Warning: The following contains spoilers for Only Murders in the Building Season 4, Episode 1, “Once Upon a Time in the West.”
The first episode of Only murders in the building Season 4 Solve the first puzzle of the seasonAfter the shock of season three, the episode solves the mystery of the disappearance of Charles Haden Savage's replacement body, Saz Pataki (Jane Lynch), after she was shot dead by a sniper. Throughout the episode, Charles (Steve Martin), Mabel (Selena Gomez), and Oliver (Martin Short) receive hints about Saz's murder, and in the final minutes of the episode, they discover that Saz's body was brought to the Archonia vault and thrown into an incinerator, where she left behind one of her metal joints from Bulgaria.
After the episode first appeared SThe final minutes were “the darkest moments of the show, and they had to be,” series director John Hoffman told TheWrap. He explained that the audience had an idea that something was amiss, but the characters weren’t, and that was ultimately the goal.
“We needed to give the trio, especially Charles, a sense that something wasn’t right… and that was finally confirmed by the surprise casting part at the Hollywood party, which was that Saz didn’t show up to the set last week when she was supposed to. That was a punch in the gut for Charles.”
Hoffman adds that this season will explore the trio's reflections, as they are sent to Los Angeles, where their podcast is now being turned into a film starring Eugene Levy, Zach Galifianakis, and Eva Longoria as Charles, Oliver, and Mabel, respectively.
“It felt like the perfect marriage of a podcast being followed as an intellectual property of Hollywood Therapy, with our Hollywood alter ego having a full season that really references these reflections of our central trilogy for themselves,” Hoffman explained. “From the beginning of the season, you get these home cinematic reflections of our trilogy, and they’re talking about, ‘Is this who I want to be, is this who I was?’”
It seemed like such great material to explore stemming from the heart of the central season, which is about this relationship between your double, who was your stunt double and worked with you and you're just now realizing all the ways they've deeply impacted your life and how deep the friendship is.
Similarities Between Hollywood and Only Murders in the Building Season 4, Episode 1
Hoffman was keen to play on Hollywood themes throughout the first episode, including the negotiation scene with Steve Martin and home movies of Gomez, Short and Martin. He recalled Martin's scene in the episode where he passes a piece of paper with the number “4” across the table to Molly Shannon's character Bev Mellon when she is asked how many zeros she wants to add. He called the scene “one of my favorite things we've ever done.”
“When you have an idea for something, you can share it with Steve and watch him do that hilarious bit of physical comedy with grace and grace. And nothing was more important to me than finding the right size table from which to present the number four to Molly Shannon.”
The episode, titled “Once Upon a Time in the West,” is a flashback to the 1986 Western film of the same name, with footage from the film also appearing in the episode. Hoffman describes the film as “influential” in his life and loved being able to use the cinematic classic to parallel the episode and build to the climax.
“This was a powerful film for me… I was blown away by the choice that Sergio Leone made. He was able to use that and take scenes and build a climax that felt like it was due over the course of the episode, but twist it in a way that I think the audience might not expect but that made perfect sense for a replacement that had been through so much wear and tear, and it all felt terrible and fitting for the show.”
Season four follows the trio's investigation into Saz's murder, taking them to Los Angeles, where a Hollywood studio wants to adapt the podcast. The returning cast includes Martin, Short, Gomez, and Lynch, as well as Davin Rudolph and Meryl Streep. Newcomers include Shannon and Kumail Nanjiani, Eva Longoria, Zach Galifianakis, and more.
Only murders in building S
New episodes of season four will be released every Tuesday on Hulu through October 29, with nine more episodes set to premiere. The first episode, as well as the previous three seasons, are available to stream now.
