Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for the Season 3 finale of Only Murders in the Building.
In the penultimate episode of Hulu’sOnly Murders in the BuildingSeason 3, the gang’s back together as Mabel (Selena Gomez), Oliver (Martin Short), and Charles (Steve Martin) use their illegally recorded interviews to begin constructing a timeline of the nightBen Glenroy (Paul Rudd)was murdered. Putting everyone’s stories together, they discover Ben was part of a secret sewing club, which he kept hidden from absolutely everyone in his life, including Dickie (Jeremy Shamos). That’s where Ben was before he arrived at the theater for opening night, handcrafting the gifts he gave to everyone in the show. Then, the podcast crew walks through the night and every one of Ben’s interactions, hoping to find out who was available to even commit the crime in the first place. Ultimately, they piece the clues together to reveal that producer Donna (Linda Emond) poisoned Ben with a cookie — which is what, not who, he was passionately talking to in his dressing room in the footage captured by Tobert (Jesse Williams) where he discussed the cookie ruining his career.
Why did Donna kill Ben? Well, she received an advance copy of the review that would have made their show a complete flop, which focused heavily on Ben’s lackluster performance. After shredding the review in Oliver’s office and being interrupted by a knock on the door from Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton), she saw rat poison on the shelf and dusted the cookie with it. She wanted to kill him to stop the show from moving forward with the goal of protecting her son Cliff (Wesley Taylor). After all, if his first show was a failure it would have destroyed his career and future. Knowing the identity of the killer, the trio took off to the courthouse to explain their theory and saveLoretta (Meryl Streep)from taking the fall for a crime she didn’t commit (as she believed Dickie did it, but video evidence proved he did and could not have). But, Donna’s presence in the courtroom stopped them in their tracks. With much left to reveal, includingwho pushed Ben down the elevator shaft, let’s break down the shockingOnly Murders in the BuildingSeason 3 finale.
It’s Opening Day in the ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 3 Finale
Picking up a day later, after stopping Loretta from pleading guilty and bailing her out, the trio and Loretta discuss their theory about Donna. They walk Loretta through what they presume Donna did that night and why, and they admit that Donna pushing Ben down the elevator shaft after the rat poison didn’t kill him is a pretty drastic step for her. But, Loretta delivers information that makes the drastic step make sense: Donna is sick. She recalls Donna throwing up in the bathroom and looking unwell after, which Loretta takes a step further to suggest that Donna is trying to protect her son’s future before she’s gone. Now, it’s time to figure out how to make Donna confess and have a successful opening night. However, Loretta gives the trio the hankie that Ben was holding when he died, which stops the trio short as it becomes a major part of their plan moving forward.
At the Goosebury Theater, everyone is prepping for the show. Howard is sweeping and welcoming the ghostly Gideon Goosebury, while Jonathan (Jason Veasey) takes his “leading man” cocktail of pills. Meanwhile, the trio is putting their plan into motion. Mabel walks over to Donna and Cliff with a bouquet of flowers and a note about a review in KT’s office. When Donna arrives, the three of them are waiting inside, and their interrogation (from Mabel’s sad notecards) begins. But, after a painful thirty seconds of them teasing their theory, Donna stops them short and confesses to poisoning Ben before asking them to focus on what’s important: Opening night. Donna finds Tobert hiding behind the door with his microphone, giving a full confession. She poisoned Ben after reading Maxine’s (Noma Dumezweni) bad review, which would have killed the show. She was trying to buy time, not kill Ben, but it was difficult to know exactly how much rat poison to use to temporarily take Ben out of commission.
Then, Mabel accuses Donna of pushing Ben down the elevator shaft, which Donna staunchly refutes. But, the trio isn’t buying it because of the hankie, which has a lipstick stain that matches Donna’s shade exactly. So, Donna tells the trio that they got her and confesses to pushing Ben too, but something about it isn’t sitting right with Mabel. Donna asks that they refrain from calling the police so she can enjoy her son’s first show as a producer, promising to turn herself in after the curtain falls. Suddenly, Howard bursts in and tells Oliver that Jonathan cannot perform after taking all of those pills. He’s their leading man, so who’s going to step in to save the show?
This ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Scene Gave Us Selena Gomez’s Best Performance as Mabel
Mabel deserves so much better.
