S03.E01: The Show Must...

[Affogato]

On 8/12/2023 at 10:51 AM, peeayebee said:

I agree that the scene felt a little indulgent or meta, I guess, what with Streep being known for doing accents well. But I didn't think it was bad writing. Like AnimeMania said, this might have been to show us why she didn't get significant parts. The scene also led into Ben wanting her fired -- tying into his past when Charles fired him -- and showed more bonding betw her and Oliver, and his wonderful way with dealing with actors who are having difficulty (which we also see later with him and Ben).

I think is showed that Loretta is way overqualified--she has spent years learning things without having any reason to use them and now she wants to try out some of the things she has learned. It also shows that Ben is insecure, I think, which is a part of his character.

On 8/8/2023 at 8:10 PM, Frost said:

I don't want her to move either!  Mabel belongs in the Arconia!  I wonder if she spent the entire 4 months she was out of Oliver and Charle's lives finishing her aunt's apartment?  She should be an interior designer!  That place was gorgeous.

I'm so happy this show is back.  

Is there going to be a fourth season? Maybe at the end of this season Mabel's aunt shows up and is promptly murdered. Mabel is a suspect, but inherits the apartment. A murder in the building!

I miss the paintings that were painted over on the wall. A real loss.

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, Affogato said:

Is there going to be a fourth season?

Nothing has been announced but given the success and pedigree I’m guessing will continue making it as long as the key people are still on board. 

23 minutes ago, Affogato said:

Maybe at the end of this season Mabel's aunt shows up and is promptly murdered. Mabel is a suspect, but inherits the apartment. A murder in the building!

The problem with that is that the apartment has already been sold. They could always say that this currently unsolved murder causes the buyers to back out. 

[peeayebee]

27 minutes ago, Affogato said:

I think is showed that Loretta is way overqualified--she has spent years learning things without having any reason to use them and now she wants to try out some of the things she has learned.

I don't know about her being overqualified. When she auditioned, she was fantastic, as Oliver recognized. But when she tried out the accents at the table read, she was terrible. Maybe the accents were excellent, I don't know, but they were completely inappropriate and just plain distracting. I wonder how big her role of nanny is. Bizarrely, the main suspect is a baby, right? So the nanny probably is important.

Quote

I miss the paintings that were painted over on the wall. A real loss.

ITA. I groaned when she was painting over them last season. :(

[Affogato]

1 minute ago, Dani said:

Nothing has been announced but given the success and pedigree I’m guessing will continue making it as long as the key people are still on board. 

The problem with that is that the apartment has already been sold. They could always say that this currently unsolved murder causes the buyers to back out. 

It would be interesting if Ben was a red herring this season and turns out to be an accidental death, falling down the elevator because he really should not have left the hospital with that fugu poison (or whatever had him seem to be dead) in his system.

The identity of the buyer of Mabel's apartemtn, who could have made the purchase through an intermediary, may be interesting  Mabel probably should take the reins of her life, though.

1 minute ago, peeayebee said:

I don't know about her being overqualified. When she auditioned, she was fantastic, as Oliver recognized. But when she tried out the accents at the table read, she was terrible. Maybe the accents were excellent, I don't know, but they were completely inappropriate and just plain distracting. I wonder how big her role of nanny is. Bizarrely, the main suspect is a baby, right? So the nanny probably is important.

ITA. I groaned when she was painting over them last season. :(

I think the idea is that everyone is there to work, but since she has really only taken classes she has a student (or interns) set of responses and behaviors. She is wasting their time and not adding anything to the group effort, but she doesn't see that.

[Yeah No]

48 minutes ago, Affogato said:

It would be interesting if Ben was a red herring this season and turns out to be an accidental death, falling down the elevator because he really should not have left the hospital with that fugu poison (or whatever had him seem to be dead) in his system.

The identity of the buyer of Mabel's apartemtn, who could have made the purchase through an intermediary, may be interesting  Mabel probably should take the reins of her life, though.

Yeah that's what I said elsewhere about Ben's death,  but I got reminded that the show is called "Only Murders in the Building", not "Accidents in the Building".  Sure, but the season is young yet, there's plenty of time for a real murder to happen.

I've been wondering if the buyer of Mabel's apartment might figure into this season somehow.  I guess we'll have to see.

[Hook75]

On 8/11/2023 at 1:34 PM, Book Junkie said:

My fearless prediction of the murder: Uma did it because she secretly loves the attention and drama of the podcast.

