Only Murders in the Buildings doesn’t typically reveal the killer until the killer reveal in the season finale, but our trio believes they’ve figured it out in season three, episode nine, “Thirty.”
Warning: Spoilers
While I believe Donna DeMeo (Linda Emond) did poison Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd), I don’t think she actually killed him. As I mentioned last week, Only Murders in the Building could have two killers in season three. One could be an attempted murderer, the other the real killer. But I also believed that one of these could be an accident. After the trio went through Ben’s night leading up to the opening, it seemed clear that the poisoning would be intentional. And Donna certainly had a motive to save her son Cliff DeMeo (Wesley Taylor) from a horrible review.
Who had the motive to push Ben down the elevator shaft could be many: Loretta Drukin (Meryl Streep), Tobert (Jesse Williams) and Dickie Glenroy (Jeremy Shamos). Loretta was protecting her son, Tobert was made at being fired, and Dickie had a whole lifetime of grievances. But it seems like the second attempt may have actually been an accident. It would certainly give Only Murders in the Building a great twist for it’s third season. But right now, Loretta is on trial for the murder, and Donna is sitting in the courtroom.
Howard Morris (Michael Cyril Creighton) is still a suspect for many fans. While he could have a motive for killing Ben with his boyfriend getting to play the lead, Howard is such a big part of the show it would be a shame to make him the killer and never see him again. Or at least not as much. Howard has inserted himself into the investigation, but he’s been around murder since season one and was even a more central part this season, given he was working on Oliver Putnam’s (Martin Short) show. It was a lot of fun to see more of him. So hopefully, the writers are not making him the murderer or accidental murderer this time.
It would make more sense for Tobert to be one of the killers. He inserted himself into the investigation too, and he has a motive for being fired. Jesse Williams’ character has definitely been suspicious. If he’s not involved in the murder, he’s working with Cinda Canning (Tina Fey). He’s clearly not going to be a love interest that sticks around since he’s been absent the last two episodes. He’ll be revealed as something in the season finale, and if he isn’t, then the writers didn’t give Jesse a good part.
After a season that had so many characters, it was great to go back to basics with Oliver, Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) and Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin) working together, piecing things together. It’s because of these three that we fell in love with this show, so it was great to have an episode of just them. And we finally got to see why Selena was wearing a wedding dress! It was brilliant that they rushed to the courthouse in the wedding dress, and Steve said, “We’re the fathers of the bride.” You just have to love all the old movie references in this season. So many fans speculated that Mabel was getting married, but it was just a fun bit.
While she didn’t get married, this was a big episode for Mabel, considering she did turn 30, and all she wanted to do was solve a murder with her two besties. It really was an unlikely trio that warmed their way into our hearts. Now we can’t get enough of them. These 10 episodes go by so fast. We only have one more left to find out if Donna really poisoned Ben, and if the elevator shaft was an accident, and who was there to witness it.
