Oliver Putnam is a main character in Only Murders in the Building. He is a struggling theater director and part of the podcast trio.
He is portrayed by Martin Short.
History
Early Life
Oliver grew up in the borough of Brooklyn, having been fostered several times in his childhood. Between the ages of nine and twelve years old, he lived in the neighborhood of Flatbush, with his second pair of foster parents, Al and Sue.
While living with them, he saw some other children rehearsing a play, where they were loud and unapologetic, something he wanted to be. It was htere that they asked him to be a part of their play and his first experience in acting. He eventually worked up the courage to invite Sue an Al, but they weren't interested, so Oliver decided to quit the play. However, on the first night of the play, he snuck out of the house and went and watched, wearing the costume of his character, just in case they might need him to come up on stage. Instead, he watched another child read his line.[4]
Directing Career
Oliver is a notorious theater director who created one of Broadway's largest flops. A perennial showman, his Arconia apartment was a salon to the city's most prestigious theater crowd but now sits as a time capsule to his past. Oliver searches for his next triumph while doting on his beloved bulldog, Winnie, and trying to reconnect with his estranged family. When a neighbor's death proves mysterious, Oliver senses a chance at redemption by starting a podcast with Charles and Mabel, two unlikely neighbors-turned-friends.
Oliver met his wife Roberta during his first Off-Broadway show. They had a son, Will. Oliver found out through a school project for his grandson that Will is, in fact, Greek and not Irish, as Oliver claimed, which led them to worry that his biological father is actually Teddy.
Moving to the Arconia
Oliver made an offer on an apartment in the Arconia. Knowing it was competitive, he went to the building and pretended to slip on the floor, then told Lester Coluca, the doorman, that he wouldn't sue if Lester made the other applications disappear. Lester did so and Oliver moved into the apartment with his family.[5]
Splash
Oliver directed a musical called Splash!. He had secured funding, but quickly went over the budget. When he had an idea to make the show even more grand by putting a pool into the stage floor, he went to Teddy to ask for more money. Teddy initially refused, but after Oliver gave an impassioned speech about how his persistence had gotten him far in life, Teddy agreed to give him the extra money.[6] On the first night of previews, the set department was having trouble with the hydraulics that moved the floor, to which Oliver disregarded. At the end of Act One, the chorus dove down onto the floor instead of the projected pool, seriously injuring themselves. No one was killed, but since Oliver put his son's college fund into the show as an investment, which he lost when the show flopped following three bankruptcy filings and two insurance investigations, his wife, Roberta divorced him.
When Roberta left, Oliver was depressed. Lester helped him through it, telling Oliver he was just a late bloomer and he'd make it through this.[7]
Meeting Charles and Mabel and Tim's Death
Oliver came home one day and retrieved some packages from Ursula. Then he went to go upstairs in an elevator. Charles and Mabel also rode with him. On the sixth floor, Tim Kono got on, arguing with someone on the phone about some packages, then got off three floors later. Oliver tried to talk to Mabel, but she ignored him, and he got off at his floor.
Once home, Oliver fed his dog, Winnie, then settled in to listen to "All Is Not OK in Oklahoma", a true crime podcast by Cinda Canning. Just when the podcast got to a pivotal moment, the fire alarm went off, forcing Oliver to take Winnie and evacuate.
Oliver went to Librizzi's, where he spotted Charles and approached him because all the tables were occupied. When he noticed Charles had a map of Chickasha, Oklahoma, Oliver realized he was a fan of "All Is Not OK in Oklahoma" and they bonded over being fans. When Oliver spotted Mabel coming in, he invited her to join them. She wasn't interested until she saw they were listening to the podcast and revealed she was a fan as well. The three of them ate together and talked about the podcast. Oliver tried to ask Mabel questions about her life, but Mabel refused to answer. Once they finished eating, Oliver left Charles to pay the bill, and they went back to the Arconia, where they saw police cars outside. They asked Lester, and he said a body was found on the ninth floor, a suspected suicide. Charles said he could get them to the freight elevator and Mabel said they should take it to the eighth floor because cops would be posted on the ninth.
When they arrived on the ninth floor, they avoided the cops and got a look at the body. They realized it was Tim Kono, whom they remembered from the elevator. They were shocked to have seen him so soon before his death. Mabel didn't believe he killed himself because he didn't seem like he would when they saw him. Detective Donna Williams spotted them and asked if they were associated with the deceased. They told her they lived in the building and asked if she was sure it was suicide. She realized they were true crime junkies and told them it was a textbook suicide. Then she told them to leave and enjoy their lives.
Later that night, Charles and Mabel individually remembered that Tim had gotten onto the elevator with a trash bag, which was odd because there's a trash chute on each floor. They met up with Oliver and went through the building's trash. While they searched, Oliver suggested making a podcast about the crime, reveling in the fact that they had an opportunity to be there from the start. He started recording on his phone. Mabel found in the trash what looked like drafts of Tim's suicide note. Dismayed, they agreed that was it.
Oliver went home and wrapped several presents then went to his son, Will's house, saying the gifts were for his children. Will said the kids weren't there, but Oliver came inside, where he asked Will for some money, saying his next project wasn't coming. Will suggested he sell his apartment, but Oliver refused, saying it was all he had, a statement which hurt Will's feelings. Will invited Oliver to stay for Sunday dinner, but Oliver declined, saying he needed to get back. As he left, Oliver got some texts from Charles asking where he was and saying they found something. That something was an engagement ring, which was in the package Tim was talking about on the phone.
Charles then began recording for the podcast. They decided they would meet up the next day and make a timeline. Charles had maps and blueprints to assist them. Oliver mentioned another death that had happened nearby and suggested multitasking, but Charles said they needed to focus on only murders in the building. Oliver liked the way that sounded and said it would be the title of the podcast.
Oliver went home and looked as his bills, which were long past due.[8]
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's 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. Bunny then pulled Oliver to the side to tell him his building fees were eight months behind and if he didn't pay, the board would have to take drastic actions.
When they went to see Ursula, Oliver warned Charles that Ursula always had a side hustle, so they needed to make sure they didn't sign up for anything. Despite this, when Ursula refused to give them the information until they bought some Gut Milk, they ended up buying multiple cases.
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's 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. Once Mabel left, Oliver said he didn't trust Mabel at all.[9]
Narrowing the Suspects and Getting Funding
Oliver supervised as Charles recorded another episode of the podcast, asking their audience how well they know their neighbors. Charles texted Mabel 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. He said they'd meet with him and try to get a confession out of him. They'd also record him for the podcast, which they legally had to disclose to him. He sent Mabel and Charles to do that, saying he had producer business to attend to.
Oliver went to Teddy, where he talked about their past collaborations, then he told Teddy about the podcast. Teddy was appalled that Oliver would ask him for money after their last collaboration was such a huge flop. Oliver said he only needed $32,000 and Teddy could advertise on the podcast. Teddy said no and made Oliver leave.
Desperate, Oliver decided to sell his Splash! poster, telling Charles and Mabel that those posters could go for $10,000. After talking to Charles and Mabel about what a huge flop Splash! had been, Oliver took a bottle and two glasses, proclaiming that Oliver Putnam wouldn't take no for an answer.
Oliver went back to Teddy's place, where he sold Teddy on his confidence and a promise not to let him down again. Teddy asked how much money he needed and Oliver upped it to $35,000.
Oliver met Sting in the elevator, where Sting repeatedly brushed off Winnie's attempts at affection, saying he doesn't like dogs. Oliver then met up with Charles and Mabel and told them he'd published the first episode, surprising them. Mabel looked it up and said they had four listens and one review. Oliver assured both of them that he was taking care of it.
Oliver then went home to find a note on his door saying to end the podcast of they'd end him. He went inside to find Winnie whimpering on the floor with powder next to her.[6]
Confronting Sting
Oliver called Will, who came and took Winnie with him. Then he texted Charles and Mabel to tell them the killer had come for his family. When they arrived at his place, he told them what had happened to Winnie. He also told them he was sure it was Sting, based on the 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's 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's 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.
