Summary
Only Murders in the Building finishes with a bang as the real murderer is revealed.
This recap of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building season 1, episode 10, “Open and Shut,” — the finale/ending explained — contains spoilers.
Read the review of the comedy series.
The whole appeal for Only Murders in the Building is that the goalposts kept changing — every episode brought a new potential suspect. And while the murder mystery ran out of steam, it at least kept the comedy intact.
Only Murders in the Building season 1, episode 10 recap – the finale
Episode 10 opens with Tim Kono narrating moments before he died; he states that he became lonely when he lost all his friends, and his romance with Jan helped. Meanwhile, in the present day, Mabel and Oliver have figured out Tim’s lover and need to warn Charles. So, they tell Charles that he’s sleeping with a murderer, but he tells them they are insane as Mabel explains their theory.
Later on, Jan finds Charles at his apartment; she’s mortified that he found out that she lied about being the first chair and apologizes. Charles lets her in, and they drink together. Jan sees the exotic instrument cleaner from Tim’s apartment and wonders if Charles thinks she’s the killer. Charles claims he does not think it is her and confesses his love for the woman. Jan reciprocates. Meanwhile, Mabel and Oliver continue their investigation in Jan’s apartment, and they find poison. They also find a knife; Jan stabbed herself.
It turns out that Charles is wiser than he’s acting, as he tells Jan that he knows she’s poisoned his alcohol and that she used the same substance on Tim. Suddenly, Jan transforms to her true self and reveals she’s excited now it’s all out in the open. As Charles goes through more evidence against her, Jan reveals the poison was on his handkerchief as he collapses to the floor.
It’s confirmed — Jan is the murderer.
Jan leaves the apartment to try and plot against the others before time runs out. Charles tries his hardest to get up and attempts to use his nose on his smartphone. He makes it to the elevator, but the residents think he’s extremely drunk.
All the characters keep missing each other on the elevators as they go up and down, but eventually, Mabel and Oliver find Charles. Oliver tries feeding him milk to absorb the toxins but then uses Charles’s face to unlock his phone; they find a recording where Jan confesses to the murder. And then, they smell gas fumes coming from the basement and believe it’s Jan meddling.
Jan finds them in the basement and points a gun at the trip. Eventually, Oliver uses the wheelchair that Charles is in to hit Jan, and then Mabe punches her. Jan drops her weapon, and she is arrested.
Case closed.
The ending
As the episode nearly closes, Tim narrates how three strangers managed to embrace their messes.
As the episode finishes, Oliver and Charles receive a message telling them to get out of the building so they go to get Mabel. They find Mabel leaned down next to a dead Bunny covered in blood, and she tells them it’s not what they think — and that she just stumbled in. Mabel’s knitting needle is in her back. All three of them are arrested by the police
What did you think of Only Murders in the Building season 1, episode 10 — finale and ending? Comment below.
