| 1 | [[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/onlymurdersinthebuilding_8.png]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:349:''"This sends the investigation into a whole new direction."''[[note]]Left to right: [[WhiteDwarfStarlet Charles]], [[PrimaDonnaDirector Oliver]], and [[AloofDarkHairedGirl Mabel]].[[/note]]]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->''"Every true crime story is actually true for someone."'' |
| 5 | -->-- '''Charles-Haden Savage''' |
| 6 | |
| 7 | ''Only Murders in the Building'' is a Creator/{{Hulu}} [[MysteryFiction murder mystery]][=/=][[{{Dramedy}} dramedy]] created by Creator/SteveMartin and John Hoffman, starring Martin, Creator/MartinShort, and Creator/SelenaGomez that debuted in 2021. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | Charles-Haden Savage (Martin), Oliver Putnam (Short), and Mabel Mora (Gomez) have little in common aside from the fact that they live in the same Upper West Side apartment building. However, one night, they happen to bond over their shared love of TrueCrime podcasts. When a mysterious death in their building is ruled a suicide, the three believe that foul play is actually involved and -- armed with little knowledge or experience, but plenty of enthusiasm -- decide to do a little digging themselves and start up their own podcast in the process. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | A second season was ordered mid-way through the first's airing and started airing on June 28, 2022 through to September 2022. Likewise, [[https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/only-murders-in-the-building-renewed-season-3-hulu-1235312131/ a third season]] was announced midway through the second. It started airing on August 8, 2023 (see the teaser [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx9-y-U29OI here]]). The show airs on the [[Creator/StarDisneyPlus Star]] hub outside the United States. [[https://x.com/onlymurdershulu/status/1709225551683047887?s=46&t=7YT7yMPCw2VMMwQUxWj5_A A fourth season has been ordered]]. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | Warning for those who haven't seen the series yet. It is an intricate mystery and each episode has at least one major revelation that ripples across the plot. '''Spoilers abound on this and all related pages, so proceed with caution!''' |
| 14 | |
| 15 | ----- |
| 16 | !!These tropes send the investigation into a whole new direction: |
| 17 | |
| 18 | * NumberOneDime: Teddy keeps a gold coin on his mantelpiece, explaining that it is all that remains of his grandmother's fortune after she spent the rest to flee genocide, come to America, and start up a deli business that built a new fortune. |
| 19 | * TenMinuteRetirement: |
| 20 | ** In episode six of Season 1, Mabel decides to drop out of the investigation after Charles and Oliver find out about her and Tim Kono's past. By the end of the episode, she has changed her mind and is back in the game. |
| 21 | ** A slightly longer version in Season 3, where it takes Oliver eight episodes to agree to do the podcast with Mabel. |
| 22 | * AbortedArc: |
| 23 | ** In Season 2, Oliver meets with Creator/AmySchumer about the possibility of teaming up on a TV version of the podcast but this is dropped after the second episode and Schumer does not reappear. |
| 24 | ** Charles is filming the ''Brazzos'' reboot at the end of Season 2, and he's told that he'll have a much bigger role due to testing well with the audience. This is {{handwave}}d at the beginning of Season 3, where he says it's on hiatus since a producer is up on harassment charges. |
| 25 | ** The fact that [[spoiler:Teddy is Will's biological father]] is not mentioned in Season 3, though it's downplayed seeing as season 2 ended with [[spoiler:Will figuring out the truth but assuring Oliver that he's his father in all the ways that matter.]] |
| 26 | * AccidentalMurder: |
| 27 | ** Zoe's death turns out to be an accident when she gets pushed off the rooftop by Theo during a quarrel she initiated. |
| 28 | ** [[spoiler: Cliff refers to his murder of Ben as an accident. While it isn't as clear-cut as the case above, it is certainly an act of panic and desperation.]] |
| 29 | * AccidentalProposal: In Season 3, Charles unknowingly proposes to Joy during one of his WhiteVoidRoom fugues. |
| 30 | * ActionHoggingOpening: The pilot's opening scene with the police forces storming the building is the most action-loaded scene of the first season so far. |
| 31 | * ActorAllusion: |
| 32 | ** Charles is "haunted" by {{hallucinations}} of Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig because they remind him of a bad breakup. Steve Martin played the villain in ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction''. |
| 33 | ** Paul Rudd, known for playing the superhero Ant-Man, plays Ben Glenroy who is famous for playing [=CoBro=], a zoologist who has the ability to turn into a cobra and solve crimes. A FreezeFrameBonus also reveals that he played "Papa Ant" in an animated movie. |
| 34 | ** A producer called Donna says that her favorite thing she's ever made was ''Theatre/MammaMia'' Creator/MerylStreep played Donna in the film adaptation of ''Film/MammaMia'' |
| 35 | ** Charles tells Creator/MatthewBroderick "You are still here? It’s over. Go home." The same thing Ferris says at the end of Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff. Bonus points because Charles has the same mannerism as Broderick in that scene. |
| 36 | ** Charles talks about his hit single from the '70s titled "Angels in Flip Flops." In real life, Creator/SteveMartin is known for a novelty song titled King Tut, also released in the late '70s. |
| 37 | * ActuallyPrettyFunny: In the season 2 opener, Mabel says "Lawyer" during her interrogation which Detective Kreps takes as a hint that she is not gonna talk without her lawyer. But Mabel corrects him saying that she took him for a lawyer since he was acting "so smart". Detective Williams can't suppress a giggle much to Kreps's chagrin. |
| 38 | * AgeGapRomance: [[spoiler:Jan Bellows notes that she has this dynamic with both Charles (who is roughly 20 years older than her) and Tim Kono (who is roughly 20 years younger than her).]] |
| 39 | * AirventPassageway: In the season 2 opener, the trio sneaks into Bunny's apartment via the building's spacious duct system. |
| 40 | * TheAllegedCar: Oliver's vintage car from the 1960s breaks down while he and Charles pursue Mabel to Long Island. |
| 41 | * AllGaysLoveTheater: All the ''male'' gays, anyway. Mabel is bisexual, but disinterested in theatre. Jonathan, Howard, Bobo, and Cliff are all gay men who are passionate theatre lovers. |
| 42 | * AlmostKiss: Howard and Jonathan are about to kiss when the neighbor starts sneezing because of his cat allergy. |
| 43 | * AloneWithThePsycho: |
| 44 | ** At the end of episode 7 in Season 1, Mabel and Oliver end up alone with [[spoiler:Zoe's killer, Theo. He ties them up, but nothing else happens to them because he asks for Teddy's help.]] |
| 45 | ** The season one finale has [[spoiler:Charles in Jan's clutches at the same time Mabel and Oliver discover proof of Jan's guilt in her apartment. They rush over to save Charles and find him in time before the poison gets the best of him.]] |
| 46 | ** Season 3 has Charles and Mabel kidnapped by Ben's stalker, Gregg, who tries to torture them to get the truth about Ben's murder out of them. [[spoiler:Though he's psycho, he is not Ben's killer.]] |
| 47 | * AlwaysWantedToSayThat: Jan is excited to finally be able to incorporate the word "circumstantial" in one of her sentences. |
| 48 | * AmbiguousSyntax: The trio names their SummationGathering in the season 2 finale "killer reveal party". Some guests are confused about the name since it could either mean "a killer of a party" or "a party to reveal the killer". Turns out it was deliberately chosen as a DoubleMeaningTitle since both interpretations apply simultaneously. |
| 49 | * AndStarring: |
| 50 | ** Among the three leads, Creator/SelenaGomez receives the "And" billing. |
| 51 | ** During Season 1, Creator/AmyRyan receives the "With" billing while coming last in the opening credits as Creator/SelenaGomez's credit comes third. |
| 52 | ** For Season 2, only the three leads receive billing in the opening, but Creator/CaraDelevingne receives an "and starring" billing in the end credits. |
| 53 | ** Creator/PaulRudd and Creator/MerylStreep get a "Special Guest Star" billing in the Season 3 opening credits. |
| 54 | * AndThisIsFor: At the boiler room, [[spoiler:Mabel [[WeaponStomp steps on Jan's dropped gun]]]] and punches her in the face with the line "This is for Tim". |
| 55 | * AnimalMotifs: Snakes in Season 3. Ben's famous role is in [=CoBro=] (he's a cobra and a bro!) - accordingly, he has a giant golden snake in his apartment - Dickie throws a jade egg in Ben's apartment, Cinda Canning has a jade egg, Ben refers to Loretta as a "snake" and hisses at her, Kimber sells serums with snake oil in them. |
| 56 | * AnimatedCreditsOpening: The show's opening sequence is fully animated. |
| 57 | * AnxietyDreams: |
| 58 | ** Mabel is paranoid about being sexually assaulted, and has a recurring dream where she wakes up in bed with a masked man standing over her ominously. But rather than panic, she [[GroinAttack kicks him in the nuts]] and stabs him to death with a knitting needle. |
| 59 | ** Charles reveals he has these whenever he starts dating, due to the traumatic break-up of his last relationship that involved him having to sit alone at dinner with a duo dressed as Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig dancing around him. |
| 60 | * ApartmentComplexOfHorrors: Downplayed. The Arconia is a gorgeous, cozy building [[CastFullOfRichPeople full of (mostly) rich people.]] However, sometimes for MysteryMagnet reasons (as all the sleuths live there), there's a high number of murders and other horrible things going on. Mabel's close friend Zoe was pushed off the roof on New Year's Eve when they were teenagers [[spoiler:by then-inhabitant, Theo Dimas]] and fell to her death. [[spoiler:Theo's mobster father Teddy, also an Arconia inhabitant, is a grave robber who launders a huge amount of dirty money through jewelry sales, and threatened Tim Kono upon finding out that he witnessed Zoe's death.]] Tim was then murdered by [[spoiler:Jan, another Arconia resident, who is an insane SerialKiller who tries to kill her then-boyfriend Charles and burn down the Arconia.]] The other residents of the Arconia are shown to be [[{{Jerkass}} jerks]] or [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold jerks with hearts of gold]] at best. For example, nobody cares about Tim's death and is more saddened by the death of Evelyn the cat. The building manager, Bunny, is a despot who's constantly threatening to evict Oliver before she is murdered at the end of Season 1. Her death reveals another web of annoyance and intrigue among building management of the Arconia, though she was ultimately murdered by [[spoiler:Becky Butler, in search of another story for her podcast and spicing up the story of Rose Cooper, an abused artist who used to live in the Arconia.]] |
| 61 | * ApologyGift: Charles bought a [[FlowersOfRomance bunch of flowers]] for Jan in order to apologize to her after the group dismissed her ideas. |
| 62 | * AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering: Shortly after the demise of Kono, Oliver bumps into Charles and Mabel in the elevator where he assumes they all must have had the same idea about creating a podcast. Turns out the two actually thought about Kono's garbage bag instead. |
| 63 | * ArtifactTitle: Discussed and subverted. The title comes from the trio's agreement that their podcast would only cover murders that occur in the Arconia, as all three of them live there and New York City has no lack of unsolved murders. However, the second season's cliffhanger ending involves a Broadway actor apparently dropping dead onstage during a play that Charles and Oliver are involved in. Mabel notes this and says that they couldn't cover Ben's death on the podcast [[TemptingFate because he didn't die in the building]] [[spoiler:but it later turns out that doctors managed to revive him... shortly before he is killed for real by being thrown down the Arconia's elevator shaft.]] |
| 64 | ** A double subversion. "The Building" is a slang term used for a theatre, so some fans thought that the death in the theater would be a loophole, still technically allowing the title to make sense. But of course the events of the season 3 premiere brought it back to the original meaning. |
| 65 | * AsHimself: |
| 66 | ** Music/{{Sting}} lives in the building in the first season, and is even considered a suspect at a point. |
| 67 | ** In the second season, he has moved out and Creator/AmySchumer moves into his apartment. She is a big fan of the podcast and wants to make it into a TV show starring herself as Jan. |
| 68 | ** In the third season, Creator/MatthewBroderick appears to take over Charles' role in Oliver's play. |
