Spoiler alert: The following contains spoilers for the season 4 finale of “Only Murders in the Building.”
Goodbye, Saz.
“Only Murders in the Building” said a final farewell to fan-favorite characters in Monday’s Season 4 finale, with Charles-Haden Savage’s (Steve) intrepid lesbian stuntman Saz Pataki’s (Jane) Lynch’s murder investigation has concluded. Martin). After following several threads throughout the season, including the question of whether Charles was actually the target of the bullet, Charles, Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) reveal that Saz was Marshall P. He discovers that he was shot by Pope (Jin Ha). It is revealed that his real name is Rex. Marshall is credited as the screenwriter for the film The Only Murders, which they have been involved with all seasons, but in a bittersweet twist, it was revealed that it was actually Sazz who wrote the script in honor of his friendship with Charles. I understand. Marshall, an aspiring writer and Sazz’s stunt apprentice at the time, stole her work to get the green light, but then killed her after threatening to expose it.
However, when the trio realizes what Marshall has done, Mabel finds herself alone with Marshall in the Arconia unit where she was crouching, and Marshall ends up threatening his life. However, the Westies (who live in Arconia’s western towers and were initially suspects in Saz’s murder, until they realized that the trio were only guilty of a scheme to illegally sublet rent-controlled apartments) Thanks to the distraction from the group, Charles and Oliver sneak in. I broke into the apartment through the window to save her. They manage to get Marshall’s gun, but when Marshall gets his gun back, the situation looks dangerous and Marshall falls forward and starts bleeding. The three look out the window and see Jean (Amy Ryan), who shot and killed Marshall from Charles’ apartment on the other side of the Arconia River. Marshall hid for the season through a secret passage. Jean was in a relationship with Charles before he was revealed as the murderer in Season 1, and since then he dated Saz, so taking Marshall out was both a favor to Charles and revenge for the love he lost. Ta.
The trio cannot celebrate solving the murder for long. They soon discover the dead body of doorman Lester (Teddy Kolka) in Arconia’s fountain. As in previous seasons, his death sparks a new investigation in Season 5. The same goes for a conversation with a woman named Sofia Casimerio (Tea Leoni), who implores the trio to investigate the disappearance of her husband, Nikki “The Neck” Casimerio. He is a dry cleaning magnate in Brooklyn and has ties to a notorious crime family. They decline her offer to hire them because they are focused on a murder case in Arconia, but Sofia insists that her case is “all connected to this building.”
“Only Murders” showrunner John Hoffman spoke to Variety about Marshall’s murder and the importance of New York City doormen.
Let’s think about the answer with spoilers in mind. How did the decision to kill Saz come together?
This was the idea of Jess Rosenthal, one of the executive producers. When we were filming Season 3, he came into my office in New York and said, “You know what? And I said: “That’s the worst idea, so I guess we should go with it. Before we do anything, let’s talk to Jane Lynch.” So I sat down with Jane and she brightened up. She was very game.
It provides a rare opportunity to explore relationships that we have used for humor. To understand all of who she was to Charles and who she was to herself, and to make Charles understand.
The series has always been a bit meta, with the characters creating a true crime podcast while critiquing true crime culture. Season 4 will then ultimately be set in their own industry. What was this trio trying to say about Hollywood when they took part in the film “Only Murders in the Building”?
This was really fun. This is an idea of what Molly Shannon said in episode one. “When I see a hot IP piece that a rival studio is into, I’m in on it.” “What’s out there and how can we further commercialize it? ?” is the feeling. And it’s really exciting for us to imagine who will play these roles, how it will expand on the natural despair surrounding the project, and how intense it will be until the moment it is greenlit. It was fun.
If you look back at being a podcaster, it’s all about the story and how you tell it. If you can maintain it for as long as possible and have some control over it, it becomes the purest form of entertainment. It’s a vision. It’s the voice. It’s a perspective that no one else has when telling a story. And here they are, looking at their own stories, trying to connect with and influence people, much like Oliver trying to find inspiration in Zack. That investment felt like comedy fodder to us. And it was also a more personal examination, until the satire of the world caught up with it and made it feel more context. It’s always about the connection between our trio and how the story is told. There’s a sweet moment in the finale where they stand there with a newfound appreciation for the film in which their beloved friend died. It was a wonderful opportunity to find a unique way to tell Hollywood stories.
Compared to the first three seasons, Marshall may be the culprit who garners the most sympathy. Because we see how Marshall’s failures in Hollywood drove him crazy and ultimately led to his death. What was he trying to express? And why was he killed by Jean without being arrested like previous murderers?
