Summary
OMITB deals with grief for one of the main characters while the podcasters delve into possible suspects in the murder of Sazz. The dealing of grief in this chapter has a comedic but serious tone that works.
It’s sad to see Charles reduced to a hallucinating, grieving man, but the murder of Sazz Pataki has hit him hard. Only Murders in the Building Season 4, Episode 2 sets the tone in the opening, with archive footage of Sazz in a documentary; she discusses the dangers of stunts and the lifestyle behind them. It’s a fond reminder of how much this character meant to Charles. It’s important that we understand, as the audience, what he is going through.
The grief hits Charles immediately. Episode 2, aptly titled “Gates of Heaven,” sees the podcaster in shock, unsure what to do with Sazz’s ashes over him. Applying common sense, he washes off the ashes into a bowl and puts the liquid into a mason jar to at least recover most of it.
The only problem is that Charles is in such a state of shock that he’s hallucinating Sazz to make matters worse. His subconscious is rife.
The investigation at the West Tower
In the second episode of Season 4, the team does not waste time. Oliver and Mabel launch straight into a flow state for their true crime investigation.
The shooter is likely to have come from Arconia West Tower, but with Sazz being Charles’ body double, he could have been the target. The subjects at the tower opposite are comically described: Stink-Eye Joe, The Sauce Family, and Christmas-All-The-Time-Guy. Finally, there’s another apartment that never opens its blind, which becomes important later in the episode.
Mabel and Oliver decide to investigate the West Tower without Charles in case he’s in danger. They also suspect he’s mentally in disarray, and they are absolutely correct; he continues to talk “Sazz” as he comes to terms with his grief. Jan Bellows shows up, but at this point of the episode, we are unsure if he’s hallucinating her, too (she’s meant to be in prison).
A strange card game and the apartment next door
Mabel and Oliver speak to Stink-Eye Joe first but then end up with his neighbors, the Sauce Family, and play a strange card game called “Oh, Hell.” The game involves going to the bathroom with a large knife and being confronted by a ham hung in the shower (yes, I know; I felt weird typing, too).
But the most telling part of the investigation is when the neighbors get a little strange when they mention the neighbor with the blinds closed—a person named Dudenoff.
Mabel and Oliver report to Charles, who is having a mental breakdown at this point. The first suspect appears to be Dudenoff, but they have little evidence. The duo visits the apartment using the code they have managed to obtain, and there’s a good vantage point for a sniper to shoot into Charles’ apartment. They also find a pig in the bath (which later escapes). But perhaps what makes their visit spookier is whoever tried to enter the apartment and failed. Mabel and Oliver did not manage to catch who it was.
Wait… Jan was there?
Remember Jan Bellows? She returns in ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 4 (Credit – Hulu)
But Only Murders in the Building Season 4, Episode 2 ends with a stranger twist, which we were not expecting. The NYPD and Detective Donna Williams turn up at Charles’ apartment looking for escaped convict Jan. It turns out Charles was not hallucinating her. She was in his apartment. The detective is dismayed that this podcast group is investigating another murder.
With Charles still processing the grief, he eventually uses the luminol on the kitchen floor to see where Sazz bled out. There’s a message in her blood; he knows what it means, which we can explore in future episodes. Also, the sticky numbers on the board are not numbers but letters upside down.
It dawns on Charles that they are investigating his murder, not Sazz’s. He was supposed to die that night.
The second episode is sad but stays within the series’ themes. The writers were concise and decisive in dealing with Charles’ immediate reaction to the grief he was feeling, which is the highlight of the chapter.
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