Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 1 recap: Once Upon a Time in the West

A new season of our favorite Hulu original comedy has finally arrived and I hope you like meta moments because it’s looking like this season of Only Murders in the Building is going to be full of jokes and quips playing up that angle as the team goes Hollywood. 

This season finds our favorite team of podcasters making their way from NYC to the streets of Hollywood for another season of adventures. Our season opener finds Charles, Oliver, and Mabel being whisked away to LA to meet with a team looking to adapt their podcast for a feature film, but it’s the sudden disappearance of Charles's stunt double and longtime friend Sazz Pataki that is the true heart of the episode and clearly is setting up to be this season’s central murder mystery – after all, you can’t have a season of Only Murders without at least one murder!

WARNING: Major spoilers for Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 1 are below.

Tying up Loose Ends

As the premiere opens, the gang is finishing up the latest season of their Only Murders in the Building podcast with Charles recording the final voiceover for the episode. A power surge derails things momentarily and Charles and Oliver quip about how the building hasn’t had a power outage like that since the building incinerator was in use. 

After wrapping the podcast, the group heads up to Charles's place for a nightcap and, much to our surprise as viewers, his apartment is empty and there is no sign of Sazz, who viewers will recall was seemingly shot and killed in the season three finale. We see signs of blood on the oven handle and the bullet hole in the window, but the group is too distracted to notice the signs around them that something strange occurred. 

The following day, Charles wakes up and finds that Sazz has yet to respond to any of his texts and he keeps hearing a whistling from within his apartment. Before he can investigate, though, Oliver and Mabel show up with Oliver spiraling after Donna and Cliff pulled funding for Death Rattle, and Loretta promptly leaving New York to take a job in Hollywood. 

Just as Charles begins to tell them about hearing the whistling sound, then Howard walks in with Gravey, a new dog he’s adopted. She was a former work dog, but he doesn’t know what she did. He pitches Mabel a podcast about working dogs, but rushes off quickly when Gravey begins randomly barking as if alarmed by something.  

Hollywood comes calling

As Oliver spirals about his Broadway hit being closed after just a few shows, we discover that a woman from Paramount Pictures has reached out to Charles and Mabel to express interest in turning their podcast into a movie. Charles isn’t sure at first as he tells the group about his concerns with not being able to reach Sazz, and thinking that the whistling he keeps hearing is the universe telling him something is wrong as Sazz was a whistler it seems. When he gets a text from Sazz saying she had to jet off to LA to cover Scott Bakula for a job, it doesn’t take much for Oliver to use that as a means of insisting they fly out to meet with the studio. 

When the trio arrive at Paramount Pictures, Charles and Oliver tell Mabel to let them take the lead as they know the business and they then sit down with studio executive Bev Melon, played by the amazing Molly Shannon, as well as the creative team overseeing the movie. 

Bev tells the team that the movie has the potential to be box office gold so long as it comes out before Christmas. While Oliver, Charles, and Mabel thought this was going to just be a preliminary meeting to discuss the film, it seems the studio has already been hard at work on the movie and they even have a cast already lined up with shooting set to begin in just mere weeks. The only thing left is for them to secure the life rights from the cast which is why they’ve called them out to Hollywood for the meeting. 

Following some awkward negotiating tactics from Charles, Mabel excuses herself and the guys quickly head out to check on her. Mabel tells them she’s a little overwhelmed but is mostly worried about how they described her character as being a homeless, jobless, mumbler and whether she wants to be seen that way. Oliver being Oliver, is supportive within limits telling her to take time but also stressing how important it is to him, 

Before heading out to the party the studio is hosting to reveal the cast for the film, Charles, Oliver, and Mabel head out to her apartment in hopes of finding her there. Instead, all they find is an empty apartment and a bunch of packages sitting outside her door. It’s clear that Charles is worried, but he’s not about to let his worrying tendencies get in the way of the party. 

Charles, Oliver, and Mabel meet Charles, Oliver and Mabel

As the trio makes their way to the party, they’re met with erupting cheers which they soon find out aren’t for them, but for the actors who will be playing them in the film: Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, and Zack Galifianakis. 

