Only Murders in The Building (Season 2 Finale), Episode 10 Recap and Ending Explained: Welcome back to The Arconia for the finale of what has been a splendid season. Sparring Partners (Episode 9) presented Cinda Canning as the ‘Criminal Mastermind’ and ‘I Know Who Did It’ was to be the final hand. The episode lived up to expectations, with psychology and theater coming to the fore in a magnificent way.
Only Murders in The Building (Season 2 Finale), Episode 10 “I know Who did it” Recap:
The episode began with Poppy/Becky Butler talking about her life. It seemed rather troubled with her living with her dismissive father. She worked at the Mayor’s office and had to deal with him making advances toward her. Poppy even had to lie to the Mayor’s wife and kept on having to make excuses to get away from his offers to have a drink with him. Once she realized she couldn’t always say no, and with a not-so-great home life, Butler searched out ways to disappear. She put two and two together, cut her hair, and disappeared from Oklahoma before reappearing in New York at Cinda Canning’s office. She floated the Becky Butler podcast (All is Not OK in Oklahoma) and requested a job. As time passed, the podcast became a hit, but Canning needed a juicy follow-up. She branded Poppy useless and said she would make it happen herself.
We then went back to The Arconia where the trio discussed methods to draw a confession out of Cinda Canning. As usual, there was an unnecessary debate about what unravels- the candidates being mystery and sweater. Mabel handed over the knife to Detective Williams to find any DNA on it.
After the end credits, Charles, Mabel, and Oliver met Poppy White at the diner to discuss what could set Cinda off and get her to confess. After learning a few surprising triggers, Poppy got a call, which made her rush back to the office. As Poppy left, Oliver wanted to eat; something he says that they need to do despite their primary focus being to catch the killer. Mabel said she realized what “14 savage” is and got a call from Detective Williams, who found a DNA sample on the knife. When she returned to the table, Mabel told Oliver and Charles that she knew what Bunny Folger’s last words meant.
That night, the podcast hosts organized a killer reveal party featuring the likes of Marv, Howard, Uma, Ursula, Jonathan, and Lester. The trio entered late, and the guests realized that they had not gotten cake with them. As per their plan, Oliver began engaging in the theater acts before Mabel goaded him to get on with it. He questioned her whether she wanted him to do the reveal well or fast, and received the latter as a reply.
Once Cinda and Poppy arrived, Charles revealed it is a killer reveal party, i.e. one where they reveal Bunny’s killer and a killer party in general. Just as they were about to begin, Alice walked into the apartment.
They immediately accused Cinda of the murder, following which Lester had an outburst. During that sequence, footage from (The Last Night of Bunny Folger) played out on screen. The moment they mentioned “crooked cop”, Cinda looked unnerved and asked them how they know that. She looked shocked as Mabel drove home her point about Canning being “a back who makes up murders and packages them.”
Charles began acting in slow motion and cut up tomatoes to get under Cinda’s nerves to break her. Mabel then had a pivot and announced to the room at large that it wasn’t Cinda. Instead, she pointed the finger at Alice and accused her of making art based on her tragedy. She theorized that “14 savage” was Alice offering 14k for the painting of Savage.
Alice looked frustrated, turned, and picked up the knife to stab Mabel. However, she ended up sending it straight into Charles’ stomach. While Howard fainted, the rest of The Arconia residents pinned Alice on a chair.
When Cinda said Mabel deserves a podcast, Poppy snapped and questioned whether she didn’t get one just because of her looks. She even sneezed at that moment, leading to her getting questioned whether Mrs. Gambolini’s presence caused it. She continued sneezing and then made a grave mistake.
White snidely told Mabel, Oliver, and Cinda to not believe young girls who are hiding in their walls. This proved Poppy was aware of Lucy in the Arcatacombs and came to finish her off in ‘Hello Darkness.’
Charles then got up and revealed that it was all a ruse to get Poppy to confess. They had their suspicions but things got confirmed once they realized “14 savage” was actually “14 sandwich”. They put the dots together, learning that Poppy tried to get the painting from Bunny Folger. Also, Detective Williams found Becky Butler’s DNA on the knife that stabbed Bunny Folger.
Poppy White was in cahoots with Kreps, who decided to get famous from Cinda Canning and move out of what he described as a “shit box.” Detective Williams arrived at The Arconia with a bunch of uniformed cops who had arrested Kreps. They took Poppy away to signal the end of the murders in that building.
The trio and Canning recorded their respective podcasts. Subsequently, Charles, Oliver, and Mabel hoped to interact as regular humans and not as three people discussing murders.
Later, the network permitted Charles to get out of the wheelchair and his dementia was in remission on Uncle Brazzos. He even successfully got a date. Mabel began renovating her apartment and Alice joined her in painting over The Arconia graph in her living room. Oliver, who renamed Mrs. Gambolini as Mama G, and Will shared a moment where Will told his ‘father’ that if Oliver wasn’t his father, he wouldn’t know what one was. Putnam then got a call with an offer to return to Broadway.
The story then proceeded jumped a year, revealing Oliver directing Paul Rudd. He seemed on edge and Charles, a co-actor, had some very questionable lines that positioned him as shady.
It happened just before the curtain rose and the play began. Rudd’s character collapsed and Oliver realized something was wrong as he sprinted into the alley. As a few people gathered around Rudd, blood oozed out of his mouth, Charles looked stunned, and Mabel, who was in the audience, stood up in shock.
Only Murders in The Building (Season 2 Finale), Episode 10 “I know Who did it” Ending, Explained:
Charles did not kill Paul Rudd’s character
The angle of jealousy of an old actor towards a young actor can be floated. There is even the scenario of Charles having delivered certain lines to his co-actor before the curtain went up. The question remains. How did Rudd’s character deliver the initial lines before collapsing? Was he even stabbed? There was no visible mark or even a weapon. All in all, Charles isn’t the killer and his lines can be explained as simply staying in character in the theater. This is an extension of the killer reveal party where they talk about the theater.
Season 3 will delve into Oliver Putnam’s backstory
Season one focused on Mabel, The Hardy Boys, and Tim Kono. Season two was about Charles Sr, Lucy, and the painting. As two of the three leads have had seasons devoted to them, Season three will be Oliver’s vehicle. Moving the setting to the theater is an apt method to delve into his backstory and rid the show of the staple Arconia residents. The podcast ‘Only Murders in The Building’ can continue as it is with the setting being a new building (the Broadway Theatre).
What did you make of Episode 10 of Season 2?
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Trailer
ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING (SEASON 2 Finale) EPISODE 10 LINKS – IMDB
ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING (SEASON 2 Finale) EPISODE 10 CAST – STEVE MARTIN, MARTIN SHORT, SELENA GOMEZ
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