The 'Only Murders in the Building' Season 2 Finale, Explained
Warning: Spoilers ahead for Only Murders in the Building season 2. It was the double twist (or was it triple? We've lost count) ending podcasted 'round the world! After a season full of red herrings and investigative antics, season 2 of Only Murders in the Building drew to a close on Tuesday, revealing Bunny's killer and (of course) setting up a new whodunit for season 3. Here's everything that went down in the finale, "I Know Who Did It."
Who Killed Bunny Folger?
Poppy White, a.k.a. Becky Butler, a.k.a. Cinda Canning's assistant.
So how did we get here? While Mabel (Selena Gomez), Charles (Steve Martin), and Oliver (Martin Short) are desperately trying to find ways to out podcasting-rival Cinda (Tina Fey), the person they think is the killer, Detective Williams calls Mabel to tell her she's gotten the prints off of the murder weapon. They belong to a "dead girl" (Becky), Detective Williams says, which Mabel knows to be the-very-much-alive Poppy. Because, well, Poppy told Mabel who she really was in the previous episode in an effort to throw suspicion off of her an onto Cinda. Mabel solidifies Poppy's status as the killer thanks to her gross diner order: a liverwurst and marmalade sandwich— the number 14 on the menu. Mabel realizes that Bunny's dying words were "14 Sandwich" not "14 Savage."
This reveal comes during the trio's "Killer Reveal Party." Using some A+ slow-motion acting skills by the devoted residents of the Arconia, the trio first pretend to pin the blame for Bunny's death on Cinda, as Poppy watches (and records audio for her boss). After Cinda shrugs off the accusations, Alice (Cara Delevingne) appears and Mabel insists that it was actually her ex-girlfriend who created this whole murderous scheme in an attempt to gain notoriety for her artwork. The moment leads Alice to be overcome with rage and stab Charles (they really got me for a second with that kill, later revealing it was all planned ahead and staged with Alice's fake artwork blood). Then Cinda, impressed by Mabel's investigative work, begins to praise her. That's what finally puts Poppy over the edge and she confesses her grand plan. It's all sealed with a sneeze, because Poppy's allergic to Bunny's parrot—answering the question of who Lucy heard sneezing the night of the crime.
What Was Poppy's Motive and Plan?
We learn through flashbacks that Becky Butler was a lonely resident of Chickasha, Oklahoma, who would escape from the sad realities of her day-to-day (sexually harassing boss, verbally abusive father) by listening to Cinda's podcast. That's what gave her the idea to change her identity and stage her own disappearance. Then, Becky used that disappearance as fodder for a job interview with Cinda, where she, now pretending to be "Poppy," pitched "All is Not OK in Oklahoma." Poppy landed the job only to realize that working with Cinda wasn't all it was cracked up to be; when Cinda rebuffed her assistant's ideas for a new season on the "missing" artist Rose Cooper, Poppy devised the crime to kill Bunny and stage an intricate art-heist plot worthy of Cinda's attention. But when Mabel stumbled into the crime scene, Poppy decided to use her romantic relationship with Detective Kreps (whom she met in Chickasha) to frame the trio. While it's not fully laid out in the finale, it's also implied that as Poppy grew more weary of working for Cinda, she turned her attention less on framing Mabel and gang and instead on taking down her boss, planting hints with the podcasters that Cinda may have been the criminal mastermind all along.
Happy Endings
Once Poppy and Kreps are arrested, the finale sweetly wraps up some storylines for our main trio. Mabel is shown finally redecorating her Arconia residence, and has reconciled with Alice who is helping her paint over her now-iconic mural. The success of season 2 of their podcast (and their second solved murder) has also bolstered Charles's acting career. The Brazzos reboot changes his character's arc (no more wheelchair or dementia) and Charles is so thrilled that he finally asks out his longtime crush and on-set makeup artist, Joy. Meanwhile, Oliver and his son, Will, have a heart-to-heart where Oliver almost comes clean about Teddy being his son's biological dad. But Will assures Oliver that he doesn't care about the genetics-of-it-all and that he only needs the dad he knew all along. It's also revealed that Oliver has kept Bunny's parrot, growing fond of that damn ol' bird!
Red Herrings
Only Murders has made a bit of a bad habit of spinning too many threads for its own good, and this season was no different. While the season answered a few nagging questions (it was Poppy who texted Mabel and gang to get out of the building when Bunny was stabbed), it ignored just as many: How did Poppy have all that intel on Bunny's Rose Cooper artwork? And how exactly did she find out about those Arconia secret hallways? There was also Amy Schumer's hilarious but largely forgotten about cameo, Nina's seemingly corrupt plans to modernize the Arconia—and by the way, why did she give Howard a black eye? Not to mention, what's going on with Teddy and Theo's arc?
The final moments of the finale sets up—what else?—another murder centered around our trio. After a year-long time jump, we see that Oliver has been directing a Broadway play starring Charles and Ben Glenroy, played by Paul Rudd. On opening night—with Joy, Lucy, Mabel, and Oliver seated in the audience—we see Ben take center stage to deliver his monologue but he quickly collapses to his death.
Moments before he dies, Ben and Charles—who are clearly not enjoying being co-stars—have an icy backstage conversation. During the chat, Charles menacingly warns, "Be smart. Stay away from her," and "I know what you did."
Who is "her"? What did Ben do? And will season 3 of their podcast be renamed to "Only Murders on Broadway"?
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