Summary of “Only Murders in the Building” Season 4 Finale

Photo: Patrick Harbron/Disney

As our trio tracks down another murderer, Charles realizes that every time they solve a crime, another body falls on cue. That's usually what needs to happen for a season-ending cliffhanger, but it's fun to see the characters grasp the patterns of their series. It feels like we are watching them develop their consciousness and soon they will realize that they are trapped in a television show. But Oliver, whose wedding to Loretta is tomorrow, disagrees with the prediction that someone else will die, fearing that Loretta will be the next victim. And that may well be the case, depending The Devil Wears Prada 2's shooting schedule.

However, there is a more pressing threat: Mabel is being held captive by Marshall P. Pope (Rex Bailey, if you're evil), who is texting Charles and Oliver on her phone to stay away. The thing is, they didn't know she was in danger until that text message, so he told himself. The good news is that she's still alive at all, a feat she accomplished by reminding Marshall that he needs her to fix his script's terrible dialogue. A lesson for all aspiring screenwriters: Be so good that they can't kill you.

As Charles looks across the yard into the hostage zone, he realizes that the murder wasn't a two-person job after all and that Marshall was able to accomplish it all in such a short amount of time by walking along the ledge of the building to to get between the units. One wrong move of a pigeon and clapping. Despite his own fear of heights, Charles decides to do the same to save Mabel – especially since he couldn't save Sazz. He doesn't want to make the same mistake twice. But instead of dramatically increasing the overall scope, they realize they can get a head start by taking advantage of Vince Fish's window. Any excuse to see more Richard Kind.

While the plan involves Mabel escaping with them through the window while Marshall is distracted, Charles can't help but confront his friend's murderer and jumps into the apartment with them. The problem is that his friend's murderer has a gun. But Charles has a weapon of his own: “It’s Eva Longoria’s 19-in-1 multi-tool; “At least four of the shots can kill you” – and somehow, in all the commotion, they manage to disarm Marshall, who Mabel tells them stole Sazz's script.

In all crime novels, after Marshall is cornered, we finally reach the point where the murderer can monologue about his motives. We learn all about his hunter father who encouraged him to become a shooter instead of a writer, how Sazz befriended him as he struggled to be discovered, and how she continued to support him even after he almost set Ron Howard on fire . All the talk about writing even inspired Sazz to write his own screenplay based on it Just murders Podcast, which she asked him to read her only copy of. Having only one copy of her script was perhaps Sazz's craziest and most daring move of all. Send that shit to the cloud, Diva!

Marshall tells us the script was great, but he wouldn't admit that to Sazz. “It's not very good. But everyone has to start somewhere,” he tells her and we can see poor Sazz’s heart breaking. Seeing a normally confident and bombastic Sazz with her tail between her legs is brutal. Marshall should fry! Furthermore, he made a copy, made up a fake name and passed it off as his own in order to find an agent. The next thing he knew, they were making a movie out of it.

Of course, as an entertainment industry insider, Sazz found out pretty quickly and tells him that this betrayal hurts more than any blow she's suffered on the job. He tries to explain himself, but Sazz tells him that she is going to New York to see Charles' play and plans to tell him the truth about the film. To quote the great Scooby-Doo: rest roh. But instead of letting Sazz discover his (stolen) big break, Marshall hatched a plan like criminals tend to do. Thanks to Sazz's script, he knew everything about the Dudenoff apartment (virtually), so he travels to New York himself to eliminate this new threat. He shoots her, but before she dies, she assures Marshall that her “number one” will get him.

And just as Sazz predicted, Charles is so angry that he hurls Eva Longoria's laser at him, but in the turmoil Marshall manages to get his hands on the weapon again. Of course that's not good. “Welcome to the end of your movie,” Marshall says, just like a villain in one Scream Film. But just as they face death, someone shoots Marshall. From across the courtyard, Jan shot at them, demanding revenge for the death of Sazz, who had apparently been hiding within the walls of the building the entire time. Story-wise…sure, it works, it's fine, but it's a little convenient. It feels like this season's loose ends are being tied up a little quicker than we're used to.

Free of death threats and with a new appreciation for their film, the trio visits the set, where they observe their fellow actors in a scene. “Poor bastards think all they have to do is solve Tim Kono’s murder,” they say, looking at their past from the outside. It's a cool way for the series to show us how far these three have come over the seasons. Charles in particular has a new fondness for the project, now knowing that it was written by Sazz, who, as a figment of Charles' imagination, returns one last time to tell him he did it well.

With this season's mystery solved, Oliver and Loretta are able to get married without a care in the world, and do so despite the uncertainty about whether Oliver will travel with her to New Zealand, where her show is airing. But let's be honest: Season 5 has already been greenlit, so we know Oliver isn't going to New Zealand. Since the episode titles for the entire season are borrowed from various films, the finale is appropriately titled My best friend's wedding – but when Meryl Streep walks down the aisle, not going feels like a missed opportunity Mama Mia.

So where do we go from here? In the midst of all the excitement, they are approached by Téa Leoni, who plays the wife of missing gangster Nicky Caccimelio, and asks for their help in finding her husband. Oh, that explains why we got that pretentious news report about him last week! I was excited at the prospect that this could be a new setting for a new season. Plus, it would dismiss people wondering how many more people are going to die in this building just to serve the show's premise – but I don't care because it's a TV show. Additionally, there have only been a handful of incidents so far. The building I live in has seen much worse and there are hardly any character actresses there. Unfortunately, the trio rejects Téa Leoni, citing her strict rule of only investigating murders in the Arconia. But Ms. Caccimelio says that the Arconia is actually closely linked to her husband in some way. We'll probably have to wait until next season to find out exactly what that means. But just think of all the fun guest stars we'll get on a Mafia season.

With the podcast wrapping up, Oliver getting married, and Téa Leoni getting rejected, it looks like this might be our happiest ending yet. But just as they're celebrating getting through the wedding without another body turning up, they discover Arconia's bouncer Lester dead in the well. I would be sadder if he hadn't let all those murderers into the building all along.