In the words of Mabel Mora… “well, sh*t.”

Only Murders in the Building concluded its second season with a few satisfying twists, including a killer cliffhanger! 

The murderer was revealed, though, it likely wasn’t the person you suspected all along. Or, maybe it was, and in that case, you’re a much better detective than our trio of podcasters. 

Upon getting a call from Detective Williams, who got a positive DNA hit on the knife used to stab poor Bunny Folger, Mabel, Charles, and Oliver were finally able to piece it all together. And the evidence did not point back to Cinda Canning, as we all previously believed, or, as Poppy, aka Becky, wanted us to believe. 

It surprisingly also didn’t lead back to Alice. While Mabel’s theory at the killer reveal party (a killer party where they revealed the killer on a live stream) declaring Alice as the mastermind was well-executed, it was, as Poppy herself pointed out, missing a motive. Nothing connected the “Australian girl” to Bunny. And in that revelation, Poppy gave herself away as the culprit instead. Then, she solidified it with a handful of sneezes—just like the killer.

In simple terms, she slipped up. 

Earlier in the day, Mabel, Charles, and Oliver realized that Poppy’s desire to be acknowledged, respected, and recognized would be her demise. After they staged the reveal that made Alice the scapegoat, Cinda was so impressed that she offered Mabel a job and her own podcast, two things that Poppy has been desperately seeking from Cinda this whole time. 

Once she realized that she was being undervalued yet again, she started unraveling like a sweater until she was in handcuffs. 

Bunny was, unfortunately, an innocent bystander in Poppy’s quest to matter and become the best podcaster in the world.

She murdered Bunny in order to provide a good story for her podcast, working simultaneously with Kreps—the corrupt cop we initially thought was sleeping with Cinda—in order to get away with it.

It was truly a great twist, proving that the series excels at modern-day murder mysteries. Even if the whole plot wasn’t as clean as the Tim Kono murder investigation, it was a still a fun ride across 10 episodes that gave us a deeper look at the protagonists we’ve come to love. 

Poppy was definitely top of mind on the suspect’s list, but since we didn’t know her backstory until the beginning of the episode, there wasn’t anything connecting her to it. Once fans realized that she faked her own death because she was miserable working for a misogynistic mayor and taking care of a drunk father, while also being the one to suggest diving into the mystery of Rose Cooper for a podcast, it became clear that there were just too many things linking back to Poppy. 

It was enjoyable to see everyone at the Arconia involved in the final chapter of the murder mystery as they all loved Bunny and deserved to be part of this journey. Even though their roles are minimal, they are all such well-developed characters who contribute to the hilarity with witty one-liners. I was fully expecting Nina and Amy Schumer to make an appearance, and I’m kind of disappointed the latter was just added for the sake of uplifting the Arconia as “the spot” to be. 

Once Poppy and Kreps were behind bars, the trio could breathe a sigh of relief. And it was understandable that they were all eager to put solving murders behind them. The success of the podcast, and the unlikely collaboration with Cinda, propelled Charles and Oliver back into the spotlight as one landed a much bigger role on the Brazzos spinoff, while the other got a job directing on Broadway. Their dreams are coming true! Oliver also told Will that he wasn’t his biological father, but not only did Will already know (he knows his father’s tells), he didn’t care. 

Meanwhile, Mabel decided it was time to stop being defined by her sad past, so she remodeled her Arconia apartment (yep, she painted over that incredible mural) with Alice’s help. 

And then, the series did a time jump one year into the future, which was unexpected but necessary as it allowed the characters to grow into their new lives, which are about to be derailed by yet another murder. 

This time, the murder happened to the star of Oliver’s Broadway play and Charles’ co-star/ enemy, Ben (played by Paul Rudd!), who was poisoned just as he took the stage for his big moment. 

As Oliver, Charles, and Mabel watched on in horror, they simply couldn’t believe that they were the center of yet another murder mystery. 

And this time, Charles definitely looked guilty as there was clearly some beef between the actors right before Ben’s death.

But while Bunny’s death was a great cliffhanger, I’m even more intrigued now to see how these new, more successful, and self-confident, versions of our trio take on this new mystery. 

Not to mention that the new murder setting—the theater— will undoubtedly provide us with new opportunities and new suspects, which is an exciting change of pace. 

The third time’s the charm, right?

What did you think of the Only Murders in the Building season 2 finale? Did you like the season? Were you surprised by who the murderer ended up being?

She’s not Becky with the good hair, but Becky Butler is a crucial piece of the puzzle as Mabel discovered on Only Murders in the Building Season 2 Episode 9. 

Who knew that splitting up the core trio would do the show so many favors? When Mabel, Charles, and Oliver went their separate ways, they made more progress in one 25-minute episode than they did throughout the entire season. 

It was mostly Mabel who did the heavy-lifting, swapping the Arconia for a boxing ring with Detective Kreps, who she previously discovered was Glitter Guy. Mabel got into the ring with the detective solely to get some answers out of him, and while he thought he was dodging all her questions, he was unintentionally leaving a trail of breadcrumbs that she would later piece together.

