Only Murders In The Building ends season 2 with a theatrical finale
The reveal of Bunny's killer requires a showy group performance from some of Arconia's best residents
TV Reviews Omitb
Okay, Only Murders In The Building, you kind of pulled it off. In an entertaining sophomore season, the writers mostly got away with the big twists in the showiest manner possible. Did you expect any different from a comedy in which Martin Short plays a diehard theater lover, Steve Martin plays an ex-procedural star, and several Arconia residents have Broadway-related skills? It’s not the most realistic way to let the mystery unfold, and the reveals demand you put aside some logical burning questions, but “I Know Who Did It” does justice to OMITB and its characters’ biting tone while setting up what is sure to be a campier third season. Will that alienate viewers who don’t want another big-name cameo? TBD, but more on the closing moments in a minute because we have “killer reveal party” shenanigans to unpack first.
The dialogue we’re left to ponder over as Poppy revealed her identity to Mabel in last week’s penultimate episode was: “You don’t know what she’s capable of. You don’t know what she’d do to get what she wants.” We’re led to believe she’s describing her ruthless boss. In reality, she’s speaking about herself because she’s the killer of this whodunit. Becky Butler has played a long con to be as famous as her idol, Cinda Canning, and she’s about to get much more than she bargained for. Once a shy Chickasha gal, Becky looked for an escape from her small town, verbally abusive dad, and crappy job in the mayor’s office.
As she molded herself into Poppy White, the world was her podcasting oyster. Or was it? Poppy spent years as Cinda’s devoted assistant, hoping to be noticed and promoted. That didn’t happen even after she took Mabel’s advice in episode six and directly asked her boss if she could produce a podcast. I guess this time, it wasn’t as simple as just walking into Cinda’s office and getting her dream job. (Side note: Why do TV shows and movies think it’s that easy to get a gig? How did Poppy magically enter Cinda’s office building and studio without anyone stopping her?) Despite all her contributions, including serving up catchy podcast titles like All Is Not OK In Oklahoma and Only Murderers In The Building, Poppy is left hanging.
I don’t think she intended to frame Cinda for Bunny’s murder when she told Mabel her identity, but she sure hoped to take her boss down. She perfectly positioned Cinda as corrupt and a liar, priming herself for the takeover she wants. Unfortunately for her, Mabel is an observant queen. In fact, let’s take a second here to give kudos to Mabel, who’s done most of the case-solving in season two. Oliver and Charles understandably dealt with personal, daddy, and parrot issues, but Mabel cracked the case to clear her name. Selena Gomez was quite a revelation against her two major co-stars in season one, but she steals the show in season two.
Mabel realizes early on that Poppy is the criminal mastermind. The giveaway? Her disgusting order of a liverwurst and marmalade sandwich, labeled on the Pickle Diner’s menu as “14 Sandwich,” a.k.a. what a dying and breathless Bunny whispered, but it sounded like “14 Savage.” Poppy is the mystery guest Bunny had dinner with. She wanted Cinda’s next investigation to be about Rose Cooper, the famed missing person of the art world before Cinda dismisses the idea. We don’t understand how Poppy landed on this case, but let’s assume she found out Bunny—who incidentally lived at the Arconia with their competing podcasters—had Rose’s expensive portrait. Was it just convenient and easy to then put it all on Bunny’s neighbor and Cinda’s (so her own) competitor, Mabel? Did she know the painting was fake? Is it too much of a coincidence? This information is left up in the air, and instead we get an over-the-top party.
Mabel, Oliver, and Charles rope in a few of our top suspects and red herrings from season two: Alice, Howard, Ursula, Uma, Jonathan, and Marv, for a showdown in which they plan to unmask the murderer. Everyone participates in what is best described as a heightened stage play of a party. Cinda arrives with Poppy to film whatever the trio is about to reveal. The finger is pointed at Cinda in a sham that involves Oliver, Charles, and the others moving in slow motion to scare her (upon learning it’s one of her fears). It’s a ridiculous yet inspired bit of physical comedy, which OMITB rarely does. Charles squeezing the tomatoes (another Cinda fear) was equally sick; it did gross me out.
The finger pointing continues with Mabel turning to ex-girlfriend Alice, proclaiming her as Bunny’s killer. Their act involves Alice “stabbing” Charles to death, Cinda being impressed by Mabel’s skills, and offering her the podcast Poppy so desires. It causes Poppy to inevitably confesses to her crimes. She didn’t just let the creepy Chickasha mayor be arrested for her death, but she killed Bunny, hoping to get answers, a painting, and a major podcast out of it. It’s no wonder Poppy and Cinda were present when Oliver, Charles, and Mabel were being arrested or that she already had a podcast name ready to go.
As for Detective Kreps, the woman he meets at the bar isn’t Cinda. It’s Poppy. And here’s where I want to infuse logic even though I’ve embraced the idea that OMITB goes for theatrics instead of establishing a stable ground in its finales (Remember Jan wanting to suddenly blow up the building in spectacular fashion when she could’ve simply run away?). HOW‚ yeah, a capital HOW, did no one even faintly recognize Poppy in the Chickasha bar with the chicken logo where they are investigating Becky’s disappearance? Cinda tells Poppy after the reveal, “I know the game you played with me in Oklahoma,” which suggests they spent sufficient time in her hometown. Despite the makeover, Becky and Poppy definitely have similar looks. And yet not one person recognizing her is hard to believe. Once again, OMITB doesn’t answer these burning questions yet.
