her business from that room and had copied Howard's key. When Charles arrived, Mabel sent the two of them to Ben's dressing room while she stayed to talk to Kimber. Through this conversation, she learned Ben had agreed to promote Kimber's anti-aging serum, but backed out at the last minute, which is why Kimber didn't feel bad selling his opening night gift on eBay, explaining why she didn't have it to give to Charles. Mabel was called away from the conversation to Ben's dressing room, where someone had drawn a pig with the words "FUCKING PIG" under it in lipstick on his mirror.
Mabel went from there to meet Cinda, who had been trying to get Mabel to meet her for days. Cinda told Mabel about her year of self-care, though she admitted a lot of it was fabricated for the podcast, and then offered Mabel a job as Cinda's partner. Even when she substantially increased the payment offer, Mabel said no, that Charles and Oliver were her guys even though they were busy with the musical. Cinda said the offer stood if Mabel changed her mind.
Mabel went to Oliver and the two of them met at Charles' place just as Joy was accepting Charles's unplanned marriage proposal. They were shocked when Joy took the lipstick from Mabel and put it back in her kit as it was hers and had been missing.[26]
Mabel left Charles to talk to Joy about the lipstick and went to a piano bar to meet Tobert, who said he had a lead and wanted them to watch them. When she arrived, she learned that he had actually ruled out his lead, Jonathan, as a suspect and actually just used it as an excused to go on a date with him. Despite the deception, she stayed, and they ate and drank together. Later in the evening, Mabel spotted Jonathan talking with a strange man. After Tobert blew their cover and Jonathan and the man left, Tobert said the man was Dr. C, Ben's doctor. Mabel took Tobert to see the evidence board, and he put a card with Dr. C's name on it on the board, then they kissed.[27]
The next morning, Howard came to Mabel's place and told her he killed Ben Glenroy. She had Oliver and Charles come over and asked Howard to explain. Howard said that he swept the stage every night to keep the ghost of Gideon Goosebury from sabotaging the show, but he hadn't done it opening night because he couldn't do it that night, as K.T.'s office was locked and there were sounds coming from the inside. He'd remembered this when he was sweeping again in preparation for their return to the theater and a figure he believed was Gideon's ghost appeared in the back of the theater, scaring him enough that he immediately went to confess.
Charles, Mabel, and Oliver went to the theater to investigate. While they were on stage, a sandbag fell next to Charles, followed by a second. They rushed off-stage to find K.T., who enlisted Howard's help to conduct safety checks. While they were gone, Mabel noticed a clipboard where the cast signed in, which gave them handwriting samples to compare to the mirror. Oliver tried to dissuade her, confusing her, and then he disappeared while Mabel was talking to Charles about Tobert. She told Charles he and Oliver could do whatever they wanted, and she would investigate by herself as usual.
Mabel found Tobert wandering in the theater, and he told her that he'd followed Jonathan there while investigating on his own. Together, they confronted Jonathan and learned that he didn't want to be the leading man and was anxious about it, leading to him contacting Ben's doctor to get the same medications Ben was taking. While walking with Tobert, they ran into Charles, who had been trapped in a props closet. From there, they followed Oliver and found him trying to clean the lipstick off Ben's mirror. This led to a fight between the three of them, with Oliver mad that Charles hadn't told him about punching Ben on opening night and Mabel upset with Oliver for destroying evidence and Oliver mad at Mabel for pointing fingers at his cast, jeopardizing his moment to shine. Mabel decided she would continue to investigate without them and find out who killed Ben.[28]
Theo helped Mabel start moving her things out of her aunt's apartment and told her that Dickie was holding a silent auction to sell Ben's movie memorabilia. They went to the auction, where Mabel talked to Dickie about Ben's death and asked about the call Dickie said Ben needed to take that night. Dickie snapped at her, saying he wouldn't be giving her anything for her podcast. She went to him and apologized, and he said he shouldn't have taken his frustrations out on her. He'd been taking care of Ben his whole life, covering up every mistake Ben ever made, while Ben got all the credit. And the first time he wasn't watching, Ben got murdered by a stalker. Mabel told Dickie that she didn't think Gregg had actually killed Ben, but Dickie said the timing matched up.
