Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 7 recap and ending explained

After episode 6 left us a little disoriented with all those weird camera angles, I’m happy to report that episode 7 of Only Murders in the Building brings about a return to normalcy in what might be one of the season’s best episodes yet.

As fans will recall, last week’s big revelation came as the Only Murders gang realized the killer had been watching them all this time via hidden cameras in their apartments and quickly fled the Arconia. With Charles, Oliver, and Mabel on the run, where will they head next? Well, the seventh episode of the season answers that question pretty quickly so let me go ahead and drop the usual SPOILER WARNING before we get too deep into the plot of the episode! 

After fleeing the Arconia, the group heads off to the house of Charles’s younger sister Doreen out in Jersey but not before Mabel calls Howard to tell him where they’re heading and to ask for his help looking into who is checking the checks in Dudenoff’s name and for Oliver to send Loretta a breakup text. The group makes it out to Doreen’s (Melissa McCarthy), and they’re quickly joined by a series of unexpected guests. 

Turns out Howard’s not exactly the best at keeping secrets as he lets the gang’s location slip to Bev, Eva, Zach, Eugene, and Loretta who show up in waves at the Doreen’s house as the episode unfolds. Bev is spiraling as the studio is debating pulling the plug on the movie; Eva, Zach, and Eugene are worrying they could be in danger after the shooting; and Loretta hoped on a flight to New York after getting Oliver’s breakup text to seek answers. 

Do Loretta and Oliver break up? (No, it’s actually the opposite)

After getting Oliver’s breakup text, Loretta shows up and asks for answers. It turns out that when Oliver called her, the PA gave her phone to Loretta’s stand-in as they were both wrapped up in gauze that day. Oliver eventually tells Loretta about how he almost proposed when he came to visit her in LA out of fear of losing her and then tells her about his burner account, Ronnie, which he used to look in on her.

Loretta is understandably heartbroken by these revelations as she says she really connected with Ronnie and shared things with her, and feels rightfully betrayed by Oliver. It looks like that might be the end, but Loretta literally goes to battle for Oliver, exchanging blows with Doreen in a hilarious fight. 

Following the fight, Oliver apologizes to Loretta and tells him that the day he met her he lost his cool and he might never get it back. He tells her that if she can’t handle his crazy he’d understand and wouldn’t blame her for running away… which she does, only just to the other room to snag a bracelet from one of Doreen’s many dolls. 

When Loretta returns to the room, she tells Oliver that the moment she met him she knew he was a lunatic and that she was not going anywhere and would happily deal with his crazy for a lifetime. She proceeds to hand him the doll’s bracelet as a makeshift ring to propose to him – a proposal Oliver ecstatically accepts. 

Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 7 ending explained: Who is cashing Dudenoff’s checks?

Shortly after the actors arrived, Mabel attempted to have Loretta distract them so she could focus on the case but Loretta instead encouraged her to use the actors to work the case. Mabel is skeptical at first as it doesn’t seem like they’re going to be of any help, but Eva, Zach, and Eugene quickly surprise them all. 

After awakening everyone in the house, the actors proudly show off their murder wall and begin presenting their findings. Zach tells the group that they agree that whoever is cashing Dudenoff’s checks is after them, but they believe the mystery didn’t actually start with Sazz’s murder. Eugene reveals this mystery goes all the way back to season 1 of their podcast when they failed to fill in many of the holes in their case. 

Zach points out that they thought Sting poisoned Oliver’s dog, Winnie, but when they ruled him out they dropped that mystery. Oliver recalls assuming it was Jan which is when Eva tells them he was wrong and points to the note he found on his door which read, “End the podcast or I end you.” The note seems to have been written by a left-handed person and Jan is not lefthanded based on how she holds her bassoon. 

Eugene then points to the note that was left on Jan’s door which warned, “I’m watching you,” which is when Mabel realizes that’s the exact message their stalker sent them before they left the Arconia. As Eva sums things up, the murderer has been after them since season 1 which is when the gears in Charles’s head turn as he realizes this is what Sazz was trying to tell them. 

But wait, there’s more! 

Who is cashing Dudenoff’s checks? 

After Mabel called him for help at the top of the episode, Howard went to the bodega where the Dudenoff checks had been getting cashed in hopes of getting a lead. 

At first, the bodega owner doesn’t want to help them, but when Howard notices the owner has a security cat he bribes the owner into letting him look into his ledgers if he has the cat on his podcast, he sings a different tune. When Howard looks into the ledgers, he notices that there are multiple signatures hinting that more than one person is cashing the checks. 

As the episode ends, Howard gets a message to Doreen’s husband, Mike, that he’s found out who killed Dudenoff. Howard relayed to Mike that he discovered there were five signatures, but the same phone number was always used. Flash to Howard looking through the security tapes at the bodega and discovering it’s the Westies who have been cashing the checks. He then calls the number and Vince from the West Tower answers the phone claiming to be Dudenoff. 

Howard’s note to Mike was that the Westies were behind Dudenoff’s murder, a revelation that unfolds alongside a scene in which Vince gets off the phone and tells the rest of the Westies, “They know.” 

Did the Westies really kill Dudenoff, or are they simply cashing in on his disappearance? And are they the ones who have been watching the Only Murders gang, or is there someone else after the group? With the season quickly nearing its end, we’re starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together and should get more answers as the season draws to a close! 

Don’t miss new episodes ofOnly Murders in the Building Tuesdays streaming on Hulu!