Take Three: Only Murders in the Building

Only Murders in the Building: Season 1, Episode 3 “How Well Do You Know Your Neighbors?” (B+)

This show didn’t just do a great job of casting its three leads, it also found a fantastic role for the one and only Nathan Lane. I like that we encountered him when he was relatively disgruntled and tired of being drawn into all of Oliver’s schemes, convinced by the egotistical director not to invest in such classics as “Hamilton” because he was sure they were going to be failures. How Oliver got to him to drop more than $30,000, a price he upped on the spot once he finally took him up on it, is a real mystery. I was also happy to finally see Amy Ryan after noticing her name in the opening credits preceded by “with,” and while she’s an obvious choice to play the intro music for the podcast, I’m curious to see how she’ll be involved in all of this. Tensions continue to be high among the three podcasters, and I very much enjoyed Charles and Mabel’s differing interrogation styles, which included Charles using lines like “It’s almost as if…you’re being recorded” as a way to notify their suspect that he was, in fact, being recorded. Mabel’s relationship to the despised victim is sure to come to light soon, especially since she went to look back into her past in the building and was not met with a warm response, but the more present threat is the one that has been explicitly made to Oliver. They’ve learned at least one thing: their murderer listens to podcasts. And maybe it’s Sting?!