RECAP: “Only Murders in the Building” Season 4, Episode 7
As we wind up for the final stretch of “Only Murders in the Building” Season 4, Episode 7 — “Valley of the Dolls” — takes us on a bit of a departure, as the Arconia 3 seek safety in the last place anyone would think to look: Patchogue, Long Island. Specifically, to the house of Charles’ estranged sister (Melissa McCarthy). As our intrepid podcasters try to figure out who has been spying on them, who is trying to kill them, and above all else, lay very low, virtually the entire supporting cast comes to join them at Doreen’s house as subplots advance, and a new murderer theory emerges from an unlikely source.
Was this diversion episode necessary to the plot? Not strictly, no. But it was a good reset episode, allowing the immediate danger for the protagonists to deescalate, and giving the secondary cast some moments to shine.
Read on for my take on the episode. Spoilers ahead! Consider yourself warned!
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Although this is something of a bottle episode, each of our main characters — including Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton) — each get their own plotline. They are not of equal importance.
Least important is Charles, who spends the episode reconciling with his sister. We got a little more insight into Charles’ childhood — did we know that his mother was emotionally distant? I feel like we touched upon this in the Season 2 subplot that explored his father’s relationship with a famous painter.
I thought McCarthy was used to great effect here, putting to use her usual randy charms and deadpan delivery to both rib her (much older) brother and also flirt with a distraught Oliver. She had some great physical comedy (another of her strengths), especially up against Meryl Streep’s Loretta. Viewers who have never spent any time on Long Island may find McCarthy’s Doreen to be a ridiculous caricature, but I regret to inform you: that is not outlandish for the good people of Long Island. None of it. The accent. The…intense taste in furnishings. The weird obsessions with things, in Doreen’s case, dolls.
I also found Doreen to be very human as a character. Yes, she’s completely ridiculous in a multitude of ways, but her profound sadness at the state of her marriage, the lack of connection to her children, even her strained relationship with her brother all felt very real to me.
The subplot that had the most development this episode was Oliver’s relationship with Loretta. After last episode’s odd telephone conversation, in which Oliver proposed to her and she responded, “…ugh,” Oliver sent a break-up text, involving all caps and numerous exclamation points. To his surprise, Loretta arrives at Doreen’s house (the running gag this episode is that Mabel told Howard where they were hiding out, and explicitly ordered Howard not to tell anyone — so he told EVERYONE), having grabbed the first flight out from LA.
Surrounded by piles of hideous dolls, Oliver explains to Loretta that he broke up with her because he poured his heart out to her and she responded with “…ugh.” Loretta quickly puts everything together and realizes that Oliver must have been speaking to her stunt double, who was wrapped up in burn bandages as she was, and to whom a PA must have given the phone by mistake.
They quickly make up — even after Oliver reveals the bit about his Finsta, which horrifies Loretta — but a new challenger approaches via Doreen, who is horny for a tiny man with a big heart. She and Loretta get into a physical fight that involves hair pulling, shoving, and biting, and while it was amazing to watch Melissa McCarthy and Meryl Streep go at it on camera, it does bring back the semi-dropped plot thread that Loretta is actually pretty volatile. She is also somewhat sus, as we see in her interactions with the Hollywood actors playing the Arconia 3.
The episode concludes with Loretta doing the proposing to Oliver, to which he accepts.
As for the main plot, we had a few key developments. Mabel is the only one of the Arconia 3 who can be bothered to focus on who is actually trying to, you know, murder them — not to mention spy on them for who knows how long — and she spends the episode trying to focus on the case. She is interrupted by Eva Longoria, Zach Galifianakis, and Eugene Levy, who want to help her crack the case, especially with production shut down since the film’s directors are now potentially murderers.
Mabel is initially dismissive of their ability to help, but ultimately brings them into the fold after both Loretta and Bev Mellon — who spends the episode loudly/drunkenly losing her shit at just about everyone; give Molly Shannon her Emmy, you cowards! — explain that actors have any number of unseen talents, and above all, are students of the human condition.
And that actually turns out to be true. Because while Charles and Oliver engage in their personal dramas, the Hollywood 3 put together their very own murder board and point out that the Arconia 3 have been missing the bigger picture. The script to the film made clear to them there were plot holes that date back to the podcast (and the show’s) first season — crimes that happened in the Arconia for which there were no explanations. These include the poisoning of Oliver’s dog and the foreboding “I’m Watching You” note taped to Jan’s door — which is the exact same typeface of the message that was sent to the Arconia 3 last episode. The basic gist is that, someone has been trying to murder the Arconia 3 since Season 1, clearly spooked by the podcast and the attention it would bring.
That also lines up with my theory that Dudenoff had been dead and in the incinerator for quite some time; that crime would have gone unnoticed for much longer had Sazz’s corpse not been put there. And speaking of Dudenoff, the plot thread about someone continuing to cash his social-security checks at a neighborhood bodega was resolved, as Howard got to work befriending the bodega owner (his professional-animals podcast is going to end up being huge, just you watch) and realized that it wasn’t ONE person cashing the checks — it was every single member of the Westies.
The episode ended with Howard calling the number listed on the bodega check-cashing register, which was answered by Vince Fish identifying himself as “Dudenoff.” So the Westies really have been part of an elaborate fraud scheme involving Dudenoff, but it wasn’t just a rent-control racket. They’ve been working as a unit to cash a dead man’s checks, and who knows what else? The finger of suspicion once again points across the Arconia courtyard…
What did you think of the episode? Leave your takes in the comments!