Charles later came to Oliver's place to tell him he'd shared with Jan and gotten himself a second date. While Charles lay collapsed on Oliver's couch, Will came in with Winnie, who was healthy again. He told them he'd listened to the podcast, and he didn't know that he was doing the podcast with Mabel. They were surprised to learn that Mabel stayed at the Arconia as a child during school breaks and during those breaks, she used to hang out with a group of kids, one of whom was Tim Kono. Then one of those friends died from getting pushed off the roof. He warned them that Mabel was bad news.[10]
Following Mabel
Oliver became immediately convinced that Mabel was the killer, though Charles didn't agree. They decided to follow Mabel after Lester told them where Mabel had gone. When they saw her getting into a car with a man, Oliver told Charles to keep following them while he got his own car. Charles was surprised that Oliver had a car, but followed them as instructed. When they got stuck in traffic, Charles stopped to get a pretzel. Soon after that, Oliver pulled up in his car, but made Charles drive because his license was expired, and he needed to record anyway. As they drove, Charles said he thought Mabel was in trouble because he was sure the guy from the car was the same person he saw climbing the stairs the night Tim died. Oliver reminded Charles that Mabel had lied to them about knowing Tim. Charles tried to call Mabel, but she didn't answer. Oliver then found an article about Zoe's death from years earlier. Oliver vaguely remembered it happening, but Charles didn't remember at all because he was on prednisone that year, and it messed with his memory. Charles called Mabel again, and she lied and said she was at the park. Charles was still sure that she was innocent, but Oliver believed he was just refusing to accept the truth because he'd gotten close to Mabel and didn't get close to many people.
Oliver's car started smoking as they pulled into a gas station. Oliver went to pump some gas, but Lucien noticed smoke coming from under the hood and suggested looking at that. He told them wherever they were going, they wouldn't be going in Oliver's car. As he looked at the car, Charles and Oliver saw Mabel and the man laughing as they got back in the car. Oliver took that as proof she wasn't kidnapped. Lucien suggested getting the car towed and offered to give them a ride. They asked if he could help them follow Mabel. He said yes, but they had to wait for his cousin, Vaughn, who was inside getting oatmeal cookies. Once he was in the car, they drove off. Oliver and Charles explained about their podcast and learned that Lucien and Vaughn had one as well, a much more successful podcast about horticulture under Cinda's network called, Yard Dogs. When Mabel and the man finally arrived at their destination, Lucien told them it was Bayport, a shady place. Vaughn suggested that Mabel might not be a bad person, but she might not trust them yet.
Oliver and Charles entered a tattoo shop, where Mabel quickly realized they'd followed her and got upset. She apologized for lying and admitted that she knew Tim, which was why she was so obsessed with solving his murder. When the man came into the shop, Mabel introduced him as Oscar Torres, who was also a friend and not the killer. Charles recognized him as Tie-Dye Guy and asked why he was heading to Tim's apartment. Mabel said he wasn't, but Oscar said he'd actually lied to Mabel, and he was on his way to Tim's, but he heard a gunshot and left, but he wasn't going to kill Tim. Tavo came out then and was shocked to learn that Tim had been murdered. He said Tim had been worried that he would be because he was working on taking down a black market jewelry dealer named Angel. Mabel showed them all the jewelry she'd found at Tim's apartment.[11] Tavo recognized some of the pieces and said they were all from Angel, but there was one piece Tim wanted and wasn't able to get. Tavo promised to find a picture of it and send it to Mabel. When Silvia Mora, Mabel's mother, came in upset that her daughter was in town and hadn't told her, the group moved to her house.
Silvia was upset with Charles and Oliver for dragging Mabel into investigating Tim's death, despite Mabel's insistence that she was fine. Silvia blamed herself, saying she was always working, so it sounded perfect when her rich sister offered to have Mabel stay with her during school breaks. But she regretted it when Mabel turned into a ghost from grief after Zoe's death. She asked Charles and Oliver to let Mabel move forward instead of backward. Mabel then talked to them and told them they could keep doing the podcast without her. They both told her it was the most alive they'd felt in a decade before they left.
Back in Manhattan, Oliver got a text from Teddy summoning him. He asked Charles to go with him. In Teddy's apartment, they watched a clip of Cinda Canning on Jimmy Fallon. In the clip, she mentions the podcast, which thrills Teddy. He tells them he's going to write them a check for $50,000 for the next three episodes. Charles tried to decline, but Teddy told them the story of his grandmother coming to America from Greece with only two coins, one of which she used to start a business and one she passed down to her son. He created a separate business to honor his grandmother's sacrifices and invest in those who have been loyal to him. He handed them the check.
Charles and Oliver went back to Charles's place, where they watched the download count go up quickly. Charles insisted they couldn't accept the money because it would mean profiting off Mabel's trauma. As Oliver went to tear up the check, Charles noticed the name on the check and grabbed it. The check was written from a business called Angel, Inc. They realized that Teddy was Angel. Mabel came in then with dip and tamales and apologized for lying to them. She said she felt like she had to finish the story with them. She also showed them that she had Tim's phone, which had been left at the desk for her. Charles then put Teddy's picture on the board and told Mabel he was Angel and therefore their prime suspect.[12]
Investigating Teddy and Theo
Oliver distracted Teddy by taking him out for a cup of coffee while Charles and Mabel broke into Teddy's apartment to look for clues. When they were on the way back, he sent a series of increasingly frantic texts to warn them to get out. Mabel and Charles found a secret room full of urns from Shine On Funeral Home.
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.[13]
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's 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 Charles's 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.[14]
Eviction Meeting
In light of the new evidence, Oliver released a retraction, saying that Teddy and Theo didn't kill Tim. Then he went home to find a notice of eviction on his door. Bunny had changed his locks and only let him back in to retrieve some of his things. He took them over to Charles's place, where he told who he thought was Charles that he needed to stay for a few days. He was shocked to learn it was Sazz Pataki instead. 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.[15]
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 him 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.
Will came to Oliver's place, bringing Winnie home. He also tried to give Oliver money for his next project, but Oliver refused it. Instead, he offered to tell Will how they solved the murder.
Once Charles was better, he recorded the final episode of the podcast.[16]
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.[16][17]
Arrest
Oliver, Mabel, and Charles were all arrested after police found them hovering over Bunny's body. They were taken to the station, where they were separated and questioned by Detectives Kreps and Williams. Oliver was insistent that Mabel couldn't have killed Bunny, despite what it looked like because she was only gone for two minutes. After being questioned, the three of them were released, but warned that they were persons of interest in the case, meaning they could be charged as more evidence emerged. Detective Williams also told them not to investigate or do a podcast about it. As they left the station, they were overwhelmed by reporters, which overwhelmed Charles and Mabel, but delighted Oliver, who basked in the attention.
Back at the Arconia, Oliver suggested they make a new podcast. Mabel refused, saying she wanted to move away from death for a while.
Soon after this, Oliver met Amy Schumer, who had just moved into Sting's old apartment, in an elevator. She recognized him from the podcast and asked if he would consider selling her the rights to make it into a streaming series. She told him to come by her place, and they'd figure it out.
When Cinda Canning announced a new podcast about the murder and the trio called "Only Murderers in the Building," they met to talk about it, but Mabel maintained that she didn't want to get involved. Charles agreed that he couldn't risk the TV deal he'd been offered for the Brazzos reboot. However, while they were talking, they heard a voice saying, "Fuck off," which they traced to Bunny's apartment, which shared a vent with Mabel's. They crawled through to find Mrs. Gambolini, Bunny's bird. While they were in her apartment, Oliver asked them to search for some incriminating notes he'd sent Bunny. As they searched, they heard someone coming in, so they hid in a closet, where they overheard Uma Heller and Howard Morris searching for a painting of Bunny's, that Uma was supposed to take to get appraised. The painting was missing, though it had been there the day before Bunny died. Mabel found a secret door in the back of the closet, which led to an elevator that they took down and led to outside the building. Once outside, they talked about the painting. Charles believed finding the painting would lead them to the killer. Mabel reluctantly agreed to join their investigation.
Later, Oliver looked through the notes they retrieved from Bunny's. He found the ones he'd written and also one from someone else saying they wanted the painting. While he was looking at that, he got a text from Charles asking him to come to his apartment. He arrived at the same time as Mabel to find Charles in his apartment, looking up at Bunny's painting. Mabel asked if it was Charles in the painting, but he said it was his father.[18]
Bunny's Memorial and The Painting
The three of them discussed how to get the painting out of Charles's 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's 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.