I’m not sure how I feel overall about the show turning two women into unhinged killers in each season. And would Cinda have made a far more convincing, or even a more fun reveal? There are still many unanswered questions, like why Howard lied about Nina giving him a black eye, why Amy Schumer, or mainly why Poppy texted the trio using Det. Williams’ phone to get out of the building when she wanted to frame them. Wouldn’t leaving and not being in Arconia give them an alibi? I wish OMITB had also sorted out all these puzzle pieces. Even so, “I Know Who Did It” was a fun, quite funny, and even sweet at times half-hour.
We end with a one-year time jump to establish that solving yet another case has revived Oliver and Charles’ careers. Having come to terms with Will’s paternity test with his son, Oliver is on the verge of a big Broadway play debut as director. It stars his fellow podcast host Charles, who is dating his make-up artist Joy (Andrea Martin). And as for the big cameo? Say hello to Paul freakin’ Rudd, channeling his best Bobby Newport from Parks And Recreation in his OMITB appearance. He plays Charles’ co-star Ben. The two clearly don’t get along, and Charles warns him to “stay away from her.” This could be Mabel, Lucy, Joy, or someone new. Ben doesn’t live long enough because as soon as the curtains open, he collapses to his death in front of the audience. And it was just as Mabel celebrated a year without murders around her. Looks like the trio will have to dust off their microphones because there’s a new case to solve.
Stray observations:
- Now that season two is over, what grade would you give it overall? I’m giving it a B+. And I’m cautiously optimistic about a third season, but I hope it’s the last one so they end on a high note.
- As I mentioned in the review, Selena Gomez was great in season two, and Martin and Short remained an utter and total delight. But shout out to Adina Verson for acing the killer supporting role she got.
- I quite enjoyed Tina Fey’s performance in this episode, so I hope Cinda’s podcast goodbye isn’t Fey bidding adieu to the show just yet.
- In that same vein, here are a couple of my favorite Cinda lines from this episode:
“I will not be the one-hit wonder of true-crime podcasts, I will not be podcasting’s Nickelback,” and, “Just record all the smart shit I say and the dumb shit they grunt.” - Here are Cinda’s fears besides slow motion and tomatoes: Human error, interruption, and people who work for her but don’t look like her.
- My favorite Oliver quote: “Can we torture her? Charles, get your concertina and whatever you consider your 10 most interesting stories.”
- Lester’s truth bomb as a former Broadway star going up against Tracy Letts was fun, adding more credibility to why he agreed (along with Howard and Jonathan, among others) for the killer reveal party act.
- Paul Rudd is going to be a recurring player in season three. I’m optimistic because he’s an excellent performer and well-suited for the show unlike Schumer, Rapaport, and Delevingne, who even combined were barely contributing with their skills.
- Thanks for following along with the OMITB recaps and commenting with theories, questions, remarks, and everything else. (A special thanks to the commenter who dove into the opening theme song bits that I didn’t catch!) See you next time.
171 Comments
Did the show just forget about Nina?
And to a lesser degree Lucy. I was still hoping that the misheard “14 Savage” meant that the murderer was a 14-year old Savage (Bunny not understanding that Lucy wasn’t ever Charles’ official stepdaughter and never had his surname).
Lucy shows up as a PA on Charles’s tv show.
Lucy is definitely not 14. She’s at least 18, going just by how her mother can’t stop her from visiting Charles. Zoe Colletti is 20.Also, how in the hell would Bunny know Lucy’s age and/or deem it as a key clue to deliver while dying? Granted, so was the sandwich thing, but I imagine that was the only thing she remembered about Poppy.
In fairness I’m pretty bad at guessing ages. At 52, everyone under 30 basically looks like a kid to me.
I think it’s more “they cleared the possibility of her being the murderer after the blackout.” Hopefully she’ll be back for S3.
The show forget about dozens of characters – Nina, Lucy, Sazz, Amy Schumer.Waaaay too many loose ends and dead ends.Having Poppy as the killer just to get a hit podcast was ridiculous and stupid.I’m done with this show. Loved Season 1. Not returning for Season 3.
Lucy is mentioned in the finale and is seen attending Oliver’s play.
Well, those were characters, not clues to the killer or the killer herself. What were dangling questions with them the show didn’t address? Other than Nina being a red herring, they were there for either comedy (Saz, Amy Schumer following on Sting as the building’s celebrity), or there for the emotional drama with our main three (Lucy, Shirley MaClaine’s character, Teddy, Cara D). And even Nina got her own little arc with her pregnancy and Charles comforting her. There were loose ends and implausible plotting, but they weren’t the characters.
What about the conversion of the building with the giant glass bulb on top? They clearly meant us to believe that the project was valuable enough to kill anyone who opposed it, and it would have made much more sense as a motive, but that whole thread was dropped into a black hole.
Right? These folks with their “loose ends” and shit aren’t qualified to watch a show like this, let alone critique for issues that don’t even exist.
