‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 4, Episode 9 Explained – Who Was Sazz Pataki’s Protégé?

It appears to be confirmed who the murderer is in Only Murders in the Building Season 4, Episode 9. If Marshall is not the murderer, episode 10 would be an incredible redirection.

Ironically, getting closer to the truth doesn’t make “Escape From Planet Klongo” a better chapter. It’s fun but at the tail-end of some impressive episodes.

Anyway, here is my breakdown.

Season 4, Episode 9 begins with a contextual flashback from two years ago: Sazz Pataki is leaving the film set for Project Ronkonkoma – a film we learned about in Episode 8. As she leaves, she bumps into Marshall, who becomes her stunt protege.

In the present day, Charles, Oliver, and Mabel try to visit Glen Stubbins in the hospital, but because the stuntman is in a coma, the overprotective nurse stops them from entering his room. However, while at the hospital, they learn that Glen replaced Sazz’s protege (Marshall), and the protege blamed Sazz for ruining his career. The true crime podcasters now have a motive, but to pursue their lead, they need to speak to the director of Project Ronkonkoma, Ron Howard.

(Yes, Ron Howard features in an episode of OMITB – who’d have thought?)

How Does One Find Ron Howard?

Of course, the question becomes, how do they get close to Ron Howard? Well, Oliver’s ego, as usual, gets in the way as he claims that he has a close personal friendship with Ron (this is a good misdirection of the audience, as later in the episode, it is confirmed they are actually friends, which is funny).

Mabel, being Mabel, takes the practical route of finding Ron Howard and speaks to Bev Melon, who has industry connections. She discovers the location of a film set that Ron is working on, and the podcasters pretend to be background actors to get inside.

Charles and Oliver Reevaluate Their Friendship

Considering Charles and Oliver are closer to the truth about Sazz Pataki’s murder, they spend most of the time at the film set arguing. Oliver wants a bachelor party before his marriage to Loretta, but Charles is dismayed that his friend undervalues his plans for the party.

Charles is pretty harsh to Oliver, to be honest. He tells him that no one will show up to his boozy bachelor party because he’s insufferable. Their argument leads to the pair getting kicked off the set.

But there’s a reason for Charles’ outburst; since his friend Oliver has become serious with Loretta, he has felt like a third wheel. He never wanted a bachelor party; he wanted to celebrate their friendship. Understanding his friend’s emotions, Oliver asks Charles to be his Best Man at the wedding, and they decide to go for lunch, which turns into a mini-bachelor party.

(The argument that turns into clarity for the friends is a sweet moment in Season 4, Episode 9. Sometimes, you forget that Oliver and Charles are friends. This was a wonderful reminder of what the characters mean to each other.)

Charles (L) and Oliver (R) reassess their friendship in Season 4, Episode 9 (Credit – Hulu)

Ron Howard’s Story

It’s story time in Only Murders in the Building Season 4, Episode 9. And just like the last episode, where the characters give a convoluted story, it’s Ron Howard’s turn this time.

To Charles’s shock, Ron Howard turns up at the restaurant where he and Oliver are, and to an even bigger surprise, he appears to be friends with Oliver.

Ron reveals that he remembers everything about Project Ronkonkoma. In his story, there was a stunt involving the stuntman being on fire. However, after the stunt played out, the fire extinguisher did not fully extinguish the fire, and the stuntman ended up burning Ron Howard’s eyelashes off. This ultimately cost the stuntman’s job.

This stuntman also stole Ron Howard’s shoes. Ron has replaced his shoes with the same brand, and Oliver and Charles are stunned to see that the footprint on them is the same as the one on the radiator at the crime scene. The stuntman was called Rex Bailey. When Ron shows a photo of Rex, he looks exactly like Marshall, the writer behind the OMITB movie.

The Death of Glen and the Emergence of Marshall

The ending of Only Murders of the Building Season 4, Episode 9, is a huge revelation, along with Ron Howard’s story.

First of all, Glen Stubbins wakes up in the hospital. Mabel heads over to the hospital to see Glen, learning that he’s out of a coma, however, before she gets there, he is murdered (the typical, cushion over the head suffocation).

Mabel asks the nurse if anyone called regarding Glen, and she reveals it was Sazz Pataki who called, as she was an emergency contact, but she sounded like a man.

A defeated Mabel returns to her apartment, saddened that there’s been another murder. However, she’s surprised to see Marshall outside her door. He wants inspiration for her character for his script, but Mabel is not in the mood.

However, Mabel entertains Marshall anyway and offers him a beer from the crate they would offer Glen at the hospital. I can only assume this crate was originally from Charles’ apartment, as that would make sense based on how all this ends.

When Mabel reaches inside the crate, she finds a script for “Only Murders in the Building: The Movie.” However, to her surprise, it’s written by Sazz Pataki, not Marshall.

Why would it be written by Sazz Pataki? Episode 9 of Season 4 heavily suggests that Marshall is the murderer of Sazz Pataki. Not only did he murder her due to his career downfall, but he also took her ideas to get a movie commissioned.