Oliver went to Amy's apartment to share his vision of the show with her. They had conflicting ideas, with her wanting to tell the story from Jan's point of view. She also wanted to play Jan herself and was learning the bassoon. Oliver was then horrified to see that the painting was on Amy's wall. Amy said she'd seen it in the dumpster and liked it. He told her the painting had bad energy and tried to take it with him, but she stopped him. Oliver went back to Charles's appointment and told him and Mabel that Amy had the painting, unaware that Leonora was nearby. 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.[19]
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.[17]
Secret Passageways
When Lucy surprised Charles by coming to Manhattan, he brought her back to his apartment, where she met Oliver and Mabel. 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 had to end 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. After all that chaos, Oliver went to his grandson Henry's school to help out Will, who had called his dad to help him direct, The Wizard of Oz. Oliver brought a bag of skittles, which he used to bribe the kids into following directions.[20]
Party
Oliver continued to help Will with The Wizard of Oz. He told Will he felt that directing was in their blood, as five generations of their family were directors. Will wondered if that would show up on the genealogy test he and Henry took for Henry's science project. They made plans for Oliver to spend more time with Will's family, but then Oliver was called away when Mabel texted him to come over.
Oliver arrived at Mabel's to find she had discovered a matchbook from The Pickle Diner with what appeared to be blood on it, in the passageway leading into her apartment. When Oliver and Charles arrived, 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. Later that night, Oliver witnessed Ivan returning an envelope of cash that Bunny had left for him on the day she died. He said he felt like he had to return it after hearing them talk about Bunny at the diner. Oliver asked if he remembered anything being different about Bunny's last few days and Ivan pointed to show him that they had a security camera. They reviewed the footage, but were unable to identify the person who had lunch with Bunny the day before the day she died. Oliver did see that person grabbing a matchbook as they left. Oliver recorded the security footage on his phone and sent it to Mabel and Oliver. After he did that, Will came into his place and asked if Oliver was sure he was 100% Irish because the DNA test had come back, and it said Will was half-Greek. Oliver realized in horror that Teddy is Greek.[21]
DNA Test and Contacting the Killer
Worried that Will might not be his biological child, Oliver went to a DNA testing clinic to be checked.
Oliver and Mabel then 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 Oliver and Charles asked Kreps where Williams was and learned she was in Denver on maternity leave, meaning she couldn't have texted them to meet up.
Back with Mabel, 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. Oliver told Charles he needed to break up with Jan, which Charles already knew, but found difficult.
When the DNA test results didn't come in when he expected them, Oliver went to Charles's place, where they ate salsa and talked. Oliver then got a text from Will. It was a video of Mabel stabbing someone on a train.[22]
Search for Mabel and Blackout
Charles called all the hospitals in the area while Oliver searched around for Mabel, but neither of them found anything. A knock at the door interrupted them and Oliver opened the door to find Detective Williams, who had her baby, Keith, with her. She walked in, saying she had some questions for them. She asked them what really happened with Mabel the night Bunny died. She told them she didn't want to arrest Mabel, but their silence might leave her no choice. Charles said that she could search their places, but would find no knife. Oliver abruptly excused himself to go to the bathroom. They heard him shouting at something to open and Charles went back there to find Oliver opening the secret passageway. Oliver admitted that he had forgotten to get rid of the knife, which caused an argument between them. When they finally opened the door, Williams was standing there and confronted them about the knife. They tried to play dumb again, but ultimately decided to get the knife and hand it over to her, explaining why Oliver and Lucy's prints were on it. She took it and promised them to let them know what she found.
Charles and Oliver went to the diner and were soon joined by Mabel, who showed them a picture Glitter Guy had of Charles and Lucy. Charles immediately called Lucy, who said she was at Charles's place. Before he could tell her what to do, the lights went out as a blackout engulfed the city.[23]
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. Charles and Oliver led Lucy out of the building, leaving Mabel alone with Kreps.[24]
Fighting with Teddy
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. Inside the compartment was the painting. They put the original up next to the fake. They wondered why Bunny might have made a fake.
Oliver then went to New Jersey, where he gave Will final notes on The Wizard of Oz, which was debuting in three days. Will said things had gone off the rails, but Oliver assured him he could do it because he was a real Putnam. Will was relieved to hear that, as it had been weighing on him, and said he finally believed he could do it.
Oliver went back home, where Teddy entered the elevator he was on. As soon as the doors closed, Oliver attacked Teddy, saying Teddy was Will's biological father, contrary to what he'd told the others. He was angry that Teddy had betrayed him like that. They moved the conversation to Oliver's apartment, where he told Teddy he'd been on the phone with Roberta all night, and she'd told him everything. Oliver said he felt like the worst father in the world, which Teddy said couldn't be possible with Teddy around. They talked about why father-son relationships were so hard and Teddy said he'd hated his own father. All he ever wanted was to have a good relationship with Theo like Oliver had with Will. Oliver made Teddy promise never to tell Will, a promise he'd forced Roberta to make as well.
Mabel came back to Charles's place, where she put Cinda's picture under the label, Criminal Mastermind.[25]
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. Oliver and Charles were certain Cinda would name Mabel as the murderer in her podcast, meaning they only had that day to solve the crime. Mabel then returned and told them she thought 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 know 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.
Oliver called Will, telling him something was wrong with Mrs. Gambolini. When Will arrived, Oliver said he had something to tell Will. Will stopped him and said if Oliver wasn't his dad, he didn't know what a dad was. Oliver asked how he knew, and he said he knew all of Oliver's tells. They hugged until Oliver's phone rang and Will told him to answer it. It was Donna, a producer friend of his. She had a job for him on Broadway opening in a year.[26]
Death Rattle
Over the next several months, Oliver and Charles prepared for the premiere of "Death Rattle". Ben Glenroy was cast as the lead. At the first read-through, Ben arrived late and Oliver took the time to show everyone the set and costumes. When Ben arrived, they got started with the read-through. After Loretta Durkin, who had been cast as the nanny, tried two different accents before giving a flat reading, Ben tried to get Oliver to fire her, but Oliver refused and told Loretta that if she went, he would go too.
Over the next few months, Oliver worked one-on-one with Ben to get him to give the best performance possible while Ben struggled with feeling like a phony.[27]
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, Mabel went home and texted Oliver and Charles to meet her there so they could go to The 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's hat. They stepped out of the elevator just before Ben's body dropped through the ceiling.[27] They all fled to get help.[28]
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. While Mabel and Charles left, Oliver decided to sneak upstairs to try to find Donna and Cliff. Instead, he found Maxine Spear, a theater critic, and begged her to release her review, sure it would be positive. She told him that it was actually a pan. All of Oliver's previous shows, even the ones she didn't like, had something that made them sing, and this one didn't. She felt he was playing it safe and told him not to do that. After she left, Oliver started having chest pain.
Doctor Douglas examined Oliver at home and told him he'd had a heart attack. He said Oliver would have to change his diet and reduce stress. He also diagnosed an arrhythmia and put a Holter monitor on Oliver, which had a button to press when he noticed an irregular heart rate. While resting at home, Oliver had a sudden inspiration and called Donna and Cliff to pitch a reimagination of "Death Rattle" as a musical. They agreed to support his idea and he shared the happy news with Charles and Mabel, who then told him they were back in the podcasting game because they believed Ben had been murdered by someone involved with the show.[28]
Death Rattle Dazzle
Oliver worked all night, writing songs for the musical. He had Donna and Cliff coming in the morning in the hopes of securing their continued support. When they arrived, he had only one finished song, but was able to convince Donna to give him three more days to write more and get the cast ready. He called the cast to his apartment, where they were less enthusiastic about the show being a musical. Despite this, they rehearsed with him. When Loretta arrived, she told him that Dickie had agreed to be her manager and had gotten her an audition. She also told him that she felt that making the show a musical could work if he found the heart. Oliver became frustrated by the cast's performances.
Oliver talked to Loretta and asked how to get people to see what he saw. Loretta asked him about The Nanny's Lullaby, but he said it wasn't big or loud, and he'd promised Donna and Cliff big and loud. Their conversation was interrupted by Dickie, who came in to tell Loretta she had the part. Since it was filming in Los Angeles, she couldn't do it and Oliver's show. Oliver told her she was under contract.
At the next rehearsal, Oliver apologized to Loretta and told her he was just scared of losing her. He said he wouldn't be enforcing her contract, but asked if she would do him one favor before leaving, by which he meant she would perform the nanny's lullaby for Donna and Cliff to help make the others get it. She agreed and performed Look for the Light. Donna said it wasn't enough, but Cliff said he was in. She'd taught him not to give up something he loved, and he loved the musical. Oliver went back to Loretta and told her he would miss her. She told him she was going to stay, and he kissed her.[29]
At the next rehearsal, Oliver started things by having Charles practice his patter song. When Charles flubbed a line, he went to the White Room and Oliver had to send everyone to take a break so they could recover from what they saw. Mabel told Oliver they needed to go to the theater and see if the anti-aging serum Kimber said Ben used was poisoned.
