What I’m Watching: Only Murders in the Building

Only Murders in the Building: Season 1, Episode 5 “Twist” (B+)

The good news is that Oscar was the one tailing Mabel and he didn’t have any nefarious intentions, and they immediately decided to drive to Teaneck to figure out the next piece of the puzzle. Charles and Oliver were so thrown off by the fact that she had lied to them that they went about following her in a predictably immature and obvious way, which Oliver tried to defend as “blending in by standing out.” I enjoyed Oliver recording constantly and asking Charles to call him a simpleton again so that he could get it on tape, and the idea that Oliver pays for parking in the building yet hasn’t had a license in twenty-five years is somehow very fitting. That could explain why he’s having such trouble keeping up with his building fees, paying for things that he absolutely doesn’t need when he simply can’t afford it. I was surprised by Charles’ willingness to indulge Oliver’s pretzel craving, especially since they were trying to stay on Mabel’s tail. The commentary about traveling to Long Island and getting various sexually-transmitted diseases made for some unexpected and moderately heartwarming since those two have plenty in common yet find many reasons to bicker. They seem to have arrived at a good place with Mabel now that everything’s out in the open, but that doesn’t mean they’re all that much closer to figuring out who the murderer could be. I originally thought this show was meant to be eight episodes and I’m glad to now know that it’s ten, meaning that we’re exactly halfway through at this point.