An autumn breeze sends shivers down your spine as the leaves turn from green to red and yellow and brown. It’s time to brew up some hot cocoa and curl up under a blanket with a good murder mystery. This spooky season, Hulu has us covered.
‘Only Murders In The Building’ is the hit new Hulu original series starring long time comedic duo Steve Martin and Martin Short, alongside Selena Gomez as true-crime-obsessed residents of a luxury apartment building in New York City who team up to investigate the mysterious death of one of their neighbors.
Within the walls of the Arconia, you can find all the trappings of a classic murder mystery - a crisp autumn setting, quirky side characters, red herrings and quips galore. The added modern podcast twist adds a new, relevant framing to the story, but the old, familiar bones are still there, which make ‘Only Murders’ work so much better than the long line of recent projects seeking to capitalize on the burgeoning true crime trend. It seems to understand both the world of podcast fandom and the tradition of murder mysteries better than the competition.
Any mystery is only as good as its detectives - Hercule Poirot, Jessica Fletcher, Benoit Blanc and their ilk - and the “Odd Trio” we meet here is certainly up to the task. Martin and Short have been doing their schtick together for years, and their chemistry in this latest project is as good as ever, with the characters of washed up TV star Charles Haden-Savage and disgraced theatre director Oliver Putnam playing very well to their individual strengths.
However, it's the off-the-wall insertion of Selena Gomez into the mix that really makes the pairing shine. Young enough to be their granddaughter, a pop culture icon from three generations later, it couldn’t appear a more random choice. But it proves to be the perfect decision. Too often older stars can fall into the motions of their successful acts in the latter years of their career. But Gomez’s presence completely offsets the balance and, rather than feeling out of place, the elder comics have perfectly adapted their chemistry into something new and fresh while retaining the spark that kept them popular for so many years. For Gomez’s part, after a long absence from live-action work, she makes it clear here that she’s more than ready to take on an adult acting career.
Eight episodes of the first season have aired thus far on Hulu, and I am so relieved that the streaming service chose to take a weekly route. It’s much more fun for a mystery to play out like this, with time for the clues and twists to stew on the brain in between each episode, as opposed to the instant gratification of the binge-watch method.
That said, this doesn’t feel like the type of mystery the viewer is able to untangle for themselves, at least not thus far, which is a bit of a bummer. We are kept within the confines of what our heroes discover for themselves. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t still fun to theorize and guess along with the intrepid detectives on our screen. The writing and directing team have really mastered their format here, keeping a tight half hour runtime that feels just right for each episode and never starts to drag; pacing each development along at a rate that keeps the viewer coming back for more.
This type of mystery can also be a balancing act of tones, and the creative team has walked the line well keeping the ridiculous comedy - whether it’s accusing rock superstar Sting of murder or Steve Martin hallucinating men in Looney Tunes suits - from overwhelming the murderous intrigue and very real emotions being felt by the characters.
It’s a winning match of the perfect cast with the perfect story and the perfect season, and as the weather finally cools, I can’t wait to pull on a flannel and watch the rest of the mystery unfold. I recommend you join me. Bring your own caramel corn.
Comments