Rex Bailey (alias Marshall P. Pope) was a recurring character in season four of Only Murders in the Building. He was a screenwriter and was ultimately revealed to be the murderer of Sazz Pataki.
He was portrayed by Jin Ha.
History[]
Rex Bailey's father was a hunter and his father wanted him to follow in his footsteps as Rex happened to be a perfect shot. However, Rex really wanted to be a Hollywood screenwriter. He moved to L.A. against his father's wishes.
Rex was hit by Sazz Pataki's car in a studio parking lot. She was impressed by his flip and asked if he'd ever done stunt work. He said he was trying to be a writer but would do anything to get on a set. She got him a job on "Project Ronkonkoma," a Ron Howard film. She prepared him heavily for his first fire stunt. The stunt went well, but he failed to wait thirty seconds after being extinguished before walking up to Ron Howard, wanting to show him the script he'd written. He re-ignited, burning Ron's eyebrows off and seriously injuring his own face, leading to an inability to grow facial hair. Due to this, Rex was blackballed from stunt work and banned from any of Ron's future sets. Glen Stubbins was brought in to replace Rex.
However, Sazz continued to be friends with Rex. Sazz shared her own screenplay for a movie adaptation of the Only Murders in the Building podcast. Rex was struck with jealousy after reading her screenplay due to how good it was, so he lied and told her it was poor. He borrowed the only copy, saying he'd make notes on anything that was salvageable, and left.
Rex Bailey changed his name to Marshall P. Pope, and donned a fake beard and glasses as a disguise and tried to use Sazz's script to get representation. He claimed he never intended to use her script for anything else, but was thrown off when Bev Melon brought the script and decided to develop it into a movie and had Marshall begin re-writes. Sazz found out that Marshall had plagiarized her script, so she invited him over to her house and confronted him. Sazz told Marshall that she would fly to New York and tell Charles. Marshall took a red-eye flight to New York immediately after Sazz.
Marshall knew the code to the late Milton Dudenoff's apartment because it was mentioned in Sazz's script. He snuck in late at night and assembled his sniper rifle. Just as he was about to shoot Sazz, he stopped himself. He told himself that he was a writer, not a killer, and that he should just let it go. However, when he saw Sazz standing in Charles' apartment, he couldn't help himself and took the shot. The shot didn't immediately kill Sazz, so he climbed out the window and walked along the ledge to Charles's apartment. As he was standing over Sazz's dying body, she told him that "her number one" would eventually get him. Sazz quickly succumbed to her wound, and Marshall shoved her dead body in the incinerator and burned her.[1]
Marshall then attended a meeting with the trio to pitch the movie to them in an attempt to get their permission to make a movie about their lives. He told them he'd worked hard to get all their personalities right.
Later, Marshall attended the party Bev threw for Mabel, Charles, and Oliver to get to meet the actors playing them. When he saw Mabel taking to Bev, he sat nearby, saying he just wanted to observe the conversation. When Mabel handed Bev a piece of paper with her offer on it, Marshall looked at it and cursed.[2]
Marshall was excited when Charles, Mabel, and Oliver asked to talk to him about the night Sazz died. He easily agreed to go back to Charles's place to talk to them, eager to see how they questioned suspects. When they asked him where he was the night Sazz died, he said he was trying out standup and had done an hour-long set that night. He pulled out his phone to show them, but they stopped him. He admitted to having a lot of impostor syndrome. And how impressed he was with them, as they hadn't had a miss yet. But he did point out that, according to the timeline on their board, the killer only had twelve minutes to kill Sazz and get all the way to the other side of the Arconia to clean up the scene. Only someone who was extremely fit could do it that quickly.
Glen Stubbins appeared and recognized Marshall, but did not say his name. Marshall was later present at a promotional photo shoot for the movie, where he pulled out his rifle once again and shot Glen Stubbins in the head. The bullet deflected off a metal plane in Glen's head and hit Zach Galifianakis in the stomach. Neither men died, but Glen was put in a coma.[3]
In the aftermath of the shooting, Bev called a production meeting, where she assured everyone that the police were investigating, and this wouldn't affect the film. At the meeting, Marshall's hand slid on a pile of papers, sending him falling to the ground. Mabel came to Marshall and asked how he was holding up with everything. He said he wasn't sure how they were supposed to act like nothing happened when two people were shot. He said the only two people who appeared unaffected were Tawny and Trina. He also asked if Mabel had seen their student film.[4]
Marshall struggled to keep up with Bev's notes on the script. When Bev told him Mabel had agreed to go over the script, he went to her place in a panic. She went over the dialogue with him, correcting her character's speech patterns.
Marshall went to the hospital where Glen was staying at and smothered him to death with a pillow in his hospital bed.
Mabel found the original script written by Sazz in the box of beer she was carrying around the night she died. Then Mabel confronted him with the original script with Sazz's name on it, asking him about it.[5]
Marshall held Mabel captive, threatening to kill her if anyone came near the door. She bought time by reviewing his script and making changes, and then Vince Fish and Rudy Thurber bought more time by coming to the door asking Mabel for some sugar. While this was happening, Charles and Oliver crawled through the window in an attempt to rescue Mabel. But they were caught by Marshall, who held them at gunpoint. Charles used Lady Longoria's 19-in-1 Multitool's nail gun setting to scare Marshall, and Oliver was able to steal the gun from Marshall. Marshall explained his entire motivation and backstory to the trio. After he finished, he was able to kick the gun out of Oliver's hand. As he was just about to pull the trigger, he was fatally shot in the back by Jan Bellows.[1]
Career[]
He is a screenwriter, albeit an unskilled one. He claimed to have written the script for the movie based on the podcast Only Murders in the Building,[2] although the script was actually written by Sazz Pataki. Being a screenwriter was always his goal, though he did get a brief stint as a stunt double after he met Sazz Pataki. Sazz got him a job on a movie by Ron Howard named Project Ronkonkoma but was fired after his negligence led to both him and Ron's injury.
Notes and Trivia[]
- He idolizes Charlie Kaufman.[3]
- He is the first murderer to be killed instead of being arrested.
Gallery[]
Episodic[]
Episode Stills[]
Appearances[]
| 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 | "My Best Friend's Wedding" |
| #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 • Daniel Kreps • 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 • Marshall P. Pope • Vince Fish • Rudy Thurber • Milton Dudenoff • Glen Stubbins • Bev Melon | |
| GUEST | Sting • Roberta Putnam • José Torres • Jimmy Fallon • Silvia Mora • Amy Schumer • Matthew Broderick • Scott Bakula • Doreen • Ron Howard | |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "My Best Friend's Wedding" (2024). Season 4, episode 10.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Once Upon a Time in the West" (2024). Season 4, episode 1.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Adaptation" (2024). Season 4, episode 5.
- ↑ "Blow-Up" (2024). Season 4, episode 6.
- ↑ "Escape From Planet Klongo" (2024). Season 4, episode 9.