At this point, someone needs to get her a job with the NYPD because her interrogation skills were on point! Also: she’s not corrupt!

Kreps didn’t outright confirm he was Glitter Guy — though the red glitter on his neck was proof enough — but he did drop some key pieces of information that took this investigation in a whole new direction. 

There were two majors clues that really solidified Mabel’s theory: Kreps bragging about how he was able to lock down the smartest woman in the room (clearly podcaster Cinda Canning) and how he was also into podcasts like All Is Not Okay in Oklahoma, which, if you’ll remember, was what brought Oliver, Mabel, and Charles into each other’s orbit in the first place back in Season 1. They were podcast junkies who found themselves thrown into a murder mystery of their own! 

After her meeting with Kreps, Mabel began to dissect everything he told her, starting with replaying episodes of the aforementioned podcast, in which Cinda Canning reveals that she worked with freelance level cops from other cities on the case to solve Becky Butler’s murder. She even explained that they met at the local bar, the Chicken Chug, which connected back to Kreps as he had two items with the bar’s logo.

Mabel knew that she wouldn’t get any more intel out of Kreps, so she went to the source… well, the second-best person, Cinda’s PA Poppy, who once offered up her help in bringing Cinda down as she “knew where the skeletons were buried.”

At the time, Poppy’s call to Mabel didn’t make much sense, but it’s all starting to come together when she reveals that she’s actually Becky Butler. How could Cinda Canning solve a murder if Becky was right there alive and well? This all seems to prove Poppy’s original point that Cinda is a fraud. 

But with such a big secret hanging over them, why does Cinda treat Poppy/Becky so poorly? Are they related? Did she promise Becky a better life in return for her silence? Did she simply blow into town in hopes of conjuring up a fake crime so that she had an interesting story to tell?  Is that what she’s doing now?

While Mabel was putting two and two together, Charles met with the fake Leona Folger, who turned out to be the real Rose Cooper, the missing woman from his father’s past. What is with people lying about their identities on this show?

Rose, however, didn’t have any ill intentions. She informed Charles that she loved his father, but she had to fake her own disappearance so that she could keep them both safe from her abusive ex-husband. As for the portrait, which the trio found hidden in the parrot’s cage, it was actually a piece of art that covered up another piece painted in tribute to Charles, showcasing that his father also wanted to be a better dad to his son. In one moment, Rose gave Charles all the closure he ever wanted and needed.

She then revealed that a rude and pushy woman, who Charles immediately identified as Cinda, came by and tried to get her hands on the portrait a few weeks ago. 

However, it’s unclear what connects Cinda to the portrait. Does she want her hands on it in order to frame the protagonists and set up a narrative for her podcast? With Cinda as the criminal mastermind, it seems like she’s doing everything in her power to ensure that the trio, specifically Mabel, looks guilty. 

And why hasn’t anyone called Detective Williams yet?

Is this even something they want to broadcast on their own podcast? It would incriminate Cinda, but we have no idea what she’s capable of or how far she’ll go to preserve her own name. 

There are plenty of lingering questions as well, including what’s Amy Schumer got to do with it (unless she’s in cahoots with Cinda because she wants the TV rights) and most importantly, who killed Bunny Folger? Would Cinda go as far as killing the old lady simply to set the scene? If Kreps is Glitter Guy, he has to be the person to have killed Bunny and snuck out via the tunnels. It’s clear he’d do anything for extra cash to support the skyrocketing cost of living in NYC (finally something realistic!), but now that he’s in love with Cinda, I don’t think murder is off the table! 

The episode also addressed Mabel’s fallout with Alice, and while I hate to see Mabel get hurt, I’m more than happy to see Alice exit. She wasn’t trustworthy, nor did she seem to have Mabel’s best intentions at heart. 

Oliver also got the results of the DNA test, and though he told Charles, Mabel, and Will that he was the father, an elevator scuffle with Teddy shortly after proved that wasn’t the case. 

Despite everything that went down between them, Teddy and Oliver found common ground while talking about wanting to do right by their children. Hopefully, Teddy is genuine about them being even (“you put me in jail, I slept with your wife”) and keeping the paternity a secret so that Oliver and Will’s relationship can continue to flourish. Will is an adult, so he could handle the truth, but I don’t think it would help him in any way considering Teddy doesn’t even seem interested in pursuing a relationship with him after learning the truth. 

What did you think of the episode? Do you think we’re closer to figuring out this mystery?

A city-wide blackout, a Simon & Garfunkel singalong, and a cat-and-mouse chase through the not-so-secret tunnels of the Arconia made for one of the strongest episodes of Only Murders in the Building Season 2.

Sometimes, it takes darkness to illuminate the truth, and that’s exactly what happened when the trio, exasperated by their lack of intel and evidence, bolted toward the danger to save Lucy. 

