Is Molly Shannon the Killer?

(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

I suppose I should start this week’s recap with an apology to Howard Morris (Michael Cyril Creighton), who I rudely accused of being a scheming serial killer in last week’s recap. “Howard has subtly ingratiated himself into the group,” I wrote, “to the point where he’s acting this season as the honorary fourth member.”

I found Howard’s absurd amount of free time suspicious, and at the start of this week’s episode, “The Stunt Man,” I was giving Howard the stink eye for being so cool with hanging out all day at Mabel’s new setup in the Dudenoff apartment. Doesn’t this guy have a job at a library? Why’s he doing all this for Mabel, if not for sneaky, murderous reasons?

The answer, it turns out, is that Howard is lonely. “I’m a sad boy who hates being alone,” he tells Mabel. Poor Howard! I still had my suspicions of him of course, but those went out the window in the scene where he hears some noises at the Dudenoff door.

With nobody there to observe him, Howard seems genuinely scared, and when he sees the flier announcing auditions for the Only Murders movie production, he has a genuine crisis of conscience: Should he abandon the Dudenoff apartment and risk Dudenoff returning unseen, or take this once-in-a-lifetime shot of starring in a big Hollywood film? The fact that he hesitates at all is a sign that Howard’s exactly who he’s always claimed to be: a colorful supporting character who the writers have clearly taken a liking to over the other Arconian residents. (Where are the other residents, by the way? Have they all moved out due to the constant murder?)

But in the same sequence that vindicates Howard, the show puts Bev Melon (Molly Shannon) fully in the hot seat. After all, it’s suspicious that Melon and the Brothers sisters just so happen to be doing surprise auditions at exactly the same time Howard is guarding the apartment. Although the Westies’ connection to Melon is still unclear, this early sequence makes the episode’s big cliffhanger—where the trio finds Melon holding a gun at them in Sazz’s mysterious building—feel properly foreshadowed.

Patrick Harbron/Disney

So, what do we know about Melon so far? Well, she knows a lot about Sazz, as evidenced by her rummaging through Sazz’s secret building with a handgun. We also know, from her description of the Brothers sisters as identical twins, that she’s bad with faces.

If you’re assuming Sazz was murdered on purpose, which Charles (Steve Martin) sure still seems to think is a possibility, then Melon’s at the top of the suspect list. Other clues supporting Melon being a murderer are that she’s very powerful and connected, she’s willing to make bold moves to suit her agenda, and her descriptions of the trio back in the premiere implied plenty of contempt. She’s also one of the only new non-celebrity characters who’s memorable enough so far to make for a good killer reveal.

That brings us to the other group of non-celebrity suspects, the Westies in the neighboring building. After a dejected Howard abandons the Dudenoff apartment after his failed audition, Mabel rushes over to find the Westies hurriedly trying to evict her. After Mabel threatens to call the police, the Westies finally explain what their whole deal is: They’re running a rent control scheme. Professor Dudenoff doesn’t exist; they’re pretending he does as a way to keep their rooms affordable.

How affordable, Mabel asks? Just $200 a month. It’s the sort of revelation that not only vindicates most of the Westies, but which essentially earns them their own free murder card to cash in at any moment. To offer someone housing that cheap in Manhattan’s Upper West Side is so generous that, even if they did kill Sazz, we’d have no choice but to forgive them. It does technically give each of them a motive to kill—if they heard someone was threatening to expose their scheme, for instance, I can see one of them getting trigger happy—but there’s no reason to think Sazz or Charles would feel like a threat to them.

The revelation explains basically everything; the odd closeness of the neighbors, their secretiveness over Dudenoff, their caginess with the police. The only loose end is that we still don’t know who was in the apartment to kill Sazz. Technically it could still be any of them, but the most likely suspect at this point is Helga, Rudy’s still-unseen ex-girlfriend who’s revealed to be the woman he spoke with over the ham radio last week.

The Westies describe Helga as a crazy person, someone none of them want to associate with anymore, which indicates that she’s the crossed-out person in the picture that Charles and Eugene Levy discovered last week. I originally suspected the person was Sazz, under the assumption that Sazz was Dudenoff somehow, but this being Helga makes a lot more sense. Making it more exciting is that “HELGA” was one of the notes on Sazz’s desk in the premiere: Whoever she is, she’s important. Her ominous message last week was likely far more meaningful than the Westies are making it sound.

