Alright, true crime fans, I’m back with another recommendation to fulfill your true crime obsession…even if it’s not exactly true crime.
Meet Only Murders in the Building, a mystery/dramedy on Hulu. And it just premiered its second season!
Starring the longtime friends Steve Martin and Martin Short—respectively as Charles Haden-Savage, a former procedural crime actor, and Oliver Putnam, a mildly successful Broadway director—the duo becomes a trio when they meet Selena Gomez’s Mabel Mora, a young aspiring artist, and realize that (1) they all live in the same apartment building, (2) they all listen to the same true crime podcast(s), and (3) they’re all keen to solve the murder of another tenant in their building.
And out of murder, a friendship (and a true crime podcast) was born.
Yes, I know it sounds morbid, but Martin, Short, and Gomez deftly balance dry wit, morbid fascination, and endearing sentimentality like the acting wizards they are.
In the first season, the trio begins a podcast (aptly called ‘Only Murders in the Building’) and uses their true crime savvy—which, like most of us true crime fans, they learned from listening to other podcasts—to solve the murder of Tim Kono, a fellow resident of the Arconia. No spoilers here, but suffice to say that the trio is successful…for about five minutes before there’s another murder in their building, which is the focus of season two. Again, no spoilers here, but the show has definitely upped its intrigue game in its second season…and also its feels. The episode about Bunny Folger had my eyes welling up with unshed tears.
It’s that delicate balancing act of suspense and sentimentality that strikes a chord with its viewers. And also did I mention it’s ridiculous and funny?
Honestly? I wouldn’t have thought that Selena Gomez would have such great onscreen chemistry with two comedic giants of decades past, or be just as funny as either of them, but she does and she is. It’s magic when they’re onscreen together, and the show has well earned it’s fourteen Emmy nominations (Selena Gomez was snubbed and her costars AND ME are not happy about it).
What else can I say about this show? It’s funny when it needs to be, full of red herrings like any Agatha Christie novel, and, ultimately, it’s about finding friends in unlikely places.
Oh, and of course, murder.
Only Murders in the Building is streaming on Hulu, with new episodes on Tuesdays.