"Only Murders in the Building Season 4" Disappointing on All Fronts

 

    The greatest thing to come out of this latest season is that Martin Short and Meryl Streep are now in a relationship. That is about it. I'll admit coming into this season, and even for the first couple of episodes I had a good feeling about it. It's like that jolt of adrenaline you feel when one of your favourite shows comes back, only for it to fade very quickly as the excitement of a new season leaves you with only the drab of a new season. I felt it with House of the Dragon, and I felt it here too, because it really did feel like they were losing grip on what was slowly becoming one of my favourite shows to watch. It's just too much you know? Whether it be the celebrity cameo's, or the nonsensical retconning, or the fact that what should be very integral side characters are simply not present at all, it's just too ridiculous.

    Can I start with Sazz and Charles? While I do think it was kind of funny that Charles was pretty antagonistic to Sazz for much of the series, only to realize how much that annoying friend was one of his last closest friends, I just can't take it seriously. I mean Sazz routinely took his exes, and no one really thought much of them other than as comedic relief. Like can you seriously tell me that their friendship was that close? If you wanted to do that could you at least have made it believable? It was like watching a switch flip in Charles' brain when she died, I just think there definitely could have been more confliction on the part of his character. In spite of that, I kind of enjoyed Sazz' character this season. Did it need more fleshing out and mystery? I definitely think so. I mean they had Sazz talk about all these plot holes in the first couple of seasons, just for them to not actually address them. Like no the killer is just Marshall not some mysterious figure that's been lurking in the background.

    Don't even get me started on Oliver. It's like they made him stupider this season. Like I get he was kooky but he was supposed to be more technologically savvy than Charles, and they ended up having him do the classic boomer technology gimmick this season. Also, he spends this entire season worrying about Lorretta, which just felt useless. They barely even had any screentime this season. I get trying to do the whole long-distance relationship thing between them, but her cheating on him with a much younger guy seemed so ridiculous, and at some point it somehow overrode the actual mystery they were supposed to be solving. Can we also talk about the characters this show has somehow left behind? Remember when Charles had a stepdaughter and they actually had some genuine moments of connection as an old man struggling to find any family or legacy to leave behind? Or like when Oliver had that interesting storyline about his estranged family who he hardly interacts with anymore? The worst part is that the son randomly shows up at the end for the wedding, and is not present at all for the rest of it, like surely they could have done something with him and the whole moving on thing?

    I will say at least they didn't try to give Mabel another love interest. At some point you just had to laugh at them trying to pair her up with someone new. Though it seems with all that extra screentime they decided it was best to use it one the one thing no one asked for, more celebrity cameos. Seriously, I swear they dedicated entire episodes to the cast relating to their celebrity doubles rather than I don't know actually focusing on the mystery, which is the whole point of the episode. I know they weren't supposed to be likeable, but that doesn't mean you have to make them likeable, an integral part of the plot, or dedicate 20% of the episodes to fleshing them out. Especially when you have characters who should be present from past seasons but aren't, and a whole new side of the building to focus on. I just think the show needs some sort of refocusing. It's called Only Murders in the Building, and while it is ridiculous how many murders that building has, they need to focus on the people within the building. That sort of mystery is what made the show good in the first place.

Final Score: 50/100

    I suppose in my mind, having Lester dead, puts the gang back into the Arconia, and hopefully that means they can finally address the plotholes they themselves brought up. Sadly, the I saw someones theory about Marshall being the killer on the subreddit, so I should probably avoid that when I'm watching it so that I don't get too many ideas. I feel like the whole movie set was more of a distraction than a benefit to the plot. They didn't spend enough time solving it, so when it was revealed that it was indeed Marshall who was the killer, I was a little iffy about the whole thing. Hopefully, not that it's in the building they do actually focus more on just the trio/people within the building. I wonder what mysterious celebrity is going to be in the top apartment now, because that always seems to be a point of interest within the show. I mean I'll still be watching, but I just hope I don't come back to more of the same with season 5.