| 69 | * AsideComment: Each episode begins with a relevant character talking to the audience about what it means to live in New York. |
| 70 | ** At one point in episode seven, Theo turns to the camera and signs "People talk too fucking much in this city." |
| 71 | ** Tim provides one in the season finale as part of his PosthumousNarration. |
| 72 | * AssholeVictim: Each of the main victims of the first three seasons is a deconstruction of this trope, showing that while they had their flaws, they also had good qualities that made them sympathetic and they did not deserve to die just for being unpleasant to deal with. |
| 73 | ** Tim Kono was HatedByAll in the building which keeps the range of potential suspects wide open. It's revealed that [[spoiler:he and Mabel were friends in the past and while their friendship ended on bad terms, Mabel was still hurt by his death. It's also shown that Tim refused to testify on Oscar's behalf because Teddy Dimas threatened him and Mabel. Before his death, Tim was trying to atone for letting Oscar take the fall for Zoe's death by gathering evidence against the Dimases that would exonerate Oscar. Ironically, despite how widely he was hated by the other tenants, Tim was actually murdered out of love -- Jan was so obsessed and triggered by his rejection that she murdered him rather than risk him leaving her.]] |
| 74 | ** Bunny Folger is not the most popular person in the Arconia either. Like with Tim, Mabel, Charles, and Oliver suspect that it'll be relatively easy to find people who wanted Bunny dead. However, their investigation shows that while Bunny was cantankerous, nobody hated her to the point of wanting her dead. Even Nina Lin, someone who clashed with Bunny over renovating the Arconia, actually says that she wishes Bunny was there while in labor and hopes that the main trio finds out who killed her. |
| 75 | ** Ben Glenroy is an arrogant movie star who is disliked by many of his costars in Oliver's play. [[spoiler:We then find out that Charles had Ben fired from his first job when he was 8 years old and his arrogant attitude since then is him compensating to cover up the insecurities that moment left him with. It's also mentioned that watching Ben on ''Girl Cop'' got Mabel and Silvia through a hard time after her father died. As Ben is a diva, a spoiled brat, and a bully, he's still the clearest example of the trope the show has provided so far, but he's shown to be a deeply troubled and unhappy person.]] |
| 76 | ** Averted with Season 4's victim, [[spoiler:Sazz Pataki, who is sassy but]] generally well-liked. This may be because her killer most likely [[MurderByMistake mistook her for Charles]], who genuinely is very disliked by most people (excluding Mabel and Oliver, of course). |
| 77 | * AudibleSharpness: Knives tend to make a "zing" sound when being waved around by characters. |
| 78 | * BadBadActing: Howard turns out to be a terrible actor as he overplays his part in the season 2 finale's SummationGathering. Oliver signals him to tone it down. |
| 79 | * BaitAndSwitch: |
| 80 | ** The first few episodes tease Charles's relationship with someone named Lucy, framing her as if she's an ex-girlfriend. He eventually divulges that she's actually the ''daughter'' of an ex-girlfriend. He cared deeply for Lucy but was abruptly cut out of her life when her mother ended the relationship. |
| 81 | ** The episode "The Boy from 6B" did it twice in one scene: Zoe wishes Teddy and Theo a happy new year in ASL whilst wearing Teddy's stolen ring, Teddy stops her... and asks her pleasantly surprised about her ASL. Once Zoe turns her back, he signs to Theo to get the ring back. |
| 82 | ** The victim for season 3 appears to be Ben Glenroy…but he is revived by doctors after his “murder”. [[spoiler: Subverted again when he dies for real at the end of Episode One.]] |
| 83 | * {{Bathos}}: When Charles and Oliver confront Mabel and Oscar at the tattoo studio at Long Island, the dramatic moment is undercut by Oliver getting a BrainFreeze from eating his ice cream too fast. |
| 84 | * BerateAndSwitch: Mabel when pondering her newfound friends' proposal to sneak into Kono's apartment. |
| 85 | -->"Do I wanna break into a dead guy's apartment and go through all his shit?" -- {{Beat}} -- "Sounds like an afternoon." |
| 86 | * BlackComedy: Oliver's description of one scene ''Splash: The Musical'' - Despite a stage malfunction (a trapdoor to a pool failed to open) during a preview, Oliver had the performance go on, leading to 12 actors jumping and badly injuring themselves. We hear the audience scream in the background, while Charles looks incredibly disturbed. |
| 87 | * BloodFromTheMouth: The [[SequelHook last scene]] of season 2 has a Broadway star dying on stage with blood pouring from his mouth. |
| 88 | * BogglesTheMind: "The Boy from 6B" features Charles and Jan playing ''TabletopGame/{{Scrabble}}'' while on a date, playing words such as "SEXY", "HARD", "WET", and "YUM". |
| 89 | * {{Bookends}}: Season One begins and ends with an excerpt from the song "Manhattan". |
| 90 | * BookSafe: Mabel discovers that Tim used his adventure books as hiding spots for mementos and jewelry. |
| 91 | * BoundAndGagged: Oliver and Mabel end up like this in the back of Theo's van after they discover Teddy's family business. |
| 92 | * BreadEggsBreadedEggs: Charles is rehearsing for ''Death Rattle Dazzle'' in "The White Room" when he blacks out. He comes to in the middle of a scene of complete disarray and asks "Am I dead? Am I on drugs? Am I dead and on drugs?" |
| 93 | * BrickJoke: The murdering knife that ends up stuck in the ceiling earlier in episode 3 of season 2 comes down unexpectedly towards the end of the episode, now [[TheBladeAlwaysLandsPointyEndIn stuck in the floor]]. |
| 94 | * BringingRunningShoesToACarChase: Charles tries to track Mabel on foot after she drives away. Fortunately for him, Mabel is stalled by traffic until Oliver arrives with his car. |
| 95 | * BudgetBustingElement: Features an InUniverse example; one of the major expenses that caused Oliver's musical adaptation of ''Film/{{Splash}}'' to go over-budget was an elaborate set that was supposed to open onto an actual pool of water. Unfortunately for Oliver, the hydraulics failed during previews, and when the chorus boys all dove for the pool, they hit the stage instead, causing multiple injuries and a string of expensive insurance investigations. |
| 96 | * BuildingOfAdventure: The majority of the plot happens inside the Arconia building, which over the course of the series has been revealed to host [[spoiler: at least two murders, two pet poisonings, a stabbing, and the central hub of a graverobbing ring]]. |
| 97 | * BystanderSyndrome: The residents of the Arconia who aren't the main characters are apathetic [[{{Jerkass}} jerkasses]] at best on most days. They do almost nothing to help with the investigation and on occasion make it more difficult. To the point where some residents see [[spoiler: Charles lying on the elevator floor after he's been poisoned, assume he's on a drunken bender and nothing to help him, even shushing him after he cries out for help]]. |
| 98 | * CacophonyCoverUp: The group surmises that [[spoiler:Teddy pulled the fire alarm at the building in order to give his son the chance to shoot Kono without anybody noticing. It was actually Jan who pulled the fire alarm but they were right about the motive for pulling it.]] |
| 99 | * CallBack: |
| 100 | ** Oliver asks Mabel if she likes her Beatz and Amy Schumer tells Oliver to bring her a turkey. Both are Lampshaded as call-backs. |
| 101 | ** The trio has pictures of Theo and Teddy on their suspect boards in the first half of Season 2. |
| 102 | ** In Season 3, Oliver uses a ladder to try to get into a backroom. Mabel says the ladder is the new turkey. |
| 103 | ** In Season 3, when [[spoiler: Cliff is hanging from the theatre skylight he]] asks if the Spalsh dancers were this high up when they fell. |
| 104 | * TheCameo: [[spoiler:Creator/MelBrooks appears via [=FaceTime=] in Season 3 when Oliver is at his wit's end dealing with Matthew Broderick]]. |
| 105 | * CastingCouch: Implied in season 3 to be [[spoiler: how Dickie was conceived. Loretta describes in a flashback how when she was in high school, a visiting theater director from New York praised her acting skills, while the camera shows him leering at her at a rehearsal. The next scene shows her at the [=OB/GYN's=] office.]] |
| 106 | * CastingGag: Several characters involved in Oliver's hammy play ''Death Rattle'' are played by actors best known for the theater. Creator/LindaEmond (Donna) is a three-time Tony nominee; Wesley Taylor (Cliff) originated roles in ''Theatre/RockOfAges'' and ''Theatre/TheAddamsFamily''; Creator/AshleyPark (Kimber) originated the role of Gretchen in ''Theatre/MeanGirls''. |
| 107 | * CatharsisFactor: InvokedTrope - Even if they were quickly cleared, Oscar admits to being glad that Teddy and Theo Dimas were falsely implicated in the murder of Tim Kono, because [[spoiler: they framed him for Zoe's death and cost him ten years of his life.]] |
| 108 | * CaughtOnTape: [[spoiler: Charles manages to catch Jan in the act of confessing to Tim's murder ''and'' actively poisoning Charles the same way by secretly recording the whole thing with his phone under a couch cushion]]. |
| 109 | * CelebrityParadox: |
| 110 | ** In the first episode, Oliver and Charles discuss ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', which features Creator/AmyRyan (Jan Bellows) as Holly Flax. |
| 111 | ** There are two in the same scene in Season 3. |
| 112 | *** Loretta gets an audition for a spin-off of ''Series/GreysAnatomy''. Creator/JesseWilliams (Tobert) played Dr. Jackson Avery on that show. |
| 113 | *** Loretta also mentions that she was up for the part of Audrey in ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors'', the film adaptation of which featured Steve Martin (Charles) as Orin Scrivello. |
| 114 | ** Oliver says he never got around to seeing ''Theatre/TheProducers''. Creator/NathanLane (Teddy Dimas) played Max Bialystock in the show on Broadway and in the 2005 film, while Martin Short (Oliver) played Leo Bloom in the LA and San Francisco productions. |
| 115 | ** In "[=CoBro=]", Creator/MatthewBroderick appears AsHimself. He's starred in multiple plays with Creator/MartinShort. He also co-starred as Leo Bloom alongside Nathan Lane (Teddy) as Max Bialystock in ''The Producers'' (which is referenced in the episode), while they also respectively played adult Simba and Timon in ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}''. |
| 116 | * CentralTheme: |
| 117 | ** Season 1 is about isolation and coming out of isolation, especially after loss. The main trio are all isolated by past losses (Charles by losing Emma and Lucy, Oliver by losing Will's college fund and his marriage, Mabel after Zoe's death and Oscar's imprisonment). The podcast brings them together after Tim's death. Tim appeared to be a friendless {{Jerkass}}, but [[spoiler:he was actually a hero working to fix his mistake, and he was murdered by someone who loved him.]] Jan is AlwaysSecondBest until she starts a new relationship with Charles, [[spoiler:though in fact Tim was not planning to break up with her and seemed to genuinely care about her; she simply misinterpreted the ring in his possession.]] Theo's isolation due to his deafness and his family business leads him to a whirlwind hookup with Zoe, which [[spoiler:results in him accidentally killing her, and thus ending up in even more despair and isolation.]] |
| 118 | ** Season 2's can be seen as confrontations with the past and how they can be for the better. Each protagonist either confronts or is confronted with the past. [[spoiler:Mabel has to confront the prospect of whether she is a killer by confronting the black outs she had a major moments in her life. Charles confronts his past by talking to Lucy again after years of avoiding her because of his relationship with his ex. He is also confronted with his relationship with Jan and with what his father was really like. Oliver is confronted with the prospect of not being his son's birth father. Thankfully, for all of them, they all get a good resolution from confronting the past. Mabel realizes that she isn't a killer and that she was there for her father during his dying moments. Charles reconciles with Lucy, moves on from Jan and learns that his father did love him. Will figures out that he isn't Oliver's birth son, but doesn't care.]] |
| 119 | * CharacterNarrator: Each episode features narration that provides insight into a character, context for the plot, or a bit of additional color to the setting. |
| 120 | * ChekhovsGun: |
| 121 | ** Mabel's knitting needle, which she uses when she fantasizes about killing an attacker in her apartment. That's the weapon which is used to kill [[spoiler:Bunny]] in the Season 1 finale and frame her for the murder. |
| 122 | ** The trio searches through Tim Kono's apartment and discovers a box of sex toys, including one that looks like some sort of whip or crop. Much later, they reexamine the toys and discover [[spoiler:that the whip[=/=]crop is actually a bassoon cleaner, implicating Jan in the murder]]. |
