‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 4: Who Killed Jane Lynch? A Midpoint Update
[This story contains spoilers from season four, episode five of OMITB.]
Who killed Sazz Pataki?
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That’s the central question this season on Only Murders in the Building, currently in the middle of the show’s fourth murder case — and this time, it’s personal. Season three ended with the apparent assassination of Charles-Haden Savage’s (Steve Martin) old friend and colleague Sazz (Jane Lynch), and halfway through its fourth season, the case remains wide open. If anything, the case may have a few extra bodies added to it, given where we are at the midpoint of season four.
Much of the season has revolved around a biopic about the Arconia trio of Charles (Martin), Oliver (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez), played in the upcoming movie by Eugene Levy, Zach Galifianakis and Eva Longoria, respectively. The case has led Charles, Oliver and Mabel to believe the person who killed Jane Lynch’s Sazz is almost certainly involved in the movie directly. What’s more, a set of shoe prints found in a suspect’s abandoned apartment have led directly to Tawny and Trina Brothers (played by Siena Werber and Catherine Cohen), the twin-sister filmmakers helming the Only Murders movie. Just as the crew makes the connection, the lights go out on set, and a gunshot rings through the air.
Is art about to imitate life, with a killing occurring in the fictional building on which the the Only Murders fictional movie is based? That’s the level of ridiculous complexity at play in OMITB, which is as strong as ever in season four. As we reach the halfway point, let’s run down some suspects.
The Brothers Sisters
Let’s start with where we left off: Tawny and Trina, played by Siena Werber and Catherine Cohen, the directors behind the season’s movie-within-a-show. We can cross them off the list right now. Maybe a bit early to do such a thing, but we’re not ending the midpoint of season four on a cliffhanger with the actual killers. Whatever reasons their shoe prints exist in the Arconia, it’s not because they handled a sniper rifle and killed a person. Speaking of which…
Sazz
Are we sure Sazz is dead? The stunt performer was investigating something before her death, which is why she was apparently killed — unless she wasn’t. Either someone shot and apprehended Sazz, explaining her disappearing body, or Sazz herself is in on some higher-level ruse that requires her death to be staged. This season has confirmed Sazz and Charles both have extremely rare blood types, which means Sazz could most convincingly set up her own death with her own copious amounts of blood. We know she can take a fall, so if her audience is, well, the audience, then we’re already fooled since we saw her get shot, but not die. There’s the “Professor Dudenoff” of it all, a reference to a mystery character who some believe will turn out to be the Professor Moriarty to the Arconia trio’s collective Sherlock. If such a character exists, there’s no better candidate than Sazz.
Howard
A quick mention here that Michael Cyril Creighton’s Howard Morris has to stay on the murder suspect board until either he’s revealed as a killer, or the show ends. If there’s a Moriarty who lives in the Arconia, there’s no one better for the job than Howard, the most enduring neighborly cast member of the show. He was also the trio’s very first interview suspect all the way back in the original season, which would be one heck of a long con on the audience. Howard’s heel turn does not feel inevitable or even likely, but it always has to be a possibility if we’re looking at which suspects would bring the biggest gut punch.
Paul Rudd…?
He’s back! The murder victim from season three is somehow a murder suspect in season four, at least in a manner of speaking. Rudd’s Ben Glenroy is very much very dead, but he’s back in season four as a new character: Glen Stubbins, a stunt worker whose path crossed with Pataki once upon a time. Now, he’s on the new Only Murders movie set, right when gun shots are going off. For a show as meta as Only Murders, it would be a huge turn for the show’s third murder victim to turn out to be the show’s latest murderer. My hunch: we’re warm, but not hot yet…
Our Pick?
With only five episodes remaining, I’m putting my money on Sazz. This is a season all about doubles, and the ways in which we mirror and echo each other, but can never quite see one another for who we are. There’s no better reflection of those ideas than the murder “victim” and the “murderer” being the same person, which makes Rudd an intriguing possibility. But if we’re going to “yes and” that idea, then let’s move the target onto this season’s victim. It’s about time for Only Murders to move into big bad territory, and there’s no one better set up for it right now than Sazz herself.
Stay with us this season as we continue to track the possible OMITB killer theories. And for a look back, these were our predictions after the season four premiere. (New episodes release on Hulu Tuesdays.)
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