Once Upon A Time In The West – The episode begins right at the very end of Charles-Haden Savage’s (Steve Martin) podcast, where he briefly speaks about home movies and the passing of Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd). This is only briefly sidelined by what appears to be an electrical surge. To celebrate the closing of another podcast season, Charles invites Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) back to his room for a nightcap. On the elevator to the room, there is the briefest mention of Sazz Pataki’s (Jane Lynch) disappearance and someone named Bev Melon (Molly Shannon) who has been e-mailing about the podcast. There is also a brief debate about the podcast’s next project which Charles claims needs a fresh new murder. Although Sazz’s body has been removed from the apartment, the killer did not have time to cover all his or her tracks, including the bullet hole in the window. Despite this, no one is the wiser.

That night Charles falls asleep watching a classic western. Before putting the kettle on the next morning, he notices that Sazz hasn’t responded to any of his messages This train of thought is interrupted by a frantic knocking at the door which turns out to be Oliver and Mabel. Oliver spends several minutes groveling over Donna (Linda Emond) and Cliff/Clifford DeMeo (Wesley Taylor) pulling his play’s funding. This too is only briefly sidelined by Howard Morris (Michael Cyril Creighton) and his excitement over his new puppy, Gravey. Both Mabel and Charles receive an e-mail from Bev who turns out to be a top Paramount Studio executive, interested in making a film about their podcast.

This news cheers Oliver up until Charles claims that he can’t go because he’s worried about Sazz and he’s woken with a constant whistling. Being that Sazz was keen to whistling, he views this as some kind of sign. Despite all this, the issue resolves itself when he receives a response from Sazz, apologizing for her disappearance and blaming it on urgently being needed in Hollywood.

Upon arriving at Paramount’s Studio, Oliver is quick to encourage Charles and Mabel to not get their hopes up. He suspects that Bev has likely just been given the project and not only knows nothing about their podcast but will likely need to see an audition. This turns out to be the furthest thing from accurate when Bev practically rolls out the red carpet at the beginning of the meeting. As things progress, it becomes clear that Bev is treating the encounter like they have already signed on. The studio has apparently already taken the liberty of hiring cast and crew. Mabel seemingly eventually becomes overwhelmed and has to excuse herself from the meeting.

Charles and Oliver will later discover that Mabel is hesitant about agreeing to the deal. Although Oliver is willing to sign his life away, both he and Charles agree to give Mabel time to consider the deal. In the meantime, the studio has apparently scheduled a tour as well as a dinner party. Charles’s attention soon returns to Sazz when Oliver mentions inviting Loretta Durkin (Meryl Streep) to the evening party.

As it turns out, Sazz’s apartment happens to be one of the stops on the tour. Despite the ominous feeling provided by the piled-up packages and dead flowers, Charles vows to not ruin everyone’s fun and drops any concerns.

The podcast crew receives another VIP welcome before spending the party with the actors who will portray them. This goes particularly well for Mabel, who is being portrayed by Eva Longoria (Eva Longoria). Eva will later offer her advice that helps her make the final decision about the movie. Charles is equally thrilled to be portrayed by Eugene Levy (Eugene Levy) but can’t seem to keep his mind from wandering back to the missing Sazz. If not for Bev, Oliver would have likely ended the evening and movie with his lack of knowledge of Zach Galifianakis (Zach Galifianakis). His evening does begin to look up when Loretta makes an appearance.

Charles’s evening takes an immediate turn for the worse when Scott Bakula (Scott Bakula) shows up with the same concerns about the missing Sazz. Charles shares his discovery with the others just after Mabel tells Oliver that she’s on board for the movie. This leads to them returning to Sazz’s apartment and breaking in. Although the break-in shines very little light on the situation, the case is blown wide open when Charles receives a call from Lester (Teddy Coluca), confirming that he received his note about replacing the window. After a bit of confusion and back-and-forth, Charles suspects that the damage to the window was caused by a bullet. It is also likely this is where the whistling was coming from.

The episode ends with the podcast crew returning to the apartment to confirm the bullet hole. Before this, Mabel also happened to surmise that Howard’s new puppy, Gravey, was a former cadaver dog. They eventually use him to track Sazz’s scent to an incinerator.

 

Only Murders In The Building Review

I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by this. Being that I only watched a few episodes from Season 1 or 2, I was pleased with how easily I was able to jump right into the story and grasp most of the essentials. However, that can be viewed as a good or bad thing, depending on how one looks at it. There were plenty of cringy moments and some off-putting humor, but for the most part, this was really clever. I particularly enjoyed the trip to LA and the podcaster’s interactions with the actors selected to play them. I also liked how cluelessly clever the podcasters were, if that makes sense.

Take the first scenes in Charles’s apartment for example. The writing was practically right there on the wall and they were dancing all around Sazz’s death but never uncovered it. They seemed completely clueless at times but when it came to deducing and stringing things together, they excelled. I’d give the premiere a 5.8 out of 10. I also appreciated the shorter run time.

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