Trio of sleuths returns in style for ‘Only Murders’ season two
The success of Hulu’s cozy-funny-mournful whodunit “Only Murders in the Building” — back for a second season — rests primarily on the shoulders of its three leads, and their blend of ruminative youth (Selena Gomez) and questionable life experience (Martin Short and Steve Martin) comes together once again to unravel yet another mystery.
But the draw this time out, for me at least, is the rich storyline of a side character named Bunny Folger. She is the most hated person in the Arconia, the glorious abode where they all reside on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in New York City. She is also the latest murder in the building.
The discovery of Bunny’s death-by-knitting needle was the cliffhanger that closed out the first season, putting the crime-busting trio of Mabel (Gomez), Oliver (Short) and Charles (Martin) in the crosshairs of the police — and in the crosshairs of the real killer. Season two picks up in the aftermath, when our amateur sleuths become persons of interest. After a brief interrogation, they exit the police station to a phalanx of media.
Back at the Arconia, they ramp up their true-crime podcast for a new season. As possible suspects, they’re also the subjects of a competing podcast, the “Serial”-esque show with the insufferably smug host (Tina Fey).
The pop culture satire extends to Charles’ old cop show, which is being rebooted. The catch: He has been relegated to a supporting player.
An aspirational real
estate fantasia, “Only Murders in the Building” mashes up high comedy and carefully observed human moments, and the second season is a continuation and deepening, of that. But the heart of this new season is the ecosystem of the building itself — and Bunny is at the center of that.
Bunny’s not just a plot device or an easy target for jokes, but also a person with her own story, told in flashback. She may be crabby, but she’s also vulnerable. The granddaughter of the Arconia’s architect, she’s probably its longest resident, which means she knows all about the building’s secret elevators and back passageways. A true creature of New York, she may not be nice but she’s kind — a distinction with a difference. It’s such a brilliant performance from Jayne Houdyshell, and it’s one I found unexpectedly moving.
After her death, her elderly mother Leonora arrives to take possession of a valuable painting hanging in Bunny’s bedroom, but it’s gone missing. Did I mention Leonora is played by Shirley MacLaine? Like her daughter, she’s barbed in temperament, with the
same flair for eccentricity.
There are other familiar faces that make brief appearances — Amy Schumer (as herself ), Michael Rapaport (as a police detective), Cara Delevingne (as an art world somebody) — but they are more distracting than additive. It’s the less starry names, from Houdyshell’s Bunny to Michael Cyril Creighton’s nerdy cat-loving neighbor, who are putting in the work, whereas the star drop-ins come across as little more than the stunt casting.
The show doesn’t need the tacky, desperate-seeming inclusion of celebrity cameos because it gets so many other details right. Like the small jokes about high-rise life (the existence of the good luggage cart and the one with the wonky wheel), or the wonderful score from composer Siddhartha Khosla, whose glorious theme song twirls and twirls like a spinning top.
There may be death on “Only Murders in the Building,” but there is also birth. Literal babies, I’m saying. If the circle of life sounds a tad sentimental, well, the show is that too. In all the right ways.