"Only Murders in the Building Season 3" Losing Focus but the Picture's Still There

 


    I know I know, how in the world did they make 3 seasons of this show, wouldn't the believability just wear off eventually? I mean sort of, but I think that's ok, because part of what makes this show so fantastic isn't the murder itself, rather the intrigue that surrounds it. Let me explain, what I believe makes Only Murders such a great TV show is not that you want to crack the big mystery before it happens, nor that you really feel as if it's gritty or dark, but it's like an onion, which as Shrek so eloquently put it, "it has layers". These layers are slowly peeled back episode by episode, and by the end you had so much fun that you hardly remember why you peeled all of them back, you just want to peel some more.

    However, this season, I must admit something was off, and it started to lose focus. Somewhere along the process of peeling the onion the layers started to look a little off, like they never belonged there in the first place, and you start to question what's happening. What I mean by this whole onion analogy is that the bread and butter of this show first and foremost were episodes that were specifically dedicated to exploring one character/suspect in the show, and how they were related to the murder, and this formula is amazing, I hope they don't change it. My issue is that, for parts of this season it felt like they forgot that this show was about murder.

    Look, I love talking about and exploring Mabel, Oliver and Charles as characters, but first and foremost this show is about murder, and so ultimately, if we're going to explore so much about their interpersonal relationships we better have a damn good reason to, or it better be damn interesting that we forget about what this show was about (in a good way of course). Sadly, that is not the case, while I did think it was interesting that they attempted to give every single character a love interest, it really went nowhere and they basically abandoned it after they realized that too.

    The first half of this season is how do I put it? Them trying to manage all of these characters, realizing they actually didn't want Charles to have a love interest, and giving Mabel once again another love interest that ultimately does nothing is certainly a decision that did not pan out. Luckily, it seems that halfway through the production of this season someone came back to and managed to fix the cake before it was placed into the oven, leaving you with a pleasant second half that manages to heat up in a way that makes you forget the way the first one started.

    Just give Mabel Theo or something, like I actually kind of enjoy how he's a deaf character that doesn't feel forced, or that everyone forgets he's deaf in two seconds. From Tobert (why did they give him this name again I cannot take him seriously), to whoever Cara Delevingne played in last season, it's just been a rotating cast of unloveable love interests that no one quite takes seriously. Also Joy literally disappears like a third into the season to never come back, and Charles' white room issue never happens again, so much for happy endings.

Final Score: 75/100

    Despite everything I just said about this show though, I have to admit that honestly, I enjoyed it. Look, it might be off putting to see Paul Rudd in any role outside of movies at this point, and singing to boot, but I actually didn't think it was the clunkiest inclusion, and it was very funny/meta considering the fact that he was the sort of big name in both the show and the in-universe musical. I mean it's very clear they've nailed down the formula, that much is clear, now the only issue is making sure the onions stay as fresh as possible while the fans peel them. Hints have already dropped that they might be looking to move out of what seems to be an increasingly cramped Arconia, but with the cliffhanger they left season 3 on, we'll just have to see where an already confirmed season 4 leads us.

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