In the second episode of Only Murders in the Building Season 4, titled “Gates of Heaven,” the story goes on with characters Oliver, played by Steve Martin, Mabel, played by Selena Gomez, and Charles, played by Martin Short, jumping right into Sazz’s murder, which they happen upon at the end of the previous episode. All three of them have limited time that they try to find out what happened before police arrive to complicate matters. There is tension because character are all dealing with the trauma and or the guilt of the shooting in different ways and also because of wit and dark humor typical of the series.
At the start of this episode, Charles is depicted as being in a state of shock and depression as he tries to make sense of what has happened to Sazz all that remained of her is ashes. This is a painful and quite suspenseful moment when Charles gathers the ashes in a mason jar and promises to scatter them somewhere that Sazz would like, thus Charles faces a very personal story here, dealing with guilt and the fact of Sazz’s death.
When they try to investigate, the character realize that the bullet that caused the death of Sazz was from outside the building and the gunman was probably targeting Charles. This leads Oliver and Mabel on a journey to uncover the occupants of the 14th floor of the West Tower as to where they think the shot was fired. The suspects include a quirky collection of neighbors: -Stink-Eye Joe who has a bad eye disease known as pink eyes – the sauce family as they sit all day preparing sauces while staring at their window and the unknown neighbor Dudenoff who is never seen as he closes his blinds all the time.
On the other hand, Charles is presented with hallucination of Sazz just as Mabel was presented with visions of Tim Kono in the first part of American Crime. At this point, he feels the guilt following the incident in the farm and suddenly, he is surprised with the arrival of Jan at his house, much to his surprised that she escaped the prison. Jan’s sudden reappearance further complicates things and when she unveils that she had been anxious for Sazz who told her that there was another murderer in the building. Charles is left with doubts whether to believe Jan’s account of the issue given that she is manipulative and has a history.
During their progress, Oliver and Mabel’s trip to the West Tower gives them some interesting discoveries. Warning: don’t call this Stink-Eye Joe a bully; it seems that Joe isn’t even angry with Charles – he had conjunctivitis. In the Sauce Family, he is seen as a taboo figure in the way the head of the family hardly tolerates him and the lady of the house who develops an erotic affection towards him. But none of them appears to be the one as Joe is not the villain, as well as the Sauce Family.
The most chilling moment comes when Charles, using Luminol, discovers Sazz’s final message scrawled in her own blood: “Tap in. ” This was something that only the two of them would understand and every time that Sazz did this, it meant that he was coming in to perform stunts for Charles on set. The message ends up reinforcing Charles’s nightmare of being right that Sazz was the one that collected the bullet for him. This revelation brings the idea closer home to force upon Charles the fact that he was the intended victim a fact that he had been escaping to redeem. Thus, having found a goal, Charles sets out to find the killer, much to Sazz’s death and, unintentionally, to save his own life.
This episode boasts many cameos such as Jane Lynch as Sazz and Amy Ryan as Jan together with other new characters who feature in the show for instance potential suspects. Richard Kind has given a brilliant performance to Stink-Eye Joe and Kumail Nanjiani has given comic look to Rudy Thurber who loves Christmas so much.
The trio is still no closer to identifying the murderer at the end of the episode, but they are more committed than ever to cracking the case. The stakes are higher than ever, and the spectator is left excitedly awaiting the next turn in the narrative, especially with the added stress of knowing that Charles was the intended victim.
ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING SEASON 4 FULL CAST
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