Only Murders in the Building Season 4 Episode 4 Review: The Stunt Man

Only Murders in the Building Season 4 Episode 4, “The Stunt Man,” is underwhelming. It’s not a bad episode by any means, but it also doesn’t leave a lasting impression.

Charles, Oliver, and Mabel do manage to make some progress on the investigation.

The main accomplishment is that the Westies appear to be ruled out as suspects. All they are doing is scamming the system for some extremely cheap apartments, which will likely solve the show’s problem where Mabel doesn’t live in the building anymore.

She’s been able to get away with crashing on Oliver’s couch for a couple of episodes, but eventually, the show was going to have to address her living situation. Now, perhaps it can pivot to the lingering question of what she’s going to do with her life.

Mabel’s been a little aimless for a while now, and hopefully, her life outside of the podcast will find some more direction this season. While we don’t know what her terms were to agree to let the studio have her life rights for the film, we can hope that it involved a lot of money and solved her cash flow issue.

Now, it’s just about her figuring out where her passion lies.

Maybe working with Howard on his animal podcast will make Mabel realize that she wants to podcast full-time, or perhaps it will have her pivoting to something else that doesn’t involve listening to Howard interview animals with jobs.

Mabel trying to make podcasting a full-time (paid) job would be something that wouldn’t take her away from Charles and Oliver and the podcast that started it all — also, you know, the show.

It would complement whatever future season arcs and mysteries the show has planned out, and it could be really interesting to watch them, or at least Mabel, try to make more of a media empire.

Oliver’s relationship woes are a cute, little side storyline.

On its face, creating a fake Instagram account to stalk your girlfriend is something you’d expect a younger character to be going through, most likely someone who understands how to use Instagram and doesn’t have the flash, sepia filter, and shutter sound on when taking photos.

By having Oliver be the one catfishing his girlfriend, Only Murders in the Building can work in some of their trademark generational gap humor with him and Mabel, as well as giving Oliver the space to be vulnerable about his relationship. I do hope those two kids make it. They’re cute together.

While I do adore Paul Rudd, his return is odd.

A stunt double is a great excuse to bring him back, but his character is a lot. He’s funny briefly, but other times, he is just a character you have to sit through, so Charles can get some information on Sazz.

Here’s hoping Glen Stubbins doesn’t appear in any more episodes this season. May he get employed somewhere else, far, far away.

Stray Thoughts

• Charles being the body for Sazz is a sweet touch.
• I love that they teach Charles how to play Oh Hell.
• Charles not realizing Sazz was in pain is a little surprising.
• The Hollywood connection to Sazz’s murder is curious.

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

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New episodes of Only Murders in the Building premiere on Tuesdays on Hulu.

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