Only Murders in the Building Season 2 Episode 5 Review: The Tell

Only Murders in the Building Season 2 Episode 5, “The Tell,” takes us back to the ’70s through flashbacks and a Son of Sam card game.

Between all the ties to Charles’ past and now this episode with the flashbacks to Oliver’s party days, the show is developing our leads a bit more, which is what should be done in a second season.

The concern with this is that the show might not be able to balance it all — progressing the mystery and delving into our trio’s past. Only Murders in the Building Season 2 Episode 4, “Here’s Looking at You,” managed it by throwing in the fact that Lucy was at the Arconia that night and had an almost run-in with the killer.

“The Tell” struggles to maintain this balance. There’s a lot that happens during the episode, and yet, it doesn’t move the plot forward all that much. I hate to say it, but the episode is also a little boring.

We do get a couple of case developments, but they are minor and just add more questions rather than answers.

The suspicion does, finally, fall on Alice.

It was bound to happen, and a party at Mabel’s is the perfect occasion for confrontation. At the end of “The Tell,” it’s hard to tell what to make of Alice. She’s still not entirely trustworthy, and personally, I haven’t ruled her out as a suspect quite yet.

The bigger issue with Alice is her relationship with Mabel, mainly because the show hasn’t made us care about them.

We haven’t seen them be super cute or shippable due to the fact that their relationship has been developed off-screen. Their conversation in the bathroom is a good start, but it’s not enough. We need to see some sparks or something to make us want Alice to be a good match for Mabel and not a murderer.

Because we haven’t gotten that, we side more with Oliver and Charles rather than Mabel during the whole party debacle. Alice is more interesting as a potential killer rather than a love interest at the moment.

If there are plans for Alice not to be the killer and to stick around past this season, it could turn into an issue. Right now, it’s simply interesting to note how little we care about her outside of her connection to the murder mystery element.

The next thing we learn during “The Tell” pertains to Teddy and Oliver, and there’s no connection to Bunny’s murder here either, at least that we know of.

The twist that someone isn’t related to Oliver became obvious as soon as the ancestry test is first mentioned, so we’re simply waiting for the shoe to drop.

It’s unclear why we’re unturning this particular stone in Oliver’s past. Is it to wrap up a loose thread with Teddy, or perhaps to get Oliver off his game to where he makes some mistakes as the case progresses?

If it leads to Oliver being a bit frazzled and missing stuff, it could force Mabel and Charles to fill Oliver’s role in the investigation/podcast, which could be fun to watch. We’ll just have to wait and see if this twist leads to anything worthwhile.

And then, there’s Charles.

As the episode progresses, it’s clear that Charles is falling back into the rhythm of having Jan in his life. It is hard to turn feelings off, but you would think that Jan being a murderous psycho would have helped to squash, and keep, those feelings down.

There’s so much going on with Charles this season — Lucy, the father connection, and now Jan — that it’s hard not to worry that all of this is going to be too much and overwhelm the story.

All in all, “The Tell” isn’t a narrative misstep, but it is the first time this season where the episode doesn’t wholly work.

What did you think of this episode of Only Murders in the Building? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Only Murders in the Building releases new episodes on Tuesdays on Hulu.

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