Only Murders in the Building review: A whodunit that’s such fun you don’t want it to end

4/5

Story: Arconia resident Tim Kono is found dead in an apparent suicide. But it’s not really as simple as that, as three fellow residents and amateur sleuths find out.

Review: When I began watching Only Murders in the Building, the series was already seven episodes old in as many weeks, allowing me to binge the 35-minute-odd runtime of each in a single setting. Big mistake! At the end of seven episodes, not only was I fully invested in the narrative, I also realized I had to make it through three weekly episode drops to get to the finale. The wait was true torture, but the episodes were delightful, thanks to the crisp and fun narrative by series creators John Hoffman and Steve Martin.

Steve, by the way, is also one of the principal cast members. He is Charles Haden Savage, a TV actor, who was once popular for playing an onscreen detective. He is joined by Martin Short (remember the wacky wedding planner Franck from Steve’s Father of the Bride?), as Oliver Putnam, a struggling Broadway director and Selena Gomez’ Mabel Mora, who’s renovating her aunt’s flat at that residential building Arconia they all live at and comes with a lot of baggage.

The series opens with the death of a fellow resident, Tim Kono (Julian Cihi), which is initially considered suicide because it looked like he’d blown his brains out with his own gun. Hardcore true-crime podcast addicts Charles, Oliver and Mabel not only decide to run their own parallel investigation because they picked on a few clues that could mean murder, but also keep the whole world informed with their own little podcast – Only Murders In The Building.

Their suspect pool, of course, is almost all other residents of the Arconia, because Tim was not the most liked. Former Police front-man Sting also lives there and even he is not spared. In the course of their investigation, they also manage to bring to book the real culprit behind an earlier death at the Arconia, which included one brilliant episode told from the perspective of the speech-and-hearing impaired perpetrator. The final reveal of who killed Tim was not all that earth-shattering, but the narrative that led to it was riveting, fun and quirky all along.

Real-life buddies Steve and Martin are a riot together, which Selena matches quite well with her millennial ‘mean girl’ vibe. Some of the exchanges between Steve, Martin and Selena that put the spotlight on their generational gap are relatable for anyone who has seen that dynamic play out at home. My septuagenarian mother’s conversations with the resident teenager, especially relating to technology, are a lot like those between Charles and Mabel.

Verdict: If you like the comic genius of Steve Martin and Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building is a must watch. That’s not to say that Selena’s contribution is any less. This is a trio that you want to see more of at the end of 10-episodes, which is just under 6 hours actually. Turns out, they’ve already been renewed for a second season. Now that we know who killed Tim Kono, the whodunit turns its attention to the latest dead resident Bunny. Can we fast forward to season 2 already?

PS: Did anyone else think that the title track of the series sounds a lot like that of Big Little Lies?

Where to watch: All 10 episodes of Only Murders in the Building are currently streaming on Disney+Hotstar.