| 123 | ** Oliver's dip bag, received at the beginning of the blackout and dropped at the staircase. Mabel then later picks it up and hits the man following Lucy with it. [[spoiler:Though it turns out to be Marv.]] |
| 124 | ** [[spoiler: Poppy's [[BizarreTasteInFood liverwurst and marmalade sandwich]]]] that she orders in the season 2 finale becomes a clue later on in the episode. |
| 125 | * ChekhovsGunman: |
| 126 | ** When talking about Teddy in the pilot, Oliver quickly notes that he has a "deaf son." This is Theo Dimas, who won't be introduced properly until episode 3, and is then revealed in episode 7 of Season 1 to be [[spoiler:Zoe's killer.]] |
| 127 | ** Becky Butler, the missing girl from Cinda Canning's podcast "All Is Not OK in Oklahoma." Mentioned a couple of times by Cinda as her topic and in the podcast, [[spoiler:ultimately revealed to be Cinda's assistant and the Season 2 killer, Poppy White.]] |
| 128 | * CleanFoodPoisonedFork: [[spoiler:When Jan poisons Charles, she is not [[SlippingAMickey drugging his drink]] as [[WrongAssumption he wrongly assumes]] but the ice pack she gave him to treat his bloody nose.]] |
| 129 | * ClickHello: [[spoiler: Jan]] announces herself in the boiler room with a loud cock of a revolver[[note]]despite the revolver being hammerless[[/note]]. |
| 130 | * CliffHanger: [[Cliffhanger/OnlyMurdersInTheBuilding Every episode has at least one]]. |
| 131 | * ClimbingClimax: Inverted. The showdown of season one takes place in the boiler room of the Arcadia. |
| 132 | * ColbertBump: InUniverse. After Cinda Canning mentions the podcast on Jimmy Fallon they go from 17 subscribers to over 1000. |
| 133 | * ComicallyMissingThePoint: The following exchange when the trio snoops around Kono's apartment and finds the [[FootprintsOfMuck bloody paw prints]]: |
| 134 | -->'''Oliver''': That dead cat. What was her name? Ethel?\ |
| 135 | '''Mabel''': Evelyn.\ |
| 136 | '''Charles''': This doesn't make sense.\ |
| 137 | '''Oliver''': Oh no. A lot of people name their pets human names.\ |
| 138 | '''Charles''': No. The cat was here after Tim died. |
| 139 | * ConsultingAConvictedKiller: Charles does this with [[spoiler:Jan]] in Season 2, who's been convicted of the murders and attempted murders from the first season by then, hoping for insight on the current killer. |
| 140 | * ContinuityReboot: In-universe. In season 2, Charles is offered the chance to appear in a reboot of his show ''Brazzos'' as the uncle of the new Brazzos. |
| 141 | * ContinuitySnarl: Charles and Emma's timeline is a little inconsistent. He mentions Lucy was 7 when she and her mother moved in and stayed for 6 years. Lucy then mentions 8 years have passed which would put her at 21 but some dialogue suggests Lucy is in her mid to late teens by alluding she's still in high school. Though Charles may have meant that Lucy was seven when they left when he referred to her as a seven-year-old which would make the math make much more sense. |
| 142 | * ConvenientPhotograph: |
| 143 | ** The FormerFriendsPhoto of the Hardy Boys taken at the fateful night of Zoe's death reveals a clue in "Twist." [[spoiler:Zoe was wearing a ring that disappeared by the time her body was found]]. |
| 144 | ** A capture from the building's security camera emerges in episode 8. It places [[spoiler:Teddy and Theo]] outside the building at the time of Kono's murder rendering them innocent of committing the crime. |
| 145 | ** In Season 3, Loretta happens to see [[spoiler:Dickie]] in the background of a newspaper photograph [[spoiler:with Ben]], revealing to her that she needs to audition for ''Death Rattle''. |
| 146 | * TheCorpseStopsHere: Season one ends with [[spoiler:the three heroes winding up in a room with the freshly murdered Bunny. When the police arrive, Mabel is covered in blood and leaning over the body. They arrest her, Oliver, and Charles for being the prime suspects [[SequelHook of a new murder case]]]]. |
| 147 | * CouchGag: The OpeningCredits are altered slightly for each episode to feature an EasterEgg relevant to the associated episode's plot. Bonus points for the first Easter egg being an actual egg. |
| 148 | * CreatorKiller: InUniverse: |
| 149 | ** Oliver had been a highly successful Broadway producer who defied odds for hit after hit. Then his 2005 production of ''Splash: The Musical'' turned into a disaster thanks to multiple actors diving into an empty pool set. Combined with his already huge ego and overspending and he's now PersonaNonGrata on Broadway and can't afford to actually stay in his apartment building. |
| 150 | ** This turns out to have been the motive for Season 3's murder. [[spoiler:Maxine pinpointed Ben as the weak link in ''Death Rattle''. When Donna read this, she became concerned that this trope would come for her precious son Cliff for his solo producing credit, and poisoned Ben's cookie.]] |
| 151 | * CreepyMascotSuit: PlayedForLaughs, and yet also PlayedForDrama. In one episode, Charles is haunted by visions of people in [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig]] costumes. He treats them like minor annoyances. However, he later reveals why these visions exist to the audience. [[spoiler:He took his girlfriend and her daughter on a family cruise, but the girlfriend dumped him by abruptly leaving with her daughter when the ship was docked midway through the cruise. Charles had already hired the costumed performers for a celebratory dinner and they came and performed even though Charles was alone. He still remembers the mascots dancing around him.]] |
| 152 | * CrowdSong: The whole of Arconia sings "The Sound of Silence" during the blackout. |
| 153 | * CrystalBallScheduling: In season 3, the plot of the murder mystery play ''Death Rattle'' (and later its musical reimagining, ''Death Rattle Dazzle'') has a few parallels with the actual murder plot of the season; for instance, both the fictional and real victims [[spoiler:died by falling]]. Though the parallels aren't really brought up by the characters, the way the show presents things often plays them up. |
| 154 | * TheCSIEffect: Invoked in the first episode. Detective Williams groans at dealing with a trio of true-crime podcast fans who think they know how to solve a crime, and the later episode focusing on her shows that she hates the genre in general, partly because she finds nothing entertaining about the messy consequences of murder cases (which are often not that mysterious). |
| 155 | * CuttingBackToReality: In the season one finale, we see Charles suddenly defy the effects of the poisoning. He gets up and delivers a speech to the villain about valuing his friendship with Mabel and Oliver [[TakeMeInstead over his own life]]. Then we cut back to him still in delirium unable to voice a single comprehensible word. |
| 156 | * DawsonCasting: In-universe: Ben Glenroy played a high school senior in the TV show ''Girl Cop'' when he was 31. |
| 157 | * ADayInTheLimelight: Since each episode begins with narration from a different character, this trope is seen often: |
| 158 | ** "To Protect and Serve" focuses on Detective Williams, her childhood and marriage, and her realization that she missed a couple of big things in the case procedure when her wife plays the podcast for her. [[spoiler:She sends Kono's unprocessed phone to Mabel as a result.]] |
| 159 | ** "The Boy from 6B" is mostly from Theo Dimas's perspective, including his own past encounters with the Hardy Boys gang. This is repeated to a lesser extent in Season 2 in "Flipping the Pieces" when he rescues Mabel from Glitter Guy and they go to Coney Island together. |
| 160 | ** "The Last Day of Bunny Folger" goes through the events of Bunny's last day from her perspective (without revealing who her killer is). |
| 161 | ** "Performance Review" spends time with Poppy White and her relationship with her boss, Cinda Canning. |
| 162 | ** "Sitzprobe" retells the events of Season 3 and before from Loretta's perspective. |
| 163 | * DeadAnimalWarning: The killer poisons Oliver's dog (who survives, due to Oliver getting home in time and Oliver's son being a veterinarian) and leaves a message with a demand to close down the podcast. |
| 164 | * DeathByIrony: |
| 165 | ** Tim Kono was hated by virtually all the other tenants of the Arconia. The main trio and by extension the audience are led to believe he was murdered by someone who really hated him; [[spoiler:as it turns out, Tim was murdered by a woman who loved him to an unhealthy degree.]] |
| 166 | ** Bunny Folger was the strict head of the Arconia's co-op board and rubbed just about every tenant the wrong way. [[spoiler:She was murdered by someone she barely knew nor had offended in any way and who wasn't even a tenant of the Arconia.]] |
| 167 | * {{Deconstruction}}: Zoe Cassidy's death shows the realistic consequences when a [[AssholeVictim bad person is murdered]]. Her death isn't cathartic AT ALL, toxic friend or not seeing the mangled, crushed body of someone who was close to you is still a traumatizing sight, and while, yes, she was a thief and a RichBitch that didn't mean she deserved to die, not to mention the fallout destroyed the friendship of two of her friends and ruined the lives of another friend and even her [[AccidentalMurder guilt stricken murderer]]. |
| 168 | * DetectiveMole: In an in-universe example, the killer in ''Death Rattle Dazzle'' turns out to have been the main detective character, as revealed when the musical is shown in the final episode. |
| 169 | * DetectivePatsy: Discussed in episode 5 between Charles and Oliver in their car as they ponder about Mabel's motivation to engage in the investigation of a murder she potentially committed herself. |
| 170 | * DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: While developing their podcast's soundtrack, Charles uses a concertina to play the melody of the series' theme. Oliver isn't completely sold on it, though. |
| 171 | * DisproportionateRetribution: Why was Ben Glenroy poisoned? [[spoiler: Because his performance got a scathing review from ''one'' critic. Even if Donna's claim that she didn't intend to kill him was true, that's still an extreme thing to do to someone for simply not being a great actor, especially since there were presumably easier ways of removing him from the show.]] |
| 172 | * TheDogWasTheMastermind: Bunny's murderer turns out to be [[spoiler: unsuspicious side character Poppy White aka Becky Butler]]. |
| 173 | * DowntimeDowngrade: Mabel and Oscar spend most of their time in the first season building up to consummating their mutual feelings, but almost immediately in the second season, Mabel confesses that their relationship isn't strong and they both are waiting for the other to admit that they should just be friends. |
| 174 | * DrivingQuestion: |
| 175 | ** Season 1: Who killed Tim Kono and why? [[labelnote: Answer]] Jan Bellows. She and Tim Kono were in a SecretRelationship. She killed him because she [[MistakenForCheating mistakenly believed he was cheating on her.]][[/labelnote]] |
| 176 | ** Season 2: Who killed Bunny Folger and why? [[labelnote: Answer]] Poppy White a.k.a. Becky Butler. She wanted to make it big as a true crime podcaster, so with the help of Detective Kreps, she murdered Bunny and plotted to frame Mabel for it, hoping to use the story to launch her career.[[/labelnote]] |
| 177 | ** Season 3: Who killed Ben Glenroy and why? [[labelnote: Answer]] Cliff Demeo. His mother Donna poisoned Ben to prevent him from ruining her son's first Broadway show. Ben found out about this and threatened to have her arrested so Cliff pushed him down an elevator shaft.[[/labelnote]] |
| 178 | ** Season 4: Who killed Sazz Pataki and why? |
| 179 | * DumpsterDive: The first thing the protagonists do when investigating Tim Kono's death, is going digging through the building's garbage. |
| 180 | * DyingClue: After Bunny is murdered, she says what sounds like "Fourteen Savage" to Mabel. She was actually saying [[spoiler:"Fourteen sandwich" in reference to her killer's usual order at the diner.]] |
| 181 | * EasterEgg: Each episode's OpeningCredits feature a subtle clue related to something that will happen or be seen. |
| 182 | * ElevatorActionSequence: Played for laughs. Oliver and Teddy have a WimpFight in the elevator in season 2. |
| 183 | * EmbarrassingOldPhoto: At Mabel's place, Oscar discovers an album with [[https://imgur.com/a/52clfIV childhood photos]] of hers. Mabel is embarrassed about it. |
| 184 | * EmptySwimmingPoolDive: We learn that Oliver's musical "Splash!" was doomed from the start when during the first night of previews hydraulic problems led to actors diving from a pier onto the stage floor instead of the pool beneath it. |
| 185 | * EngineeredPublicConfession: Season 2 has one in its finale that borders on a stage play featuring the people in the building, with two {{Fake Out Twist}}s [[spoiler:to eventually make Poppy admit she was the one who killed Bunny]]. |
