When Jane Lynch first appeared in the first season of Only Murders in the Building, it could’ve very easily been a one-and-done joke. Lynch plays Sazz Pataki, the long-time stunt double of Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), who appeared on a fictional police procedural Brazzos.
Both Martin and Lynch are about the same height and body type. But as the series went on, the relationship between the two became more crucial to the story. As shown in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, some actors and stunt doubles have a common bond more than a friendship but less a marriage. And coming as it did following the wonderful movie version of The Fall Guy, making Sazz a more central character to the fourth season seems Lynch’s time to really give the character some more depth.
If you’ve been following the series, you know that Sazz is shot and killed at the end of the third season while going to get some alcohol out of Charles’ condo in the Arconia. However, the fourth season begins with Charles, Oliver Putnam (Martin Short). and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) initially unaware of anything that has happened to Sazz as when they return to the condo. Her body is gone.
They have other issues to focus on as they realize Hollywood is calling and a Paramount studio executive Bev Melon (Molly Shannon) wants to do a movie based on the crime-solving trio and their podcast. And plans are underway to cast Eugene Levy as Charles, Zach Galifanakis a Oliver and Eva Longoria. All the actors play a fictional version of themselves. And its nice to see Martin reunited with Levy who was also a SCTV alum with Short.
Some of the criticism this season is how they have relied too much on celebrity cameos. But need I remind people that Charles is a TV actor and Oliver is a Broadway play director. His relationship with actress Loretta Durkin (Meryl Streep) is explored further here. And there is a nice appearance by recent Oscar winner Da’Vine Roy Randolph as Det. Donna Williams, who has been one of the biggest critics of the podcast but still finds herself helping the trio in their investigations.
As it seems podcasts are becoming another medium that are inspiring movie and TV adaptation, I think some critics missed the point. The movie Zola was based on a Twitter thread. I understand how some people can feel the series is relying too much on cameos. But there is something nice about seeing Richard Kind as Vince Fish, who lives in the west tower. Apparently, the Arconia has two towers with the east being for the people who bought them and the west for renters. This touches a little on the current housing market without making it too topical.
To be honest, I felt the series focused just a bit too much on the west tower residents and their connection with Professor Dudenoff (Griffin Dunne) to have it be much ado about nothing. But yet a lot of the previous seasons have set up possible suspect only for us to realize they weren’t the bad guys. As a matter of fact, that’s the whole premise of just about every “whodunnit” police procedural. I think the absurdity of the west tower arc is a parody of the whole concept.
Remember, the series itself seems to be a criticism of the whole true-crime format and how it seems to overlook the insensitivity of someone being killed. More important, I like the exploration of the relationship between Charles and Sazz through flashbacks. Around the 1990s, Martin tried to shed his “Wild and Crazy Guy” persona by appearing in more serious movies. His role in David Mamet’s neo-noir thriller The Spanish Prisoner was a change of form and even the black comedy thriller Novacaine shows he can play serious roles.
Here he handles the role of a man who’s lost someone close suddenly and doesn’t know how to handle it. The previous times, it was someone else who wasn’t really close to them. But when it’s someone you’ve worked with and considered a friend, it hits hard to wonder how much you might have been exploiting others. And Lynch has a nice role as she knows her role all along was to make someone look better in their work.
For the most part, I actually just like the series for how well the main characters have to deal with their eccentricities. Mabel seems like she would be the one jumping at the opportunity to sell the film rights. Yet she’s the one who is the hold out at first. And there’s something funny how they chose Longoria, who is about 17 years older than Gomez. Most women actors find themselves being aged out of roles.
At the same time, Galifanakis is more than 20 years younger than Short in real life. Oliver seems to be toning down his narcissism as he realizes that Loretta is the one for him. Short and Martin have been working together for over 40 years. And at first, they had to appear like two people who really couldn’t stand each other. After they got closer, they still behaved like co-workers forced to work on a project.
The identity and motive of the killer at this time is a MacGuffin. The show has become more of a Twin Peaks-style series about the people of the Arconia and those connected to them. Part of the joy of each episode is seeing how it’s developed to move the plot along as it’s not always a straight arrow. Sometimes the complexity of an episode or subplot would confuse M.C. Escher.
Of course, the season finale ends with a cliffhanger and another murder. Martin has commented he’s planning to retire after the series ends. I’d hate to see it end after season five but you have to wonder how many more murders can happen in this building before people start moving out.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 