While packing with Theo, Mabel realized that the police had Ben's time of death wrong because they were using his watch, which Dickie said he had always set 20 minutes early, meaning he died at 12:26, not 12:06, meaning Gregg was long gone by the time Ben died. Tobert later brought over recording equipment, so Mabel could make the podcast on her own. He had a mock-up of a poster for a new podcast, but Mabel didn't like it, so he backed off. Theo came in and showed Mabel and Tobert that he had purchased the original CoBro art, which Ben claimed to have drawn as a child, but he'd noticed that the B. in B. Glenroy had been crudely changed from an R, meaning Dickie, aka Richard, was the actual artist and Ben had stolen his art and used it to make millions, giving Dickie a motive. Mabel became intimidated by Tobert's fancy equipment and decided to record the trailer for season three of "Only Murders in the Building" on her phone instead.[29]
Despite her fight with Oliver and Charles, Mabel came to the theater for the sitzprobe, the first rehearsal with the full orchestra. She told them that, since she had been unable to find a new apartment, she moved in with Theo, as well as informing them that she was still investigating and believed Dickie was the killer. Oliver was pleased because he wasn't in the show. Mabel sat in the audience during the performances, watching Dickie. While the cast performed, everyone got notified that Gregg Rivera had been released and the real killer was still at large. Detective Williams came in and said someone involved in the show was the killer. She wanted to bring everyone down to the station to be interviewed, but after talking to Oliver, she agreed to hold the interviews at the theater instead, so the rehearsal could continue.
Howard came to Mabel and told her he had a break in the case. He showed her the shredder in K.T.'s office and said it was the sound he'd heard on opening night while looking for the broom. He asked Mabel to get some tape so he could try to put the shredded documents back together. While she was getting tape, Mabel talked to Loretta about the investigation. When she told Loretta that she thought Dickie was the killer, Loretta said she didn't believe that was true, but couldn't explain why.
When Howard became discouraged with his work, Mabel psyched him up to continue. He was able to put together enough of a sheet of paper to show that it had the date of the opening night on it.
Mabel went to find Charles and Oliver and was pleasantly surprised to learn they'd planted a camera in Charles' dressing room and were able to record all the interviews. She asked them if they wanted to make a podcast with her, officially making up with them.
As they watched Loretta rehearsal the final song, Mabel and Charles pulled things out of her bag, including a letter she'd written to Dickie and a book of pictures of him. They watched as the cops came in and arrested Dickie, but Loretta saw this and confessed to the murder in order to get them to let Dickie go. As she was led out, Oliver clutched his arm and then collapsed. Charles and Mabel rushed to his aid and told someone to call for help.[30]
Oliver spent the next five days in the hospital after getting a stent. Charles and Mabel stayed by his bedside the whole time, suspending the investigation. When Oliver was released from the hospital, they decided to get back into things. They talked to Dickie and asked him where he was when Ben was pushed into the elevator shaft. He admitted to getting drunk, putting on Ben's CoBro costume, and going to "Snitches Get Stitches", where he believed Ben had been soliciting the services of sex workers. Charles, Oliver, and Mabel went to "Snitches Get Stitches" and were surprised to find that it was a legitimate fabric shop and the sex workers were actually Ben's sewing group. They said they'd loved Ben and spent the night before his opening night helping him make the hankies he'd given everyone and running lines with him. Then after he left for the show, he left them a desperate voicemail, pleading with them to come to the show as he was surrounded by people he couldn't trust. They'd been unable to make it to the show due to traffic caused by an event at the UN.
From there, the trio decided to review the tape of the interrogations, using them to piece together that night and get context for the voicemail. They learned Ben was fasting that night and had learned that Dickie didn't want to be his manager anymore. Finally, they realized that Ben hadn't been yelling at a person in the video from Tobert's camera. Instead, he was talking to a cookie that someone had left on his vanity. Unbeknownst to him, it was laced with rat poison. He finally gave into temptation and ate the cookie, leading to his collapse and first pronouncement of death that night. When Howard came in with a piece of paper he'd managed to put back together, Oliver read it and realized it was Maxine's review of the play, which was a pan. In particular, it singled out Ben as a weak link. This led them to the conclusion that Donna had killed Ben to get him out of the way and keep him from ruining her son's producing debut. They put Mabel in Joy's abandoned wedding dress and used that to get to the courthouse in time for Loretta's arraignment, where they told her they didn't think she did it or Dickie, and they knew who the real killer was. Loretta said she believed them, but asked who did it. Just then, Donna stood up in the audience.[31]
They were able to persuade Loretta to plead not guilty and Charles paid her bail to get her out of jail. They went back to the murder board and went over their plan to get Donna to confess. They were all shocked when Loretta showed them she had the blood-stained hankie from Ben's body, which had a lip print on it. She hoped it could tie Donna to the push. They took that and lured Donna to K.T.'s office, where they confronted her. She admitted to poisoning Ben, but denied pushing him until she was confronted with the hankie with her lip print on it. She made a full confession directly into Tobert's microphone, then asked them to wait until after the show to call the police as it was her son's producing debut. She assured them she wasn't a flight risk as she had stage four lung cancer. They agreed, and the show went forward, with Oliver stepping into the lead role when Jonathan took too many pills and was unable to perform.
