After an amazing first season and a good second season, Only Murders in the Building seems to have lost focus in its third season. Eight of the ten episodes were made available to review and, while there are great moments throughout, the story didn’t flow as well as before, with many uneven episodes and storylines.
The story picks up right where it left off, with Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd) collapsing on stage on opening night of Oliver’s (Martin Short) new play. Instead of instantly being interested in finding out what happened, Oliver is more worried about his show’s future, while Mabel (Selena Gomez) and Charles (Steve Martin) decide to investigate Ben’s death.
As in previous seasons, the show uses a lot of flashbacks to establish what kind of person Ben was, as well as to introduce the other members of the cast that feature in Oliver’s show. One of them Loretta Durkin, a veteran actress who’s not good at auditioning and is still looking for her breakout role. She’s played by none other than Meryl Streep who, as always, manages to beautifully capture the character’s hopes and fears. Even though she’s not in all episodes, her character has a big role in the main trio’s lives.
Something else that’s different this time around is the amount of time dedicated to rehearsals and how to make a Broadway show, from table readings to rehearsing on stage with an orchestra. It feels like the murder-solving part of the plot takes a backseat, to Mabel’s frustration. There are even new songs, written by the composers of La La Land (Benj Pasek and Justin Paul), Waitress (Sara Bareilles), and Hairspray (Marc Shaiman). While not all of them are memorable, they are entertaining and the one performed by Meryl Streep is very emotional.
There are also some fun surprise cameos, interesting plot twists, and many funny moments, thanks largely to the main trio’s chemistry and Martin Short’s impeccable comic timing.
Despite the shortcomings of this season, I am interested in seeing how the story will end and whodunnit!
Season 3 of Only Murders in the Building premieres on August 8th on Hulu.
