Only Murders in the Building Season 5 Episodes 1-3 Review: Nail in the Coffin / After You / Rigor

Only Murders in the Building Season 5 opens strong with Only Murders in the Building Season 5 Episode 1, “Nail in the Coffin.” Our trio has a brand new case and two dead bodies.

As much as I love Only Murders in the Building, there’s no denying that the show has had its ups and downs. It has struggled with the prioritization of storylines to the point where we spend more time on less interesting characters and their side storylines than we do on our trio and the murder/case of the season.

The three-episode premiere of Only Murders in the Building Season 5 feels like we’re back to the show we fell in love with. Our trio is their chaotic selves, and we get some great moments with them as a unit as well as split up.

One of the endearing things about this show is how bad Charles, Oliver, and Mabel still are at this, which is something that could very easily come across as frustrating if not handled correctly. Oliver getting his prints all over a dead body and then removing it from the crime scene is a prime example.

You’d think after everything they’d been through that they would know better, but they don’t, and we love them for it.

Oliver taking Nicky’s body led to our trio doing an autopsy of sorts in Charles’ kitchen on Only Murders in the Building Season 5 Episode 3, “Rigor,” which is one of my favorite scenes in these episodes.

Oliver: Well, obviously I didn’t want a dead body in my apartment.
Charles: You only think of yourself. This is so typical you!
Oliver: I have never brought a dead body to your home!
Charles: What is this?!
Oliver: Well you implied I’ve done it before, which I haven’t!
Charles: Go fuck yourself.
Oliver: Believe me, I’ve tried that. It didn’t work.

It balances their poor life choices — taking a body from a crime scene — with their good investigative skills as they find numerous leads from Nicky’s body.

I can’t wait for this to somehow come up in the podcast because everyone listening will know that our trio spent a lot of time examining the body, which they shouldn’t have been able to do without breaking any laws.

Flashback-centric episodes typically are not my favorite. They will drag on and detract from the momentum the season has going with the investigation.

However, Only Murders in the Building Season 5 Episode 2, “After You,” is very well done.

It helps that this takes place early on in the season before the investigation has really gained speed. It doesn’t feel as if we are missing out on any big moments by flashing back; seeing Lester’s start at the Arconia actually clues us in on how he got roped into Nicky’s business. 

And then there’s the fact that through the flashback, we catch glimpses of our favorite Arconia residents throughout the years. It’s sweet to see them at various stages of their lives and catch moments they shared with Lester.

Stray Thoughts

• Nicky’s sons intimidating our trio and then breaking out into their podcast theme song is so amazingly hilarious.
• There’s a decent chance we are looking at the same killer, but knowing this show, we’ll get a twist later on that different people killed Nicky and Lester.
• I forgot about Charles’ weird hallucinations.

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

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