Agreed. At it’s heart this is a Cozy Mystery. With F-bombs. Everyone from Bunny to Howard to Sam is there to create a community that we root for (and suspect) while solving a mystery.
you’re just upset your username didn’t come true
Wait, the bassoon-playing murderer who fell in love with the guy openly investigating the murder she committed was okay but the probably-not-stable podcast assistant hungry for something more strains credulity?Don’t get me wrong, I definitely enjoyed Season One more but nothing this year was so far off from the tone and story of last year that I thought “That’s it, this show is over!!”
Red herrings have been standard for the mystery genre since day one, but hey, you do you. I’m sure you will be terribly missed.
Grow up
They didn’t forget about Lucy. She was there at the end.What they did forget about Sazz? She did her bit and left, she had no link to the proceedings at all.Same goes for Amy Schumer, although in her case, one could legitimately question the necessity of a stunt casting that amounted to just one mild gag. But they felt like it would improve the season opener, apparently.
Lucy didn’t disappear. She’s sitting right there in the audience in the
last scene, between Mabel & Joy. Nina didn’t disappear—we got
closure on her in the blackout episode. Sazz is barely a character,
& only exists for very brief comic relief. As long as Charles stays
on his Brazzos reboot show, she’ll drop by now & then for Jane Lynch
to do her thing. Unlike several characters we were meant to see as
possible suspects, Sazz wasn’t even dangled as a possibility, as far as I
could tell.
Both the recapper & several
commenters seem to have really gotten hung up on Amy Schumer appearing
on the show. She was meant to be a humorous one-off, the tie-in with the
painting acting as a (very small) red herring. She didn’t suck &
she didn’t ruin the show, & she was on, what, eight episodes ago? If
you’re still talking about her at season’s end, that’s your problem,
not the show’s. I get that some people don’t care for her or
her…brand? schtick? But she was so barely there, she hardly had time
to irk, let alone leave a lingering mark on the season.
Ditto for
the Michael Rappaport hate. I mean, I get why he bugs people with his
off-screen life, but he was well cast for the role of Det. Kreps. Hell,
if you HATE the guy, he was *perfectly* cast. Dickhead New York cop who
takes himself way too seriously & thinks he’s smarter than everybody
else when he clearly isn’t? Who could do that BETTER than Rappaport?
She was in the blackout episode.
Did the show already absolved Nina’s from the suspect list a couple of episodes back? Not to mention she was heavily pregnant, and no way she is running up and down inside the secret passageway. The one that completely useless is Schumer though. Other than unintentionally having the fake painting McGuffin on the wall , her presence even less meaningful than Sting was.
When Schumer showed up, it screamed of “Schumer’s agent contacted the show and asked for a cameo in a popular, NY-centric show in order to show Schumer is still cool and possibly promote her other Hulu show”. I knew she was going to amount to nothing. At least Sting in season 1 was set up (and quickly removed as) a suspect in a way that made some sense narratively, even if it ultimately served as an excuse to add some star power to the show.
I am fine with Nina as a red herring, but that makes her discussion with Lester during the blackout somewhat inexplicable. By that point in the show the audience has largely ruled Nina out as a suspect, so… why devote a good portion of the third to last episode of the season to their conversation? Lester was never a suspect and Nina was no longer one. They were not really related to either of the main characters. It did not advance the plot at all. It was a moment of character-building that made no sense to me, especially if we never see Nina again.
The episode was a spotlight focus on some of the Arconia residents. It wasn’t supposed to go anywhere, just give some development to supporting characters. Not everything necessarily has to advance the plot.
I mean inviting a new mother to a killer reveal party with the actual killer actually present would kind of be a shitty thing to do. Also, she’s a new mother so she’s probably busy with baby.
But shout out to Adina Verson for acing the killer supporting role she got.Wait, so is it a supporting role for killers or a supporting role that’s killer in nature?
Oh, we were BOTH right!
Double entendre!
This show went off the rails after the trio started listening to a talking bird for clues.
“Why Poppy texted the trio using Det. Williams’ phone to get out of the building when she wanted to frame the”I thought she only texted Charles and Oliver, because she wanted to frame Mabel specifically? In Cinda’s laundry list of what makes a good podcast she said something about a lot of blood and something to the effect of a “hot murderer, preferably with a nice rack” or something. That points to framing Mabel more than the old dudes she associates with. I don’t believe Mabel got the text.
Thought that too but at 26:16 it shows Mabel on the thread too
Also, she wasn’t using Det Williams’ phone. The trio just *assumed* it was Det Williams (as in who else would be helping them?)
This one has been driving me crazy in the recaps all season long: At absolutely no point in time did anything in the show say that the phone number they were texted from belonged to Det Williams.And yet repeatedly the recaps keep mentioning that as either a clue, a red herring, or a plot hole (including right in this one). It’s not, it’s something that the characters assumed and that the recapper just decided must be trueAs for warning them to leave, I think it was just so that she could murder in peace, maybe plant some clues. It’s not a good podcast if it’s an open and shut case, like if your prime suspect is found with the body and covered in blood.
Yeah, all the reviews/recaps across the site have been getting really bad for basic, factual errors in the last few years.
