In Only Murders in the Building season 5, episode 3, the podcasters followed a trail of clues back to “the Velvet Room” in the Arconia’s underground casino. Just as they are doing what they do best (scouring for more evidence), three suspicious people enter the room. Mabel quickly uses the internet to identify their names, and Oliver recognizes them as powerhouses in the pharmaceutical industry. The CEOs are Camila White, Jay Pflug, and Sebastian 'Bash' Steed.
CAUTION: This post contains spoilers about Only Murders in the Building season 5, episode 4.
The episode ends with viewers getting a glimpse of Jay’s hand, the youngest of the CEOs, and we see that he’s missing a finger! The podcasters have been trying to locate the owner of a missing finger since episode 1, so now they finally have an answer!
New chaos unravels in Only Murders in the Building season 5, episode 4
Only Murders in the Building season 5, episode 4 starts off by giving us some background on the CEOs, who Oliver nicknamed the “new mob of New York”. After catching the attention of the CEOs by accidentally breaking a glass, the podcast trio makes a narrow escape out of the Velvet Room from the bar where they were hiding.
Back at the Arconia, the podcasters find that a robot has taken the place of Lester as doorman. This is efficient for management, but it also says a lot about Lester’s death signaling the end of an era for the Arconia. Gone are the days of community and looking out for another. Instead, there is a new wave of paranoia and self-centeredness among the residents.
Oliver devises a master plan to catch the killers
Oliver feels inspired to create the murder board for this case ahead of their next podcast recording. He goes into a deep dive to speculate what motives each CEO might have had for killing Nicky and/or Lester. Oliver’s plan for questioning the CEOs is to make them come to him. He shares his plan with Charles and Mabel, and it turns out to be a brilliant idea!
The podcasters record an episode that evening to share some of their investigation, exposing a potential involvement of high-profile people like CEOs Jay, Camila, and Bash. They hope that the CEOs, if they are indeed the killers, will reach out to them out of a need to clear their names, or even take credit for their murder schemes.
Oliver’s plan to lure the killers into the Arconia is successful
Just as Oliver hoped, the CEOs pay a visit to his apartment. When they arrive, viewers get the sense that the CEOs might actually have it in for each other. They all try to give their side of the story first so that no one else can tarnish their name with further suspicions about involvement with the murders this season. Bash even threatens to sue if they continue to use his name in the podcast.
All three of the murder suspects claim not to have known the mobster, Nicky Caccimelio, personally. Then the podcast trio splits them up so that they can each talk to a suspect privately. Mabel’s first task is to ask Jay about his missing finger. He plays coy by responding with a question, and then says, “just another bad decision in a long line of bad decisions”. After his vague confession, he denies killing anyone the night he lost his finger.
Meanwhile, Bash (what a nickname!) goes a a little knife crazy while chopping vegetables in Charles’s kitchen. Even though he is chopping like a maniac, the pair seem to… dare I say… bond over their past experiences with love. Is Bash’s odd performance part of some Italian rope trick to shift the attention away from him as a suspect? The same could be said for Camila, who attempts to bond with Oliver at the same time.
The three CEOs have matching alibis in Only Murders in the Building season 5, episode 4
Each suspect goes off on their own tangents as they describe their version of events on the night of the murder(s), and there are some key elements to their stories that align. For one, they claim that mobster Nicky Caccimelio showed up to the casino with a cleaver, while arguing with Lester. Then, when Jay tried to calm Nicky down, Nicky chopped off Jay’s finger. Finally, each CEO claims that they fled the scene together after the finger incident—meaning Nicky and Lester would have both still been alive at the time.
It wouldn’t be Only Murders in the Building if there wasn’t a great plot twist at the end of each episode. While the podcasters discuss whether or not the CEOs were telling the truth (and they think they were), they get word that a large company called Wondify wants to sponsor their podcast. This means the trio gets their own recording room and a contract for their Only Murders podcast. Talk about being fully funded to continue their detective stints!
The plot twist in Only Murders in the Building season 5, episode 4 aims to shut down the investigation completely
The shocker comes at the very end of the episode, when Wondify explains that they have some new top investors: Jay, Camila, and Bash. This means that the podcast can no longer talk about the CEOs, which potentially means a hindrance to the investigation as more evidence unravels. To complicate matters even more, Mabel discovers that the missing finger is not, in fact, Jay’s, but still remains unidentified.
When the podcasters find out they have been tricked into signing the contract, new suspicions about CEO involvement in the murders arise: maybe they fabricated a story together before ever showing up at the apartments. What will this mean for the case? The CEOs think they have won, but the podcast trio is great at outsmarting criminals, so we will see what happens next episode!
Only Murders in the Building airs Tuesdays on Hulu.
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