| 186 | ** They do it again at the end of season 3. [[spoiler: It's fair less elaborate, as Donna is a dying woman who didn't even intend to kill Ben when she poisoned him. Subverted since she also falsely confesses to pushing Ben, once the trio show evidence that makes her realise it was Cliff.]] |
| 187 | * EntertaininglyWrong: The trio thinks they've got a clue in Bunny's parakeet going "I know who did it." Turns out the bird was just repeating a line from a movie Bunny had been watching. |
| 188 | * EurekaMoment: When dumping his omelet in a garbage bag in his kitchen, Charles realizes that he saw Kono with such a bag on the wrong floor. |
| 189 | * EveryoneHasStandards: Charles and Oliver consider stopping the podcast in Episode 6 for two reasons: |
| 190 | ** The victim was a close friend of Mabel, and they don't want to profit off his death in that case. Mabel is willing to see it through though for this reason. |
| 191 | ** They don't want to do the podcast without Mabel, whose mother forbade her from participating in it. Luckily, she relents. |
| 192 | * EvidenceDungeon: [[spoiler:Jan's apartment is full of evidence for her crimes like the emerald ring and her drug kit. She [[ChronicEvidenceRetentionSyndrome even kept the knife which she stabbed herself with]] in a hidden spot behind a duct outlet.]] |
| 193 | * EvilCounterpart: |
| 194 | ** [[spoiler:Poppy White]] for Mabel. Both are [[spoiler:young dark-haired women (Poppy is at most in her mid-30s, while Mabel is in her late 20s) who grew up in single-parent households. Both are true crime fans living in New York City and big fans of Cinda Canning. Both are revealed in Season 2 to have fought back against sexual harassment they received from their employers. Both are shown to be intelligent, creative, and quick-thinking. Both work on a podcast about a murder close to them. However, while Mabel is valued as an equal (and sometimes a superior) by Oliver and Charles, Cinda mistreats, bullies, and plagiarizes from Poppy. Meanwhile, Poppy framed Mabel and killed Bunny to give her content for the podcast. This is even underlined by Poppy's real name, which is [[AlliterativeName alliterative]] like Mabel's: '''B'''ecky '''B'''utler.]] |
| 195 | ** [[spoiler:Detective Kreps]] for Charles. Both are [[spoiler:older men who get in whirlwind romances with much younger women who are revealed to be the killers of their respective season. Both remain besotted by the killer in question -- Jan and Poppy/Becky - even after learning of her crimes. However, while Charles breaks up with Jan because of Mabel's hurt, Kreps continues to help Becky/Poppy.]] |
| 196 | ** [[spoiler:Donna and Cliff]] for Loretta and Dickie in Season 3. [[spoiler:Both are beloved only sons of mothers involved in ''Death Rattle''. Both are overshadowed by a more famous relative: Cliff has Donna herself, while Dicky has his younger brother Ben. Both mothers are [[MamaBear extremely protective of their sons]], to the point of both falsely confessing to a murder to save them. Though Donna actually killed Ben via the poison cookie, while Loretta simply confessed and Dickie turned out to be innocent.]] |
| 197 | ** [[spoiler: Also Cliff]] for Ben. [[spoiler: Both are the beloved children of their families who are arguably coasting on a relative's talent (Cliff relies on Donna to produce, Ben stole CoBro from Dickie) and show deep insecurity about their identities. The difference is that Ben is implied to have lost his parents and is unmoored without them, whereas Cliff remains in Donna's pocket.]] |
| 198 | * ExactEavesdropping: Done frequently in "The Boy In 6B," as Theo is shown frequently eavesdropping on incredibly relevant conversations. What's impressive is that he's doing this by reading lips, so these conversations manage to happen with all relevant information being shared while facing Theo's hiding spots. |
| 199 | * FailureMontage: Oliver auditions several terrible singers in his effort to replace Charles in ''Death Rattle Dazzle''. |
| 200 | * FakeKillScare: In the season 2 finale, [[spoiler:Charles [[TakingTheBullet jumps in front of Mabel]] and gets stabbed to death by Alice. However, it turns out his death was faked in order to draw out the real murderer]]. |
| 201 | * FakeOutTwist: The season 2 finale provides two twists in quick succession. In their [[TheSummation summation]] the heroes accuse Cinda Canning of having killed Bunny. Then the suspicion shifts over to Alice who in a rage kills Charles with a knife. After she has been restrained, there is another twist revealing that everything up to this point was staged in order to draw out the real murderer amongst the guests, [[spoiler:[[TheDogWasTheMastermind side character Poppy White]].]] |
| 202 | * FalseConfession: In season 3, [[spoiler:both Loretta and Donna wrongly confess to Ben's murder to protect their sons]]. |
| 203 | * FantasySequence: At the boiler room in the season finale, Charles imagines himself having faked the poisoning attack and standing up to Jan and delivering a speech about how Mabel and Oliver revived his hollow life. Then we cut back to his poisoned self [[TheUnintelligible mumbling unintelligibly]]. |
| 204 | * {{Fauxshadowing}}: In "I Know Who Did It", the camera focuses on Alice Banks entering the room just as Charles says that the killer is in the room with them. A short while later, she is revealed to be the killer and stabs Charles with a knife. [[spoiler: Except not. Both Mabel's accusing of Alice and Alice's subsequent stabbing of Charles were staged as part of a ruse to trap the real killer, Poppy White.]] |
| 205 | * FirstEpisodeTwist: The first episode ends with a look around Mabel's apartment. We see a photograph revealing that she and Tim were childhood friends. |
| 206 | * {{Flashforward}}: "The Sting" ends with a scene that takes place months later in which [[spoiler:Cinda Canning says that the three protagonists will be the subject of her next podcast, ''Only Murderers in the Building''.]] |
| 207 | * FollowThatCar: Charles and Oliver in pursuit of Mabel going to Long Island. |
| 208 | * FormerFriendsPhoto: Mabel keeps a photograph of herself and Tim Kono when they were still friends. |
| 209 | * FowlMouthedParrot: Bunny has a parrot called Mrs. Gambolini that spouts foul language. |
| 210 | * FrameUp: The trio is framed for murder at the end of Season 1 which then kick-starts Season 2's plot. [[spoiler: It's revealed the perpetrators had framed another person for murder too.]] |
| 211 | * FreezeFrameBonus: In Season 2, Episode 6, a freeze-frame of Poppy's tablet shows Cinda's extremely packed schedule, including "5 am primal scream", "7:30 am ask Poppy to stop doing that thing", "8 am goat yoga", "9 am clitoral stimulation session with Jake", "3 pm neck thing", and at least two sessions of "underwater pilates". |
| 212 | * FriendsRentControl: |
| 213 | ** {{Discussed|Trope}} in regards to Mabel. Charles and Oliver acquired their apartments decades prior when the Arconia was affordable, but Mabel is a young new arrival at a time when Manhattan's real estate prices are through the roof. She eventually reveals that the apartment belongs to her aunt and she's living there temporarily to oversee a renovation. Despite his downturn in fortune, Charles is still decently financially well-off from his long-running series which presumably gives him enough in royalties to afford his apartment and living a fairly modest life otherwise. |
| 214 | ** Also {{Subverted|Trope}} with Oliver, whose inability to find work has made him struggle to maintain payments for the Arconia's building fees and bills, and is close to being kicked out. Something similar was going on with Tim Kono prior to his death, as they find a pile of unpaid bills on his mantle and the detective on his case notes money troubles as the assumed reason behind his "suicide". |
| 215 | ** WordOfGod (courtesy of a ''People'' magazine article) is that much of Oliver's lavish furniture is "liberated" from his Broadway shows. |
| 216 | * GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger: Parodied during the season 2 finale's SummationGathering, where Charles dramatically turns around to point his finger at the supposed killer but he turns a little too much and ends up [[FailedAttemptAtDrama pointing at an unwitting bystander]] much to everyone's confusion. Shortly after, Mabel plays the trope straight by pointing at Alice as the new potential killer. |
| 217 | * GlitterLitter: {{Exploited|Trope}}. In Season 2, a glitter bomb is used in an attempt to track a suspect. The main characters miss the bomb going off, but later, the glitter is seen to still be stuck on the person who set it off, allowing Mabel to identify them. |
| 218 | * GoingByTheMatchbook: In season 2, Mabel finds a matchbook in her apartment that later provides a clue to the identity of Bunny's murderer. |
| 219 | * HandOfDeath: In Episode 3, we see that Bunny's murderer wore black gloves and the murder itself is shown in shadow. In Episode 4, Lucy barely manages to avoid encountering the murderer who is dressed all in black. |
| 220 | * HappyCircusMusic: In "Flipping the Pieces," a cheerful, nostalgic circus waltz tune is heard as Theo plays a claw crane game at Coney Island. |
| 221 | * HatedByAll: |
| 222 | ** At the Arconia's memorial service for Tim Kono, not a single person can muster a kind word about him and instead talk about how much he annoyed them. As the episode goes on, Charles himself, who barely knew the guy, grows increasingly annoyed by what he learns about him. |
| 223 | ** Both Oliver and Charles separately seem to have also been this themselves. Charles's views on tipping, aloof nature, and difficulty remembering people's names make him unpopular among the other Arconia residents and staff. Oliver's flamboyant and needling personality makes him quite grating to those around him, best seen with how his own son and Charles both react to him. |
| 224 | ** The negative impact of their podcast, makes it so all three of them are much more actively hated by the other tenants, and Bunny has no problem getting enough votes to evict all three. |
| 225 | * HaveIMentionedIAmSexuallyActiveToday: After Charles and Jan slept together, he can't help mentioning the fact to his friends at every turn. |
| 226 | * HeldGaze: Mabel and Oscar share one in episode 6. |
| 227 | * HereditaryWeddingDress: After Charles accidentally proposes to Joy and then breaks up with her, Joy got her mother and grandmother's wedding dress sent to Charles's apartment in the interim. As a result, it's still there when Mabel, Charles, and Oliver use it to storm Loretta's indictment for Ben's murder. Mabel and Oliver express shock that Joy's parents are both still alive, as, apparently, is her childhood dog. |
| 228 | * HereWeGoAgain: At the end of Season 2, [[spoiler:Broadway star Ben Glenroy drops dead on stage and Mabel says, "[[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe You've gotta be]] [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe kidding me.]]"]] |
| 229 | * HighlyVisiblePassword: When Charles unlocks Kono's phone, the password (Theo) is displayed in cleartext. |
| 230 | * HisNameIs: |
| 231 | ** The podcast that Mabel, Oliver, and Charles are listening to is magically [[PlotBasedVoiceCancellation cut off by the fire alarm]] just as the podcast is about to reveal an important plot point. When the three assemble at a restaurant nearby their desire to find out what the dog Beau had in his mouth brings the three together. |
| 232 | ** Bunny managed to say only two things to Mabel before dying: [[spoiler:14 and Savage]]. In the Season 2 finale, it's revealed that she actually said [[spoiler: "14" and "Sandwich", a reference to the favorite sandwich of her murderer, Poppy White, which was number 14 on the menu at a local diner.]] |
| 233 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: |
| 234 | ** The trio goes to Cinda Canning for advice, [[BitchInSheepsClothing she acts helpful]], but then goes on ''Series/TheTonightShowStarringJimmyFallon'' to make fun of them. This ends up [[ColbertBump giving them so much free publicity]] that their podcast becomes a big enough hit to rival her own, and eventually they expose her as a fraud. |
| 235 | ** Teddy financially supports the podcast with a cheque, ostensibly because he and Oliver are old friends, but actually because [[spoiler:he's concerned they may uncover the link between Zoe and Theo. The cheque Teddy wrote is signed to his other business (Angel, Inc), which allows the trio to put it together that Teddy is a grave robber, and starts the chain of events that leads to Theo's role in Zoe's death being exposed.]] |
| 236 | * HowWeGotHere: The show starts InMediasRes, with an ESU team infiltrating the building while Charles and Oliver find Mabel kneeling over an apparently dead body as she tells them it's NotWhatItLooksLike. Then we cut to the story's real start two months before. |
| 237 | * {{Hubris}}: Discussed by the fans waiting outside the building regarding the reason why the suspected culprit [[spoiler:Teddy funded the podcast that would go on to expose him.]] |
