True Crime

True Crime
Season	1
Episode	1
Air date	August 31, 2021
Writer	Steve Martin and John Hoffman
Director	Jamie Babbit
Episode guide
Next	Who Is Tim Kono?

True Crime is the first episode of the first season of Only Murders in the Building. It was available for streaming on Hulu on August 31, 2021.

Synopsis

Upper West Side neighbours Charles, Oliver, and Mabel bond over a shared love of true crime. When a fellow resident dies in their building, the trio determine to solve the mystery and record an accompanying podcast.

Plot

At the Arconia, Charles-Haden Savage and Oliver Putnam are in shock, they scramble down the stairs of the hotel shouting after finding Mabel Mora standing over a recently deceased body. Mabel, however, cites that it isn't what it looks like.

A flashback to two months earlier introduces the Charles, Oliver, and Mabel as each walks down the streets of New York's central business district. Charles is a previously infamous actor who now finds himself struggling and unable to find work, Mabel is a lonely creative living in the Arconia in her grandmother's apartment, and Oliver is an eccentric but equally struggling theatre director.

The three later meet in the elevator of the Arconia, but there is an eery silence in the air and neither utters a word to the other. As the elevator climbs the floors of the Arconia, it stops as Tim Kono enters wearing a suit and on what seems to be a stressful phone conversation. Charles, Mabel, and Oliver exit the elevator one by one as it reaches their floor to go about their individually ordinary lives. Each does, however, listen to the same podcast, All is Not Okay in Oklahoma.

Listening of the podcast is interrupted shortly after, however, when the buildings fire alarm sounds at the moment the podcast is about to reveal the suspicious item in the dogs mouth. Consequently, each of the three members meet up in a nearby restaurant, having been forced to leave the building due to the alarm. They discuss the podcast, including the possibilities for what could be in the dogs mouth.

Not long after, they try to re-enter the Arconia, but find their access blocked by the police, who reveal that a body has been found on the ninth floor of the building. Inspired by their love of true crime, the trio take the freight elevator to the eighth floor to do some investigations of their own.

Drawing inspiration from the All is Not Okay in Oklahoma, Charles, Mabel, and Oliver head to the garbage room to look for clues in the residents trash. Inside, they find numerous letters which appear to be suicide notes; they question whether or not these belong to Tim.

In an effort to better coordinate their efforts, and stemming from their love of true crime, Charles, Oliver, and Mabel set up their own podcast in which they aim to solve Kono's murder; they name this "Only Murders in the Building".

Cast

Starring

• Steve Martin as Charles-Haden Savage
• Martin Short as Oliver Putnam
• Selena Gomez as Mabel Mora
• Aaron Dominguez as Oscar Torres
• Amy Ryan as Jan Bellows

Trivia

• Aptly, the podcast is named Only Murders in the Building, the plural of which hints that there will be more than one murder.
  • Furthermore, at the beginning of the episode, Charles remarks: "[...] I mean let's face it, nobody ever discovered 19 bodies buried in the back yard of a 14-story apartment building [...]".
• A photograph in Mabel's apartment shows her and Tim Kono were friends before the murder; the caption is "My Hardy Boys". Interestingly, however, Mabel makes no effort to talk to Kono when he enters the elevator nor does she acknowledge that the two know one another.

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