My fearless prediction for the penthouse: Mabel will move in there because her aunt bought it and Mabel is her favorite relative, so she buys the penthouse for Mabel for redoing her old apartment and she loves Mabel. You read it here first!

I'm going with Oliver's assistant as the murderer. 

Mabel will get closer to the camera man to get his tapes, but will have feelings for him for sure. 

And yes, Mabel will stay in the building somehow. 

 

[Irlandesa]

On 8/12/2023 at 9:58 AM, Rickster said:

At Loretta's audition, Oliver is the only person in the room. Maybe we are seeing her audition from his perspective, not objectively? Maybe he finds her attractive, maybe he's not the best judge of talent. Maybe that colors the way he sees her.

At the table read in front of a whole cast maybe we are seeing her the way she really is and why she hasn't gotten a lot of parts.

There's also the fact that she might not have any hope when she went into audition so she wasn't self conscious in reading the part.  But once she got it, she overthought it and felt the weight of expectations.  And then screwed up. 

[AnimeMania]

7 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

There's also the fact that she might not have any hope when she went into audition so she wasn't self conscious in reading the part.  But once she got it, she overthought it and felt the weight of expectations.  And then screwed up. 

During the audition Oliver asked Loretta what would she do, so she answered as herself, now she is acting as a different person.

[Book Junkie]

10 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

There's also the fact that she might not have any hope when she went into audition so she wasn't self conscious in reading the part.  But once she got it, she overthought it and felt the weight of expectations.  And then screwed up. 

I think the table read was a way to showcase Meryl Streep's talent with accents. She's been known for her knack of nailing a lot of accents, along with her myriad of other talents.

[DoctorAtomic]

I'm behind on the show, and just started last night. I was confused about the fakeout death, but I enjoyed the ending when Charles said "We couldn't do the podcast because it wasn't in the building." Well, guess what!

I thought it was interesting that Charles is worried about 8 shows per week, but I want the play to be somewhat of a success given the total flops Oliver has. 

Since it has to be a murder, I am thinking that someone pushed Paul Rudd into the elevator shaft. I'm not worried about who it is quite yet since we got a lot thrown at us in this first episode. I'm looking forward to the season unfolding. 

I do wonder how much Martin and Short ad lib together. The quick bit with them talking about 'crazy Ron' seemed like it to me. 

I think it's also interesting that Gomez has crafted the droll, straight role so well. "Donna Reed is a..." "Nope."

[SoWindsor]

Was it known that Meryl Streep was starring this season? It was a surprise to me.

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, SoWindsor said:

Was it known that Meryl Streep was starring this season? It was a surprise to me.

Yes.  It was advertised a few months ago while they were filming.

[TV Diva Queen]

Who was the singer/actress that was in the 1960 flashback at the beginning of the show?  I am prepared to hang my head in shame when I get the answer.  

[cardigirl]

26 minutes ago, TV Diva Queen said:

Who was the singer/actress that was in the 1960 flashback at the beginning of the show?  I am prepared to hang my head in shame when I get the answer.  

I think she was meant to be Diahann Carroll in No Strings from 1962. That's the musical the song "The Sweetest Sounds" is from and she performed it in the Broadway production.

Rosharra Francis is the actress who portrayed her in this episode. 

[mostlylurking]

This show is so good!!  It would be very easy for the premise of this show to get dull (I mean three murders in one building come on) but somehow they make it interesting and fresh.  The addition of Meryl Streep just puts it over the top.  Love it.

[TV Diva Queen]

15 minutes ago, cardigirl said:

I think she was meant to be Diahann Carroll in No Strings from 1962. That's the musical the song "The Sweetest Sounds" is from and she performed it in the Broadway production.

Rosharra Francis is the actress who portrayed her in this episode. 

ahhh - that was my confusion Diahann Caroll's voice with a different face.  thank you!

[shapeshifter]

6 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

When did we find this out...was it last season, or was there something in this episode that I missed?

Spoiler

I’m so sorry!😫
It’s in the next episode.

I just reported the post and asked to have at least that portion either deleted or put in spoiler tags.

 

I tried to be careful, but with the first 2 episodes released on the same day, it was hard. 
I guess zero responses to my post should have been a red flag for me to double check it.
😞
I guess you should probably edit your post to put your quote of my 3.2 spoiler in a spoiler tag too.

Again: Sorry!

ETA: 
A moderator has removed the entire post. 

