Only Murders In The Building (OMITB) on Disney Plus Hotstar has been a fan-favourite American series with the OTT audience, for 2 seasons now. Starring an unusual trio - of septuagenarians Steve Martin, Martin Short and the millennial sensation Selena Gomez, OMITB became a worldwide rage for being the light-hearted, aesthetic comedy-drama-mystery that it is. The show is now back with a Season 3, and the first 2 episodes are currently streaming in India with English subtitles.
A gist of what to expect from OMITB this time around follows.
Recap:
Charles Haden Savage (Steve Martin), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) are residents of an affluent New York apartment called the Arconia and for 2 seasons now, they have developed an unusual friendship over solving murders. In Season 1, the trio unite after fellow Arconia resident and Mabel's childhood buddy Tim Kono gets murdered. Popularly known as 'OliMabel (the Charles is Silent)', the trio form a podcast named 'Only Murders In The Building (OMITB)' while trying to find his killer. In Season 2, they continue the podcast to prove their innocence after Arconia's founding board member Bunny gets killed, and the OMITB podcasters are framed. Season 3 is set a year later with Oliver now back to directing theater, Charles back to acting (in Oliver's production), and Mabel trying to hang out with her old friends more.
Season 3: Episodes 1 and 2
OMITB Season 3 comes with two important additions to the cast and they are the supremely famous movie stars Meryl Streep and Paul Rudd. Meryl Streep plays an aspiring actress named Loretta Durkin who has been rejected all her life. Paul Rudd plays the obnoxious showbiz star named Ben 'Benjamin' Glenroy who has now moved to the penthouse of Arconia building, where the OMITB podcasters live. In between Season 2 ending and Season 3 beginning, Oliver Putnam lands an opportunity to direct a Broadway - and he casts Ben Glenroy, Charles Haden Savage, Loretta Durkin. He takes another Arconia resident and former seasons' favourite Howard as his production assistant. However as seen in the show's trailers, Ben Glenroy the leading showbiz man ends up dead on stage on the opening night.
Unlike what the OMITB viewers would expect, Ben Glenroy aka Paul Rudd's death on the show is not how usual OMITB murders go. How the Arconia podcasters get pulled into the murder mystery this time around, is what has been established in the first two episodes. OMITB/OMITB suspects have never been the most obvious ones, and right from the opening episode Meryl Streep's character Loretta Durkin is shown to be highly suspicious. Charles' monologue states 'how far could one go to retain it' after Durkin finally lands an acting job in Oliver's play. Paul Rudd, the dead guy at one point calls Streep 'a fellow snake' direct to her face.
There are a bunch of new characters in Season 3, who are painted suspects as well. And there is a constant mention of Charles Haden Savage's new girlfriend Joy even for just 2 episodes. OMITB podcasters however are on a deadline this time around, since Mabel Mora can only be around for another 4 weeks. They also have other obstacles at hand like Putnam's health and mental space.
Bottomline
The opening of Only Murders in the Building Season 3 does not disappoint by any means. It sets quite the stage for an interesting murder mystery despite being within the same confines for 2 seasons. While the performances in OMITB have always been top-notch, names like Streep and Rudd definitely elevate the experience to a whole new level. If Maulik Pancholy as Arnav was the Indian representation in Season 1 [the only Arconia resident Charles Haden Savage connected with and could remember details of], Season 2 has 'detective Biswas' as the little nugget for viewers in India.