The Beat Goes On

"The Beat Goes On"
"The Beat Goes On" title-card
Season	3
Episode	2
Director	John Hoffman
Writer	Ben Smith & Joshua Allen Griffith
Editor	Shelly Westerman
Original air date	August 8, 2023
Episode chronology
← Previous	"The Show Must..."
Next →	"Grab Your Hankies"

"The Beat Goes On" is the second episode of the third season of Only Murders in the Building, starring Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short. It originally aired on August 8, 2023.

Short Summary

Mabel, Oliver & Charles attend Ben's lavish memorial full of fans and those with more dubious motives. As the actor's sudden death is mourned, Oliver works to revive his shaky Broadway show.

Full Summary

Ben falls down the elevator shaft.

Three Months Ago

Ben rehearses for Death Rattle. He pauses to ask Oliver if the audience is really supposed to believe that a baby is his top suspect. Oliver tries to explain, but Ben says it has to be yes or no. It can't be in the middle. Subtle doesn't sell. Oliver says he's never been subtle. And rehearsal's a process. It's only their first week. He promises that Ben will "kill" on opening night.

K.T. tells someone on the phone that he definitely died the second time. She passes Oliver carrying the dummy victim from the play. Oliver stops her and asks why people are striking their sets. K.T. says she has her orders. Oliver tells her to stop and says he's going to call Donna and show that they're all on the same page. Neither Donna nor Cliff answers. K.T. says they're pulling the plug. They just don't want to say it to his face. He says he's going to go directly to them and wrenches the dummy out of K.T.'s hands to take it with him. He tells K.T. to get the workers to stop because Oliver Putnam never taps out.

Ben, as Bruce, talks to Girl Cop about an upcoming drug bust. She's worried about missing Homecoming, so he gives her some car keys and promises to save her a dance.

Mabel watches Girl Cop on her laptop.

As Oliver, Charles, and Uma run away, calling for Lester, Mabel turns back and takes pictures of Ben's body.

Mabel looks through the pictures on her phone. She imagines Ben dressed as Bruce on the couch next to her asking about the pictures. She tells him she had a crush on him in middle school. He asks if she's a senior, and she says she's actually 29, but she didn't finish college. He compliments her apartment, but she tells him it's her aunt's, and she has to leave it in a few weeks. She's almost 30 and has nothing figured out. She should be finding a job or a new place to live, but she's lost. He tells her he was her age when he played the part of Bruce. She knows he was young and rich, which doesn't make her feel better. He corrects that he was a 31-year-old man playing a high school senior. He was lost and lonely and jealous of everyone else, who all had things he didn't have that he wanted. But comparing himself to them didn't do any good. People who figure things out right away are boring. Late bloomers make the world go around. She can take her time, but she can't waste it. She thanks him and says she hasn't spoken to a dead person since Tim Kono. He tells her she'll figure it out. She asks if he means her life or who killed him, and he bets on both. They do the handshake from Girl Cop.

Charles opens a package. It has a note from Ben wishing him a happy opening night and ending with a "Fuck you." Charles pulls a handkerchief out of the box just as Oliver comes in and says he needs help. He has two scarves and wonders if they're too much for a funeral. Oliver is surprised that Charles is planning to go to the funeral as he and Ben hated each other, which Charles denies. Oliver wants to talk to Donna and Cliff at the funeral to convince them not to kill his show. Given five minutes, he thinks he can convince anyone of anything. Charles doesn't think that's true and denies that Oliver talked him into getting Paramount+. Oliver opens the door, and they're surprised to see Mabel standing there. She asks to go with them to the funeral. They tell her yes, without her, they're just two pieces of stale white bread. When Oliver's out of hearing range, Charles asks Mabel if she's sleuthing, and she admits that she is.

At the funeral, an usher directs Oliver, Charles, and Mabel into a room. They're surprised to find that they're in Overflow 3, where they can watch the funeral on a closed-circuit feed. Oliver thinks there must be a mistake, but the usher confirms that they're in overflow three. He asks Mabel for her name and when she says she wouldn't be on the list, he says she also belongs in Overflow 3, which upsets Oliver. They go to sit down. Mabel tells them to behave while she goes to look around. Oliver tells Charles that Cliff and Donna must be upstairs, and he wants to get up there. He wants Charles to distract the usher so he can leave.

Mabel hears Gregg Rivera quote Hamlet and asks him about it. He knows who she is and says he did security for Ben. He has a whole filing cabinet of all the threats on Ben. When you work security, you learn to pick out troublemakers in a crowd. He asks if Kimber is harmless or a woman scorned. Is Ty a heartthrob or a hothead? And then there's Bobo, who is eating popcorn. Mabel says it sounds like he's investigating, and he asks if she isn't as well. He invites her to look at his files and says she can bring Charles and Oliver. He hasn't shown anything to the cops because he doesn't trust the cops.

