Only Murders in the Building Season 2 Finale Review: Selena Gomez, Steven Martin and Martin Short’s Whodunit Ends With An Unsatisfying Killer Reveal (LatestLY Exclusive)

Only Murders in the Building Season 2 Finale Review: With Whodunits, the main part of the puzzle is that you have to make sure that the ending lands. No matter how good the journey has been, the destination has to be equally exciting to make it all feel worth it. With Only Murders in the Building Season 2 finale, the investigation was the journey, but unfortunately the reveal of the killer was the destination, and it just didn’t make much sense. PS – the review will contain spoilers for this season and episode, so proceed with caution. Only Murders in the Building Season 2 Review: Selena Gomez, Martin Short and Steve Martin’s Whodunit Returns For a Funnier, Albeit A Bit Cluttered Second Outing (LatestLY Exclusive).

In the finale of Only Murders in the Building Season 2, we pick up right as our gang is ready to bust Cindy Canning (Tina Fey) with the help of Poppy White/Betty Butler. The reveal that Cindy incriminates crime scenes with the help of Detective Kreps (Michael Rapaport), everything is starting to fall in place and Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) set up a party so that they could get a confession straight out of the horse’s mouth.

Now the first season for Only Murders in the Building had a disappointing ending considering just how predictable the villain happened to be. The lover of the main character? Could have seen that coming miles away. It’s one of those cliches that brought that season down. Over here, the reveal is maybe a bit better, but its so out of the left field that you’re just left wondering whether this was the plan all along.

Of course, the episode is fun in the traditional sense where you will enjoy watching it. The staged party and the way our trio play off of each other - there is a certain sense of bond these characters share that is just way too infectious. Certain side characters get a bunch of development this time. Characters like Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton) and Theo (James Caverly) do get their fair share of time in the spotlight while newcomers like Alice (Cara Delevingne) and Lucy (Zoe Colletti) turn out to be welcome additions to the show.

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But all that excitement is then again crumbled down by the reveal of the killer. Now of course, to talk about it, spoilers will be mentioned here, so be wary. The killer after all is revealed to be Betty. Her backstory is revealed where she talks about how she wanted to leave Oklahoma and fell for Kreps, Only Murders in the Building Season 2 tries to pull the rug right off underneath from you and in that it hurts itself.

The reveal of Betty faking her appearance and trying to impress Cindy, the entire motivation for her character feels extremely off. She has nothing to do with Bunny (Jane Houdyshell) and that just makes the crime seem so disconnected from the actual premise we have been following all season. So much of it feels so quickly wrapped up, that it seems like the writers just wrote themselves into a wall and didn’t know how to land the twist.

However, it's not all a downer. The episode features some really fun sequences and end to character arcs that are heartwarming. One including Oliver and his son of which the scene is handled with great care. In the same way Charles also gets closure with his past while Mabel begins anew with Alice. It all creates for exciting new arcs that our characters will have going forward. House of the Dragon Review: Matt Smith’s ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel Series Is An Impressive Return to Westeros! (LatestLY Exclusive).

The season also ends with quite a zinger as it has one final surprise of us in a cameo from Paul Rudd. Rudd does what he does best and portrays the character who will be the next murder victim going forward. A fun end to what was a rather dull episode, it makes for some exciting new beginnings that will push the series out of Arconia and into new waters.

Yay!

Character Arcs

Paul Rudd’s Cameo

Nay!

Killer Reveal

Plot Twist Can Feel Confusing

Final Thoughts

Just like its first season, Only Murders in the Building Season 2 ends on a downer. While the journey of getting to the ending is a highlight, the reveal of the killer is extremely baffling given how out of bounds it seems. However, it still packs a punchy setup for the next season that will have many gleefully excited. Only Murders in the Building Season 2 is streaming right now on Disney+ Hotstar.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 24, 2022 12:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).