| 238 | * IconicItem: Teased and invoked before being subverted with the tie-dye hoodie, worn by Tim's maybe-killer and the victim in the flashforward. However, since the podcasters call him "tie-dye guy", it becomes an official piece of fandom lore, and an in-universe example of OfficialCosplayGear. [[spoiler:That's why Bunny is wearing it at the end, and it has nothing to do with Oscar.]] |
| 239 | * ImagineSpot: |
| 240 | ** In the first episode each of the characters gets a surreal moment tying into Oliver's opening narration involving trampolines. They each imagine dropping something and having it return to them as if it bounces: Oliver imagines himself jumping off a set of stairs, Mabel drops the engagement ring they found in Tim's package, and Charles bounces the omelet he was cooking. |
| 241 | ** Oliver has an extended sequence as he reviews the potential suspects, imagining them at a theater audition confessing their crimes to him. |
| 242 | * ImmediateSelfContradiction: In season 2, when Oliver reconnects with his son in preparation for the "Wizard of Oz" SchoolPlay, he makes a promise that the commitment to his family will never again take a backseat to his murder investigations. Then his phone rings and he takes off to resume his murder investigation. |
| 243 | * ImmediateSequel: Season 2 picks up right after the events of the Season 1 finale, with Charles, Oliver, and Mabel being interrogated overnight and released the following morning. |
| 244 | * TheImmodestOrgasm: Tim Kono's neighbor mentions hearing loud female screams coming from his apartment. |
| 245 | * ImNotADoctorButIPlayOneOnTV: When Nina goes into labor, Charles says he can deliver the baby because he once played an OBGYN on TV. Fortunately, the paramedics arrive before that can happen. |
| 246 | * ImpairmentShot: After Mabel walks in to see [[spoiler:Alice's elaborate re-creation of Mabel's apartment and Bunny's death as part of an art project]], the picture repeatedly blurs both when the camera is shooting her first-person point of view and Mabel herself, broadcasting her internal collapse at the betrayal. |
| 247 | * ImportantHaircut: [[spoiler: Becky Butler]] changes her hairstyle so that no one will recognize her when she leaves her hometown. |
| 248 | * INeverSaidItWasPoison: How [[spoiler: Poppy gives herself away. She begins sneezing from being exposed to Bunny's parrot Mrs. Gambolini. When Oliver and Mabel point out that a witness (Lucy) heard the killer sneeze while fleeing the scene, Poppy snaps, "It's not a crime to be allergic to rancid bird molting. And what? You're gonna believe some... some young girl that's hiding in your walls?" a fact that only the killer could have known.]] |
| 249 | * InstantBirthJustAddLabor: Played straight as an arrow with Nina who goes into labor right after her water breaks when she is pressured by the heroes to confess to the murder. Charles instantly takes on the role of DeliveryGuy, a skill he [[SawItInAMovieOnce learned from performing it on a TV show]] called "The Deliverer". |
| 250 | * InstantlyProvenWrong: When Poppy assures Mabel that her boss [[MeanBoss Cinda Canning]] respects her, we hear Cinda whistling after Poppy to follow her like a dog. Poppy claims it's an inside joke they are having. |
| 251 | * InterchangeableAsianCultures: InUniverse. Oliver knows that Tim Kono's family is Asian but is unsure of the specific country, so he speculates wildly, to the annoyance of Charles. |
| 252 | * InternalReveal: |
| 253 | ** At the end of "The Sting", Charles and Oliver learn of Mabel's connection to Tim Kono, as well as the fact that one of her old friends also died in the building from Oliver's son Will. |
| 254 | ** In episode 8, the group learns from Kono's phone that [[spoiler: Theo was the one who pushed Zoe from the rooftop.]] |
| 255 | * ItWillNeverCatchOn: Seeking old friend Teddy for a loan, Oliver is struck when Teddy starts listing the number of Broadway hits Oliver talked him ''out'' of investing in. |
| 256 | -->'''Teddy''': ''[[Theatre/LesMiserables Le Miz]]?'' "It's such a downer, Teddy and all over a loaf of bread."\ |
| 257 | '''Oliver''': Well, it was...\ |
| 258 | '''Teddy''': ''Theatre/MammaMia''. "I didn't like ABBA when they were ABBA."\ |
| 259 | '''Oliver''': Yeah...\ |
| 260 | '''Teddy''': ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}''!\ |
| 261 | '''Oliver''': They picked the one Founding Father with no pizazz! |
| 262 | * IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: Martin Short's former ''Series/{{SCTV}}'' co-star Creator/AndreaMartin appears in "Performance Review" as Charles' make-up artist Joy. |
| 263 | * IWasToldThereWouldBeCake: The trio lures Uma into the SummationGathering in the season 2 finale with the promise of cake. However, the ordered cake is late and Uma doesn't stop complaining about there not being any cake. |
| 264 | * IWillFindYou: Played for laughs. During the PowerOutagePlot in season 2, Oliver delivers a dramatic speech to come back and find his dips when he has to leave them behind in the building's stairway. |
| 265 | * JustBetweenYouAndMe: When they are [[AloneWithThePsycho alone]], [[spoiler:Jan runs Charles through her EvilPlan and how she murdered Tim Kono. Then she [[BondVillainStupidity decides to leave the room]] expecting Charles to [[LeftForDead succumb to her poison]].]] |
| 266 | * KeepingTheEnemyClose: Despite being warned by Theo that the trio is snooping around their business, Teddy prefers to continue sponsoring their podcast, believing he can better monitor them that way and learn what they know. |
| 267 | * LaserGuidedKarma: Oscar was falsely blamed for Zoe's death thanks in part to the Dimases threatening Tim into [[spoiler:keeping quiet about Theo being the one responsible]]. [[spoiler:When the Dimases get falsely accused of being Tim's killers only to be proven innocent of that crime, Oscar considers it karma.]] |
| 268 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: |
| 269 | ** Episode 6 ends with Oliver noting that Charles's line "Our prime sponsor is now our prime suspect." makes a great last line for an episode. |
| 270 | ** In Episode 8, fans of the podcast say that the Sting episode was a waste of time and had no stakes since Sting obviously isn't going to the killer. (They probably mean that a famous rock star wouldn't personally commit a revenge murder, but it sounds like they're talking about how the show's writer wouldn't make guest star Sting the killer.) |
| 271 | ** Plenty of jokes regarding a second season are raised, in universe to the podcast, but that could easily apply to the show. |
| 272 | ** When Mabel storms off in a huff, Oliver brushes it off as "she does this every third or fourth episode." |
| 273 | ** In the Season 2 finale, Oliver says that this "isn't feeling like a season finale yet", and asks Charles and Mabel if they feel the same way. That's the last line before the credits roll. |
| 274 | ** In the second episode of season 3, when Mabel is talking to Ben, she notes that she "hasn't spoken to a dead person since Tim Kono". Indeed, she saw Tim but did not see Bunny. |
| 275 | ** In the second episode of season 3, when Charles and Mabel are being held hostage by Ben's [[StalkerWithACrush stalker]] [[LoonyFan fan]], Gregg, and he seems to be the killer, they muse about the fact that it usually takes them at least eight episodes to find the killer, and this time they managed to solve it without any falsely accusing anyone, non-consensually recording people, or interrogating a bird. |
| 276 | ** In the third episode of season 3, Charles dismisses the idea that Ben's killer is female because both of the previous seasons' killers were women. Also, Tobert says he liked the first season of the podcast more than the second, echoing the sentiments of fans and critics who felt the show's first season was superior to the second. |
| 277 | ** In the fourth episode of season 3, when Cinda Canning tries to convince Mabel to work with her, she says she should try to take advantage of her "Bloody Mabel" fame while she still has it, as the nickname is starting to feel "very last season". |
| 278 | * LeaveNoWitnesses: In the season one finale, [[spoiler:Jan]] intends to gas all people in the building because they know too much. |
| 279 | * LenoDevice: Teddy Dimas is overjoyed about the unexpected ColbertBump when the heroes' podcast becomes a topic at the ''Series/TheTonightShowStarringJimmyFallon''. |
| 280 | * LockedRoomMystery: In ''Death Rattle'', Oliver's Broadway show, a woman is thrown from the top of a lighthouse and the only person in the room at the time is a baby. |
| 281 | * MacGuffin: |
| 282 | ** The ring Zoe's wearing in the New Year's Eve picture. It disappeared when Zoe's body was found and Tim was devoted to still looking for it years later. [[spoiler:The investigation into the ring leads the trio to uncover the Dimases' smuggling. It also turns out to be a MacGuffin in another way. It's not expensive, but it has sentimental value and Theo gave it to Zoe because of that. When Teddy finds out that Zoe had the ring, he insists Theo go back to get it, which causes the argument that led to Zoe's death.]] |
| 283 | ** Bunny's murder apparently has something to do with a valuable painting she had in her apartment. [[spoiler:It turns out the painting belongs to her mother Lenora and the one in her apartment was a replica. It's also at best only tangentially related to her death (since Poppy was interested in doing an art podcast), but it's actually a coincidence.]] |
| 284 | * MasculineFeminineGayCouple: Mabel, who favors a feminine style, is revealed to be bisexual as she dates tomboy lesbian Alice in season 2. |
| 285 | * MetafictionalTitle: Both the show itself and the podcast Charles, Oliver, and Mabel start are titled ''Only Murders In The Building''. |
| 286 | * MiscarriageOfJustice: Oscar was wrongly convicted of killing Zoe and did ten years in prison before he got released. After the true facts of her death come out, he's exonerated offscreen. |
| 287 | * MissedHimByThatMuch: The season one finale has a RunningGag of characters missing each other going in and coming out of elevators. |
| 288 | * MistakenForCheating: Charles walks in on Jan undressing in front of his StuntDouble and wrongfully assumes the situation to be romantic. |
| 289 | * MistakenNationality: Poppy mistakes Alice's British accent for an Australian one. |
| 290 | * MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: Mabel recognizes how badly Cinda is treating her BeleagueredAssistant Poppy, and urges Poppy to stand up for herself. After Cinda not only refuses to give her a promotion but outright says she'll ''never'' promote her, Poppy calls Mabel and offers to give her any dirt on Cinda she wants. [[spoiler:Poppy's actual betrayal started before that, though.]] |
| 291 | * MoodWhiplash: When Charles reveals [[spoiler:that he's still in sort of a relationship with Jan in Season 2]], he and Oliver start bickering about it in their usual fashion. The humor of the scene stops when Mabel reminds them that [[spoiler:"she killed my friend."]] |
| 292 | * MoreDiverseSequel: In-universe. ''Brazzos'' had a white male lead (played by Charles). The sequel series is led by Brazzos' black niece, while dementia and illness has left Charles's Brazzos [[DisabledInTheAdaptation in a wheelchair.]] He does, however, get to [[ThrowingOffTheDisability throw off the disability]] after testing well with audiences. |
| 293 | * MuseAbuse: Mabel is distraught when learning that Alice was making art from her tragedy. |
| 294 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: |
| 295 | ** Sting initially blames himself for Tim Kono's death, thinking that his firing of Tim drove him to suicide. He is relieved to learn that Tim was actually murdered. |
| 296 | ** A darker example with Theo in episode 7, when flashbacks reveal [[spoiler:he was the one who inadvertently led to Zoe's death. He's shown immediately horrified.]] |
| 297 | ** The trio immediately regret slamming their door in Bunny's face when they realize that she is still standing there, indicating that she wanted to be included in their celebration. As they debate their next course of action, Bunny starts crying loudly, making everyone nervous and uncomfortable. Charles acknowledges that "with a simple act of kindness, they could have saved [Bunny's] life" |
| 298 | * MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: |
| 299 | ** In season 1, Lester attempts to communicate with Theo via ASL but gets it wrong. "I hate these fucking people." becomes "The cheese is always right." |
| 300 | ** In Season 2, Mabel starts picking up some sign language from Theo and when they part she signals him accidentally "Thank you for stealing my fish." |