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. In the dressing room, they found a bunch of dead flowers and a picture of a pig on the mirror with the words "FUCKING PIG" under it written in lipstick. While Mabel left, Oliver and Charles went back to rehearsing, but Charles went to the White Room again. Oliver sent Tom, who was offended by what Charles said, home and then called Charles into his office. He said he believed that Charles was stressed not because of the musical, but because Joy had moved in. Charles didn't know how to ask her to move back out, so Oliver advised him to keep it simple and followed his own advice by stopping his fretting over the perfect date with Loretta and just asking her to go to dinner with him.
Oliver and Mabel later met at Charles's 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.[30]
Oliver went from Charles's place to Loretta's for their date. She made pork chops in the oven, which she hated because she was used to making them in the microwave. This left them too tough to eat and Oliver lost a tooth in his. Loretta took Oliver out on a ferry, where they smoked a joint together and realized they'd been running in the same circles for a few decades without actually meeting because something always prevented Loretta from auditioning for his shows, little things. She began to fear she was cursed, though she'd been considered lucky as a child. Finally, when they neared a bridge, Loretta explained that as a child, when she lost a tooth, her mother took her out on a ferry on the Mississippi River and when they passed under a bridge, she would throw her tooth in and make a wish. Oliver delighted in the tooth ferry pun and happily threw his tooth in. When she asked him what he wished for, he kissed her. They went back to her place and had sex. Afterward, she got up to draw them a bath and while she was gone, Oliver looked on her bookshelf and found that she had a book full of newspaper clippings about Ben.[31] Inside the book was a note on Loretta's personal stationery that had a capital F and P that resembled those on Ben's mirror.
Oliver was summoned back to Mabel's place when Howard confessed to killing Ben Glenroy. Howard explained 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 opening night because 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.
Oliver was walking around the theater when he ended up in a hidden room at the top of a staircase. Someone grabbed him from behind, and he quickly realized it was his old friend Jerry Blau, who had been fired from "Death Rattle" a year prior. Jerry told Oliver that he'd been living there since being kicked out by his husband and he told Oliver that on opening night, he saw Loretta's explosive temper when she fought with Ben. Oliver was shocked to learn that Charles had punched Ben that night. Jerry told Oliver that he needed to figure out what he wanted and do whatever it took to get it.
Oliver left to go to Ben's dressing room, where Mabel and Charles 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.[32]
With Charles out, Oliver, Cliff, and Donna held auditions to replace him. The auditions went poorly, but then Cliff had an idea and called in his old friend, Matthew Broderick. Oliver was initially elated, but when Matthew insisted on knowing every detail of the Constable's backstory and rehearsed for hours to get every single note and motion exactly as he wanted it, Oliver began to grow frustrated. When Matthew was still rehearsing at 2 AM, Oliver finally told him he had to leave and re-hired Charles, who had apologized. Oliver said he was too emotionally damaged to apologize directly, but Charles accepted his apology anyway. They declared their friendship mended and Oliver told Charles about the album he'd found at Loretta's. They decided to take it to Mabel as a peace offering, but they found that she no longer lived at the Arconia and were surprised when they saw she'd released a trailer for season three of Only Murders in the Building, which she was making on her own.[33]
When Oliver came to the theater for the sitzprobe, he was surprised to see Mabel come in. He and Charles talked to her about the podcast she'd put out on her own and she told them she thought Dickie was the killer. Oliver was pleased with this, as he wasn't in the show and Charles tried to harness this to get them all to make up. While they were rehearsing the first song, they all got notifications that Gregg Rivera had been released and Ben's real killer was still at large. Soon after, Detective Williams came in and told them the killer was someone in the show. She wanted to take everyone down to the station to interview them, but Oliver persuaded her to do the interviews at the theater instead, as he'd invited Maxine to the sitzprobe and wanted to sell her on the new, improved show.
Oliver went to Loretta's dressing room, where she told him she knew he'd taken something from her apartment. He admitted to taking her book and returned it. He said she didn't need to explain, but pressured her to do so anyway. Despite this, he insisted that he trusted her and shared that Mabel thought Dickie was the killer, and she was never wrong.
While Charles was rehearsing his patter song, Oliver sneaked into Charles' dressing room, which Williams was using for the interviews, and planted a camera while Williams was distracted watching Charles. When Charles and Oliver told Mabel about the plan they'd executed to get all the interviews on tape, she asked if they wanted to make a podcast with her, officially making up.
Oliver returned to the theater and asked Maxine what she thought of the show. She said Loretta was extraordinary, and the show was pure Oliver Putnam, but said he had to wait for her review to learn anything else. As Loretta rehearsed the final song, Dickie was arrested. Loretta saw this happening and stopped the song to confess to Ben's murder. After she was taken away, Oliver clutched his left arm and his heart monitor started beeping as he collapsed.[34]
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.[35]
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 Oliver was performing in the final scene, he looked up and noticed Cliff hanging above the stage. Oliver rushed off-stage and into the room above the stage, where Cliff was dangling, saying he couldn't go to prison. Oliver realized, as Mabel and Charles had before him, that Cliff was the real killer. Suddenly, Donna came in and Cliff allowed himself to be pulled to safety. He and Donna were both arrested.
At the afterparty, Oliver shared a rave review of "Death Rattle Dazzle". When he learned that Loretta had multiple offers, but all of them would require her moving away from New York, he told her that he liked LA in small doses, so he could visit her, but he couldn't move there.[36]
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. Oliver immediately offended Zach by not recognizing him and then Zach offended Oliver by asking how Oliver felt about Zach playing him as talented and successful.
Oliver then met up with Loretta, who said she was sorry the show was done, but that she was loving her new job. She asked if he'd consider moving to LA because the podcast was on hiatus and the musical was done and he said he'd think about it.
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.[37]
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.[38]
Coaching Zach
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.
While the other two were eager to follow their counterparts, Zach was disinterested in Oliver or learning anything about him. After they came up with two viable suspects to investigate, they decided to split up, with Eva and Mabel talking to Rudy Thurber, Charles and Eugene to Vince Fish, and Oliver and Zach staying behind to monitor the ham radio.
Instead of actually doing that, Oliver brought Howard over to monitor the radio while he taught Zach how to be like him, starting with his hair and wardrobe. They spent the day playing music and shopping. At the end of the day, Zach was able to mimic Oliver well and Oliver was pleased. However, when Zach stepped out to take a call from his agent, Oliver and Howard overheard him telling his agent that Oliver was a loser and he hated the role. Howard stepped in to defend Oliver, lauding the way he got back up no matter how many times he got knocked down. This inspired Zach, who finally believed he would take on the role.
Later, Mabel texted Charles and Oliver from the Dudenoff place, inviting them to a housewarming party. He and Charles 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.[39]
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 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.
When Mabel returned, she told Charles and Oliver that the Westies were illegally subletting their apartments from Dudenoff and offered to bring her in on it. She 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.[40]
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.
Charles and Oliver took Marshall to 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.[41]
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.[42]
Mabel suggested going to Charles's sister's house. He was reluctant to risk leading a killer to his sister, but eventually agreed. On the way, Oliver texted Loretta to break up with her and then they turned off their phones. When they got to Doreen's, she welcomed them into her home, which she'd filled with dolls after her daughters moved out. She told them she'd kicked out her husband for eating too much at Can-Cans.
