Only Murders in the Building season 4 ended with the shocking and sudden death (as it always does on this show) of another guest of the infamous Arconia building. This time, the victim is Lester, the bellhop.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for the Only Murders in the Building season 5 premiere.
Also, at the end of season 4, Nicky Caccimelio, a.k.a. the “dry-cleaning king of Brooklyn,” was reported missing, and his wife (referred to as “mob wife”) wants the podcast trio’s help in locating his whereabouts. We pick up with all of that in the Only Murders in the Building season 5 premiere.
Season 5, episode 1 exposes the show’s first murder outside of the building
In Only Murders in the Building season 5, episode 1, a lot of little details about the death of Lester begin to unravel. Officially, Lester’s death was declared an accident, but fans of the show know to be skeptical about so-called accidents. Usually, there ends up being some sort of foul play.
I’m always looking for clues from the very beginning of each season to test different theories about the murders. So far, I noticed that there was something about birdwatching in Lester’s obituary, and since his body was found outside, maybe the killer used birdwatching as a cover-up?
The inciting incident in episode 1 happens when Oliver, Mable, and Charles find a finger in some leftover cocktail shrimp from Oliver’s wedding. Usually, a missing finger alludes to some sort of atonement for a wrongdoing. We don’t have a motive or suspect yet, but surely it was no accident! Viewers also aren’t certain whose finger it is, but there’s still a big chance that it belongs to Lester.
Fans of the Godfather will appreciate the nuances in Only Murders in the Building season 5 premiere
The script in Only Murders in the Building season 5, episode 1 playfully alludes to a classic crime movie, the Godfather, in various places. First, Charles and Oliver do awful imitations of Al Pacino’s voice to compare mobster Nicky Caccimelio to Michael Corleone from the Godfather.
Then there is the issue of the severed finger (definitely mob-like behavior). When Charles, Mable, and Oliver start their own investigation into the finger, they hunt down Caccimelio’s wife, Sofia. When they arrive at her house, Oliver says that it’s the actual house from the Godfather. Although it appears identical, is it really the same house? A New York Post article shares photos from the crew’s filming for season 5 on Staten Island, seeming to confirm the location as being the same home from The Godfather.
When the Only Murders trio arrives at the Caccimelio residence, meeting with ‘the mob’ turns quite eventful. They are confronted at the door by five men, threatening only in appearance, who eventually break character to reveal that they’re not real mobsters. It turns out they run a podcast about decades-old mob stories. But, plot twist! The mobster impersonators also happen to be the sons of the missing kingpin Nicky Caccimelio. This scene parallels scenes fromThe Godfather, who also had several sons.
Nicky's wife, Sofia, repeats one of the most famous lines from the Godfather: “so you deny my request to [find Nicky] and then show up at my home? Accusing me of [sending you a finger]?” She claims the mob is ‘dead’, and that their family is not to blame for the death of Lester. Is it a surprise that Charles seems to be hitting on the mob wife in this episode? Based on his relationship track record, Charles seems to have an affinity for toxic, troubled, and terribly criminal women.
Surprises and new clues from the episode
One major surprise that we see in episode 1 is that the Only Murders trio finds camera footage of Lester speaking with the Nicky, the mobster, before he died. This makes Nicky Caccimelio the prime suspect. As the trio breaks up to do their own individual investigations, two of them end up running into each other as usual. Typically, this means one of them ends up in danger.
Nicky’s wife, Sofia, gives a deck of cards to Charles after his visit to her home for questioning. Charles discovers that one of the cards is an access card of some sort. It leads he and Mable to all of the Arconia’s security camera blindspots. Charles and Mable stumble upon a never-before-seen cellar in the building which leads to an underground casino.
Maybe the mob isn’t so dead after all? One of the tables has blood spatter, and also leads Mable and Charles to find a break in the case—the mysterious envelope that Sofia gave to Lester at Oliver’s wedding in Only Murders in the Building season 4.
In the mean time, Oliver, who is on a solo mission to learn more about Lester from his dry-cleaning, finds himself in a pickle at Cacimelio’s business. The episode ends with the dead body of the mobster falling on top of him from a rack of clothes. So if Nicky is also dead, then who killed Lester? So much for prime suspect!
Season 5, episode 1 lures viewers to keep watching
Once a show hits its fifth season, I’m always concerned that it will lose its "wow" factor. So far, season 5, episode 1 brings all of the awkward, mysterious, and mischievous behaviors that fans of Only Murders in the Building have come to love. Instead of feeling indifferent about the murders going on outside the building, I feel more intrigued now that the story line has broken away from its norm.
There is a special appearance by Michael Key (Key and Peele) as the mayor. He shows up to Lester’s funeral, blatantly clueless about who Lester was, and advertises a “new, New York” for his upcoming election. Comically and ironically, he ends his speech with a famous phrase from The Handmaids Tale: “blessed be”. This may give us a clue into the kind of leader he is.
Revealing another murder in the last few seconds of the episode seems to be the way to go with this show, and it did not disappoint this time around. Maybe episodes 2 and 3 will answer some of the questions that we have about the two victims!
Only Murders in the Building airs on Tuesdays on Hulu.
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