The party gives the trio a chance to connect with the stars set to play them in the film which leads to some fun moments that allow the show to get very meta. Our favorite meta moment comes as Eva makes a joke about the studio deciding to age up the character of Mabel after test audiences thought the age gap between her, Charles, and Oliver was creepy. 

Zack makes a dig at Oliver, telling him he’s thinking of taking a unique approach to the character by playing him as being talented and successful; while Eugene is excited just to pick Charles’s brain and get to speak with him about the role. Unfortunately, all Charles can think about is Sazz and he quickly slips away from the conversation. 

After mingling a bit, Oliver asks Mabel about her decision to delay in giving the studio an answer but the conversation is cut short as Loretta arrives fresh from the set of Grey’s Anatomy: New Orleans - Burn Unit. 

As Mabel sneaks off, Oliver catches up with Loretta and tells her about production on Death Rattle being shut down. With nothing keeping him in New York, she asks if he’d consider coming out to LA. He pauses at first and she tries brushing it off as he confesses his fear of losing her. Loretta assures him she’s in love with him and when he utters the words, “Will you,” it’s clear she was hoping they’d be followed by “marry me” or something to that extent. Instead, he simply asks will you give me time to think about moving to LA.

After leaving her conversation with Oliver, Mabel ends up bumping into Eva who tells her she heard about Mabel holding out on the studio. Mabel apologizes and opens up about her struggles with processing inspiring a character which is when Eva tells her a long-winded story about a time she found herself at a similar crossroads and basically tells her to ask for a ton of money and then build something.

Following the conversation, Mabel goes to meet with Bev it appears the two strike a deal. 

As this is unfolding, Charles keeps hearing whistling as he fails to hear from Sazz. He thinks he spots her in the crowd and chases after her only to discover it was actually Bakula. Charles asks Bakula if he’s seen Sazz and he tells Charles that she was supposed to double for him on a pilot last week but never showed. 

Just as Mabel goes to tell Oliver the good news that she agreed to sign her life rights away so the movie could proceed, Charles comes to grab them saying he has news, and not the fun kind. 

Is Sazz really dead? 

Charles, Oliver, and Mabel sneak off to Sazz’s apartment and Charles picks the lock in order to get inside. They hear something fall and think maybe it’s Sazz, but no luck. It seems she’s not home and Charles’ suspicions only intensify as he finds notes about him. 

As they’re looking around the apartment, Lester calls about the note Charles left requesting the window in his apartment be repaired. The only problem is Charles never left a note. Lester tells him the note mentioned the kitchen window needing to be replaced as there is a hole in the glass, which is when Charles asks if it’s small like a bullet hole, and tells Lester not to touch the window. 

At this same time, Howard texts Mabel and tells her Gravey was a cadaver dog which is when she thinks of how the dog barked in the apartment and begins to worry something is up. 

The group heads back to New York to investigate Charles’s apartment which is when they notice the window hole and blood on the stove handle. Howard brings Gravey up to the apparent and she circles around the floor clearly picking up a scent, and then leads them through the building down to the old incinerator in the building -- calling back to the power surge which Charles said earlier in the episode hadn’t happened since they used that thing last. 

When Charles opens the incinerator door, he finds a pile of fresh ashes as well as steel plates that belonged to Sazz, confirming the group’s worst fears: Sazz has been murdered. 

As the episode ends, Charles gets a text once again from Sazz’s number in which the sender makes it clear they’re foe, not friend, telling Charles, they’re “Not your f-cking friend.” 

And with that, the episode comes to an end! As we suspected, it seems the mystery of Sazz’s death will be this season’s central murder storyline and will play out across the season ahead. Who could be the mystery texter? Was Sazz the target all along or was someone after Charles? How will the movie plot play into the over-arching story of the season? 

Needless to say, the premiere left us with a lot of unanswered questions which we can’t wait to get answers in the episodes ahead! 

Don’t miss new episodes of Only Murders in the Building Tuesdays streaming on Hulu.