Mabel, Charles, and Oliver thought they may have hit a dead end when they struggled to make any headway on unmasking the identity of the killer/ Glitter man, but all they needed was a little push in the right direction as the suspect may have been right in front of them this entire time. 

When the power grid finally got back up and running, Mabel realized that Lucy was in an uncomfortable conversation with Detective Kreps. Leave it to the only woman in the group to pick up on an awkward situation. And it didn’t seem like Lucy was just willingly recalling the events of the evening either; her body language indicated that there was something deeper happening. 

Why, of all people, would the detective try to interrogate Lucy when there was a lobby full of people? And there’s no reality in which Lucy would be forthcoming about running into the killer in the tunnels without first addressing it with Mabel, Charles, and Oliver. 

The only logical explanation is that there’s a prior relationship between Lucy and Det. Kreps that we’re not aware of just yet. 

Mabel got a bad gut feeling about the whole situation, and for good reason, as she noticed red glitter (you can’t get that stuff off) on Kreps’ neck along with an arm injury consistent with their altercation. 

This is her guy! But why? 

If I had to make an educated guess, I would say that Kreps is Lucy’s mother’s new husband, which means it’s possible that Kreps is targeting Charles and the group for a reason.

It’s also possible that the killer is forcing Kreps to do his dirty work. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve come across a dirty cop.

However, it’s not entirely clear if Glitter Man is the same person that killed Bunny as the motive for her death still hasn’t been revealed. Could Kreps be somehow related to Bunny and Charles?

At this point, without any clear motive, Marv’s theory that it’s the Sixth Avenue Slasher doesn’t sound like much of a reach. It would be something worth pursuing had the attack and subsequent blame on the core trio didn’t feel personal, but it does. Serial killers rarely have any reason behind their kills, so it makes sense to rule out the random attack theory. Whoever is behind it wants Mabel, Charles, and Oliver to get punished. 

The killer, who we suspect is behind the power outage, had to know that Lucy was going to be at Charles’ apartment, which means the power outage was a plan to ensure that he bought himself some time by keeping the trio away. Even as they raced to save her, it took quite some time for them to climb 10+ flights of stairs. 

But if someone like Marv, who cleans mold, knows about the tunnels and has access to them, it’s safe to say that other people do as well, especially a killer.

For a brief moment, I thought maybe Marv was the man behind it as he seemed bored and eager to get involved in a new mystery, but I don’t think that’s the case anymore. 

Marv could be a useful asset if they keep him off the killer’s radar as he could be the unnoticed eyes and ears. At this point, they are in a position to push away any help.

There was also another clue that bubbled up to the surface as Lucy accidentally revealed that she was at Charles’ apartment the night of Bunny’s murder. When she was hiding in the tunnels, the killer sneezed, which didn’t seem like a big deal when we first saw it unfold on our screen a few episodes back, nor did it really mean anything to the trio, but after we saw Howard’s new crush, Jonathan, a Broadway singer who is subletting on his floor, reveal his cat allergy, it did raise some red flags. 

Allergy = sneezing. It’s not irrefutable proof that Jonathan is shady, but it’s not something we can ignore, even if he was accounted for while the killer was pursuing Lucy in the tunnels.

The series has spent time digging into some of the other Arconia residents before, but the focus on Howard’s love life must serve some kind of purpose other than simply showing us a cute love story blooming between tenants. It’s also not lost on me that Jonathan and Howard have way too much in common. What are the odds that they both sing and have a passion for careers as librarians?

Elsewhere, Nina Lin bonded with Lester, and it turns out, the new mom does have a soul. As she begins to understand the importance of the human connection when Lester shows her kindness, she realizes that automation isn’t everything. In fact, it does seem like she’s starting to see what Bunny always saw in the Arconia. But could changing her modernization plans lead to more catastrophe? At the very least, they need to put up some cameras in the building and get those tunnels officially on the books!

I don’t think the series would give insight into Nina’s life unless it fit into the overall mystery, but it definitely doesn’t seem like she’s the brains behind changing up the Arconia. It also looks like she’s been left to take care of the baby all on her own, which begs the question — where is Jared? Is he too busy murdering people? 

We haven’t circled back yet about Charles’ painting, his connection to Bunny, and Amy Schumer, but I’m hoping that’s on the horizon as the mystery unravels and we get closer to unmaking this season’s killer.

A good murder mystery takes you in several different directions, which just means that Only Murders in the Building is doing a fine job even if it does feel a bit more slow-paced than the first season.

If I’m to narrow down possible suspects right now it’s Kreps, Jonathan, Jared, and Howard! 

Who do you think the killer is? What is Kreps’ connection to the killer? Why hasn’t he arrested Mabel for her viral video on the train? While it was self-defense, she definitely stabbed a guy! 

Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Only Murders in the Building Season 2 – Who is the Killer? We’re Logging Every Clue on the Murder Board