Thank you! I don’t know why this recapper was so stuck on that idea. There was never a good reason for them to believe those texts came from Det. Williams, and then they found out for sure that they hadn’t.
I think you responded to me several episodes back when I questioned if it was confirmed or just an assumption made by the trio. Lol.
Probably, it’s been bothering me for a long time
They don’t even explain how she got Det Williams phone. I mean we can guess that Kreps stole it but the denouement leaves a lot to be desired.
They explain it very clearly early on: She didn’t, Oliver and company just assumed that the random number that texted them was Det Williams’.
Absolutely terrible finale. Bunny was killed because an assistant podcaster wanted a hit show?What a major disappointment.Way too many dead ends this season. Loved the first season. Doubt I watch the show again.
Despite the makeover, Becky and Poppy definitely have similar looks. And yet not one person recognizing her is hard to believe.But she was wearing a wig! And glasses! Maybe they were surplus Soviet wigs and glasses that successfully kept Elizabeth and Phillip from being recognized many times in The Americans.
To be fair, the Jenningses disguises were rarely if ever meant to fool people who already knew them. They were used so that their marks and witnesses would not be able to give useful descriptions. What Poppy pulled off was the equivalent of Philip faking his own murder and then showing up at the travel agency as the new boss, Clark.
The show seemed to imply that Becky was the type of person nobody paid attention to before she disappeared and she reappeared in a role which nobody paid attention to. All she really had to do was avoid her father and the mayor
Everyone in town would have at least seen pictures of her by that point. It would have been a huge risk for her to be there.
But again you’re missing the point: she was forgettable. This show isn’t reality. It’s satirical. It’s heightened reality. What better way to make the point that she’s forgettable than have no one recognize her in her own hometown, and after “Becky” has become semi-famous as a missing girl?
She’s Becky With the Different Hair!
It’s possible to get your point and disagree with it, you know.
This all day. It was purposeful and not a plot hole.
Let me add I would give Season 2 a D Minus and send the writers back to the writing room for a major re-write!
Oh cool a review posted an hour and twenty minutes after the article on the homepage spoiling Paul Rudd’s cameo was posted. Great job, AV Club.
That’s primarily because we were adhering to a recap embargo time set by the network, but I see what you mean. Spoiler danger is real!
It only spoils that if you read the review. And if you read the review before you watched the episode, then you really don’t get to complain about spoilers.
Although Cinda’s Nickelback line was funny, they’re not a one-hit wonder. Generally derided by critics and hipsters, yes, but they have a bunch of hits.
Yeah, I knew that didn’t sound right. Ten in the top 40 and six in the top 10. Not bad for a band no one admits listening to!
One of the reasons they’re so derided, though, is that most of their hit songs are alarmingly similar. So “one hit wonder” isn’t strictly accurate, but not entirely untrue, either. Demonstration here:
Outstanding.
I didn’t get the nickelback joke as well. I loved them. Was just laughing with my friends about it.
I assumed they were two different clauses, as in “I will not be a one-hit wonder. I will also not be a critically-derided band that is the butt of everyone’s music jokes, even if they are commercially successful.”
YES. They could have picked any one of A THOUSAND other bands and that joke would have landed better.
She was trying to being funny, you see.
It was a lazy musical joke, but totally tracked for Cindas basic world view.
I feel like the show wants me to believe that bangs and glasses are vastly more transformative than they are.
Also, Becky tries to disappear in her home town, goes to NYC, meets Cinda, and then goes back and hangs out in a bar in her home town?(Also gonna give myself credit for guessing Poppy last week in comments, although as I said at the time, only on structural grounds; I had no theory to go with it.)
It’s one of the awful truths of being a female human: If she’s not really really pretty, built like a sex symbol, or so ugly people can’t look away, a girl doesn’t really get seen. I have no problem believing that no one recognized Becky in Poppy as plain drab Becky probably never registered much visual attention around Chickasha and plain drab Poppy doesn’t either.
I thought of this too but Cinda’s podcast was really taking off & I presume Becky’s photos were all over town and the internet. That’s why it’s hard to believe no one, not even Cinda or any of her hometown locals, recognized her, let alone any people she was close to.
98% of the time, people are so focused on their own dang selves, yeah, they would miss it. I think this is a wildly extreme situation, but I know that dozens of times, I’ve been in an airport lounge or by the gate and a colleague will say “OMG, did you not see X star????” And I’m freaking useless.Some podcaster’s assistance? There’s a reason “A Voice for Radio” is a thing. And yeah, if I was routinely seeing several pathetic Betty Page wanna be’s? I’m not looking at their faces because how already tired and weird are they?
Exactly – didn’t Cinda interview Becky’s dad and the mayor during the investigation? And any person in town who knew Becky? That’s how true crime podcasts work. Wouldn’t Poppy have been present at those interviews? Is it really possible for her to have faded into the background just because she’s holding a microphone?
It’s not just women. With so many men donning the usual light blue shirt and khakis/chinos, I lump a ton of them together too. Most people don’t stand out. Most people don’t TRY to stand out. Most people fall into habits and just are unremarkable all the time. Some people are just peacocks by nature. Not because they are stars or anything, they just are stylish, or have a certain air, or carriage, or look. As shown below, even celebraties can look like someone you wouldn’t notice as a clerk at your Barnes’ & Noble, or could look like a young Queen Elizabeth at a premiere.