Doreen flirted heavily with Oliver, leading to them being in a compromising position when Loretta arrived. Oliver explained what had happened and then he and Loretta talked about his text. Through this conversation, they learned that he hadn't been talking to Loretta at all, but her stand-in, who had gotten her phone by mistake. This further led to the revelation that Oliver was Ronnie, which made Loretta feel betrayed. However, after fighting with Doreen, Loretta decided that she knew Oliver was crazy from the moment she met him and still loved him. She took a bracelet from a doll and proposed to him. He accepted and they kissed. The next morning, the actors woke everyone in the house and told them that the case actually went back to season one, with the question of who poisoned Winnie and who left the note and Jan's door. Charles realized that Sazz knew and surmised that that's what she wanted to tell him. Later that day, the trio were hanging out on the boat when Mike came home and said that Howard had been trying to reach them. He said the Westies had killed Dudenoff and were washing his checks.[43]
The actors continued to assert themselves as members of the investigative team. After talking to the podcast trio, they developed a plan to get the Westies to confess to killing Dudenoff and Sazz. This involved inviting them over for a star-studded game of "Oh Hell." The Westies accepted the invitation, but when they arrive, they shut the door, pulled out a knife, and said they knew they knew about the checks. They demanded that everyone hand over their phones. They denied killing Dudenoff and, one at a time, explained how they had met Dudenoff and come to live in the Arconia in one of his apartments. Then Dudenoff made good on his dream to live in Portugal and left. And they hadn't heard from him since. They kept up the ruse by cashing his checks. Just as they finished, Helga came to the door and said she was there to tell the truth. She shared her own story of meeting Dudenoff and coming to live in the Arconia after her father's death. She believed the Westies had killed Dudenoff because she'd gotten a letter saying he had moved to Portugal and then they began acting strangely. This led to her eventually moving out. Helga's revelation forced the Westies to tell the truth. The night of the power surge, Dudenoff invited all of them except Helga to the basement. He had a terminal illness and had taken a large amount of pills. He asked them to burn his body in the incinerator and keep cashing his checks so they could continue to live in the Arconia together. He recorded a message for Helga in case she found out, but didn't want her to know because she had had a hard time bouncing back after her father's death. They showed her the recorded message and then held her as she cried. They asked her to move back in and she agreed to do so. As they left, Eva revealed she'd recorded the Westies confessing to Social Security fraud. Despite Eva's insistence that it would make a good podcast episode, Mabel declared they wouldn't be using it, as the podcast had brought them together and she didn't want to use it to split the Westies apart. Instead, they recorded an episode, using the story of Dudenoff moving to Portugal. As they finished recording, Helga arrived and said that she'd been in touch with Sazz prior to her death. She'd told Sazz about the Westies and Sazz said she'd worked on "Project Ronkonkoma" with a stunt worker who made a mistake and then began harassing Sazz. Sazz had said he was dangerous and would be the death of her. They looked up who did stunts on the movie and found out that Glen was credited for the job.[44]
They went to the hospital, where they planned to lure him out of his coma with beer, corned beef, and smelling salts. His nurse stopped them, but said she'd call them if he woke up. They went back to the waiting room, where they stopped the bartender from "Concussion." He wasn't happy to see them, but when they asked him about "Project Ronkonkoma," he told them that Glen had only stepped into the role after the first guy messed up and got fired. He didn't know the name of the first stunt worker, but said the director, Ron Howard, would know. Oliver said he and Ron were friends, but he didn't have a way to reach him because it was from the pre=cell phone days. Mabel and Charles didn't believe him and Mabel went to Bev to get a whole of him instead. She gave Mabel the address in exchange for Mabel agreeing to help Marshall with the dialogue in the script.
Mabel, Charles, and Oliver then went to the set for "Escape From Planet Klongo." They were unable to get in until the assistant director mistook them for background actors. Charles and Oliver were dressed as Klongos, while Mabel was just dressed as a girl. Before they could do any filming, Mabel had to leave as the nurse called her to say Glen had woken up. While she went to talk to him, Charles and Oliver stayed, but got themselves kicked off the set when they argued about their friendship and Oliver's bachelor party. They reconciled while changing to go home and decided to go get food at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Charles tried to make it like the bachelor party Oliver wanted and unexpected got an A-list celebrity when Ron Howard came in. Charles was surprised when Ron actually knew Oliver. He told them about what happened on the set of "Project Ronkonkoma," which involved the stunt worker re-igniting right in front of him and burning off his eyebrows. He showed them a picture and they recognized him as Marshall and texted Mabel to warn her.[45]
Charles and Oliver went back to Charles's place, where Charles realized Mabel hadn't replied to his text. He got a text from her phone threatening to kill her if they came to her door or called the police. They looked across the courtyard to see Marshall holding her hostage. Desperate to save her because he couldn't save Sazz, Charles decided to walk along the ledge outside the window over to Mabel's place, which he realized was how Marshall had been able to kill Sazz and clean up so quickly. Oliver suggested going from Vince's place, as it was closer. They got into Vince's place, where Rudy was teaching him exercises, and went out the window. Despite previously saying he wouldn't help, Oliver followed Charles, calling him his ride or die. When they got to Mabel's window, they were surprised when there was a knock at the door. It was Vince and Rudy, creating a distraction so Charles and Oliver could slip inside. Charles then used Eva Longoria's multitool to shoot nails at Marshall and kick his gun out of his hand. Now caught, Marshall admitted to killing Sazz and Glen. He'd been jealous because Sazz's script for "Only Murders in the Building" was better than anything he'd ever written, despite his best efforts. He stole it and planned to use it to get an agent, but ended up selling it. When Sazz confronted him and said she was going to tell Charles, he followed her to New York and killed her, then burned her body. He killed Glen because he knew Glen would eventually remember where he knew Marshall from.
Marshall was able to get the gun back by rolling over Mabel's bed. He threatened them with it, but then a shot came through Mabel's window and hit him in the back, killing him. Mabel, Charles, and Oliver looked out the window to see Jan in Charles's apartment with a gun. She saluted them.
They went back to Charles's place, where Jan was arrested and admitted that she'd been living in Charles's apartment since she escaped and was waiting for her chance to get her revenge. As she was taken away, she told Charles she'd see him again as they were endgame. The trio then celebrated solving the case by visiting the movie set.
The next day was Oliver and Loretta's wedding, which went off without a hitch despite Oliver's anxiety about the day. When Mabel and Charles left the wedding, they ran into Sofia Caccimelio, who wanted to hire them to find her husband. They declined, so she left her card and asked them to call if they changed their minds.
The next morning, after Oliver put Loretta in a car to go to New Zealand, they found Lester's body in the courtyard fountain. They called 911 and learned there were 72 emergencies ahead of them.[46]
Lester's Death
With Lester dead, Mabel, Charles, and Oliver suspected foul play. They were dissatisfied with the police ruling the death accidental. On the day of Lester's wake, Howard came to them and said the security footage proved it was accidental. As they prepared to go to the wake themselves, Oliver was eating shrimp until Mabel noticed one shrimp was actually a human finger. They put the finger on ice and went downstairs. They were surprised to see Mayor Tillman among the mourners. Charles attempted to find out if Lester was missing any fingers and Mabel and Oliver spoke to his widow, Lorraine. While talking to her, Lorraine said that Lester called Oliver the cuckoo chick, the neediest bird. While Charles was standing by the casket, trying to count Lester's fingers, Mayor Tillman approached him and asked for an endorsement from the podcast or to be a guest. Charles refused, saying they were apolitical. As he continued, Mabel tried to draw attention away from him by giving a speech about Lester getting her a sketch pad to cover up her mom forgetting her birthday. This failed when Uma noticed him and drew attention to him by asking loudly what he was doing. They ended up getting booed out of the wake.
Back at Mabel's, Oliver showed proof that he loved Lester in the form of a picture taken at the wedding. When looking at it, Mabel noticed that Nicky Caccimelio was in the background talking to Lester. Oliver was upset to learn they'd declined to help Sofia find her husband, saying he didn't mess with the mob. When they decided to go talk to Sofia, he initially refused to go with them, but came along when they said they'd do it without him and get all the glory.
They took a ferry to Staten Island and went to Sofia's house, where he sons greeted them. They were scared by the sons' imposing nature, but soon learned they had a podcast and thought the trio was there for a collaboration. When Sofia arrived, she sent her sons out of the room and then told the trio that the finger wasn't Nickey's. She also admitted that Nicky had a habit of disappearing often. She also told them the mob was dead and her family's business, a dry cleaner at the Arconia, was failing.
As they went to leave, Sofia came after them because Charles had left his hat. She gave him the hat and also a pack of cards. She said Nicky always carried them and had left the pack on her night stand the day he disappeared. He said they'd do what they could to find Nicky.
They went back to the Arconia and went their separate ways. After talking to Loretta, Oliver became desperate to prove that he cared about Lester, so he took Lester's hat and carried it to the dry cleaner intent on getting it cleaned. The business was closed, but when he knocked, the door unlocked, so Oliver went inside. He said he was there to drop off the hat, but not one responded. He spotted Lester's uniform, so he went to get it, but couldn't reach it, so he had to activate the moving rack to rotate the items. It worked and he got the uniform, but also discovered Nicky's body, which was hanging on the rack. The rack carried it into Oliver, where it fell on top of him, pinning him to the ground.[47]
Oliver struggled under Nicky's body until he heard Mabel and Charles through a vent from where they were in The Velvet Room. He told them he'd found Nicky dead and they told him to meet them in Charles's apartment. They were shocked when he showed up with Nicky's body. He defended himself by saying he'd sneezed on the body. They initially planned to remove it after getting Oliver's DNA off the body, but then Mabel suggested collecting some evidence first, something they'd never been able to do. They found the same green substance under his nails that the finger had, which Charles identified as the felt from the tables in The Velvet Room. He had signs he'd died recently, but after finding a burn behind his ear, Mabel suggested he'd been frozen and then thawed to obscure his time of death. She went to check if his lips were chapped to confirm and found a piece of paper that had the Arconia logo on it inside his mouth. At this point, Charles realized it was 6:45 AM and they only had fifteen minutes to get the body back before the dry cleaner opened. They took the body downstairs, where Oliver broke off to get the ledger from Randall after Mabel pointed out that it had the stationery they found in Nicky's mouth. Oliver went to Randall and shooed away the tenants who were asking him for things. Then he told Randall he was doing a great job. He shocked Randall by grabbing the ledger from his arms and ran away with it.