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by shapeshifter

[aradia22]

What a delight to return to this show in the fall/winter. Nothing like a cozy mystery when it's cold out. I watched the first two episodes back to back and while I enjoyed the premiere, I definitely felt better about the season after episode 2. But to start with the first episode...

When the older figure rose from the barre, I figured out this would be the Meryl Streep character. Something about the hair color and once she was in the apartment it all but confirmed it. I think they were very smart with this stunt casting. It doesn't feel like the Amy Schumer or Sting cameos drawing attention to themselves. It's even better than the Tina Fey casting to choose the most lauded actress of her generation and have her play an actress who never got her big break. It somehow let's the acknowledge her and also allow her to melt into a character. Whereas for the one episode of Big Little Lies season 2 I watched, she was never able to be anyone other than Meryl Streep. 

On the other hand, I don't think Paul Rudd was great. He wasn't bad but the tone of Only Murders didn't let him go as broad as say an Apatow comedy and I feel like he came across a little dead-eyed trying to play the asshole movie star semi-seriously. It felt like he was maybe going for a Joel McHale vibe. 

There was a lot of setup and a lot of focus on Meryl for episode 1 but it was nice to get glimpses of familiar faces and spaces again... like seeing that Jonathan is still with Howard.

[aradia22]

Quote

Obviously way too early to really know who the killer is, but we've got a decent group of suspects so far.  The show is definitely pushing for us to assume Loretta might have done it since she clearly despised Ben (and the whole Meryl Streep factor, naturally.)  I'm also keeping an eye out on his brother since he clearly has been mistreated during their relationship and I can see him finally snapping.  An outside bet would be the cameraman since he was played by Jesse Williams and that was definitely a small role for someone with his name recognition.  But the one that really stood out was Kimber, who didn't simply just seem to hate him but was even flinching every time he got near her.  I'm kind of wondering if he wasn't just your average douchebag, but abusive as well.  Was kind of disturbing.

I feel like it can only be Loretta as a double fakeout. Like if it had been Tina Fey last season. Oh, it isn't a red herring, the suspicious person really is the killer. That doesn't seem to be this show's approach to mysteries. Jeremy Shamos and Ashley Park are notable to me so I'm going to be no help in saying who is not significant enough of an actor to warrant suspicion. I think that's a fun part of getting to cast so impressively. The pool of suspects just gets bigger. The only one I'm sure didn't do it is Lester the doorman. /j

Quote

All those apartments are huge... she could move in with Charles and never see him... except in the kitchen

Honestly, I thought one of them might suggest that but it feels like the show is trying to push her to move on after two seasons of her dealing with trauma from a friend's death and I appreciate the character development. Curious to see where it goes.

Quote

Ben is awful and everyone despises him so at this point anyone could be the killer. Or multiple people could be.

I would love a multiple killers season but potentially poisoned and then pushed down an elevator shaft invites a single killer theory. No lifting or hiding the body, no complicated plot necessary...

Quote

Did I hear them right - only 4 months has passed since last season?  Doesn't it take a lot longer to put a Broadway show together?

It's a revival so rehearsals and previews. You don't need to do a lab or test the material out of town for rewrites (not that everyone does that these days). If it's not a transfer and is packaged for Broadway, 3 months of rehearsals and set building and one month of previews isn't crazy.

Quote

Mabel would set aside time to visit regularly with the old guys or maybe FaceTime with them regularly.  In fact it's probably better for her to move out and move on with her life, find a career and someone to occupy her time.

Yeah, and even in the world of the show, it's not crazy for them to still meet up and travel between Brooklyn or Queens or even just spend time in the Arconia when she visits. The only thing that would change is not seeing the interior of Mabel's aunt's apartment. 

Quote

I think is showed that Loretta is way overqualified--she has spent years learning things without having any reason to use them and now she wants to try out some of the things she has learned.

Sad... which I suppose is the point of her character so far. Unless we learn she was related to someone and has some secret motive unrelated to the play to kill Ben. I do wonder if the show will explain how she affords what also looked like a nice apartment if she's never booked significant acting jobs (they weren't really clear if she's booked any jobs or just not any big breaks). 

Quote

I think she was meant to be Diahann Carroll in No Strings from 1962. That's the musical the song "The Sweetest Sounds" is from and she performed it in the Broadway production.

I love that song and that moment. The actress did a lovely job. The Paris background made me think it might have been referencing No Strings but putting in the fake theater, it could have been anything. I wish they would release that clip somewhere.