On top of that, she was kind of hiding in plain sight with her Cinda cosplay. Everyone would look at Cinda, and then see one of the Cinda doppelgangers she surrounds herself with.
The more I think about this the worse it gets, actually. Never mind hanging out in the bar — Poppy, in the present day at least, accompanies Cinda when she records people. The entirety of “All is Not OK…” would have made with Poppy in tow. Cinda never interviewed anybody who knew Becky, the subject of the podcast? Or, nobody recognized the downtrodden assistant as the downtrodden person they’ve been looking for? It’s not even like she changed her entire aspect in a Jekyll/Hyde way or something — she just changed her hair and put on glasses.
OK, one more point here: the entire twist adds nothing to the story, except that by putting it at the end of ep 9 instead of deep into 10, it gave me and others a chance to guess that she was the killer. If you’re going to make Poppy be Becky, make the murder motive be that someone found out! Or something! As it stands, you could take it out and it’s still “Poppy wanted to make a crime for the podcast to cover.”
I guessed after ep9 too that Polly is the killer and the detective’s smart girlfriend; not Cinda
I always suspected her because no sane person would willing have that godawful haircut.
Half those worked for Superman decades
I mean it’s not totally unbelievable.
Every time I see this it’s shocking anew how different she looks.
Suspension of disbelief? What is this nonsense? Everything on television should be 100% representative of reality at all times, because that’s how good art works. Right?
Love it!
Lester’s truth bomb as a former Broadway star going up against Tracy Letts was fun, adding more credibility to why he agreed (along with Howard and Jonathan, among others) for the killer reveal party act.He admitted he made that up when Oliver (or CHS) asked, “Really?”
He only made up “really wanted to be a doorman”, I think. I think?
Yup. After the “really?”, he elaborated: “I stopped getting hired, developed a drinking problem, and was homeless for a while. Almost died, cleaned up, took the first job I could get, and I’ve been stuck here ever since.”
I don’t think he did. He was lying (if you can call it that) in that he initially said he left show business to become a doorman because he wanted to (rather than out of need after a period of substance abuse), but I don’t think it was implied he was lying about attending Julliard and acting professionally for a time.
Nah, I think it was heavily implied the whole thing was phoney baloney. Didn’t entirely land for me tbh, as they’ve not set him up as the kinda character that would make that sorta joke.
D- SeasonSo many plot loose ends, plot holes and overall stupidity. They introduced 10 plots and 30 characters and couldn’t handle any of them. It’s obvious that covid fucked up scheduling and writing.
Agree 100 percent. The whole season was just a mish mash of cool scenes, cameo appearances and catchphrases that added up to a whole lot of nothing in many cases.D Minus at best.
Was it possible to actually solve the mystery without just guessing? Like, was there any way to know that 14 Savage was 14 Sandwich and that was Poppy’s usual order?
I mean I figured it out half a second before the characters did, although it did take me that long. The minute she ordered the sandwich I realized “why would she expect that sandwich to be served here, let alone that she’d like it, unless she was here with Bunny earlier?”But, yeah, not really that much beforehand
““why would she expect that sandwich to be served here”It was on the menu.
She wasn’t there long enough to look at the menu
The episode opens with them all seated in the diner with menus on the table.
She certainly was when she met with Bunny.
Yes, that was my point
In fairness I’m dumb today.
I guessed it after the end of “Sparring Partners,” when they were strongly signaling that it was Cinda. I said to my wife, “it’s not THAT easy, they have one more twist so it’s probably Poppy and not Cinda.” Just a wild guess because I figured it would have to be someone close to Cinda but not Cinda, and she was the only character to fit that bill. Beyond that, I don’t think they gave us anything to figure it out much earlier.
There was absolutely no reasonable way anyone would know that “14 Savage” was “14 Sandwich.” Another example of why this season was so terrible after such an amazing first season.Fire the entire writing staff, please.
They should have had the bird tell us.
They could have simply not had anyone discuss the “14 Savage” message in this episode and had the waiter say “Right, a number 14.” Most viewers wouldn’t have made the connection and it wouldn’t have felt like such a colossal cheat when they withheld it until after naming the killer.
But seeing Jan making out with Tim Kono in an elevator was entirely foreseeable? 14 Savage was obviously going to be a mistake. That’s mystery 101, a character misheard something.
There was absolutely no reasonable way anyone would know that “14 Savage” was “14 Sandwich.”I we’re being honest, “savage” and “sandwich” don’t even sound alike enough to be mixed up. The lip movements alone are entirely different, except for the first syllable. They should have gone with “salad”, maybe.
I can definitely believe it when you have a dying person who has been stabbed saying it to someone who has just been confronted with a dying person who has been stabbed. One isn’t going to be speaking clearly and the other isn’t going to be hearing well due to an adrenaline rush.
I figured it out when we saw Poppy’s backstory, immediately followed by Charles saying Cinda knew Poppy’s identity from the beginning (not in those words). But we didn’t see Poppy actually tell Cinda that, so I decided Poppy was the real killer. But that’s not a reason internal to the show. In the other hand, the “14 savage/sandwich” bit wasn’t actually necessary, if the murder weapon had Becky’s DNA and they already knew who Poppy was. So there’s that!