Understanding the details of the mentor-mentee relationship immediately led me to this writer. He becomes a stuntman, so he understands the skill with Sazz and helps Sazz become a screenwriter, just as she was inspired by Charles, and is more personal that he was inspired by Sazz. You can build relationships. And I tend to think about victims and perpetrators and everything in between from a humanistic perspective. I like surprises. I like digging into people’s unexpected qualities and backstories.
And we kind of forgot about Jean. I thought it would be really interesting if Jean didn’t leave and she was just in that aisle. So the idea that she was the one to finally take down Saz’s killer, after his relationship with her, and Charles, everything felt thrilling and surprising and right. But we hadn’t killed[the killer]before, so we weren’t prepared for how it would feel during filming. It was very difficult to watch that scene. But she had a gun and fired it and made this gesture (a little wave to Charles). Amy came up with it all herself. And I thought, “That’s hysterical,” but maybe it’s too much? ”Because it made me laugh and entertained. “Do you need an alternative?” Is there anything she doesn’t have for free? But we did three more takes, and she did it each time, and I was like, “This is it.” I am fully committed to it. ”
To me, that wave looked almost like an apology. “I’ve ruined your life too many times, so please let this murderer do it for you.”
I think it’s one of my favorite scenes. And then when they come back and she and Charles have that interaction, she has palpitations. She’s very excited about the idea of them entering the final stages. That was her motivation, so being able to get the apology back felt like a huge success for her.
It was really nice to see the Westies finally help the trio with Marshall after their breakthrough in episode 8. Mabel promised not to talk about them on the podcast so they wouldn’t go to jail for everything they did. Please keep your rent low. How did you come to the conclusion of that relationship?
When you live in a building in New York and look out your window, you see all your families, lives, and beings happening, and you feel connected in some way. You are the judge of what you see. This is a fascinating little movie that happens every day in different windows. I don’t want to be a voyeur, but before I know it, I find myself observing, wondering, “What are they doing?” are they playing a game? ”So all of those things felt perfect for this show. But what I needed when I delved into the intrigue that was happening around Dudenov’s apartment was the underlying truth of the story. And our great writer Madeline George is our New York Wikipedia. She was looking into all the things people were doing to keep their rent down, and those stories were much more extreme than what we did. People just want to make their dreams come true, but they can’t afford it anymore, and where do they go? What is your occupation? So that’s what Mabel says at the end in episode 8 when she leaves her apartment. “We were three lonely people in Arconia. I’m not going to put them on our podcast,” and I loved her for that.
That brings me to Helga the Westie (Alexandra Templer), who helped unravel a “plot hole” in an earlier podcast pointed out earlier in the season. Did you always notice earlier in the season that there were some loose threads that you wanted to come back to later and address? Did you always plan to go back to them?
In Season 1, we agreed that what we created was just a never-ending thing. What you pointed out doesn’t necessarily make sense for the crime you’re trying to solve, but wait, what happened there? Who really poisoned Winnie? I thought, “If we’re lucky enough to get a second or third season, we’re going to collect a lot of this stuff.” We keep a huge list of unfinished business in our writer’s room. I spend the morning lazing around. In some ways, this season feels like we’re getting closer to understanding all of these loose ends, but I’m not sure it’s definitive. There are many other things that have happened this season that will influence this collection of loose ends. I’m very intrigued by the idea that you feel like you probably don’t have that answer yet, and that feels right to me.
Please tell us about the writing status of Season 5. Do you already know who killed Lester and dumped his body in the Arconia Well? And what about Tea Leoni, who played the woman who asks the trio to investigate her husband’s death? Is it safe to assume that murder is involved?
I know the murderer. I know the story. We’re currently through the fourth episode of season 5, so we’ve got a pretty good handle on everything. There is always a desire to peek into new worlds, preferably the real New York. This show has always been about the fusion of classic and modern. Season 5 takes shape within and grapples with the microcosm of New York building and modernity. The victim was a doorman. It’s a very rich lineage for New York City, its work, and the unity around that work. And there’s a certain amount of respect involved. Now we have to pay our respects by finding out exactly what happened to Leicester. The old-fashioned nature of that piety, still visible in New York, coincided with a certain modernity.
And Tea Leoni, I love her so much. We talked the best about her character and what’s going on with her. And what does that have to do with why Lester is in that fountain?
This interview has been edited and condensed.