| 301 | * NarmCharm: InUniverse, this is {{Discussed}} in Season 3. Theater critic Maxine Spear notes that, while Oliver has produced some truly awful shows in the past, even the worst of them had a certain charm because his passion and creativity was ''oozing'' out of them, and all the {{camp}}. Even if they weren't ''good'', they were entertaining and enjoyable. Part of why she panned the (initial) production of ''Death Rattle'' was because, unlike Oliver's previous productions, "It just didn't sing," meaning it was just ''bad'', with no redeeming qualities. Oliver takes this criticism to heart in a very literal way, and retools ''Death Rattle'' into ''Death Rattle Dazzle'', a musical with singing crab people, sparkly costumes, and the same, truly bonkers plot still being played totally straight. It helps that the music ''absolutely slaps'', almost too much for the story it's in. [[spoiler:The retool works. Maxine loves the new production for it's silliness, over-the-top aesthetic, and high energy, and from what we can tell, so does the audience.]] |
| 302 | * NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognise: Generally averted despite having some pretty famous people in the cast. |
| 303 | ** Averted by Creator/NathanLane in Season 1. [[spoiler:He does have a bigger role than is first suggested, but he is not the killer. Even though his son Theo - played by James Caverly - killed ''Zoe'' (but not Tim) prior to the events of the series, he did not. Though he does have multiple secrets that the trio deduces and plays a large antagonistic role.]] |
| 304 | ** Averted by Creator/TinaFey in Season 2. [[spoiler:She is suspected of being the killer, but she is not. Possibly played straight by Creator/MichaelRappaport, who is a recognisable actor who shows up only briefly.]] |
| 305 | ** Inverted with Creator/PaulRudd in season 3 who plays the victim. |
| 306 | ** Averted in Season 3 [[spoiler: Creator/MerylStreep, arguably the most famous actor in season 3, which has a decently stacked cast is not the murderer.]] |
| 307 | * NeverSuicide: The three protagonists, using their AmateurSleuth "skills", immediately suspect Tim Kono didn't kill himself, based on the fact they heard him on the phone saying he was expecting an important package. After their initial snooping [[SubvertedTrope they realize that he really did kill himself]], [[ZigZaggedTrope only to snoop some more and swing back around to suspecting murder]]. |
| 308 | * NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Creator/TinaFey plays Cinda Canning, a thinly veiled parody of Sarah Koenig whose podcast ''Podcast/{{Serial}}'' kickstarted the true-crime podcast craze that this series satirizes. |
| 309 | * NoDialogueEpisode: "The Boy from 6B" is from the perspective of Theo Dimas, who's deaf, so there's no audible spoken dialogue (except for the PreviouslyOn and at the end) and no ambient noise at all when Theo is the POV character. Instead, those who know American Sign Language sign with each other (with subtitles provided) while others communicate through facial expressions, gestures, and text messages. Also, Theo eavesdrops on other people's conversations by [[ReadingLips reading their lips]] (also with subtitles provided). |
| 310 | * NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: InUniverse example. Oliver and Charles's podcast being mocked on ''Series/TheTonightShowStarringJimmyFallon'' leads to a massive spike in popularity for them and Teddy giving them their first paycheck for $50,000. |
| 311 | * NotInFrontOfTheParrot: Bunny's parrot proclaims "I know who did it" implying it saw the murderer. Subverted when it turns that the parrot only repeated a sentence from a movie Bunny watched. |
| 312 | * NotTheFirstVictim: [[spoiler:Tim Kono]] was not [[spoiler:Jan's]] first victim, though we don't learn the details of [[spoiler:her]] other murders. |
| 313 | * ObliviousMockery: Charles voices his disgust for people, like Kono, who are behind with their rent since it makes the rent for everyone go up. Oliver looks abashed. |
| 314 | * OnceMoreWithClarity: |
| 315 | ** Episode 5 shows the scene from the pilot where everyone is rushing out of the building but this time revealing the identity of the person [[InTheHood under the hoodie]] walking up the stairs. |
| 316 | ** Season 1 ends with replaying the ActionHoggingOpening of the pilot, this time showing the murder victim being [[spoiler:Bunny.]] . |
| 317 | ** When [[spoiler:Poppy confesses to her crime in the season 2 finale, we see the flashback again where Detective Kreps turns around at the bar but this time he doesn't lock eyes with Cinda but Poppy across room]]. |
| 318 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: His encounter with Teddy in the elevator in the penultimate episode of Season 2 is the first time we see the normally upbeat Oliver legitimately pissed. He shoots a DeathGlare at Teddy before throttling him as the doors close. |
| 319 | * OpenSaysMe: Subverted in the season 1 finale when Oliver tries to ram in the front door to Jan's apartment but fails miserably. Mabel then solves the problem with a lockpick. |
| 320 | * OverlyLongGag: In "The Tell," Charles and Oliver have an extended bit where they prepare to tell Mabel about the Iran-Contra scandal and list off nearly every person or entity involved, despite her clearly being uninterested. |
| 321 | * ParentsAsPeople: ''Grand''parents in this case; Oliver's a troubled but sympathetic man who is apparently quite neglectful of his grandkids even despite his claim that he wishes he could spend more time with them. He's a source of frustration for his son, who he regularly tries to borrow money from, until recently where his son has put his foot down on the matter. |
| 322 | * ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: |
| 323 | ** The password to Tim's phone is [[spoiler:"Theo". It makes sense, though, since this is a form of insurance for Tim to expose Theo's involvement in Zoe's death and the Dimases' smuggling ring.]] |
| 324 | ** Mabel correctly guesses that the password to Howard's phone is "Evelyn". |
| 325 | * PatterSong: "Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It," performed by Charles, who defines the trope like so: "It's a speed-singing information dump they always give to the guy who can't sing. It's basically a rap." |
| 326 | * ThePeepingTom: Archibald Carter, the architect who built the Arconia, installed a secret elevator that he used to watch women undress. |
| 327 | * PerpWalk: The last scene of season one shows the three protagonists being carried off by police in slow motion while the tenants of Arcadia line up to cast a last DisapprovingLook on them. |
| 328 | * PersonAsVerb: Charles's StuntDouble mentions Charles getting "[[Creator/QuentinTarantino Tarantino'd]]", whatever that means. |
| 329 | * PlotAllergy: The killer's parrot dander allergy in season 2 becomes a plot point. |
| 330 | * PlotTriggeringDeath: The mystery around Tim Kono's death brings the three protagonists together. |
| 331 | * PoisonIsEvil: [[spoiler: Jan may have shot Tim to make it look like a suicide, but poison is her preferred weapon.]] |
| 332 | * PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: |
| 333 | ** Early in season 2, Oliver comments that he loved Music/{{Sting}} even before he was in Music/ThePolice. Creator/AmySchumer responds she didn't know Sting was in law enforcement. |
| 334 | ** Charles has trouble connecting to the Gen Z Lucy, because he doesn't get any of her cultural references. |
| 335 | * PopUpTexting: Text messages received by characters are shown as text bubbles on-screen. |
| 336 | * PosthumousCharacter: |
| 337 | ** Tim Kono, who dies in the first episode yet reappears throughout, including in flashbacks, and remains a big presence in Mabel's life. |
| 338 | ** Rose Cooper, an artist who disappeared under mysterious circumstances decades ago [[spoiler:and had an affair with Charles' dad. Subverted when she turns out to be alive and well.]] |
| 339 | * PosthumousNarration: [[spoiler: The Season 1 finale has Tim take the reins of narrator, taking the audience through the minutes leading up to his murder]]. |
| 340 | * PowerOutagePlot: Episode 8 of season 2 deals with the trio surviving a city-wide power outage at night with a murderer on the loose. |
| 341 | * PregnancyMakesYouCrazy: Exploited. When Nina, who is pregnant at the time, comes under suspicion, Lucy suggests driving her over the edge and forcing her to make mistakes because she is "super hormonal". |
| 342 | * ProductPlacement: State Farm has an overall sponsorship deal with Disney. ''OMITB'' has fun with its contractual obligation to plug the company by having Howard annoy Oliver through repeated mentions of an unseen cousin who works at State Farm. |
| 343 | * PromotedToOpeningTitles: Michael Cyril Creighton is billed in Season 3's opening credits and Howard, his character, is shown walking his cat in the title sequence. |
| 344 | * ProxyBreakup: Charles cannot bring himself to break up with Jan in person so he has his stunt double Sazz read out a letter to her instead. It backfires on him when Sazz gets together with Jan. |
| 345 | * PseudoCrisis: Episode 8 ends with Charles finding Jan stabbed down, possibly dead. The next episode shows her recovering from what seemed to have been a minor stab wound. |
| 346 | * QuietCryForHelp: Charles [[WrongAssumption wrongly assumes]] Mabel has been kidnapped by Oscar and her casual "just chilling" comment on the phone was secret code for "help, I've been taken hostage." |
| 347 | * RebootSnark: Charles Haden-Savage is a washed-up actor whose biggest claim to fame was being the star of a long-running ShowWithinAShow about a detective, ''Brazzos''. After his podcast blows up, he gains newfound notoriety and in season 2 is offered to star in a ''Brazzos'' [[ContinuityReboot reboot]]. Though he is initially overjoyed to receive the call, his excitement dims when he learns it's a SpinOffspring revival and he'll be playing the mentor "Uncle Brazzos" role to a new, younger Brazzos. |
| 348 | * RecordedAudioAlibi: In Season 1, on the night of Tim Kono's murder, Jan's signature instrument (her bassoon) is heard playing across the courtyard of the Arconia, as she does with Charles later. She establishes that she practices nightly. But, on the night of Tim's murder, it was a recording to cover up the fact she killed him. |
| 349 | * RedHerring: It's a murder mystery, so it might be easier to list who ''isn't'' a red herring: |
| 350 | ** Many characters are briefly considered but eliminated over the course of a single episode. Howard is notable for being eliminated in a single episode but coming back as a suspect later on... only to be eliminated that same episode again. |
| 351 | ** "Tie-dye guy"'s identity remains a mystery for half of the first season but he's eventually revealed as [[spoiler: Oscar, who's not only a red herring for this crime but also was wrongly convicted of killing Zoe ten years ago]]. |
| 352 | *** "Tie-dye guy" is also a red herring in another way. Because the victim is wearing a tie-dye hoodie in the flashforward, it naturally suggests that's who Mabel may have killed. However, the hoodie itself is a RedHerring, [[spoiler:because Oliver ends up manufacturing them for the podcast fans, and instead it's Bunny wearing one.]] |
| 353 | ** After spending most of the first season [[spoiler:setting Teddy and Theo Dimas as being responsible for Tim Kono's death, it turns out they were connected [[BigSecret by an entirely different crime]]]]. |
| 354 | ** Alice is suspicious from her first appearance, as she pushes into Mabel's life as soon as Bunny dies and is revealed to be a liar. [[spoiler:She's not a good girlfriend to Mabel and ''is'' exploiting her for her art, but she didn't do anything to Bunny. This becomes a plot point in the Season 2 finale when the podcasters use her suspicious behavior as ammunition against the real killer.]] |
| 355 | ** Much of season 2 is spent on Bunny's dying words "14 Savage" and an infamous painting of Rose Cooper and how both connect to Charles. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that Charles's relationship with his father and Rose Cooper had nothing to do with the murder. It was Poppy White/Becky Butler trying to spin a story featuring the painting in order to have fodder for a podcast.]] |
| 356 | * TheReveal: |
| 357 | ** The end of the first episode reveals [[spoiler: that Mabel and Tim knew each other, and he was part of the Hardy Boys group that she had earlier talked about with Charles. She keeps their history a secret from Charles and Oliver, until [[InternalReveal Oliver's son remembers her and gives the info to them]]]]. |
| 358 | ** Theo [[spoiler: not Oscar, killed Zoe, and Teddy covered it up for him. That's also why Teddy was bankrolling the podcast]]. |
| 359 | ** The Arconia [[spoiler: is filled with secret passageways and an elevator system the original designer used to spy on tenants]]. |
| 360 | ** Season 2 reveals that [[spoiler:[[NotActuallyHisChild Oliver's son is actually Teddy's biologically]]]]. |
| 361 | ** The trio has actually been texting [[spoiler:with Bunny's killer instead of Det. Williams]]. |
| 362 | ** Charles [[spoiler: got Ben Glenroy fired from the set of Brazos when the latter was eight years old]]. |