“The killer left her DNA on the murder weapon” renders any detective work from the three completely redundant. The whole mystery got solved by Poppy leaving the murder weapon behind with her DNA on it, plus her admitting to Mabel that she’s Becky. I still enjoyed the season, but the whole thing just kind of fell in their laps.
I guess it depends on whether you want to treat this series as a mystery game or just entertainment.
Maybe I missed it: how did Poppy know about the secret passageways in the Arconia?
They never explained why. It was just another random fact thrown at us in the last 20 minutes (like how did Poppy look like a man when she had lunch at the Pickle Dinner with Bunny?) of one of the most frustrating season finales of any show I’ve ever seen in my life.
The security tape only showed Poppy from behind and the clothing didn’t make it clear if it was a man or woman. Remember Oliver asks Ivan “what did they pick up?”
Exactly. How did she look like a man in the passage ways? And doesn’t a woman’s sneeze sound very different from a man’s? Also how exactly did the killer know there was a little girl hiding? What was that whole tangent about Charles family for? So many gaping plot holes and no nobody cares about Amy Schumer. The most frustrating thing is that I want to love this show so much.
“What was that whole tangent about Charles family for?”On this, and other similar complaints: it’s perfectly acceptable for a mystery story to contain more than one mystery. The puzzle then is to figure out which facts go with which mysteries. I mean everything about the Dimases didn’t “matter” in S1 either.
We never find out the exact “how” only that we know she was investigating the building and people in it in order to pull off her murder-to-get-famous strategy.We hear her say something akin to “oh and I can use these old structual passageways I found” as a one-off line when she’s explaining her plan to her BF Kreps and he says back something like “oh my god that’s amazing I love you!” right before they canoodle.
Probably because they realistically weren’t “secret” at all. Kids knew about them and used to play hide and seek. It was only news to Charles and Oliver, because they’re self-possessed and absent-minded.
My memory is failing me, what was Poppy’s plan with revealing her identity to Mabel?And why did she leave a murder weapon with her DNA behind? It was intentionally left behind so was she planning to get caught?
Same reason Det. Kreps spilled his guts to Mabel during television’s most absurd sparring round – because she couldn’t have solved the mystery otherwise.
Yes, that sparring scene was insane. If Kreps had ever watched a TV show he would 100% have assumed she was there to get him to confess and that she was recording the conversation. I entirely assumed that was where they were going and was a little disappointed that they would deliver such a lazy trope, but then just…confused when they didn’t do it at all.
My memory is failing me, what was Poppy’s plan with revealing her identity to Mabel?To cast suspicion on Cinda by making it look like she was willing to fake a murder for publicity. And why did she leave a murder weapon with her DNA behind? It was intentionally left behind so was she planning to get caught?She basically screwed up at some point.
Leaving her DNA on the knife isn’t a mistake that the detectives were able to exploit to crack open the case, it’s pretty much just giving away the entire plan. It’s an open and shut case – Poppy’s DNA is on the murder weapon.
Poppy wanted to undermine Cinda’s credibility after years of abuse from her boss by revealing her biggest hit was fraudulent, putting Chickasha’s mayor in jail for a crime that never actually happened.
Poppy wanted to undermine Cinda’s credibility after years of abuse from her bossThis is a misconception the reviewer also made (“Poppy spent years as Cinda’s devoted assistant”). The Becky story was happening during season 1. It’s the podcast Charles, Oliver and Mabel were listening to when they met. We also see one of the recordings in Poppy’s memory and it’s dated 2021. It means Poppy was Cinda’s new assistant at the time, and they were covering the story she brought to Cinda.And since season 1 happens in the span of a few weeks, and season 2 immediately follows and similarly doesn’t last long before the time jump, Poppy stays in Cinda’s employment for a relatively short time.
Can you be convicted of murder if there is no body?
Her motive wasn’t that hidden, she had been abused by her bosses all her life: she framed the mayor after his sexual advances, and attempted to frame Cinda after being overlooked for the recognition she sought.
Fireworks in the opening animation this time. Not really sure what that represents other than the metaphorical fireworks that happened in the finale.
One of the fireworks resembled a poppy.
I guess I may have been one of the few who didn’t really care about the murder mystery. But I am happy to report that, if you’re like me, this was a great season!
Yeah, I’m kinda with you. The plotting wasn’t as tight as s1 but at this point it’s a cosy hang-out show for me and anything else is a bonus. I think the problem was there really wasn’t all that much of a mystery to the murder – we knew it wasn’t Mabel and therefore it had to be…someone, but we weren’t hugely invested in Bunny as a character so I wasn’t wholly captivated by the search for her killer.
Agreed. If the third season just opens with the discovery that (dude) died of natural causes and then the entire rest of it is just the main three shooting the shit at the diner, I’m fine with that.
I still don’t understand how Kreps has a sizable patch of glitter on his neck when he came to the Arconia later. We know he’s a dirtbag, but the man must shower occasionally.
You cannot get rid of glitter. Not ever. And certainly not in a day
My favorite preliminary theory I’ve heard about Season 3 is that that little convo between Charles and Rudd behind the curtain was play dialogue they were nailing down.