While Charles and Oliver performed, Mabel talked to Tobert, who told her he'd been offered an indie film in LA and wanted her to think about coming with him, thinking it might help her get unstuck. She said she'd think about it. As the show progressed, Mabel noticed Donna and Cliff talking in the audience and then Cliff getting up. She followed him up to the room above the stage, where she realized he was the actual killer and his mother was just covering for him, having recognized the hankie as the one she tucked into Cliff's pocket that night before leaving the party. Cliff told Mabel it was an accident and threatened to throw himself down onto the stage during the show. They were joined first by Charles and then Oliver, both of whom left the stage despite their characters being dead. Cliff continued to dangle and said he couldn't go to prison. Suddenly, Donna came in and Cliff allowed himself to be pulled to safety. He and Donna were both arrested.
At the afterparty, Mabel told Tobert she liked LA in small doses, so she was open to visiting, but she needed to stay in New York to unstick things there.[32]
Trip to LA
Once the party was over, they recorded the finale of that season of the podcast. The power briefly went out while Charles said the final line, cutting him off. Once it came back, he recorded the last bit again and then invited Mabel and Oliver to his place for a night cap, as Sazz never came back with the Malbec she was supposed to retrieve from his place.
The next morning, Mabel and Oliver came back to Charles's place to tell him Donna and Cliff pulled their funding, so the musical was closing. Oliver was dramatically devastated by the news, but when he learned a producer in LA wanted to make a movie based on their podcast, he perked back up and was eager to leave for LA, while Charles was worried about Sazz. However, when he got a text from Sazz saying she'd gone to LA to double for Scott Bakula, he was reassured.
They flew to LA, where they met Bev Melon, who explained that she'd seeing people swirling around the concept and decided to produce the movie herself. She also introduced them to Marshall P. Pope, who wrote the script and Trina and Tawny Brothers, who were directing. Upset by how Bev described her, Mabel excused herself from the table.
Charles and Oliver found Mabel outside and she explained that she didn't like how Bev had described her, but had to admit she wasn't wrong. Oliver pressured Mabel to agree to sign anyway, saying he needed it. In the meantime, Charles had his old driver, Sidney, come to drive them around town. They decided to go to Sazz's place to Charles could check on her. There were packages piled at Sazz's door and no sign she was there. Not wanting to be considered un-fun, Charles decided they'd go to the party Bev was throwing for them.
At the party, they met Zach Galifianakis, Eugene Levy, and Eva Longoria, who had been cast to play them in the movie. Mabel asked why they'd chosen to age her up and Eva said that test audiences found the age gap between her and the guys creepy. When Mabel went to order a drink, Eva stepped in and ordered tequila for both of them. Then she explained how she'd built an empire for herself by branching out into other industries. She encouraged Mabel to ask for a lot of money and use it to make something for herself.
Taking that advice, Mabel went back to Bev with a piece of paper. What she's written on it made Marshall Peepope curse, but Bev agreed.
After learning that Sazz hadn't shown up for a job, the trio went back to Sazz's place, where Charles picked the lock. They found some odd notes, some referring to Charles, and then Lester called to say that he'd gotten a note about replacing Charles's kitchen window. At the same time, Mabel learned that Howard's new dog had been a cadaver dog.
They went back to New York, where Howard brought Gravey to Charles's place. She sniffed around and then led them to the incinerator, where they found some metal joints from Bulgaria, the kind Sazz had.[33]
Continuing Investigation
With Charles's hands covered in Sazz's ashes, they returned to Charles's place, where Charles decided to collect the ashes in a jar and then let the water evaporate to avoid washing Sazz down the sink. Mabel and Oliver then told Charles they wanted to go talk to some people before reporting the murder so they could talk to them before the police came. They also said they wanted Charles to stay at his place, as they believed he was the real target of the killer. So they asked him to Postmates some luminol so they could figure out exactly where Sazz died, so they could figure out which apartment the killer was in when they made the shot. They looked across the courtyard at the West Tower, where Charles told them what he knew about the people who lived across from him, including Stink-Eye Joe, Christmas Guy, and the Sauce family. Oliver and Mabel then left to talk to those people while Charles locked himself in his apartment.