It’s Finally Showtime for Death Rattle Dazzle
Choosing to ignore Howard’s not-so-vague suggestion to put himself on stage in Jonathan’s place, the show begins with Oliver stepping in, singing the opening song as Uma (Jackie Hoffman) andMatthew Broderickquietly make fun of him from the audience. Backstage, Tobert finds Mabel to give her a copy of Donna’s confession for their podcast. He tells her that he really likes her and he’s gotten a job opportunity in Los Angeles and would love for her to join him, as he thinks it could be a great fresh start for her. He asks her to think about it, and she promises she will, then returns to behind the curtain to watch Loretta sing the Nanny’s lullaby.Mabelhides in the shadows as Loretta and Dickie finally have a conversation about her being his birth mother, and Dickie happily confesses that he’s known the truth since he saw her at the first readthrough. Loretta explains that there’s nothing in the world she wouldn’t do for him, which unlocks something in Mabel. She looks out into the audience to see Donna and Cliff in the middle of an intense conversation that leaves Cliff in tears before he runs out. Mabel follows him to the secret room in the rafters, hoping to get the truth.
Did Cliff Kill Ben Glenroy?
As Cliff recounts watching all of his mother’s shows from this secret room, Mabel tells Cliff that his mother confessed to killing Ben. But, before he can add to the lie, Mabel also tells him that she knows he was the one who pushed Ben. She recalls Donna using the hankie for her lipstick before kissing Cliff on the lips and then putting the hankie in his jacket pocket before the show, which Donna also did when she left Oliver’s party on that fateful night. In a flashback to the night of the party, Ben and Cliff are talking outside of Oliver’s apartment. Ben’s doctor just informed him that he ingested rat poison that night, and Ben begins to piece it together that Donna poisoned him with the cookie. Cliff denies this, but another flashback shows that he saw Donna with the box of rat poison before she left the office with the cookie that she placed in Ben’s dressing room and manipulated him into eating. Ben pulls out his phone to call the police, but doesn’t know how to, giving Cliff a chance to react to what he said, specifically Ben calling him “boy.”
This sets something off in Cliff; his demeanor changes, getting darker and more serious as he tells Ben he’s more than just “Donna’s boy.” He explains that he has his own thoughts and ideas, including the fact that he pleaded with Donna not to cast Ben in the show. He calls Ben a phony, prompting Ben to get physical. After one more condescending remark from Ben, Cliff pushes him into the elevator shaft as Ben grabs the hankie from his pocket, falling to his death. Cliff quickly looks around to make sure nobody saw before getting into the other elevator, a satisfied smirk on his face just before the doors closed. (This seems rather contradictory to how Cliff is acting about Ben’s death when Mabel confronts him.) Then, back in the present day, Cliff takes a section of the floor out and threatens to jump, which would almost certainly kill him from that height. He admits to killing Ben but begins to dangle from the ceiling as Charles and Oliver show up — all of this, of course, interrupting the final performance of the play and forcing a quick curtain call. The trio is unable to stop Cliff until Donna joins them and convinces Cliff to stop, allowing himself to be pulled up. They all return to the stage for curtain call before the police arrive to arrest Donna and Cliff.
Back at Oliver’s and the Arconia for another post-show party, the cast celebrates after Oliver reads a glowing review from Maxine. Oliver and Loretta, finally embracing their feelings for one another, are happy and back at the piano. They almost share a kiss, but are interrupted by Dickie telling Loretta that theGrey’s Anatomyspin-off wants to wait for her, and she has other offers pouring in, which means Loretta is going to be on her way to Los Angeles. She wonders whether to go because of her blossoming romance, but Oliver encourages her to embrace her dream and he will visit her (but not live there, as he can only stand LA in small doses). Meanwhile, after a “subtle” comment from Tobert,he and Mabelcontinue their conversation from earlier. She admits that he was right, she doesn’t need to get unstuck and figure things out, but she explains that she needs to do it in New York. That said, like Oliver, she tells him she’d be open to visiting as she likes LA in small doses. (So, it seems almost certain we’ll be taking a trip to LA inOnly Murders in the BuildingSeason 4.)
The trio discuss possibly opening up a cold case for the next season of their podcast whenSazz (Jane Lynch)arrives with a cold case of beer. She and Charles take a selfie before she tells Charles she has something sensitive she needs to talk with him about later. But, before they discuss, Charles heads up to his apartment to get an old bottle of wine he’s been saving for a special occasion. In his pitch-black apartment, Charles walks to the kitchen, whistling, when he’s shot (with a long-range weapon). Except, as the camera slowly reveals, it’s Sazz who was shot in the chest, not Charles. As she is dying on his floor, she begins to write something in her blood before the episode cuts to black.