And given Helga’s closeness to the Westies and Bev Melon’s surprise appearance in the West building, could it be that the two characters are in cahoots? Better yet, could Helga be Melon’s doppelganger? Mystery shows don’t often obscure a character’s face unless the audience would already recognize them; there’s a good chance this mysterious Helga is someone we’ve met already, or someone who looks a lot like someone we’ve met.

Speaking of doppelgangers, “The Stunt Man” introduces us to Ben Stubbins (Paul Rudd), the former stunt double of season 3’s Ben Glenroy (also played by Paul Rudd). It’s a funny bit of stunt casting that lets us hang out with Rudd again, and it widens the possibilities for what this season might have in store. If Paul Rudd can return like this after his Season 3 character died, maybe Jane Lynch will return as her own character’s lookalike? Hell, maybe the Bev Melon we see at the end of this episode isn’t our Bev Melon at all, but her evil twin sister? After the giant swing of Ben Stubbins this week, this no longer feels that crazy.

Stubbins’ purpose in this episode is to give Charles another glimpse into his friend Sazz’s life. By hanging out at a stunt double bar called Concussions, Charles learns from Sazz’s stunt double friends that Sazz was switching careers, that she felt unfulfilled from some sort of personal relationship, and that she was in a lot of physical pain from her job but never allowed Charles to see it. Season 4 really seems to be twisting the knife into Charles lately, always giving him some new thing to feel guilty over.

The most important thing we learn about Sazz isn’t actually told to Charles, however. During Sazz’s funeral, where Charles pretends to be Sazz’s body as they say nice things about her and smash prop beer bottles on his head, it turns out that one of the prop bottles was replaced with a real one. Was this really an accident, or did we just witness the season’s second attempt on Charles’ life? It’s unclear; all we know is that it spurs Charles to dream about Sazz again, where he remembers how she once told him about her plans to start a stunt doubling training camp.

The dream spurs Charles to take the trio to Paradise, New Jersey, aka the intended home of The Sazz Pataki Impact Academy. At first it seems like the building hadn’t been properly cleaned out yet and hasn’t been touched in a long time, but when the trio stumbles upon Bev Melon there, it’s clear that there’s more to this building than meets the eye. “Don’t move or I’ll blow your f—ing brains out,” Melon tells the gang in the episode’s big cliffhanger; she’s aiming a gun at them, and it seems like she’s very comfortable using it.

Considering how Sazz was killed with a gun, all of this looks pretty damning for Melon. Granted, thanks to the established story structure of the first three Only Murders seasons, it feels safe to assume that Melon’s a red herring; much like Loretta (Meryl Streep) in Season 3 or Theo in Season 1, we know it wouldn’t be fun if the show made the killer look this guilty so soon. There’s likely an innocent explanation for Melon’s behavior here, as crazy as that sounds. I don’t know who the real killer will turn out to be, but now more than ever I’m sure Helga’s got something to do with it.

Clues From the Crime Scene:

• Oliver (Martin Short) didn’t get a whole lot to do this week, except obsess over Loretta and create a fake Instagram account to stalk her. Within this episode, the storyline’s main purpose is to keep Loretta in the fold without having to pay Meryl Streep for the episode. However, a lot of focus is given to a mysterious man in Loretta’s photos. Oliver can only see his arm, but he’s filled with jealousy over him. Is this a one-off joke, or will this mystery arm man turn out to be important? If anyone recognizes that arm, let me know.
• Going back to the clues on Sazz’s desk, it seems like almost everything’s been answered to some extent except “Sick Pup.” In the premiere I speculated that the note had something to do with Winnie, Oliver’s dog who was poisoned in Season 1. This might turn out to be the final piece of the season’s puzzle, so definitely be on the lookout for anything dog-related coming up.
• Ben Stubbins is given an obvious motive for wanting Charles dead: He’s mad at him and Oliver for giving Ben Glenroy the theater gig that ended up killing him, therefore putting him out of a job for good. However, Stubbins as a killer seems a little too silly to work, and it would seem unfair for the show to wait four episodes before introducing the killer. My bet’s that the killer is someone we’ve already met.

Helga is specifically described as a Finnish woman with “paranoia” issues. We also know now that Ana (Lilian Rebelo) has the hots for Rudy (Kumail Nanjiani), as she tells him he deserves “so much better” than Helga in a very lustful tone. Not sure how this could tie into Charles/Sazz’s murder, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.