Only Murders in the Building Season 5 Episode 8 Review: Cuckoo Chicks

It’s ladies’ night on Only Murders in the Building Season 5 Episode 8, “Cuckoo Chicks,” and our trio (with help from some friends) uncovers new intel about what happened to Lester and Nicky.

We’ve been blessed with multiple appearances from Loretta and Detective Williams so far this season, and each visit from them has been better than the last. This time around, they’re primarily with Mabel, as she attends Camila’s ladies’ night in the velvet room.

Ladies’ night is a perfect way to give Mabel a chance to interact with someone other than Charles and Oliver while also giving the show a fun setting for some sleuthing.

One of the more intriguing developments to come out of this episode is that Loretta does actually have some psychic/medium abilities. The show makes it very clear that she is witnessing the flashbacks, and she even interacts briefly with Nicky.

Loretta believing that she can commune with the spirits is not surprising, and the show could’ve kept it as a quirky act where she cons Camila into believing that she has this ability. There could have even been a way where Loretta is able to get the same information from Camila.

But it is so much better that this turns out to be a genuine talent.

If it were a con, there would have been a level of humor there. We would have been laughing at Loretta’s over-the-top persona — there’s no way it would’ve been subtle — and whatever act she was doing in order to trick Camila.

It is so much better that, instead, it’s a real moment between Camila and Loretta. The focus gets to be on Camila’s memories, her feelings toward Nicky, and the bombshells that those memories reveal. The con would have overshadowed the emotional weight of those moments.

Plus, this opens up the world a bit more. There’s space for a bit of the supernatural in it.

Loretta’s skills could be put to use in another season, perhaps through a seancé. The possibilities are endless and fantastic, and I will need to see this come back into play in future seasons.

Stray Thoughts

• I would’ve loved to see Loretta, Detective Williams, and Mabel’s shopping montage.
• The doorman apprentice killing the doorman is less exciting than a mob hit or a billionaire being the killer.
• Thé would have been a fun addition to the ladies’ night shenanigans. 
• I wish the therapy session had focused a bit more on Charles and Oliver’s relationship with each other.
• I don’t understand when/where Lorraine and Vince ran into each other to make this birdsong discovery. The courtyard, maybe?
• Shouldn’t L.E.S.T.R. have figured out that apartments were being sold all to the same buyer? Come on, robot doorman! Use your robotic powers for good.

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

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