Oliver and Mabel made their way over to the West Tower, under the guise of scouting locations for the movie to get the residents to talk to them. They started with Vince Fish (Stink-Eye Joe), who really just had antibiotic-resistant pink eye. He was delighted to meet them as he was a fan of the podcast. He invited them into his apartment to look at the view. It gave them a view of Charles's apartment, but the windows were painted shut, meaning the shooter couldn't have been in there. He said he was going to his neighbors' to play "Oh, Hell," and invited them to come along so they could check on that apartment as well.
As they walked to the next apartment, Mabel pointed out to Oliver a door with a lockbox on it. When they went in to the neighbors' place, they met Inez, Alfonso, and Ana, the Sauce family. They learned that Inez has a huge crush on Charles after being a fan of his since his Brazzos days. They invited Oliver and Mabel to join their game. As they played, the Westies kept excusing themselves to go to the bathroom with a knife. Mabel and Oliver were suspicious about this until Oliver won a round and learned they were just going to slice off bits of a ham from Portugal. They then asked about the lockbox door they'd passed. Ana said it was the Dudenoff place (a name Oliver and Mabel recognized from one of the notes they took from Sazz's apartment), but quieted when Inez kicked her under the table.
Oliver and Mabel returned to Charles's place, where they told him what they'd learned and were pleased that he'd set up their clue board. He'd also ordered the luminol, but it hadn't arrived yet. Mabel found a note from the club board with some numbers on it and she and Oliver left Charles again to try the code on the Dudenoff place.
The code opened the door and they went inside. They found a footprint on the radiator and signs that the window, which had been painted shut, had been pried open. While Oliver looked at what appeared to be tinsel by the window, Mabel checked out the bathroom, where she found a pig. Just then, they heard someone trying to get into the apartment. After a moment, the noise stopped. Mabel looked out the peephole, revealing that no one was there. She opened the door and the pig ran out. Then she and Oliver decided to gather some things and leave.
Mabel and Oliver returned to Charles's place, where they found the police, including Detective Williams, there. Charles told them Jan had been there. Just then, a 911 operator finally picked up and Williams was displeased when Charles told them he needed to report a murder. Mabel then told Williams and her team that they should check the incinerator. Once the police were gone, they took the luminol and sprayed it on the floor. Not only did this allow them to see where Sazz had died, but it revealed a message she wrote in her own blood, "Tap in." Charles recognized this as the phrase Sazz used to say when it was her turn to step in and do the stunt and time for Charles to take a break. Oliver then realized the note with the code to the Dudenoff place was not just numbers, but when flipped upside down, read, "Oh, Hell." Charles finally accepted that he was the real target and said they weren't investigating Sazz's murder, but his own.[34]
Working with Eva
When the FBI came in to take over the murder investigation, Williams came to Charles's place to talk to the trio. She told them that it wasn't public yet, but the FBI had stepped in to take over the investigation. They believed Jan paid someone to kill Sazz while she was in prison. They also believed she'd done to Florida. The bullet that killed Sazz was from a 300 Win Mag based on the one casing found in the Dudenoff place. The apartment belongs to M. Dudenoff, a retired professor whose neighbors say they're in Portugal, which Williams didn't believe. All the neighbors were playing cards when they heard the shot except Rudy Thurber, a guy with Christmas decorations up year-round. When Charles said that he was certain Jan didn't kill Sazz, Williams agreed, but didn't believe Sazz was the killer's intended target. Williams knew after three seasons that the trio wouldn't stand by while the police and FBI investigated. She became distracted when Eva, Zach, and Eugene entered the apartment. They were there to study Mabel, Oliver, and Charles to perfect their roles for the movie. Williams threatened Oliver and the others not to let anything happen to Zach Galifianakis, saying she'd kill them herself if anything happened to him.