Oliver took the ledger back to Mabel's apartment, where Charles said some crooked cops were staging Nicky's death to look like a mob hit and they looked through the ledger. They found a missing page and Mabel used charcoal to reveal what had been written on it. They believed Lester was keeping track of different people and the bets there were making on poker games. They decided to go to the next game, which was that night starting at midnight. Because of the late hour, they needed to nap before the game. Before taking his name, Oliver took the ledger back to Randall and told him he needed to stop trying to be Lester and be his own person. He also offered to answer his questions as he'd lived in the building for a long time, but couldn't start right away because he needed to go nap.
At 11:30, they met at the entrance and entered The Velvet Room. While they were looking around, three people came in. The trio hid behind a bar and Mabel identified them as Jay Pflug, Bash Steed, and Camila White, three billionaires. They also watched as Jay got himself a drink, revealing that his hand was bandaged and he was missing a finger.[48]
When Oliver knocked down a glass, alerting the three billionaires that someone was in the room, Mabel threw some poker chips to distract them, allowing them to run out of the room. They wondered why some of the richest people in the world were in their building and if they killed Lester.
Upset with Mabel and Charles' perception of him and wanting to do something for other people, Oliver sought help from Vince, who had birding experience and together, they decoded the ledger and found the five people who were in The Velvet Room the night Nicky and Lester died. Nicky is the brown-headed cowbird, Jay the Eurasian Jay, Bash a kākāpō, and Camila a bowerbird. Mabel wanted to focus on Jay because of his missing fingers and suggested letting him know they were onto him to lure him to them.
They recorded and released a teaser for season five. Soon after, Oliver and Mabel ran into Althea and while talking about their podcast, Mabel lied and said they'd signed a deal with Wondify. When Charles and Oliver asked her about lying, Mabel said that she and Althea had been each other's only friends in middle school, but after Zoe died, Mabel experienced a deep depression and when she finally went back home, Althea had made a new group of friends and turned everyone against Mabel. While Mabel was telling this story, they all got a message from Jay saying he'd be by at 7:00 to clear things up for them.
Oliver planned to serve only chocolate, champagne, and caviar with the goal of getting Jay drunk while Charles purchased the ingredients to make duck a l'orange. When Jay arrived, he brought a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon. He started to tell them how he came to play at The Velvet Room, but was interrupted by Camila and then Bash arriving. They each said they were there to make sure Jay didn't lie about them. They believed the trio was looking into Nicky's death, which was a typical mob hit, but remembered Lester watching the door during their games when they mentioned him. They decided to split the billionaires up to see what they each said about Jay's missing fingers. Jay stayed in the living room with Mabel, where he told her that he was just trying to do good things with his ancestors' blood money, but had trusted the wrong people. When she asked about his finger, he said Nicky had cut it off with a cleaver during a confrontation when Jay was trying to calm him down. When everyone else returned to the room, they learned that all three billionaires had told the same story of what happened to his finger. Soon after this, they all left. Oliver was stunned to find that Camila had completely redone his dining room while she was there. As they ate the duck a l'orange, they decided to trust the billionaires. Then they got a message that Wondify wanted to sign them.
They went to Wondify, where they got a tour and signed their contracts. As they started talking about their new season, Mabel realized that the finger they had was a left index finger, while Jay lost a right index finger, meaning the finger wasn't his after all. They realized the billionaires were working together and had lied. This was solidified when the executive they were working with told them their contract prohibited them talking about their stakeholders and Jay, Camila, and Bash had just purchased controlling interest of the company.[49]
The trio called Williams and she came to the Velvet Room, which had been thoroughly cleaned. She advised them to talk to the help, because rich people often did stupid things with them around. They decided that Charles would go talk to Sofia and figure out what she knew about the casino while Mabel and Oliver went to talk to the building staff and figure out what they knew.
Downstairs, Mabel and Oliver had little luck talking to the staff, who were reluctant to share anything. Ursula told them Lester once mentioned services for the casino going through Tommy the Tongue, but Miller Portnoy told them he didn't share his garbage, but did reveal that Oliver had gotten and thrown away an offer to buy his apartment. However, when they discovered, "Die Lester die" carved into a table, Randall admitted to carving it and all the staff expressed concern that they would be replaced with robots like Randall had. Oliver decided to placate the staff into helping them by calling a building meeting so they could discuss their concerns. At the meeting, they were shocked to hear many tenants expressing that they preferred LESTR over Randall. The meeting ended when LESTR disappeared while Howard was distracted by Charles coming in singing.
Back upstairs, Charles told Mabel that he'd hooked up with Sofia, but admitted he hadn't gotten much information out of her. He apologized, but Mabel said they might be able to get information from LESTR, because Lester's paperwork was uploaded to him. Just then, they heard LESTR pass their window and hit the courtyard below. Shortly after that, Miller came to find them. The meeting had shown him they cared, so he gifted them a portrait of Lester made out of the trash they'd asked for. At he left, Oliver asked him for the offer, which Miller gave him, having retrieved it. Charles realized his phone was missing and Mabel used hers to track it to Sofia's place. When it started moving, they decided to follow it and took the portrait with them. As they drove, Charles searched for anything that might be helpful. He found some invoices that were all made out to Tommy for bar supplies just as Williams called. She'd found out that Tommy the Tongue was a business, not a person and all the money, a significant amount, had been taken out of it that morning. No name was attached, but she had an address. It was the same address where Sofia had gone. Williams warned them not to go inside, telling them to ask themselves who would want the money badly enough to kill Nicky and Lester. When they saw Lorraine open the door to let Sofia inside, they decided the answer to that question might by their wives.[50]
After Loretta's apartment caught fire due to a short in her electric kettle, she got a plane and flew back to Oliver right away. She was upset because she'd lost everything, after living in that apartment for 47 years. When Mabel and Charles came in with the evidence board, Loretta said she didn't want to bring the mood down and asked about the investigation. They decided that Oliver and Loretta would go to Brooklyn to talk to Lorraine because Oliver knew the area. On the way, Oliver and Loretta reviewed his time living in a foster home in Flatbush. When they arrived, they found a for sale sign on Lorraine's house and an open house happening. They split up and Loretta went upstairs. When she came back, she was sure that Lorraine hadn't killed Lester, but then Oliver spotted Lorraine and Sofia together. They decided to follow them. As they followed, they were distracted by someone collecting signatures against the casino in New York City and lost track of them. When Oliver realized where they were, he let Loretta into the Mycyn Theatre, where he fell in love with theater. He told her about getting a part in Oliver Twist, but dropping out when Al and Sue, his foster parents, refused to come. But the night of the show, he put on his costume and went to the theater, where he watched another kid say his line. When Loretta heard this, she insisted that Oliver get on stage and say his line. He did so only after she did her cut monologue from SVU. When he finished saying his line, Sofia and Lorraine clapped for him, drawing attention to themselves. Sofia told Loretta and Oliver that the money she'd given Lorraine was Lester's cut of Nicky's businesses. It helped Lorraine keep the lights on at the theater, where she taught musical theater. Sofia was there to loan Lorraine a toy gun for Newsies. Lorraine was shocked to learn that Oliver believed Lester was murdered and immediately asked him for names. He said he thought she did it, but she said she wasn't at the Arconia that night. She was actually at the theater because they had a rehearsal and the kids could corroborate that. Just then, the kids came in and they started their rehearsal while Lorraine thanked Oliver for caring about Lester. She gave him the bird whistle Lester had on him when he died, which the police had given her. While on this trip, Oliver deiced to sell his place at the Arconia to whomever had made the offer and look for a new place with Loretta.[4]
Desperate for content since they couldn't podcast about their primary suspects, the trio agreed to interview the mayor. He came over and they got set up. When he mentioned their investigation in answering his first question, Mabel said they couldn't talk about the murder. When he learned it was because Bash Steed had purchased Wondify, he said he loved Bash and didn't believe he was involved. Then he sent Romy out to get him coffee and admitted that Bash was definitely involved. He said that Bash had funded his campaign and since he was elected, used that as leverage to get Tillman to do whatever he wanted, including hiring Romy, Bash's niece, as his assistant. He told them that he'd overheard Romy talking to Bash and knew about a secret rich person meeting at Bash's country house. He gave them the address and their conversation was interrupted when Romy returned with the coffee.