| 363 | ** Loretta is [[spoiler: Dickie’s birth mother]]. |
| 364 | * RewatchBonus: |
| 365 | ** When Mabel flashes back to the immediate aftermath of Zoe's death and she and Tim are talking about it, [[spoiler:Theo]] can briefly be seen behind her in a MeaningfulBackgroundEvent as he leaves the roof. As he's only appeared for about ten seconds in total before this, though, and it's dark, the odds of viewers recognizing him - even after his formal reintroduction to Oliver - is close to nil. |
| 366 | ** In "Performance Review," Poppy White sits down in front of a poster for Cinda's previous podcast, which boldly asks "Where is Becky Butler?" [[spoiler: Well, she's right there.]] |
| 367 | * RightForTheWrongReasons: When the trio find a sewing circle instead of a secret brothel, Oliver says, "You're the five whores?". It turns out one of them used to be a prostitute. |
| 368 | * RotatingProtagonist: While it's undeniable that Charles, Oliver, and Mabel are the main characters, every episode of the first season rotated the primary viewpoint character/narrator serving as ADayInTheLimelight, usually with increased prominence as well as bookending the episode with their narration: |
| 369 | ** The first episode, "True Crime", is primarily from Mabel's point of view |
| 370 | ** "Who is Tim Kono?" is from Charles's perspective, with much of his narration being lines from the podcast that he's narrating. |
| 371 | ** "How Well Do You Know Your Neighbors?" has Oliver in the limelight, with the framing device being him viewing the suspects in a similar manner to a director casting a play. |
| 372 | ** "The Sting" is bookended by scenes with Cinda Canning and her role in the episode is a major part. |
| 373 | ** "Twist" is told from Oscar's perspective. |
| 374 | ** "To Protect and Serve" is told from the perspective of Det. Williams who dismissed the main trio in the first episode as she gets reinvolved with the case. |
| 375 | ** "The Boy From 6B" is from the perspective of Theo Dimas. As he's deaf, the episode features no spoken dialogue until the very final seconds. |
| 376 | ** "Fan Fiction" is from the perspective of Sam, a superfan of the podcast. |
| 377 | ** "Double Time" is initially from Jan's perspective. Notably, she gives no closing monologue, likely since [[spoiler: the episode ends with the implication that she's now the prime suspect]]. |
| 378 | ** "Open and Shut" is from [[spoiler: Tim's]] perspective, [[spoiler: who provides a posthumous account of the events leading up to his murder]]. |
| 379 | ** The second season continued this trend with "Persons of Interest" opening with a brief fantasy sequence narrated by Charles. |
| 380 | ** "Framed" gives us a brief history of the Arconia narrated by Leonora Folger [[spoiler:who is actually Rose Cooper]]. |
| 381 | ** "The Last Day of Bunny Folger" is told from Bunny's perspective. |
| 382 | ** "Here's Looking at You" is narrated by Lucy who records a video on her phone while hiding in the Arconia's secret passages. |
| 383 | ** "The Tell" is narrated by Oliver's son Will. |
| 384 | ** "Performance Review" is narrated by Cinda Canning's assistant Poppy White. |
| 385 | ** "Flipping the Pieces" has Mabel as the narrator once again. |
| 386 | ** "Hello, Darkness" is narrated by Marv, one of the Arconiacs. |
| 387 | ** "Sparring Partners" is narrated by Det. Kreps [[spoiler:who was revealed to be Glitter Guy at the end of the previous episode]]. |
| 388 | ** "I Know Who Did It" is also narrated by Poppy, only this time [[spoiler:her narration reveals her past as Becky Butler]]. |
| 389 | * SearchingTheStalls: On Coney Island, Mabel hides from a suspect in a changing room's locker. But then she makes a noise that alerts the man who starts searching the set of lockers one by one. When he reaches the one Mabel is in, she pushes the door open and bolts. |
| 390 | * SecondHandStorytelling: Played for laughs whenever Charles blanks during rehearsals of his solo in Oliver's musical, mentally disappearing into a "white room" and only coming to at the end of an unspeakably disgusting and offensive performance, not shown on screen. Oliver is outraged at the "filth" from Charles, Howard asks to be excused to call his therapist, and another onlooker, deeply offended as a Christian, rushes out to consult a priest. |
| 391 | * SecretPath: The trio finds a hidden door in Bunny's closet leading to a private elevator at the backside of the building. |
| 392 | * SecretRoom: |
| 393 | ** Mabel discovers a secret room at [[spoiler:Teddy's place where he hides urns and the jewelry from his RobbingTheDead business.]] |
| 394 | ** Mabel and Oliver discover a secret compartment in the embalming room of the funeral home where Theo works. |
| 395 | * SelfServingMemory: Oliver at one point claims people have a bad habit of this, openly telling Charles he imagines his TV stardom being much bigger than it was. However, Oliver likewise falls into this, such as talking about how everyone at a theater, including a batch of kids, laughed at his joke about Orson Welles. In reality, he only said that joke to his son, who didn't laugh. |
| 396 | -->'''Oliver''': Memory can contain both objective reality and subjective perception. |
| 397 | * SequelHook: |
| 398 | ** Season One ends with Mabel, Oliver, and Charles getting arrested for a crime they didn't commit, hinting at a continuation of their adventures in a second season. |
| 399 | ** Season Two ends with a Broadway star dying on stage during a production that Oliver directed and Charles costars in. |
| 400 | ** Season Three ends with Sazz Pataki dying after having been shot by a sniper. |
| 401 | * {{Sequelitis}}: Invoked by Oliver in a metafictional moment in the premiere of the second season, who notes that following up their first podcast might be difficult. |
| 402 | -->'''Oliver:''' [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall Well, second seasons are tough, you know]], but people keep dying. So, I suppose there's... always a chance. |
| 403 | * SeriousBusiness: TrueCrime podcasting seems to be a huge thing for some people. |
| 404 | * ShadowArchetype: Teddy for Oliver. Both are fathers to one son (Will and Theo) with a MissingMom to whom they're bad parents but try to be better. Both are former close friends who are passionate about the arts, especially musical theatre. However, Oliver's worst crime is that he mooches money off Will, which has damaged their relationship. Teddy loves Theo a lot, but is very protective/controlling towards him, involving him in his grave-robbing business and manipulating him with money, but also covering up his role in Zoe's death. This becomes text when Teddy says he tried to be as good a father as Oliver to Theo. [[spoiler:And becomes even more obvious with TheReveal that Teddy, not Oliver, is Will's real father.]] |
| 405 | * ShameIfSomethingHappened: |
| 406 | ** Teddy gets Tim Kono to keep mum about Zoe's death by saying it would be a shame if something similar were to happen to him or Mabel. |
| 407 | ** He pulls the same ImpliedDeathThreat on Mabel and Oliver when they have a chat in the car after their abduction. |
| 408 | -->'''Teddy''': You'll make the right choice. Because if you don't, well, [[TheVillainKnowsWhereYouLive I know where you live]]. |
| 409 | * ShoutOut: |
| 410 | ** Mabel and Tim bonded over ''Literature/{{The Hardy Boys}}'' books, to the point that it was the name of their friend group. The group also had matching whale tattoos, which is in reference to one of their stories. |
| 411 | ** The [[RoomFullOfCrazy crime board]] in Charles's apartment gets likened to the one in ''Film/ABeautifulMind''. |
| 412 | ** The design and fonts of the titles reference fellow New York-based media ''Magazine/TheNewYorker''. Fittingly, the series feels like something from their old web video spinoff, or even true crime entry or a genre fiction short in one of their magazines. |
| 413 | ** Oliver refers to ''Film/FaceOff'' when mistaking Charles's StuntDouble for him. |
| 414 | ** Oliver also refers to ''Film/PaperMoon'' when seeing [[ParentChildTeam Mabel following in Charles's footsteps]] as a MasterOfUnlocking in front of Jan's apartment. |
| 415 | ** Lucy's exaggerated "Gen Z Speak" tirade contains a number of these, most notably her mentioning how she [[Music/ThousandGecs Prayed to the]] [[Music/HundredGecs 100 Gecs]] [[Music/ThousandGecs tree."]] The tree on the cover of [[Music/ThousandGecs 1000 Gecs]] did actually become a pilgrimage site for fans of the band, so much so that the campus it was on had to fence it due to excessive traffic. |
| 416 | ** "Flipping the Pieces" has Oliver and Detective Williams talk about ''Theatre/AChorusLine''. Oliver sings "One" to help Williams's son with gases. |
| 417 | ** "Hello, Darkness" is a reference to the song [[Music/SimonAndGarfunkel "The Sound of Silence"]]. The episode also features a scene where multiple people sing it. |
| 418 | ** Cinda likens the final episode of Season 2 as being "very ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo''." |
| 419 | * ShowerScene: Mabel has a brief shower scene at the end of the first episode, which reveals the whale tattoo on her shoulder. |
| 420 | * ShowWithinAShow: "Brazzos", a fictional cop show from the '90s that Charles starred in. |
| 421 | * SkewedPriorities: The building meeting to [[spoiler: evict the trio]] revealed that many in the building were more upset at the poor publicity brought on by the podcast and not the [[spoiler: grave robbing ring and murderer living in the building]] which are the actual causes of the poor publicity. |
| 422 | * SlowElectricity: When the power outage occurs in season 2, the lights in the city go out district by district. |
| 423 | * SocialDeductionGame: "The Tell" is themed around "Son of Sam", a parlor game of Oliver's. It is a social deduction game themed similar to ''TabletopGame/Werewolf1997'' (but themed around David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam killer). Characters are handed cards -- most are [[SlashersPreferBlondes "innocent blondes"]], but one is the Son of Sam killer, who pinches/"kills" an unknowing victim in each round. The group must then vote on who they think the killer is (if Oliver doesn't get it before them) lest the killer gets them all; if an accused person turns out to be innocent, they die as well. |
| 424 | * SophomoreSlump: Invoked in-universe. |
| 425 | ** The fans are relieved that the podcast is picking up after the RedHerring-heavy first half of the second season. |
| 426 | ** In Season 3, Tobert says that he preferred the first season to the second. |
| 427 | * SplitScreenPhoneCall: Charles and Jan's phone call in season 2 is shown via split screen. |
| 428 | * SpotTheImposter: The gang is thrown in Season 2 when, after texting with Detective Wiliams for a while on the case, they hear she's in Denver on maternity leave. When they text on possible evidence, "Williams" responds to just leave it in a park and she'll pick it up later that day and the gang realizes this isn't her. |
| 429 | * SpottingTheThread: "Open and Shut" reveals that Charles had his suspicions about [[spoiler:Jan after noticing that the supposed suicide notes, threatening letters, and the notes she sent to him all feature a distinctly written "J".]] |
| 430 | * StereoFibbing: When Charles and Oliver decide to hand over the bloody knife that was used to kill Bunny to Detective Williams, they forget to align their stories. Charles claims they found it in the toilet and Oliver says it was in the ceiling. Then they swap their answers. [[SassyBlackWoman Williams]] calls their skit a CringeComedy. |
| 431 | * StoppedClock: Ben's death in season 3 was estimated at 12:06 am, going by the time his watch broke after the fall in the elevator shaft. Later Mabel learns from Dickie that Ben used to set his watch 20 min early so he would be [[ThePrimaDonna notoriously late for any appointment]]. His actual time of death at 12:26 places the creepy stalker Gregg Rivera outside of the building and renders him innocent. |
| 432 | * SuddenDownerEnding: |
| 433 | ** [[spoiler: At first the first season seems ready to go out on an EarnYourHappyEnding note, but then Bunny is seemingly murdered and Mabel is found over her body, which leads to all three of our heroes being arrested and carted off.]] |
| 434 | ** [[spoiler: Downplayed in the second season finale, which involves a one-year TimeSkip, allowing the trio some downtime before witnessing their next murder which provides the season's cliffhanger.]] |
| 435 | ** [[spoiler: The third season ends with another murder solved and Oliver's play being a success, only for Sazz Pataki to be shot to death.]] |
| 436 | * TheSummation: Subverted during the SummationGathering in "I Know Who Did It": Mable, Oliver, and Charles give a summation in which they first accuse Cinda of Bunny's murder before eventually settling on Alice, who grabs a knife and stabs Charles. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that the whole scene was staged for the benefit of the real killer and Alice was in on it. Charles is fine.]] |
