Only Murders In The Building Season 3 Review: A New Case Takes Center Stage

"Only Murders in the Building" has been a winner since its first, outstanding season. The show, created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman, has had some interesting things to say about true crime and the podcasts that go with it while being its own thing. This season, however, the three core players, Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) are more divided than ever as the action moves partially to the theater where Oliver's play, "Death Rattle," in which a baby is blamed for a murder, is set. As soon as the leading man, Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd), takes a massive fall in the first moments of the play's first performance, though, some of the members of the trio's thoughts turn to murder. But not every one of them is equally invested in solving that case.

Mabel is totally gung-ho and starts investigating immediately, but Oliver just wants to get his show up and running again. Meanwhile, Charles has issues of his own, including a girlfriend in his apartment whom he wants to get rid of and a role in Oliver's revamped show, "Death Rattle Dazzle!," in which he has to sing a song he can't get a grasp on. Without the guys, Mabel finds help elsewhere in the form of Tobert (Jesse Williams), Ben's documentarian, and Mabel's new potential love interest. Meanwhile, Oliver gets his investors interested in the musical version of the play and takes up with the woman playing the nanny in the show, Loretta (Meryl Streep), a woman with secrets of her own. As the man in the middle, Charles sometimes tags along with Mabel and sometimes with Oliver, but mostly he does some spectacular work as an actor with no clue what he's doing.

The first thing that's likely on everyone's mind is: how do Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep fit into the cast? Well, Rudd's role as a spoiled movie star doing Broadway is a bit of a hard sell. Not only is he playing a terrible person, but he's also the murder victim, so it's hard to love him, especially when you know that no redemption is coming. Still, he fully commits to the role and has moments of hilarity — like explaining the plot of his big series "CoBro" (he plays a zoologist that turns into a giant cobra) — that make all the difference. I can't say I'd want to know a Ben Glenroy in real life, but onscreen he fits into the mix well.

Then there's Streep, who's divine as a woman who has spent her whole life chasing her dream of being on Broadway and hasn't gotten her shot until now. She hates Ben, loves Oliver, and is working an angle even if she's happy to be in the play too. There aren't many actresses you'd let deliver a whole monologue from a play that's not real, but Streep is the real deal, selling that monologue like a champ. She also does brilliant work in the table read scene when she tries out different accents for her character.

Then there is the combination of Streep and Martin Short. Short is always brilliant in the role of Oliver Putnam, and he may be especially good this season as his directorial ambitions have him on overdrive. But when he discovers Loretta, we get a side of him we don't normally see: He's sweet and funny, and Streep matches him in all the ways that matter. The pairing is fantastic and completely, delightfully unexpected.

This brings us to the show as a whole, which remains almost as strong as ever. There are a few stumbles, though. In particular, the core trio gets split up by the circumstances of this season, and it's a shame. Though Charles, Oliver, and Mabel have pursued their own agendas before, they've never spent so much time apart. While this may be alleviated by the time the final episodes roll around (eight out of 10 episodes were provided for review), it's hard to see each of the core crew on their own.

Of course, that leaves more room for other interactions, and as with Oliver and Loretta or Mabel and Tobert, there are plenty of pairings that are worth stirring in. Still, some pairings deserve the boot. There's a moment when Oliver fires Charles and a major star (I can't say who) takes his place in the play, and although it isn't his fault and he even gets a few laughs, I can't say this added anything to the series.

That said, there are moments of triumph this season too. Charles' trips to "the white room," the place where stage actors go when they experience anxiety on stage, and getting trapped in a closet at the theater are brilliant nonsense that has to be seen to be believed, and of course just about everything Oliver does to keep his career alive this season is great. Mabel also has her moments; she may be the straight man of the bunch and more sarcastic than openly funny, but she's still great, especially when trying to prove she can speak the young people's language to the guys.

Mostly though, "Only Murders in the Building" is like getting together with old friends. By this time, Oliver, Charles, and Mabel are like pals you can't get enough of, and while their adventures are fun and captivating, the events of the show wouldn't be nearly as exciting without them. The series is enormously entertaining, and even with some missteps in its third season, it remains solidly enjoyable as a show and a showcase for the actors.

"Only Murders in the Building" premieres August 8 with two episodes. After that, an episode premieres per week until October 3.

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn't exist.