They went out to Connecticut to find Bash's house. Oliver was reluctant to go and texted Loretta that he'd been taken against his will. His follow-up text clarifying that Mabel and Charles had taken him didn't send, so he warned Mabel and Charles that Loretta would think he was kidnapped. They approached the house and ran into Algernon Steed, who was carving a branch with a knife. They were creeped out by him, but he told them that Bash, his father, was inside with the others. Inside, they found Jay, Camila, and Bash hovering over a table talking about body parts. They soon realized they were playing Operation. When Oliver tried to leave, he made noise and drew attention to themselves. The billionaires told the trio they were having a game night because there was only so many times they could sabotage each others' businesses and this allowed them to spice up their lives. They were playing for a cheap, simple trophy. Mabel said that if that was true, they would be okay with the trio staying to watch and the billionaires agreed to that. They played a series of games and the trio became increasingly bored, so when the billionaires split up, each of them talking to one. During their conversation, Jay admitted to Mabel that the game night was about more than the trophy, so she confronted them to find out what was really behind it. Then she agreed that they could play for it. If the trio won, they got their answers. If the billionaires won, the trio would stop investigating them permanently. Oliver refused to participate in this and left.
Outside, Oliver quickly found out that there was no phone signal nearby. He wandered around, trying to get a signal. When he finally got one bar, he got a series of increasingly frantic texts from Loretta that ended with her saying she was reporting him missing. He ran into Ron and Linda and asked them for help. He told them what had happened, but they didn't believe him because of how outlandish it all sounded. They wanted him to come with them so they could drop him off at the police station, but he refused to go. When they mentioned that his friends couldn't be that great if they let him get lost, he realized that he'd left them in danger and asked Ron and Linda to drive him back to Bash's place. They refused, so he said he'd take their horse. When the horse scared him, he decided to take their tractor instead. He drove it all the way back to Bash's place, where he picked up Mabel and Charles. They both climbed on and Oliver drove them out of there slowly.
Back at the Arconia, they waited for Williams to pick up the finger. Before she arrived, Camila surprised them by coming over. She revealed that she was the one who made an offer on Oliver's place and she was slowly buying up apartments in the Arconia in order to open her casino there. She ordered them to give her the finger so she could realize her dream. When they refused, she pulled out a gun, so they reluctantly handed it over and she sent them her proposal video for The Camila Club.[51]
Oliver and Charles went to Randall to check on the progress of Camila buying the Arconia. He told them she owned 82 of the 165 units, meaning one more would give her the majority she needed to proceed. Their conversation was interrupted when Mabel told them about ladies' night in the casino. They said it was perfect because Camila would start blabbing as soon as they were away from men. Oliver even asked Loretta to come as her flight was cancelled after a long delay.
Oliver and Charles started searching for people, hoping to persuade them not to sell. Randall then notified them that Grover had agreed to sell, but was still in escrow. They begged him to take it back and save the Arconia, but he said all his friends had left or died, so he didn't think there was anything left there for him. However, he agreed to do a final two for one therapy session with them. They went up to Charles' place, where they started talking about their issues, Charles with his mother, who used him to win card games, and Oliver, whose insecurity he covered with bravado. This escalated when Detective Williams came in, having been escorted out of ladies' night, and gave her own input. At the end, they agreed it had been helpful. Grover agreed to take back the sale, but then he saw it was after midnight and escrow was closed. Mabel joined them and they waited for Loretta. When she came back, she revealed that she hadn't gotten a confession, but she had learned that Nicky and Camila had made the plan to turn the Arconia into a casino together. And that Camila blamed Lester for ruining something. She'd also retrieved a blood-covered elevator crank, a possible murder weapon.
After his realization in his session, Oliver told Loretta he didn't want to move, which she'd already suspected. When he said they'd find a new home, Loretta said she was sure he'd save the Arconia as he always did. After this, Vince and Lorraine came to Charles' place with footage from the night Lester died. Vince remembered that he and Lester had set up a birding camera that was activated by birdsong. It was activated the night Lester died by his bird whistle, which he'd blown intentionally to record his death. Vince pulled up the footage and they watched as Lester died and then Randall came in and picked up Lester's crank. They realized that the doorman Camila was angry at was Randall, not Lester.[52]
They went to confront Randall about the crank. He pretended to have no idea what they were talking about, then ran away. They searched, but couldn't find him for weeks while the days until everyone had to move out dwindled down. Finally, on the last day before moving out, Charles had nearly everything packed, Oliver had nothing packed, and Mabel was planning to get drunk and pack everything that night. Mabel got a notification that Randall had posted something indicating he was in Cuba.
Charles and Oliver both struggled with packing and preparing to move. They argued over it, with Charles trying to reach out to people to make new friends while Oliver wanted to throw a party to celebrate their last night at the Arconia. As Charles left to go to a baseball game, Mabel came to Charles and Oliver and told them she'd found a secret door in the Velvet Room that proved Randall was still in the building. They decided to search for Randall, but then someone came in with a food delivery for an apartment that was supposed to be empty. LESTR told them that Randall was squatting there. Mabel, Charles, and Oliver went to confront him again. He tried to run again, but ran into Theo Dimas, who was there to pack up his father's things. They accused him of being the murderer, but Randall said he hadn't done it, that he just took the crank because he knew Lester had used it to kill Nicky, wanting to stop the crime in the building, and he wanted to hide it so no one found out. They watched a video recorded by LESTR that confirmed his story. In it, Lester also insisted that Randall deliver the shrimp to Oliver, leading the trio to realize that Lester had tried to give them the clues they needed to solve the murder and they'd failed him. They decided to re-open the investigation and solve it for Lester. They went to Oliver's place for a Last Supper style party investigation. At the party, Mabel was interrupted by Jay arriving, wanting to take her to the Maldives. She told him that he could prove he was a good guy by telling her what he knew or they could part ways, because she was surrounded by people who were losing their homes and if he had won the casino bid, other people would by losing their homes. If he wanted to make the world better, he first had to stop making it worse. Jay left. Mabel went back to putting clues back on the murder board and then she asked if they had ever figured out what made the smudge by Charles' freezer. Howard said it was from a jazzy scooter, which he knew because his mother had had one. They realized Nonna had been the one to steal the finger back and went to the dry cleaners to confront her.[53] They asked Nonna why she'd stolen the finger and Nonna said Sofia had recognized the finger as belonging to her lover, but Nonna didn't know who her lover was.
They went back to the Arconia, where they learned that Camila had learned it would be cheaper to tear down the building and star fresh than to renovate. It would be announced at a press conference that same day and demolition would start immediately after. They went upstairs to Oliver's apartment, where movers were removing his belongings, and did one last look at their murder board. They suggested the finger might belong to one of the billionaires and created a plan to figure out if any of them was wearing a fake finger. They had Howard watch the door and lured Jay, Bash, and Camila to the Velvet Room by telling them the casino deal was still in play. They had also invited the Caccimelio brothers there to intimidate them, but sent the brothers out when they realized they were hurting more than helping. Mabel had a cleaver and threatened to start cutting off fingers if they didn't start talking. Under pressure, Jay revealed that he'd never actually lost a finger. He'd bandaged his hand as if he had to get them to think he had in hopes they would give him back the finger. Camila and Bash also hadn't lost any fingers. Then Tillman came in and after seeing a text from Howard, Mabel said she knew who killed Lester and brought the cleaver down on Tillman's hand, knocking off his fake finger. He was the killer. She knew this because Howard had just sent her a text warning her that Beau Tillman was on his way down, but autocorrect had changed his text to read it's beautiful instead of Beaut Tillman. She remembered that the last text Lester sent to Lorraine read it's beautiful and realized he was trying to text her the name of his killer. Tillman admitted to being there that night, saying the billionaires invited him any time they needed something from him. They would lose a bunch of money to him and they'd get what they needed. On the night in question, Nicky had come at Tillman with the cleaver after learning that Tillman was sleeping with Sofia. He cut Tillman's finger off and then continued chasing him until Lester hit Nicky with the elevator crank, stopping him. Nicky fell on top of Lester, pushing the cleaver into his own chest and killing him. While Tillman and the billionaires talked about what to do, Lester grabbed the finger and ran upstairs. By the time Tillman got upstairs, Lester had hidden the finger in Oliver's shrimp and told Randall to take it upstairs. Tillman tried to bribe Lester for his finger, but Lester said he was done being bought and needed to protect the city. If Tillman wanted to kill him, he'd have to do it in front of the cameras, but Tillman wasn't worried, knowing Bash owned the cameras and would erase the footage. Remembering the birding camera, Lester grabbed his bird whistle and ran into the courtyard. They had a confrontation and Tillman pushed Lester into the fountain, hitting his head on it. Then he left. With his last bit of strength, Lester blew into the whistle, activating the camera just in time to show Randall coming in and taking the crank. Tillman still wasn't worried because he knew Romy would come looking for him and she did and brought some corrupt cops with her. They took the trio's phones and broke them, then chained them in the secret stairwell with the intent of them dying when the building was demolished. Then Tillman left to go to the press conference.