Eva wanted to make a more aggressive persona for Mabel, whom she called Mabél. She wanted to accompany Mabel on her investigation, but Mabel brushed her off and chastised her for jumping to conclusions and touching the murder board. When Mabel went to talk to Rudy Thurber, she was shocked to find Eva already in his apartment talking to him. He served them eggnog and began talking to them. Mabel asked him about the decor and said it was missing her favorite thing. He said he had other things not in the living room. The ham radio in the room started playing the theme from Perfect Strangers, drawing Mabel's atteniton. She asked about it and he left the room to get rid of it. While he was gone, Eva said she wanted to be more aggressive, while Mabel was against the idea of goading a possible killer. Rudy came back to find Mabel looking in his drawers. She tried to cover for it by activating a Santa on the table. He took the Santa and asked her not to touch it. When Eva got a notification that her dinner plans had been moved up, she decided to get more aggressive. She started breaking his decorations and trying to get him to admit to being the killer. This culminated in her taking a gun off the wall and firing it only to find out it wasn't a real gun. Rudy finally admitted that he had no motive to kill Charles because he actually hated Christmas and only made Christmas-theme content because it was the only content that got any attention. He felt imprisoned by it. Mabel apologized and asked him to look at the tinsel they'd found in the apartment where the shot was fired. He tried to light it and said it wasn't tinsel because it didn't light. Mabel thanked him and apologized for Eva's behavior. Eva said that as a consolation, Michelle Obama would be seeing his TikTok. He thought that was a euphemism for something, but Eva didn't clarify what she meant.
As they left, Eva told Mabel she'd be skipping the part where she was wrong when she told the story. Mabel admitted that Eva did help her speed things up because she would have spent weeks thinking Rudy was a viable suspect without Eva. She decided to take a page out of Eva's book and took the police tape off the Dudenoff apartment and went inside. Mabel then texted Oliver and Charles to come over for a housewarming party. They brought cleaning supplies and basic bedding because Mabel had decided to start squatting there in the hopes of forcing Dudenoff to return to kick her out. She started singing the Perfect Strangers theme song and Oliver remembered that Howard noted that he'd heard it on the radio. He also logged someone saying, "Meet me at 445." Mabel realized that was a frequency. She went to it and called out. Someone replied telling her they shouldn't be on that line. She warned them that the last person who poked around ended up dead and they were next if they continued. She also heard the pig squeaking and told Hammy Faye Bakker she loved her.[35]
After having a dream in which he chased Sazz, who said she was on her way to Paradise, Charles called Mabel and Oliver over to his place to show them the second murder board he'd made, to consider Sazz as the target. He wanted to fill in the gaps in Sazz's life to figure out if anyone might have wanted to kill her. Meanwhile, Mabel was making no progress with the Westies, who stopped speaking to her when she started squatting in the apartment. Additionally, the voice on the radio hadn't responded since that first message. As they started talking about the Westies, Oliver explained that he was tired because he'd been up obsessing over a picture on Loretta's Instagram with a man's arm around her. Through Mabel looking at Loretta's Instagram, she learned that Sazz was on Instagram and had posted from a bar called Concussion on the day she died.
They decided to go visit Concussion. But first, Mabel checked on the apartment and Howard, who was watching the apartment for her. He tried to ask her about Animal Jobs, but she said she didn't have time and had to leave again.
They went to Concussion, where they quickly stood out amongst the stunt workers. They accused Charles of just being a face. Charles defended himself, saying Sazz was his friend and he was just trying to solve her murder. The stunt workers were angry because they thought the trio were just doing it for their podcast and blamed the trio for them not being able to have a funeral for Sazz. Among the stunt workers was Glen Stubbins, Ben Glenroy's Irish stunt double who strongly resembled Ben. He blamed the trio for Ben's death and threatened them, forcing them out of the bar. Once they were outside, Glen apologized and begged them to help him get a job. They agreed to do it only if he told them what was happening in the back room of the bar, where they saw the same light that was in the background of Sazz's last Instagram photo, meaning she'd been there. Glen told them she was seeing Dr. Maggie, a chiropractor. He agreed to take them to see Dr. Maggie. Charles asked if he could go alone, believing he owed it to Sazz, and Oliver and Mabel agreed.
While Charles went to see Dr. Maggie, Mabel and Oliver talked about Dudenoff and Oliver's insecurity in his relationship with Loretta. He admitted he'd almost proposed to her in LA, but didn't for fear of having two marriages fail. Oliver had decided to talk to Loretta on Instagram using a profile where he pretend to be a middle-aged woman from Illinois, despite Mabel telling him that wasn't how you built trust in a relationship. Their conversation was interrupted by Howard, who came in and ended his one-sided relationship with Mabel, saying she clearly didn't have time for his podcast. He also nearly left Hammy Fake Bakker with her, before realizing he didn't trust Mabel to take care of her. Mabel realized if Howard was there, he wasn't watching the apartment and grabbed her coat and left.