Charles sits behind Bobo, Kimber, and Ty, and they watch one of Ben's friends speak about his life. He says that Ben was fired from his first TV show when he was eight. Charles's phone starts ringing, and the usher asks him to silence it. It's Oliver calling him from the other side of the room. Mabel comes back and says she got a lead and asks if he'll be okay by himself. When he says no, she ushers him out.

Gregg leads Mabel and Charles into his place. He asks them to take their shoes off. Charles says he can't, due to plantar fasciitis, but ultimately takes off his shoes. They're awed by the amount of Ben Glenroy merchandise he has. He has the car keys from Girl Cop, which he says Ben gave to him. He points out the other props he has as well. He also has a pair of Ben's pants. Charles asks how he never noticed Gregg before and Gregg says security's supposed to be invisible. Mabel asks about the files and he steps out. He comes back with his dog, who is named Ben, then leaves again. Charles wants to leave, but Mabel insists on staying. Charles thinks Gregg has unhealthy vibes. Mabel tries to defend Gregg until she realizes all the pictures of him with Ben are photoshopped. Charles starts to walk toward the door, but turns back to see Mabel on the floor. He runs back to her and Gregg knocks him out as well.

Oliver runs into Maxine Spear on his way to the room where the funeral is actually taking place. He asks if she saw Donna and Cliff upstairs, and she says she did, and they were grieving. He tells her her review of Death Rattle might cheer them up. She tries to leave, but he stops her and tells her they're taking down his sets. He spent fifteen years after Splash thinking about what he'd do if he got another chance and now his lead is dead. Maxine sits down with Oliver and says she's sorry, but her review won't change anything. He knows she likes it because she has a tell. If she likes a show, she stops writing notes and his spy saw her close her notebook halfway through act one. She tells him her pen ran out of ink. That's why she stopped taking notes. Her review was going to be a pan. Oliver asks about the performances, and she says that Ben is giving a better performance at his funeral than the night she saw him. She says the staging was bland and bleak. Oliver tries to defend the show, but she says that even though she was never a fan of his work, his previous productions always had something that made them sing. This one didn't sing. It felt stodgy and scared, but no one saw her review and now no one will. It's a shame because it was some of her most vitriolic writing. She never holds back and neither should Oliver.

Oliver tells Ben he's holding back. He wants Ben to go for it. Ben doesn't like the line and wants to get rid of them, but Oliver says they can't do that. He wants Ben to say the lines as he would say them. Ben tries a few things, but he thinks it sounds phony. He hates his voice, but Oliver tells him he only has his voice, and he's only a phony if he doesn't use it. He asks Ben what's scaring him. Ben's worried that he can't just be himself, that he needs a ridiculous premise. Oliver reminds him that he's doing a play where a baby is a murder suspect. Oliver tells him it's okay just to be him and admits that he's scared, too. But he's also exhilarated. He has Ben go again.

Oliver struggles and collapses on the steps. He grabs at his chest.

Mabel and Charles are chained to a pole. Mabel tries to break free, but Charles tells her she won't be able to. She asks what he thinks will happen. Charles says Gregg killed Ben, and they know too much, but at least they found the killer and in record time. They also managed to solve it without falsely accusing anyone or recording anyone without their consent or interrogating a bird. Mabel apologizes to Charles for bringing them to Gregg's. It's her fault if he dies. Charles says he doesn't blame her. She has a strong sense of justice and a crush on Ben. Mabel says it's not just that. After her dad died, her mom didn't leave her bedroom for six months. She watched a lot of Girl Cop during that time. Ben's character was sweet, and she used to dream of him coming and taking her away. It got them through that time. One day, she was watching, and her mom was laughing in her room and she realized her mom was watching, too. It became something they did together but separately. She knows Ben was a jerk to Charles, and she didn't really know him herself, but he meant a lot to her. Charles says Ben wasn't the jerk. He was.

Ben continues rehearsing with Oliver. Charles watches through the ajar doorway. Oliver applauds Ben's performance and walks out past Charles. Charles comes in and tells him he did great. Ben thinks Charles is mocking him and Charles asks what his problem is. Ben asks if he really doesn't remember and Charles doesn't. Ben was supposed to be a series regular on Brazzos, as boy genius Timothy Bush. He'd just don't his first-ever table read and Charles went over to the director and called Ben a phony, which got him fired. He was eight. Since then, every job he goes to, he's still the little boy who can't do it. He still can't walk into a room without acting like a total jackass because he's insecure. He was a kid supporting his mother and brother and Charles fired him. He threatens to get Charles fired from the play to bring things full circle, but says he won't. He'd rather make things miserable for Charles. Ben leaves, but then realizes it's his dressing room, so he goes back and kicks Charles out.

