How Only Murders in the Building’s Season 4 Finale Sets up Season 5

Another season of Only Murders in the Building has come to a close. The podcasting trio of Mabel (Selena Gomez), Charles (Steven Martin), and Oliver (Martin Short) somehow managed to navigate not only the death of Charles’ stuntwoman Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch), but also discover what happened to Professor Milton Dudenoff (Griffin Dunne), realize there is still someone from their first season coming back to haunt them, and marry Oliver off to the love of his life, Loretta (Meryl Streep). All of this is in addition to a movie being made about them with actors Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, and Zach Galifianakis playing fictionalized versions of the true-crime podcasters.

Even with that much going on to keep them busy, the group aren’t hanging up their hats anytime soon. When the series was renewed for Season 5 before Season 4 premiered, there was an assumption that the next season would somehow be set up in Season 4, and that proved correct. Like the previous seasons of Only Murders in the Building, we know who Mabel, Charles, and Oliver will be trying to find justice for when they return next season, and it’s going to be an emotional ride. Here are the six ways the Season 4 finale sets up Season 5, both the murder the trio are trying to solve and someone who could be involved with it.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Only Murders in the Building Season 4, Episode 10

6 Charles Foreshadows Another Murder

Within the first five minutes of the episode, Charles is foreshadowing that something will happen before the episode ends. He and Oliver know who is behind Sazz’s death, and while trying to get a hold of Mabel through text to communicate that, Charles is quick to note that usually right after they solve one murder another is there for them to work on. It’s morbid and unfortunately true.

Even without his statement, based on the early Season 5 renewal, fans had to know the other shoe was going to drop before the end of the episode. That information, combined with the knowledge that previous seasons have shown a death in the final moments, makes Charles’s statement all too foreboding.

5 Oliver’s Concern About His Bride

Oliver is a nervous wreck the entire final episode, worried that something will go wrong during his wedding. He repeatedly voices his concern for Loretta’s safety, especially after Charles reminds him that another murder could be on the horizon, considering their past. Because Charles notes that it’s usually someone they know, Oliver immediately jumps to Loretta, thinking whoever has been after them since Season 1 may be trying to ruin his happiness on his special day.

While neither of them are wrong, it was a different “L” name who would be murdered. Oliver’s train of thought gives a subtle hint that the person Season 5 will revolve around is an older individual with a name that starts with the letter “L” and that someone will be murdered the day of his wedding.

4 Who Is Nicky “The Neck” Caccimelio?

In Season 4, Episode 9, a passing comment on the television introduces audiences to Nicky “The Neck” Caccimelio. He’s the dry cleaning king of Brooklyn, but he’s disappeared without a trace. While it seemed like a random inclusion, he came back up again in the final episode in a way that makes it almost certain he will play a part in Season 5.

As Mabel and Charles head back to their apartments after Oliver’s wedding, they run into his wife, Sophia Caccimelio (Téa Leoni), who is hoping to enlist their help to find her husband. When they tell her they only work on cases in the building, it’s kind of their entire name and brand, she’s sure to let them know Nicky’s disappearance is relevant to them and the Arconia, stating, “What happened to Nicky has everything to do with this building.”

While we don’t know how a dry cleaning king who may or may not be in charge of laundering more than just linens is associated with the building, it’s the perfect set-up to learn more in Season 5. Could he be behind Lester’s murder? Only time will tell.

3 Charles Shuts Down Lester’s Story

Fans of Only Murders in the Building likely weren’t surprised when Charles shut down Lester, the doorman of the Arconia, as he tried to share with the Brazzos actor a story about his own wedding in the building’s courtyard. Sure, Charles and Oliver were off to save Mabel from the evil clutches of Marshall/Rex in what was yet another plot twist in the series, but he could’ve heard the doorman out.

Lester’s stories are nearly always cut off by the main cast as he tries to share his life and the wealth of knowledge he’s gained working at the building as long as he has. It was only fitting that his last story was also cut short. Could his stories hold the truth to what happened to him? Hopefully, someone was listening since the podcasting trio weren’t.

2 Lester Describes His Courtyard Wedding

Lester is trying to tell Charles about his own wedding in the Arconia’s courtyard during his final speaking moments on screen. He talks about how he and his wife were married in the middle of the night under the stars with only the fountain as their witness. It’s foreshadowing in the worst way what will happen to Lester in that courtyard so many years later, since he’s killed at some point during the evening of the wedding and left in the fountain for the podcasters to find the next day.

It’s poetic in a way, that one of the happiest moments of his life is where it ended. By sharing with the audience how much the fountain meant to him, Lester was only setting up how important that location would become.

Throughout the episode, there are several throwaway lines that seemingly throw shade Lester’s way, gearing the audience up for the emotional reveal in the final scene. When Sophia tries to hire Charles and Mabel, she notes that the only reason she went up to their apartments in her effort to speak with them was because there wasn’t a doorman around to stop her. Chances are Lester was still enjoying the wedding, since he was a guest, so he gets a pass there.

Oliver makes a passing comment in the episode that Lester is always letting murderers into the Arconia. It’s both a dig at his abilities as the doorman, especially because Oliver says it to his face, but it could be foreshadowing how Lester died. Did he let his own murderer into the building, unknowingly giving them access to him? Did the murderer slip in while Lester was at the wedding? The chances are high we will find out as they work to solve his murder next season. If you weren’t already watching Only Murders in the Building, justice for Lester is reason enough to start watching now and get caught up.

All of
Only Murders in the Building
Season 4 is available to watch now on Hulu.