Mabel went to the Dudenoff apartment, where the Westies were attempting to move her bed. When she asked what kind of cult they were in, they decided to bring her in on things. They told her their apartments were officially rented by Professor Dudenoff, who had met each of them at different times and realized how weird they were. Because of this, he decided to sublet his rent-controlled apartments to them illegally for $200/month. They said Mabel could get in on it, too, if she agreed not to put it in the podcast. When she asked about the voice on the ham radio, they said it was Rudy's ex-girlfriend, Helga, who was crazy.
Mabel told Charles and Oliver everything she'd learned and admitted she believed them because it was too weird not to be true. They also commemorated about the people they'd failed in their lives. And Oliver decided to give up the Ronnie persona.
After a vision during the stunt workers' funeral for Sazz, Charles took Mabel and Oliver with him to Paradise, New Jersey, where they found a sign proclaiming a lot the future home of The Sazz Pataki Impact Academy, Sazz's lifelong dream. While walking around, they heard a sound. They followed it into a building. They were relieved to find Bev Melon until she pulled a gun on them and threatened to shoot them if they moved.[36]
When Oliver begged her not to shoot him in the prime of his life, Bev turned on a light and sighed in relief at realizing who they were. She said she was on edge and apologized for holding a gun on them. Mabel asked her to put the gun down. She said it wasn't loaded, but then fired it several times. When she put it down, Mabel decided to take it. They asked her if she killed Sazz. She said she hadn't and provide an alibi for that night, but then said Sazz had left her a message that night insisting that Bev needed to call her back, leading Bev to believe someone on the movie had killed Sazz.
They turned the gun over to Williams, who said she'd get more information about it. Charles showed her the new murder board he'd made. She said they needed to narrow things down as they had too many suspects. She also warned Oliver that Jack Jonk, whose arm was in the picture with Loretta, was an Olympic swimmer, meaning he was very physically fit.
The trio went to the production office, where Charles surreptitiously took pictures of people for their suspect board. Since there were so many people there, Mabel suggested they look for anyone who seemed nervous to have them around. They immediately saw Marshall P. Pope, who was stumbling on the tacky mat. Marshall was glad they weren't giving him more notes on the script and was even happier to be a suspect. He had spent a lot of time imagining them questioning suspects and wanted to see what it actually looked like. While Charles and Oliver took Marshall back to Charles's place, Mabel held back with Bev, who insisted on Mabel pitching some other podcasts Bev could turn into movies. Mabel struggled to some up with anything, but Bev said her ideas had promise and said she'd set Mabel up with a contact at her company to help her.
Mabel joined the guys at Charles's place, where Marshall shared his alibi for that evening. He'd been doing standup and offered to show them. They declined, but Mabel questioned why he was wearing fake facial hair. He said he couldn't grow any real facial hair, but wanted to look like a real writer on the set. Mabel related to his imposter syndrome. He didn't understand how she had any because they'd had three wins in a row. The only thing he noticed was that the timeline on their current murder board only gave the killer twelve minutes to make the shot and then get all the way to the other side of the Arconia to clean up. Oliver insisted that he was fit enough to do it and ran through it. He took over half an hour to get it done while Charles, Marshall, and Mabel looked at the pictures Charles had taken. Among them, Mabel found one of a footprint on a tacky mat that matched the one left the crime scene the night of the murder. Charles and Oliver didn't want to go to the photo shoot, but because of that, Mabel insisted they had to. She arranged for Eva and Howard to stage a scenario for the tacky mats to be laid out so they could figure out whose shoe made the print.
When they arrived at the photo shoot, they were mat with Zach, Eva, and Zach dressed as them as well as stand-ins, led by Glen. During the course of the night, Charles realized it couldn't have been a single murdered, but instead must have been a pair. Just as Mabel determined the shoe print belonged to Tawny Brothers while Trina Brothers was strong enough to lift Oliver easily, Trina disappeared and then they heard gunshots.[37]
When the panic settled, Mabel checked on the three "Olivers," who were all face-down on the ground. Oliver was uninjured, while Glen and Zach both had wounds. Mabel, Charles, and Oliver fled with Howard and got in a taxi. They went back to the Arconia, where they decided Oliver's apartment was the safest place for them. When they got into the elevator, they saw Trina and Tawny approaching with cameras and were relieved when the elevator doors closed before they got there.
