Only Murders in The Building (Season 2) Episode 4: Recap and Ending Explained: Welcome back to The Arconia. The Arconia doesn’t seem like just a building anymore. It’s a place where something dangerous is afoot and secrets are emerging left, right, and center. This week saw the sophomore season pick up steam with fresh revelations, returns, and, of course, a bunch of questions.
‘Here’s Looking at You’ proved to be an apt name for what the episode presented. It moved Only Murders in The Building from a goofy comedy to a sinister murder mystery with clues and required everyone to raise their guard.
Only Murders in The Building (Season 2), Episode 4 “Here’s Looking at You” Recap:
The episode sees Lucy arrive at The Arconia. Well, she first arrives at Charles’ trailer, where he retreats once he learns the studio has already made plans to write off his Uncle Brazzos character. Lucy reveals she skipped her mother’s wedding and audiences understand the bond they share despite having been apart for the better part of the decade.
Oliver returns from the store and runs into Teddy Dimas in the elevator. He has an ankle monitor around his leg and invites Oliver to share the journey with him. Once in, awkward silences make way for awkward conversations that see Teddy show he has changed and earned three mindfulness badges in prison.
Nathan Lane’s dialogues inform viewers that his character will live at The Arconia while he and Theo Dimas await trial. After alighting, the vengeful side of Dimas emerges as he casually threatens Oliver that he will ‘fuck him hard’.
Mabel and Oliver then head over to 14C and meet Charles and Lucy. It is here that Mabel gets a taste of her own medicine when she is unable to understand Lucy’s slang and feels old. The four spend time in Charles’ kitchen before Lucy whips out a knife only for the trio to see that it is stained with blood.
In the meantime, Howard mysteriously shows up and tries to frame Nina. He even covers up his injury and paints the new Board President as a violent individual. The timing of his arrival seems fishy and plants seeds of doubts about his intentions. When looking back at the last episode and seeing him trying to befriend Mrs. Gambolini, even more questions emerge.
The trio notices and voices out that evidence keeps showing up in their apartments, but Lucy smells a rat. When requested to leave, she heads to the bathroom and opens a secret passageway. (Yet another one of them; the Arconia is filled with them).
The quartet heads through the dusty catacombs and discovers the existence of peepholes. Anyone within the ‘Arcatacombs’ can spy on another ‘Here’s Looking at You’ indeed. One such peephole looks into Nina’s apartment where her words lead Mabel, Lucy, and Charles to believe she is the killer. Audiences also get to learn of a blimp-like structure to be constructed atop the building. That clearly would not have gone down well with Bunny Folger’s desire to see the New York of old retained. Quite a drastic step to take just for monetary gains…
In another sequence of the tunnels, Oliver spies on Teddy and Theo having an argument within their apartment 6B. This scene can earn Teddy some sympathy, as is seen from Oliver’s initial reaction.
When they plan to trap Nina, her water breaks and Charles has a pensive moment convincing her she will be a good mother. As is his character, Oliver tries to coerce a confession from Nina, but Mabel keeps him in check. The sight of Selena Gomez just staring at Martin Short and saying something sarcastic when he provides extra information or says something wrong is absolutely hilarious.
This scene also clears Nina of any wrongdoing, as she wishes Bunny were here to see her baby. It doesn’t mean that Nina didn’t mean that she wanted Bunny gone, but by ‘gone’, she may have meant as Board President and not dead.
Here’s Looking at You winds down with Lucy having a heart-to-heart with Charles and dropping a bombshell on him. She was in The Arconia during the events of ‘Open and Shut’ and ‘The Last Night of Bunny Folger’. Lucy, who surprisingly had Charles’ flat key, crawled into the passage behind his bathroom cabinet and made a recording. She then saw the same masked assailant run through the tunnel and almost find her. Was that sneeze supposed to be a clue?
Charles sees Lucy off and then responds to the many missed calls he has received. He then heads to a jail meeting room, where one can easily guess who will be on the other side; the other two potential candidates were already shown earlier in the episode. It was Jan. Before seeing the room, I was low-key expecting Shirley MacLaine to show up as Charles kind of saw her off in a car as well.
Only Murders in The Building (Season 2), Episode 4 “Here’s Looking at You” Ending Explained:
If viewers are expecting Jan to clear the mystery of the tunnels, they may be disappointed. Jan did not use the tunnels to get around, at least for Tim Kono’s murder, as she pulled the fire alarm.
This could also be yet another red herring, as Jan may just want to catch up with Charles and taunt him. Why do I think this? Gee. Remember Mrs. Gambolini saying she knew who did it at the end of Episode 2? She may also wish to give him a warning akin to how Teddy Dimas warned Oliver Putnam.
Lucy’s flashback within the catacombs means she will return and prove to be a crucial part of the story. Her perspective being presented to the audience also gave them more options about the identity of the masked individual. I had picked Uma last week, but that was only from a glance at the silhouette. After seeing the killer on screen, it feels like a plump male prone to allergies. Of course, the camera height could have been adjusted to deceive the audience about the assailant’s height. Also, the killer could have put on a fat suit.
Could we be looking at Oscar here? His absence at the Only Murders in The Building after-party in ‘Open and Shut’ was quite noticeable and surprising. He would qualify as someone to whom Bunny would say, “What do you want?” His presence as Tie-Dye guy could be written as a disguise to get the painting from Bunny.
Was he out to frame Mabel? As the building Superintendent’s son, he would have known about the existence of the tunnels in the walls.
The build can even lead many to think that Howard is the guilty party. He, too, would qualify as someone Bunny knew. Howard’s constant readiness to spill the beans and frame Nina points the needle of suspicion toward him. ‘What do you want’ can even imply Bunny was talking to Howard, as she had just been there at her farewell party.
We really hope Jan isn’t a red herring and spills the beans of some secret that bamboozles us, but clears things as we approach the halfway point.
What did you make of Episode 2 of Season 4? Is Jan a red herring? What is the meaning of that blimp-like structure atop the building? It is doubtful that we will get to the bottom of things quickly, as six episodes remain and Only Murders in the Building will return for a third season as well.
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ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING (SEASON 2) EPISODE 4 LINKS – IMDB
ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING (SEASON 2) EPISODE 4 CAST – STEVE MARTIN, MARTIN SHORT, SELENA GOMEZ
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