With a little billionaire soiree, a robot doorman, and a dream podcast deal happening, the fourth episode of Only Murders in the Building season 5 had Mabel, Oliver, and Charles navigate a whirlwind week on top of the latest Arconia murders.
Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers for Only Murders in the Building season 5 episode 4. Read at your own discretion.
After episode 3 left us hanging, Only Murders in the Building season 5 Episode 4: Dirty Birds continues with what happened next in the Arconia gaming room when the “new mob” suspects walked in on the main trio snooping around. One thing’s for sure: they know they’re being watched.
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Billion-dollar Babies
Tech CEO and longevity advocate Sebastian “Bash” Steed (Christoph Waltz), big pharma scion Jay Pflug (Logan Lerman), and lifestyle entrepreneur Camila White (Renée Zellweger) welcomed the episode with a montage of them talking about dealing with the thrill of winning and being the best. They seemingly kept how they view their wealthy lives “real” and “inspiring” to charm and appeal to the common folk.
Then, we were cut back to the Arconia gaming parlor when the hiding trio saw Jay’s bandaged hand from behind the bar. All was mum until Oliver (Martin Short) clumsily knocked a glass over, catching the attention of the three suspects. Good thing Mabel (Selena Gomez) created a diversion, and the three of them quickly tiptoed towards the door. However, they didn’t escape unnoticed. The moguls already knew their trail’s hot.
While Mabel and Charles (Steve Martin) were busy detangling the web of hints and suspects they’ve encountered recently, they were greeted by LESTR. No, not the dead doorman. LESTR, or the Arconia’s new Logic-Engineered Secure Tenant Robot, assisted by Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton). LESTR (voiced by Paul Rudd) started to gain disdain from tenants and even Randall (Jermaine Fowler), the new doorman.
With the help of their neighbor and Lester’s birdwatching buddy, Vince (Richard Kind), Oliver built a murder board that connected the three billionaires to past clues they’ve uncovered. This included Lester’s bird code names written on his ledger. Like Lester, Vince and Oliver likened each Velvet Room suspect present at the last Saturday games to birds.
Mafia boss Nicky (Bobby Cannavale) is a brown-headed cowbird, known for its aggressiveness. Longevity freak Bash is a kākāpō, a bird that can live up to 90 years in the wild (no one knows how old he actually is). Lifestyle queen Camila could be a bowerbird, known for its beautiful nests. Lastly, Jay must be, well, the sly Eurasian Jay.
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Pointing Fingers
As the podcast detectives tried to link the clues to the suspects, they decided to lure Jay, with the missing finger, into an interrogation by releasing a teaser. And luckily for them, Jay coolly video messaged them a yes for 7 PM at Oliver’s.
Thinking that only Jay was coming over for dinner, the three were shocked when Bash and Camila each showed up. This foiled their plans to question Jay alone. Stunned himself, Jay claimed he didn’t know the two would follow him. But calm Camila and the robotic Bash simply said that they also went to clear their names as well.
Now that the six of them were at a standoff, the plan became “divide and conquer.” Charles went with Bash to cook dinner, Oliver took Camila for a tour of his apartment, and Mabel had an unexpected heart-to-heart talk with Jay. The billionaires recounted the happenings from the last game at the Velvet Room, with each story corroborating the other’s.
All of them admitted that it was Jay’s finger that was chopped off by Nicky, who was high on drugs and wielding a cleaver. They also claimed they didn’t know Nicky much outside the gaming parlor. They just heavily implied that mob hits are pretty common for guys like him.
Surprisingly, the three conversations went well, especially for Jay and Mabel. Their talk even made Mabel confide to Jay that she was desperate for a Wondify podcast deal just to impress her former friend, Althea (Beanie Feldstein).
Stumped with what seemed to be a dead end after their interrogations, the three concluded that the rich folks couldn’t have done the crimes and somehow ruled them out of the suspect list in the meantime.
The Illusion of Winning
Shortly after the dinner fiasco, Mabel received great news: Wondify wanted to sign them. After inking their three-year contract, the trio visited the Wondify office the next day, bright-eyed and excited about what they had in mind for the podcast.
However, while brushing through their podcast notes, Mabel noticed something off with their photo evidence. The severed finger they found belonged to a left hand. Jay’s missing a finger from his right hand. It didn’t add up.
To add to their conundrum, Wondify’s onboarding crew informed them that they couldn’t release episodes mentioning Wondify’s upper management to avoid conflict of interest. Upper management? Like a company that has bought shares and a company owned by… You guessed it right. These billionaires are sly as ever.
And just like that, the suspect list just went straight down the drain.
Hands Are Tied
Instead of celebrating their newly signed deal, the three podcasters walked into a trap the wealthy and powerful devised. These kinds of situations are much more common than we think. Ordinary people are swayed and charmed by influential people with deep pockets, only for their actions to be used against them.
They surely fooled Mabel, Charles, and Oliver. Despite what they advertise, Camila, Bash, and Jay are cold and calculated, in addition to being inspiring, honest, and even clueless. Now, the leading trio is back to square one. Lesson learned: never trust billionaires who visit your apartment at night!
Also, it is worth noting that our tycoon suspects symbolize three people of modern wealth. Bash is the quintessential billionaire who’s already forgotten to be human. Camila is the “nepo baby” who has always claimed that her success came from her hard work, determination, and nothing more. Jay is the “nepo baby” who realizes and accepts that his wealth comes from his family but tries to carve his own path.
What’s in store for Episode 5?
Episode 4: Dirty Birds really showed us how some people, especially those with the means, can play dirty whenever they want to. This dynamic even trumped the investigation of the Arconia trio, narrowing their leads and forcing them to shift their focus in the meantime. In Episode 5: Tongue Tied, we might see Mabel, Charles, and Oliver work around the case with the help of Arconia employees, a trusted cop, and a suspect from episode 1.
Watch episodes 4 and 5 now on Hulu and Disney+. Find more episode 4 tidbits in the Only Murders in the Building Official Podcast, with special guests Christoph Waltz, costume designer Dana Covarrubias, and showrunner John Hoffman:
Source: Hulu, @hulu (official Youtube channel)