I had the same thought. Or Charles is Ben’s, God forbid, understudy.
Semi-related…am I the only one who thought, when the curtain went up, that they were doing the stage version of Singin’ in the Rain?
I actually thought it might be a reprise of “City of Angels” which is a very little known show, but one of my favorites. But I agree that their conversation sounded like stage script.
I can get behind that theory. As they were talking, my first thought was, that doesn’t seem like Charles…
I love this theory.
I totally think that was script read and not an actual conversation. I mentioned below I thought they were doing a reprise of “City of Angels” which is a great musical about a writer who’s book is getting made into a move and he and his hero are obviously different sides of a coin and end up having a showdown. It’s also a very ‘film noir’ situation with the fedoras and trench coats.
I don’t think so…Charles started the interaction by telling him “Good luck” and then explained that it was a curse in the theater. Ben clearly didn’t know that. (He also didn’t get it a few moments earlier when someone told him to “Break a leg.”) Plus Charles says they have 2.5 hours to get through (implying the time to put on the play) and Charles also says at the end “Ben. I know what you did.”In this conversation and the previous one with Oliver it is implied that there is a known conflict between Ben and Charles in the year we don’t see. Because of that, I think that Charles is going to be a lead suspect (to the police) in Ben’s death like Mabel was in this season. There will of course be many twists and turns after that, but I think this will be how they start Season 3.
I really enjoyed this episode and most of the season. I think I like the atmosphere of the show and relationships between the main 3 characters enough to overcome any plot shortcomings because some negative points others are making seem very trivial to me. For example, I don’t really care what happened to Amy Schumer… I think it was just a gag and not a “loose end.” Or Poppy/Becky returning to her hometown bar and not being recognized… I thought the point of her backstory was to establish she was so boring and average that she was living a largely unremarkable life… those are the people you don’t notice!
Yes, precisely. This show is not a wicked, clever mystery show and it never held itself out to be. It’s an ensemble comedy with a murder mystery to drive the plot.
I agree entirely, it’s not what I return to the show for. Buuuuuuttttt….it’s not unreasonable to expect a coherent murder mystery in a show that bills itself explicitly as a murder mystery show. I can live without it, but I’m not gonna lie it would in no way diminish my enjoyment of the show (quite the contrary) if that element of the story was better penned.
I might have enjoyed the show more if it just plunged fully into silliness like Clue or Murder by Death, but it sure seemed like a lot of time was spent trying to get us to care about the characters and the central mystery, and that all fell flat for me because of logical gaps and narrative cheats.
I know Paul Rudd wasn’t playing himself, but still… Paul Rudd shows up and immediately dies? Clearly S3’s killer is Jon Glaser.
Paul Rudd shows up and immediately dies? Police Squad! In Color. Tonight’s Special Guest Star: Paul Rudd.
stupid kinja double post
WHO LEFT THE NOTE ON JAN’S DOOR IN SEASON ONE?
So did I miss the explanation of *how* Poppy knew about the Arconia’s secret passages?
Nope, she just casually slips into a conversation with Kreps in a flashback. As if she was on a scouting mission or something & discovered it? Did not make much sense sadly.
I don’t want to explain away obvious plot holes, but it could be she was trailing Bunny for a while trying to get the story started on the painting and figured out the passageways from Bunny’s private elevator. Or from doing research on Bunny’s family that built the Arconia. It’s weird that they couldn’t just toss in a 3 second line like “Just do some damn research on where you live” to cover what’s been an important plot point the whole season.
To be fair, if we want to apply logic to the whole thing, it makes sense that the “secret passageways” weren’t actually secret at all, and most everybody knew about them. Kids living in the building knew about them. It should mostly be taken as Charles and Oliver being too self-possessed to notice and very oblivious about their surroundings.
Can we get a shout out for Jayne Houdyshell as Bunny.She was fantastic. She could be so winningly abrasive, but at the diner helping out the waiter, she could turn on the empathy and kindness. I hope this series keep her busy through her riper old age.And anytime Shirley MacLaine can show up given her 70+ years in front of a camera………….this show delivered such fine surprises.
Shirley MacLaine is an absolute treasure. I want to see the unbroken take of her trying to cut the cheese with that little knife in episode 2 – that was a hilarious bit of business.
If I am being honest, I feel a bit disappointed by this episode. I didn’t love the one before it and my main criticism there (way too many plot holes/loose ends) continues here. I still enjoy the show and will watch season 3. But a lot of the charm in season 1 was these quirky characters, the relationships they build, the equally compelling people in their orbits – and a mystery that they came together to solve. Season 2 had plenty of the former but fell woefully short on the mystery. I am not expecting something to rival Sherlock Holmes, but it should be able to follow basic logic.Without getting into everything I did not like about this episode, I wanted to ask the commentariat here about Becky/Poppy because the character honestly confuses me. Does she want to disappear, or does she want to be famous? It seems like in the intro to this episode, she had a shitty life with a lecherous boss and a drunk lazy dad. Why the need to disappear and change her name? Couldn’t she just move to NY and get a new job without having to change her name or appearance? And if she went through that ruse to create the story of a missing girl, wouldn’t bringing that story to national prominence ultimately end up in putting a spotlight on her? If Poppy ends up getting famous, wouldn’t someone ask about her background, and wouldn’t that reveal the whole thing as a sham? And why bring it to Cinda, if literally anyone with a computer and a microphone (or the computers built-in microphone!) can make a podcast? Basically, her goal of disappearing and then having her remarkably similar-looking alter ego get famous off of that story seems really implausible. Or if she wanted to parlay her knowledge of the OK story into the Rose Cooper story (and again, somehow become famous while paradoxically avoiding any scrutiny), why not do what the protagonists did and just start her own podcast?
