A few years ago, when naming a career-best comedy trio featuring Steve Martin and Martin Short, the presumed missing person would be their Three Amigos costar Chevy Chase. But now, as their hit show Only Murders In the Building enters its third season, Selena Gomez has firmly taken that spot. What seemed like stunt-casting when the series premiered back in 2021, or a cynical ploy to give the show cross-generation appeal, has created one of the most delightful trios on television. In the show’s best season to date, the amateur sleuths/podcasters return to solve another murder, the warm chemistry between them is even more bewitching, and the mysteries and twists are inspired. The dialogue is still silly but sharp, and it truly sings when Martin, Short and Gomez all interact to create an old-school jazzy quality. It is not the easiest narrative to sell, to convincingly keep these very different characters, who have little in common, in each other’s lives – but good news! The old gang have to get back together because, you guessed it, there was a murder, and it was in the building.
Technically, the second season of this mystery-comedy series ended on a murder. Oliver (Short) was finally back directing a play on Broadway after a notorious flop landed him “15 years in Broadway jail”. Alas, on opening night, his superstar lead Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd), collapsed dead, seemingly ending the play, and Oliver’s career, again. Not that the success of that play felt assured, given the show’s tendency to make every element as absurd as possible. On occasion, this is something that has proven grating, but this time round the daftness of the fact that Oliver is directing “A play called Death Rattle. Set in a lighthouse in a Nova Scotia where the only witness to a murder is a baby,” never gets old. Particularly in the scenes where the self-serious actors are giving it their all in rehearsals, and Rudd’s Hollywood blowhard of a character has to brandish a rattle threateningly. Thankfully, he is given more than just a cameo and is phenomenal as a douchebag movie star who swans into rooms, makes a series of penis jokes, lets his co-star Kimber (Ashley Park) know he has “timber for Kimber” and swiftly hands out a series of NDAs. Every detail about Rudd’s Ben is hilariously terrible, from his treatment of his assistant/brother, his strong opinions on the colour palette of his dressing room, to his biggest claim to fame being the star of a series of “CoBro” films, where he plays a “bro” able to transform into a large Cobra that helps the police.
Although the series is set up with Ben shuffling off the mortal coil as the opening night curtain is raised, naturally, things are not quite as they seem. The show moves backwards and forwards, providing backstories for Ben and the rest of the cast and crew on the theatre production, as well as following Oliver, Charles (Martin) and Mabel (Gomez) trying to figure out who the real murderer is, and potentially turn the investigation into a new series of their true-crime podcast.
But even with a stellar central trio and an incredible supporting ensemble – featuring Rudd, Tina Fey, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Ashley Park, Jesse Williams and the bonafide comedic genius that is Andrea Martin – one inclusion still feels like a dream come true: Meryl Streep. Frankly, it is hard not to want to punch the air when her presence is revealed as Loretta Durkin, a jobbing actress who never quite got her big break, despite, as the introductory narration explains, auditioning “for anything and everything, all in pursuit of that moment in the spotlight”. It’s down to Oliver to finally give Loretta the dream she’s worked so hard for, and the chemistry between the two characters is heart-achingly sweet.
Streep, unsurprisingly, plays Loretta beautifully, truly tapping into the agony of a woman who’s faced a lifetime of rejection but somehow kept her dream alive, as well as mining laughs out of the absurdity of actors who show up at table-reads with a series of ludicrously terrible accents and insist that it is a crucial part of “their process”.
In the third season, the show is more committed to fun, taking every opportunity to slip in a witty retort or a Bob Fosse-style musical number. The central trio are at their finest, nearly breaking the fourth wall when Martin and Short’s characters are begging Gomez’s character to figure out how they can all continue to hang out. Oliver pleads, “We need you, you’re the Mabel in the Charles and Oliver sandwich!” Charles adds, “Without you, we’re just two pieces of stale white bread.” While no one is suggesting that Short and Martin are bland, stale or past their prime, the inclusion of Gomez truly does lead to the most delicious of televisual sandwiches and anchors the best series of Only Murders In The Building so far. One can only hope there are many more years of good old-fashioned, murderous fun ahead to keep these three occupied.
Only Murders in the Building season three is on Disney+.