| 437 | * SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Charles, Oliver, and Mabel sneak into Tim Kono's apartment, see his body, and are repulsed to find that a chunk of his skull is missing and his brains are leaking out. Charles says that it's nothing at all like the neat bodies he encountered as a TV detective. |
| 438 | * SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: |
| 439 | ** In "Performance Review," Oliver is sitting in a doctor's office getting ready to take a paternity test to determine if he is Will's father. While flustered, he tells the person next to him that he is not nervous about it. |
| 440 | ** Also in that same episode, when Mabel asks Charles if he is seeing Jan anew, Charles remarks he isn't despite having the correctional facility's number multiple times in his recent call log. Mabel sees right through this. |
| 441 | * TakeThat: The second season gets some shots in against the TrueCrime genre. |
| 442 | ** Oliver, in dismissing Howard, says that they're going to switch to a subscription model as a dig toward podcasts that do so to increase revenue after building up a listener base with a free season. |
| 443 | ** Oliver and Creator/AmySchumer discuss adapting the Tim Kono investigation for television in a stab at the proliferation of TrueCrime adaptations coming out on TV and streaming. Oliver suggests cutting out Charles to focus the potential show on himself and Mabel while Amy Schumer proposes making Jan the central character by recasting the AxCrazy SerialKiller as an AntiHero as a criticism of how adaptations take ArtisticLicense for the sake of narrative and drama. |
| 444 | * TemptingFate: While in an elevator with Mabel and Oliver, Charles says they could not have done a podcast about Ben Glenroy's murder because he did not die in the Arconia. [[spoiler:Cue blood dripping on Charles, and seconds later, Ben's dead body falling through the top of the elevator, having just been murdered in the building.]] |
| 445 | * ThatSatisfyingCrunch: Alice makes Mabel destroy a sculpture with an ax to help her resolve her internal conflicts. |
| 446 | * ThisIsReality: When Theo reveals he can barely understand her, Mabel notes how "people seem to lip read much better in the movies." |
| 447 | * TimeShiftedActor: In "The Tell", there is a flashback to Oliver's life as a young man in the 1970s. In the flashback, he is played by Samuel Farnsworth rather than Martin Short. |
| 448 | * TitleDrop: When Oliver suggests that they bank material for their podcast by covering another murder in Central Park, Charles immediately declares they'll cover "only murders in the building!" This ends up being the title of their Podcast as well. |
| 449 | * TotallyRadical: |
| 450 | ** In-universe, Charles picks up the word "rando" from Mabel. However, he combines it with the EyeAmWatchingYou gesture which Mabel notes is not making sense. |
| 451 | ** Lucy asks if Charles and Oliver are "[[MistakenForGay queer-coded]]" in season 2. "''x''-coded" ''is'' a real term used to describe fictional characters[[note]]e.g., a character that is queer-coded is supposed to be seen as queer by the audience without the writers explicitly stating it[[/note]] but it is used exclusively in meta discussions, not as a descriptor for real people you know. |
| 452 | * TrashyTrueCrime: Zigzagged. |
| 453 | ** Mabel, Charles, and Oliver are all sympathetic fans of true crime who start their own true crime podcast upon the death of their neighbor, Tim Kono. Though somewhat attention-seeking, they are portrayed very sympathetically. |
| 454 | ** Their fans, on the other hand, are pretty creepy and over-invested, with Marv being revealed as a deadbeat dad who searches for respect through their coverage, though harmless (and, in one Season 2 episode, actually helpful). |
| 455 | ** Cinda Canning, the famous podcaster that the group idolizes, is perhaps the worst of the lot, as a podcaster who plagiarized from her assistant and an all-around MeanBoss. [[spoiler:Her assistant is also a murderer.]] |
| 456 | ** Also, Detective Williams, the only person who'll help the trio, is herself no fan of true crime, outwardly referring to it as disgusting and encouraging untrained citizens to think they can do police work. She does warm up to the trio, however. |
| 457 | * TroubledProduction: ''Death Rattle (Dazzle)'' is an InUniverse example. Ben Glenroy dying on stage was just one of the problems in addition to Loretta struggling with her acting, Charles struggling with singing, Loretta falsely confessing to Ben's murder, and Oliver having ''two'' heart attacks. |
| 458 | * TwoferTokenMinority: The cast is largely white, with a few exceptions. |
| 459 | ** Mabel is Latina and bisexual. |
| 460 | ** Additionally Detective Williams and her wife are both Black lesbians. |
| 461 | ** Jonathan, a Black gay man, becomes a supporting character in Season 2. |
| 462 | * TyrannicalHomeownersAssociation: The board of the Arconia functions as a homeowners' association (though applying to an ApartmentComplexOfHorrors). |
| 463 | ** The initial head of the board, Bunny Folger, is a petty tyrant and grumpy misanthrope who never smiles. The entire board shows complete disinterest in Tim Kono's suicide or murder. While Bunny has cause to evict Oliver in Season 1 (which she does), she's still extremely humorless about it. The board also votes to evict Mabel and Charles, though they haven't done anything wrong except publish the podcast (and have actually exposed crimes at the Arconia). Bunny then becomes the AssholeVictim for S2, though [[spoiler:she is revealed to have a softer side and a HiddenHeartOfGold.]] |
| 464 | ** Bunny's replacement, Nina Lin, is a cruel and dismissive woman who throws Bunny off the board and apparently has severe anger issues, even punching Howard in the face at one point. The trio find it easy to believe that Nina and her husband killed Bunny all to modify the building in some way. [[spoiler:Although they are wrong. Nina genuinely mourns for and misses Bunny, didn't kill her, and is ''extremely'' upset that Bunny won't get to meet her baby.]] |
| 465 | * UncomfortableElevatorMoment: |
| 466 | ** The three protagonists, along with Tim Kono, share one in the first episode, with Oliver awkwardly trying to talk to Charles and Mabel while they both do their best to ignore him. |
| 467 | ** Oliver has an excruciating elevator ride with Teddy [[spoiler:in season 2 because Teddy is out on bond before the trial. Oliver's awkward inquiry of how prison was gets answered by an extended, smiling series of threats by Teddy.]] |
| 468 | ** Oliver goes through another one with Teddy after [[spoiler:getting confirmation that Teddy is his son's biological father]], but this time he goes for Teddy's neck while threatening to kill him. Then the elevator doors open to reveal that Howard is about to enter the elevator. Oliver beckons him to come in and lunges at Teddy again, resulting in Howard going through one. |
| 469 | * UnconventionalFoodOrder: The Pickle Diner serves a sandwich composed of liverwurst and marmalade though everyone hates it, with Bunny even calling it "freak food". [[spoiler:Mabel notices the sandwich is designated "Sandwich 14" on the menu, causing her to realize Bunny's dying words were her trying to identify her killer as the only person who enjoyed Sandwich 14- Poppy]]. |
| 470 | * UnholyMatrimony: [[spoiler:Poppy White and Detective Kreps, the killers in season 2, turn out to be a couple who apparently genuinely love each other even as they murder for personal gain while framing people for their crimes.]] |
| 471 | * TheUnHug: At the end of season 2 episode 6, Oliver and Charles lean in to [[SecurityCling give each other a comforting hug]] over the shock of watching footage of Mabel stabbing a man on the subway. It turns into an awkward moment though since both men are not comfortable with embracing each other. |
| 472 | * UnstoppableRage: Oliver has this during his second above UncomfortableElevatorMoment with Teddy, which they do [[WimpFight fight]] and right after Howard leaves, they keep on fighting which Teddy ends up winning. |
| 473 | * VirtualAssistantBlunder: When Charles is poisoned by Jan, he attempts to use his iPhone's Siri, saying "Siri, I don't feel good". Siri ends up playing "Fields of Gold" by Music/{{Sting}}. |
| 474 | * WhamEpisode: |
| 475 | ** ''Season 1Episode 7'', big time. [[spoiler: Teddy is revealed to be running a grave robbing business out of the funeral home he owns, stealing jewelry off of corpses before they're cremated. The ring Zoe had the night she died was stolen from Teddy's apartment. Teddy's son Theo is his accomplice tasked with getting it back, and was accidentally responsible for Zoe's death. Tim Kono saw what happened and was threatened into silence by Teddy who told him Mabel might meet a similar fate if he didn't stay quiet. Charles, Oliver and Mabel discover Teddy's operation, with Oliver and Mabel captured by Theo after they went to investigate the funeral home. However, Oliver manages to get a message off to Charles before that happens telling him to use THEO as the password on Tim's phone, which unlocks all of Tim's data.]] |
| 476 | ** ''Season 1 Episode 8'' reveals that [[spoiler:Tim was poisoned ''before'' he was shot and that the Dimases weren't even in the building when Tim was killed.]] |
| 477 | ** ''Season 1 Finale'' [[spoiler: The trio successfully solving the case and proving that Jan was Tim's killer. However, after that, while celebrating getting their apartments back and completing the first season of their podcast, Charles and Oliver receive a mysterious text to get out of the building. They hurry to check on Mabel, who went to get more champagne, and find her in her apartment, lying in front of Bunny's dead body. The three are swarmed and immediately arrested by the police]]. |
| 478 | ** ''Season 2 Episode 9''. [[spoiler:The woman who claimed to be Leonora Folger turns out to be Rose Cooper, an artist who went missing years before. Oliver gets confirmation that Teddy Dimas is his son Will's biological father and confronts Teddy about it. Cinda Canning's assistant Poppy White reveals to Mabel that she is Becky Butler, the supposedly dead girl whose murder Cinda became famous for solving.]] |
| 479 | ** The ''Season 2 finale''. [[spoiler:With the help of Cinda Canning and Alice Banks, the trio successfully tricks Poppy White aka Becky Butler into confessing to the murder of Bunny Folger. It seems like their podcasting days are behind them. But a year later another murder happens, this time involving a Broadway star whose co-stars is Charles, and is directed by Oliver.]] |
| 480 | * WhamLine: |
| 481 | ** From the end of "Double Time": |
| 482 | -->'''Mabel''': Why is there a [[spoiler: bassoon cleaner]] in Tim's sex toy box?[[labelnote:Context]]Suspecting that Tim Kono was murdered by a secret lover, Mabel and Oliver look into his collection of sex toys, only to discover that one of them came from a shop that sells musical instruments and is a device for cleaning bassoons, the same instrument played by Charles's girlfriend, Jan.[[/labelnote]] |
| 483 | ** From the end of "Sparring Partners": |
| 484 | -->'''Poppy White''': I'm [[spoiler:Becky Butler]].[[labelnote:Context]]Mabel asks Poppy why she is afraid of Cinda Canning and Poppy reveals that she is the alleged murder victim that Cinda's podcast was about.[[/labelnote]] |
| 485 | ** "I Know Who Did It" gives us a Wham ''Sound'': After Alice Banks has supposedly been implicated in the murder of Bunny Folger, Cinda's assistant, Poppy, begins sneezing uncontrollably. [[labelnote: Context]] Just like the person Lucy heard while she was hiding in the walls the night Bunny was murdered.[[/labelnote]] |
| 486 | * WhamShot: |
| 487 | ** The first episode ends with a photograph of Mabel's group The Hardy Boys with Tim Kono, the murder victim pictured. |
| 488 | ** [[spoiler:The Season 3 premiere has one when the supposedly dead Ben Glenroy enters Oliver's apartment alive and well. We get ''another'' Wham Shot in the same episode when [[RainOfBlood blood drips onto Charles]], and then Ben's dead body drops through the elevator.]] |
| 489 | * WhiteVoidRoom: Played with in Season 3. Whenever Charles tries to sing his big number for ''Death Rattle Dazzle'', he enters a kind of fugue state that his co-stars call the "white room". It consists of a single room painted entirely white. The same thing happens when he tries to [[spoiler:break up with Joy and accidentally proposes to her instead]]. |
| 490 | * WhoMurderedTheAsshole: |
| 491 | ** Tim Kono was HatedByAll in the building which keeps the range of potential suspects wide open. |
| 492 | ** Bunny Folger is not the most popular person in the Arconia, and is shown making enemies before her death. |
| 493 | ** Ben Glenroy is an arrogant movie star who is disliked by many of his costars in Oliver's play. |
| 494 | * WindowLove: Charles and imprisoned Jan perform the window touch gesture during their second meeting. |
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