Williams came to Oliver's apartment to see them and told them a bullet had hit a plate in Glen's head and injured Zach, but both would be okay. Charles tried to get Williams to arrest Tawny, but she said she needed more than a matching boot to get a warrant. She also told them Dudenoff wasn't in Portugal as he'd been cashing social security checks at a bodega in New York. Then she got called back to the crime scene as someone had spotted Jan nearby. Before she left, she gave Charles Sazz's remains and warned all three of them not to be heroes as she didn't want to have to identify their remains.
Bev called them to the production office for a meeting, so they had Howard keep filming them so they felt safe going. At the meeting, Bev assured them that the movie would be unaffected by the shooting and asked them to sign waivers to release her from any liability. After this, Mabel talked to Marshall about the Brothers sisters and learned they made a creepy student film.
Charles, Mabel, and Oliver went back to Oliver's place, where they watched the beginning of The Desecration of Alice, which was about a creator who made twins who had to do his bidding. They were surprised to see the creator played by Vince Fish. They went to see him and he said he'd done it as a favor to Dudenoff, who was their film professor. Trina and Tawny were his favorites and he mentored them, though the others didn't have such a favorable view of them.
When they met back up at Oliver's place to finish the movie, Oliver had called Loretta and was upset about her unenthusiastic reaction to his confession that he'd almost proposed to her in LA. Mabel shared that the only thing the rest of the movie gave her was a deep fear of sugar. While they were talking, Howard brought in Gravey, who knocked Sazz's ashes to the floor, leading to the revelation that there were two left shoulders in the box. Mabel texted the serial number from the extra joint to Williams as they processed the idea of a second murder.
They went to the production office to confront Trina and Tawny to try to get them to confess to killing for Dudenoff. They didn't deny any of the accusations about feeling they had to do Dudenoff's bidding and admitted they'd kill for him. However, Mabel got a text back from Williams saying the shoulder was Dudenoff's, meaning he was dead. When Charles opened the case he believe held a gun, it actually had camera supplies. They admitted they were making a film within the film using hidden cameras around the production office and the trio's apartments. The trio forced Trina and Tawny to remove their hidden cameras. While they were doing that, Charles found a camera that Trina and Tawny said wasn't theirs. Just then, Charles got a text from Sazz's phone. It contained a live feed of the camera. Oliver and Mabel then got videos of themselves with targets over their faces. Then they all got texts saying someone was watching them. They decided they needed to leave town and piled into Oliver's car to go.[38]
Personality
A stylish woman in her 20s, Mabel is full of contrasts and mystery. She lived alone in a vast Arconia apartment she shouldn't be able to afford. From CoBro, she's living with Theo at his apartment. She sporadically talks about her past, old friends and regrets – but it's always a bit unclear what is real or a lie. While she self-admittedly has trouble bonding with people, Mabel's own passion for true crime leads her into a partnership with Charles and Oliver to solve the curious death of their neighbor. Her keen instincts and smarts make her a sophisticated detective.
Relationships
Oscar Torres
Mabel and Oscar were friends as teenagers, but it is implied that there was a stronger attraction even then. They reunited after Tim Kono's death, 10 years since they had last seen each other. Both of them easily slipped back into the friendship and realized quite how much the other meant to them. In To Protect and Serve, they kissed for the first time in Mabel's childhood bedroom. They pursued a relationship for the rest of Season 1, but at the beginning of Season 2 Mabel revealed that they were both "waiting for the 'let's just be friends' text". It is assumed that they broke up.
Alice Banks
Alice first contacted Mabel via an Instagram video message, where she invited her to her gallery opening. At the gallery, they chatted and Alice invited her to join the collective. Mabel asked if it was a cult, but Alice merely looked mysterious in reply. Alice later invited Mabel to destroy a piece of art that she had created, as a form of therapy. Mabel destroyed the art, and afterward walked up to Alice and kissed her, saying she felt "better". They began dating, and Mabel revealed their relationship to Charles and Oliver in The Tell. However, in Performance Review, Mabel, after walking away from Charles and Oliver when they failed to catch the potential killer outside Morningside Park, went to visit Alice's apartment but walked in on her recreating Bunny's and possibly both Tim Kono's and Zoe Cassidy's deaths. Alice is missing from the next few episodes, but Mabel finds her outside her apartment in Sparring Partners to give her a puzzle as a peace offering. This is when Mabel tells her that she likes her, but doesn't trust her and that she "can't be with someone (she doesn't) trust". This is probably how she broke up with her.