Charles says he could have made things right when Ben showed up for the play, but he didn't. And now it's too late. They hear Gregg approaching. He brings in a cart full of tools. Charles tells him he can kill him however he wants, but to make Mabel's quick and painless. Then he changes his mind and asks for two quick and painless deaths. Gregg shows off a torch that he stole from the pastry chef at work. He actually works at a steakhouse. Gregg tries to use the torch, but it doesn't work. Charles says they usually have a safety. Gregg turns on the torch as Mabel says he won't get away with this. Gregg thinks that Charles killed Ben because he hated him. Mabel says Charles didn't kill Ben; Gregg did. Gregg says he didn't. He loved Ben. He wants Charles to confess. Mabel tries calling for help, but Gregg shoves a hankie in her mouth. When he pulls it out, she asks him where he got it as it's one of Ben's opening night gifts. Gregg says he stole it from Ben's while looking for clues and collectibles. As Gregg threatens Charles with the torch, two cops come in and arrest Gregg. Detective Biswas tells Mabel and Charles that Williams told him about them, said they were a pain in the ass. They've been following Gregg for two days after someone reported seeing him flee the Arconia two minutes after Ben's death. Biswas asks what they were thinking going with a stalker. He pulls the hankie out of Mabel's mouth, and she slips it into her pocket when he's not looking. He asks if there isn't supposed to be three of them.

Doctor Douglas has taken Oliver's blood pressure. He tells Oliver that he had a minor heart attack. Will is worried, but Oliver isn't. Douglas says Oliver's blood pressure is too high. He's going to prescribe some medication, but Oliver also needs to change his diet, including cutting out dips. Oliver also has an arrhythmia, so Douglas gives him a heart monitor to wear. He puts it on Oliver's chest and shows him how to push the button if he feels an irregular heartbeat. Oliver asks if he's still healthy enough to direct a play and Douglas says he needs to reduce stress. If he has another heart attack, it might not be so small.

Mabel does a PTSD check and asks how Charles is doing. Charles says he's already repressed it. Mabel thinks that the police have the wrong guy, that it wasn't Gregg. Gregg loved Ben. He only kidnapped them to find the killer. He was willing to commit multiple felonies to find the killer. There's also the hankie. Gregg had Ben's hankie, which means the hankie Ben had when he died was someone else's. She shows Charles the pictures she took of Ben's body. He's both concerned and impressed that she tampered with a crime scene like that. Mabel thinks that maybe before Ben fell, he tried to grab onto something and that something was the hankie. Mabel asks Charles if he's in, and he says he is and offers his hand to shake. Mabel does the Girl Cop handshake and Charles tries to follow, but is awkward. Mabel says they'll get there.

Oliver thinks about what Douglas and Maxine told him as he rests on his couch. He pictures K.T. introducing a show. Charles, Mabel, and Will start dancing to a jazz number. Mabel says he's making a mess of things and the other two agree. He has too much stress and needs to let it go.

Oliver talks to Donna and Cliff on the phone and says they'll love his idea. They agree to hear him out and he celebrates. He tells Charles and Mabel that he's reimagined Death Rattle and he's going to make it sing. It'll be a musical. Mabel tells him that they think the cops go the wrong person and Ben's killer is actually someone in the show. Which means they're back. Oliver starts to breathe heavily as he pushes the button on his monitor.

Cast

Starring

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

Special Guest Star

• Paul Rudd as Ben Glenroy

Guest starring

• Ryan Broussard as Will Putnam
• Gerald Caesar as Ty Wessex
• Noma Dumezweni as Maxine Spear
• Allison Guinn as K.T. Knoblauer
• Jackie Hoffman as Uma Heller
• Adrian Martinez as Gregg Rivera
• Ashley Park as Kimber Min
• Don Darryl Rivera as Bobo Malone

Co-Starring

• Caitlin Hammond as Girl Cop
• Jay Aubrey Jones as Usher
• Gerrard Lobo as Detective Biswas
• Galway McCullough as Friend of Ben's
• Harry Sutton, Jr. as Doctor Douglas

Notes and Trivia

Cultural references

• When Charles and Mabel enter Gregg's place, we see posters of Ben Glenroy's projects with one being "The Sex Panther", possibly a reference to Steve Martin's role in The Pink Panther movies.

Soundtrack

• "Song", performed by Artist
  Written by Composer

Media

Episode Stills

Photography by Patrick Harbron for Hulu.

Videos

Oliver Putnam Never Taps Out - Only Murders In The Building- Season 3 Episode 2 Opening Scene - Hulu

Oliver Putnam Never Taps Out

Only Murders In the Building - Musical Fever Dream - Hulu

Musical Fever Dream

See Also

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