Charles and Mabel accepted that they were going to die, but Oliver refused to believe it was the end and challenged Charles to use his magic to free them. Charles said he could pick the lock if he could get a hanger from the dry cleaners above them, but he'd have to shimmy up the pole to get it and didn't think he could. Mabel and Oliver pointed out the testosterone making him shimmy, but he'd learned he was in the control group the whole time. Mabel said that was even better because it meant it was him, not the testosterone. They encouraged him and he talked them through detangling themselves and then shimmied up the pole. Once he got the hanger, he used to it free all three of them. They escaped into the Velvet Room, where Althea was singing on a table, and accused Tillman of being a murderer. When he denied it and asked where their proof was, Mabel opened the secret drawer, revealing a recording device they'd placed there. Oliver rewinded it and played his confession. He said it was an AI deepfake, but then attempted to run. The cops came and arrested Tillman and the corrupt cops. But they realized they hadn't saved the Arconia, though they'd solved the murder. Jay then asked to talk to Mabel. She insisted he talk to Charles and Oliver, too, so he told them that Tillman had offered the casino to whomever got the finger back. They'd also had to hide Nicky's body for a week before putting it in the dry cleaners. He liked to think he was different from the other billionaires or at least wanted to be, which is why he'd confessed that to the cops, who were arresting Bash and Camila. He hoped it would let them keep their building and then he gave himself up to be arrested.
Charles, Mabel, and Oliver then went to Lester's shrine and told him they'd miss him, but they'd take care of the building.
Three months later, they sat down together to listen to Cinda Canning's new podcast, The Girl with the Curls, a murder podcast that took place in the UK. They were jealous of Cinda for having a new case when they didn't. After listening, they went out to get food, but found a crowd by the gate, surrounding a body. Howard was among them and lamented that she'd died just outside the Arconia, outside their purview. Just as they debated what constituted in the building, the woman gave one last gasp and stretched her arm out to put her hand inside the gate, then collapsed and died. She rolled over to reveal it was Cinda.[54]
Personality
Oliver is very funny, charismatic and upbeat, and loves to be in the center of attention. He is also fairly narcissistic and self-absorbed, and has an overinflated sense of his own importance. He is overly fixated on work, which caused the breakup of his marriage when he invested his son's college fund into his Broadway show, which then flopped. As evidenced by his apartment and lifestyle, Oliver has extravagant tastes and still attempts to keep up the lifestyle he had as a successful director, though those days are long gone and he is bankrupt. Oliver loves his son Will and his grandchildren, but his relationship with his son is somewhat rocky since Oliver keeps asking Will for money. However, over the course of the show their relationship has improved. He shows great affection for his bulldog Winnie, who no-one else likes. Oliver gives brutally honest criticism, and can be very blunt when he feels something is not up to scratch. He has an undying love for dips, and eats them for most meals. He also has a penchant for telling anecdotes about his life, which vary in appropriateness and strangeness.
Relationships
Career
Oliver has directed 212 stage shows, including "Splash! The Musical", "Everyone Can Whistle In The Rain", "and Newark! Newark!".
The following is a list of Oliver's known productions, with annotations:
- Splash! The Musical
- Everyone Can Whistle in the Rain (this title is an amalgam of "Anyone Can Whistle" by Stephen Sondheim and the Gene Kelly classic "Singin' In The Rain")
- Singin' In The Rain 2
- Hedda Gabler (starring Paula Abdul, a choreographer, dancer and television personality)
- The Elephant Man (featuring a real elephant)
- Newark! Newark! A New Musical (the poster for this show is seen on his apartment wall)
- Macbeats (a 1991 musical of "Macbeth" starring Vanilla Ice. Oliver reveals in Here's Looking at You that he was given a knife as a gift on opening night.)
- The Ten Commandments (a gender-bending musical, with a then unknown Sheena Easton playing Moses.)
Notes and Trivia
- Oliver lives in Apartment 10D of the Arconia.
- Oliver owns a car called Aphrodite, which he bought in LA while filming "Singin' In The Rain 2". He pays for parking for Aphrodite at the Arconia, despite the fact that his driver's license expired 25 years ago.
- He used to have a parakeet called Bruce, who was female.
- Oliver is associated with the color purple and often wears purple or maroon clothes.
- He claims to have worked with Stephen Sondheim.
- Oliver once ended up on stage with magicians Penn and Teller in Las Vegas after having drunk too many cocktails.[55]
- Oliver stated in I Know Who Did It that he has a phobia of tomatoes, similar to Cinda Canning.
- He used to have a dog named Tony.[29]
- Oliver claims to have experience in Krav Maga[32]
- He's six months older than Lester Coluca.[35]
- Oliver directed Singing in the Rain 2 for VH1 in '88.[41]
- In 1981, Oliver participated in a 24-hour kickline fundraiser.[41]
- Randall Winston played the upright bass at Oliver and Loretta Durkin's wedding.
- Did a musical about 9/11 at some point in his career.
- In 1982, he wrote a show called, Newark, Newark, which had a towering score and relatable nods to airport traffic, according to Oliver. He had trouble finding investors to make it though, so he borrowed $400 from the mob, which he hasn't paid back.[47]
- He's allergic to gardenias.[48]
- According to LESTR, he's the 237th best tenant in the Arconia.[50]
- He claims, among other things, to have been an assistant doula at Lea Michele's birth, that he and Hugh Jackman took ativan and slept through Hurricane Sandy, that he invented the name Adele Dazeem as well as Idina Menzel's real name, his biggest beef is with Angela Lansbury, and Cynthia Nixon stole his haircut.[51]
- He doesn't like pickles.[54]
Casting
In January 2020, it was announced Martin Short would star in an untitled Hulu series, created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman.[56]
Critical reception
Short's performance as Oliver Putnam received positive reviews. Mike Hale from The New York Times wrote that Short gives a "master class" in the show. "It is Short who gives the show some comic spark and humanity, making Martin and Gomez his foils, in the most charming way possible." Hale wrote, "He steals every scene, not through grandstanding but with the steady skill of an old pro. He slays with filler dialogue and throwaway gags. You wish he were onscreen every moment."[57] Glen Weldon from NPR wrote "Short's a legend, and of course can be hilarious when he's going big, but as Oliver, he finds the jokes, instead of lunging at them." He also praised the "grounded, satisfyingly nuanced" performances from both Steve Martin and Martin Short.[58] Vanity Fair’s Karen Valby and Mint Lounge’s Raja Sen commented that Short has "the best lines" of the series.[59][60]
Gallery
Promotional Images
Episode Stills
Quotes
[To a car driver who almost hit him] REALLY?! Do you not see this coat?!
[To Ursula] Stay out of the theater if you want a life. Trust me.
Oliver: What flavor do you have there?
Oscar Torres: Uh, vegan sea salt oil?
Oliver: Jesus. When did ice cream become a hand lotion?
Oscar Torres: Brazzos was one of three DVD sets in the prison library.
Oliver: God, prison sounds like hell.
We’re the heroes of this building. Before us, you could be killed in your own apartment, and no one would know it.
Sometimes you do have to make a mess to clean one up.
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 | "My Best Friend's Wedding" |
| #03 | "Two for the Road" | #07 | "Valley of the Dolls" | ||
| #04 | "The Stunt Man" | #08 | "Lifeboat" | ||
| Season Five | |||||
| #01 | "Nail in the Coffin" | #05 | "Tongue Tied" | #09 | "LESTR" |
| #02 | "After You" | #06 | "Flatbush" | #10 | "The House Always..." |
| #03 | "Rigor" | #07 | "Silver Alert" | ||
| #04 | "Dirty Birds" | #08 | "Cuckoo Chicks" | ||
References
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