Tobert
TBA
Theo Dimas
TBA
Career
Notes and Trivia
- Mabel lived in Apartment 12E of the Arconia.
- Mabel has a tattoo of a whale on her left shoulder, the same as Oscar, Zoe and Tim. The tattoo is a reference to a Hardy Boys mystery story, The Mystery of the Whale Tattoo.
- Mabel's color palette is associated with the marigold flower, and is based around golds, reds and yellows. Marigolds are an important symbol in Mexican culture, which links the character to Selena Gomez's real-life Mexican heritage. In Mexican culture, marigolds are associated with creativity and passion, but also sorrow and grief. This represents two parts of Mabel's character: her creative work as an artist and her grief over the loss of Zoe. Mabel also often wears black, which is also associated with grief.[39]
- Dana Covarrubias, the show's costume designer, said that Mabel uses her clothes as a form of armor. She also said that Mabel is the kind of person who can pick out interesting pieces from thrift stores and use them to create a cool unique style.[39]
- Mabel was given a Frida Kahlo jigsaw puzzle on her 4th birthday by her father. She finished it the day before she turned 5.[40]
- Her drink of choice is a mezcal old-fashioned.[27]
- Rain is her favorite weather.[27]
- Her favorite time of day is night.[27]
- Mabel started learning ASL after becoming friends with Theo.
Gallery
Promotional Images
Episode Stills
Appearances
| Season One | |||||
| #01 | "True Crime" | #05 | "Twist" | #09 | "Double Time" |
| #02 | "Who Is Tim Kono?" | #06 | "To Protect and Serve" | #10 | "Open and Shut" |
| #03 | "How Well Do You Know Your Neighbors?" | #07 | "The Boy from 6B" | ||
| #04 | "The Sting" | #08 | "Fan Fiction" | ||
| Season Two | |||||
| #01 | "Persons of Interest" | #05 | "The Tell" | #09 | "Sparring Partners" |
| #02 | "Framed" | #06 | "Performance Review" | #10 | "I Know Who Did It" |
| #03 | "The Last Day of Bunny Folger" | #07 | "Flipping the Pieces" | ||
| #04 | "Here's Looking at You" | #08 | "Hello, Darkness" | ||
| Season Three | |||||
| #01 | "The Show Must..." | #05 | "Ah, Love!" | #09 | "Thirty" |
| #02 | "The Beat Goes On" | #06 | "Ghost Light" | #10 | "Opening Night" |
| #03 | "Grab Your Hankies" | #07 | "CoBro" | ||
| #04 | "The White Room" | #08 | "Sitzprobe" | ||
| Season Four | |||||
| #01 | "Once Upon a Time in the West" | #05 | "Adaptation" | #09 | "Escape From Planet Klongo" |
| #02 | "Gates of Heaven" | #06 | "Blow-Up" | #10 | "4.10" |
| #03 | "Two for the Road" | #07 | "Valley of the Dolls" | ||
| #04 | "The Stunt Man" | #08 | "Lifeboat" | ||
| List of Characters | ||
| MAIN | Charles-Haden Savage • Oliver Putnam • Mabel Mora • Howard Morris • Jan Bellows • Oscar Torres | |
| RECURRING | Tim Kono • Donna Williams • Sazz Pataki • Teddy Dimas • Theo Dimas • Zoe Cassidy • Ursula • Cinda Canning • Uma Heller • Arnav Kapoor • Bunny Folger • Lester • Poppy White • Ndidi Idoko • Grover Stanley • Amy Huang • Will Putnam • Sam • Paulette • Marv • Alice Banks • Joy Payne • Lucy • Ben Glenroy • Bobo Malone • Cliff DeMeo • Dickie Glenroy • Donna DeMeo • Jonathan Bridgecroft • Kimber Min • K.T. Knoblauer • Loretta Durkin • Tobert • Eugene Levy • Eva Longoria • Zach Galifianakis • Vince Fish • Bev Melon | |
| GUEST | Sting • Roberta Putnam • José Torres • Jimmy Fallon • Silvia Mora • Amy Schumer • Detective Daniel Kreps • Matthew Broderick • Scott Bakula • Doreen | |
References
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