Review-"Only Murders In The Building" Season 3, Episodes 1 & 2

 Author's Note: This article contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Season 3 of "Only Murders In The Building". Please do not read any further if you have not watched them yet.

    At 12:00 midnight ET August 8, the first two episodes of the third season of the hit murder mystery series "Only Murders In The Building" premiered on Hulu. The first episode, titled "The Show Must...", begins in 1962 where we see a young girl watching a Broadway production on stage and expressing her own dreams about getting to be on Broadway someday. The episode then progresses to the present day, where we see that same woman is Loretta Durkin (Meryl Streep), an actress who has a role in "Death Rattle", the newest Broadway production by Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), one third of our favorite podcasting/sleuthing trio.

    We then cut to the present day where, picking right up where Season Two left off, Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd) is taken away by ambulance after apparently collapsing and dying on stage during the opening minutes of the show. We then flash back to four months earlier and are shown how Ben first met everyone. Like his fellow murder victims from the first two seasons, Tim Kono and Bunny Folger, Ben is presented as someone who is not very likable, which naturally means that almost anyone could potentially have a motive for wanting to kill him. 

    There is one moment in this scene that I think is worth noting. Ben tells his fellow cast members that he can't eat cookies, supposedly because he needs to stay in shape, but I'm suspecting the real reason Ben can't eat them is because he's allergic. Could Ben's killer have used this information in their plan to murder him? In this same scene, we are introduced to some of Ben's fellow cast members, such as Kimber (Ashely Park), who plays his love interest in "Death Rattle" and the aforementioned Loretta Durkin.

    We then cut back to the present day, where a party is being held to celebrate the opening of Oliver's play. It is here that we are given our first major plot twist-Ben isn't actually dead. Apparently he survived his murder attempt and is now supposedly trying to make amends for his past behavior.

    In the closing moments of the season premiere, Charles Haden-Savage (Steve Martin) and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) are on the elevator discussing how even if Ben had died, they wouldn't have been able to cover his death on their podcast since he didn't die in the building. Suddenly, they notice some blood dripping down from the elevator ceiling and then hear a loud crash-as the (for real this time) dead body of Ben Glenroy comes crashing down.

The second episode, titled "The Beat Goes On", has our trio attending Ben's funeral-or rather, attending a videotaped presentation of his funeral, as the chapel where his funeral was being held is apparently overcrowded. A man claiming to have worked security for Ben introduces himself to Mabel and invites her and Charles up to his room, where he apparently has a file on Ben. When they get to his room, however, they realize that he has actually been stalking Ben after seeing what appears to be a photo of him and Ben has actually been photoshopped. The fake security guard then chloroforms Charles and Mabel, rendering them unconscious.

    Meanwhile, Oliver is walking around the church lobby, apparently unaware of his friends' predicament, when he suddenly begins clutching at his chest-he's having a heart attack. Fortunately, some quick medical intervention courtesy of his son Will (and the luxury of being one of the show's main characters) ensures that he will live another day. 

    We then cut to Charles and Mabel, who have been tied up in what appears to be some kind of basement or warehouse by the fake security guard. Charles thinks this guy is the one who murdered Ben but Mabel disagrees, pointing out that the security guard thinks that they murdered Ben. The fake security guard is about to set them on fire with a blowtorch when they police show up to arrest him, allowing Charles and Mabel to go free. 

    Back at the Arconia, Charles and Mabel make an interesting discovery-the security guard had a handkerchief from Ben's dressing room,  but Ben had an identical looking handkerchief on him when his body was discovered. They realize that the handkerchief on Ben must belong to his killer. 

So, what did you all think of the first two episode of Season Three of "Only Murders In The Building"? Who do you think killed Ben Glenroy? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.