Only Murders in the Building Season 4 threw everything it had at the murder wall, with red herrings, twists, and wild cameos aplenty. Easter eggs are the name of the game in this show, and in the season finale, there was a teeny, tiny throwback to Season 1 hidden in the dialogue.
Consider this your spoiler warning.
By the end of the episode, the killer has been revealed, allowing Mabel (Selena Gomez), Oliver (Martin Short), and Charles (Steve Martin) to get back to finishing the Only Murders in the Building Movie — now with a great script written by the late Sazz (Jane Lynch).
Cut to the Hollywood actors hired to play the core three — Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy, and Zach Galifianakis — filming a scene in Charles' apartment, as their real counterparts watch on.
The neat thing is, they're actually performing a scene from Only Murders in the Building Season 1, episode 4, "The Sting."
During their first-ever investigation of the murder of Tim Kono, Charles is falling for Arconia neighbor and bassoonist Jan Bellows (Amy Ryan). About to go on their first date, he asks his friends for advice on whether it's the right time for romance considering someone was murdered in the building.
"Isn't it insulting to flirt now?" asks Charles.
"Oh, who the hell knows? Suddenly it's rude to tell a secretary she looks pretty in a pair of slacks," replies Oliver.
"Nope," responds Mabel. "No to that whole sentence."
"Compliment her purse," suggests Oliver. "If it isn't on their body you can like it."
"No, again, to every word that's coming out of your mouth," says Mabel, who then turns to Charles. "I'm glad you're doing this. Being alone in life is making you a little weird."
As Longoria, Levy, and Galifianakis perform the lines, the real Mabel, Charles, and Oliver stand with Sazz's script in hand, watching the whole scene flow the way it should have — written by their friend.
Only Murders in the Building is now streaming on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ in the UK.