She wants to disappear and she wants the spotlight. That’s the human condition. We want conflicting things.She goes to Cinda ‘cause she admires Cinda and sees a potential role model. It’s not hard to see why she’d be drawn to a take no sh women with the awful men in her life. Cinda is everything she isn’t.
Exactly. Becky wants to disappear–Poppy wants the spotlight.
You’re right – there was nothing about her life in OK that meant she needed to change her identity to escape it. There was no stalker boyfriend who’d chase her or whatever. If she just moved then her boss would have have leched over a new employee and her dad would have looked after himself. It wouldn’t have mattered.
I was expecting Tina Fey aka Cinda because it made the most sense up until they just made up other stuff in the last episode. Why is it treated like no big deal that Cinda knows Poppy was Becky? Why doesn’t she care that her first season of her podcast has just been proven to be a fraud? Cinda would totally get a dumb cop to be her bitch. She cares more about fame than Poppy/Becky, who only faked her death because of her shitty life. Her making Cinda snap by revealing her true identity would prove Cinda previously got one-upped by the one person who She keeps underestimating and overlooking and would then overcompensate by giving away her plan in the Arconia. I didn’t hate the season but I feel like definitely a few missed opportunities.
I might be wrong, but we just finished up the season last night (late to the party). But I don’t think at any point was it confirmed that Cinda knew that Poppy was Becky–or at least that Becky told her, or that she knew before the end of the season. Becky/Poppy was playing the long game, & in the end planned to discredit Cinda so that she could essentially become the next Cinda. Cinda was obviously in on the whole “killer party reveal” ruse, so I’m assuming that Mabel told her the truth about Poppy/Becky, & that’s when she found out.
I’ll have to rewatch but I thought when Poppy told Cinda, she basically said “oh I knew that already” and it bothered me…
Hmmm. Don’t remember her saying that. But if she did, I could totally see it as bravado–just Cinda again acting like she’s smarter than everybody else.
Also, how do you see who starred a comment besides going to old notifications? There’s no way to see it like on other sites where you can see who liked comments?
No idea. Clueless Neophyte ALSO hates Kinja.
I really enjoyed your reviews, Saloni! Well done. You’re so right – Selena absolutely killed it this season. My favorite line was Mabel’s in this last episode: “Are you two having a stroke or am I?”One point of difference: I think Rapaport is a very, very good actor and I kinda wish they gave him more to do. Doubt me? Take a look at the Louis episode where he played a cop. A troubling and nuanced performance. Also, he’s a great anchor to the Atypical cast.
I may have missed the answer in a previous episode, but how in the Three Amigos could the mayor have been convicted and sentenced when Becky’s body was – one presumes – never found?
A body is not required for a murder conviction, if there is other evidence, which, presumably, she created.
The yodelshop version of the theme music that closed the episode? Well played, OMITB, well played.
Also, I can’t express enough how much I love that title theme – it’s delightful.
I hope at some point someone in the production/writing rooms made and ate a liverwurst and marmalade sandwich.
I loved Marv’s gleeful sound when Mabel and her female lover kissed during the Big Reveal scene. Just comes out from the background unexpectedly, LMAO…
Oh the Butler did it!
That’s fun.
So…unless the Arconia has a very large, previously-unmentioned Broadway theater in its baement, the season 2-ending murder wasn’t in the building. I guess that means someone else has to solve it.
I very much enjoyed the yodeling during the end credits.
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It’s true that there was more talk about the same topic in aranastaran and I was glad that you wanted to use it.
When you get down to it, they solved the murder because Poppy deliberately left the murder weapon behind, and it had Becky’s DNA on it, and she admitted she was Becky. That’s it. If they’d handed over the knife first thing the whole crime would have been solved very quickly, and the ‘killer reveal’ theatrics were completely unnecessary – no confession was needed as Becky’s DNA was on the knife.
Did anyone else think it was a strange/funny coincidence that the second to last episode summary talked about the connection to Nightcrawler and the line Paul Rudd is saying when he collapses is “What turned me into a creature of the night?” I noticed it because I was searching his line to see what play it meant they were doing (in case it was a real play that I was “supposed” to have recognized) and that episode summary was one of the search results…(along with a bunch of hits for Batman Arkham Knight). So I then searched for this summary of the finale to see if the connection would be made in either the summary or the comments, but no one else mentioned it…(Because I wasn’t getting any hits to plays I’ve concluded that it wasn’t a line from a real Broadway play. Can someone confirm…cuz none of the summaries I read actually directly said it was a fictional play.)
In your list of skill-free performers (Schumer, Rapaport, and Delevingne) adding nothing to the series, you left out Sting.