DISCLAIMER: This recap of Only Murders in the Building Season 4 Episode 6, “Blow-Up,” contains spoilers. Proceed at your peril.
Oof. Only Murders in the Building aired its best episode of the season thus far, at least from a narrative perspective. “Blow-Up” keeps the case moving at a steady clip, unveiling fun plot twists and new developments aplenty. So, the Brothers Sisters aren’t the killers, and there was a second murder that night — Professor Milton Dudenoff.
This sends the investigation into a whole new direction.
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Only Murders in the Building, “Blow-Up”
We open with Tawny Brothers (Siena Weber) in an orange jumpsuit, introducing the Brothers Sisters documentary. Trina Brothers (Catherine Cohen) also appears. She sits in the Arconia while telling the camera about her and her sister’s filmic upbringing. We see footage of them as children in 2003, shooting for their project Pygmalion’s Defeat. Their aesthetic lives at “the intersection of voyeurism and body horror.” Then, in 2010, the sisters shot The Song of the Ruptured Swan. We see them dressed as black swans while sitting in their high school’s cafeteria.
After this, in 2011, they met a film professor (played by Griffin Dunne) who believed in their vision and encouraged them to keep creating movies. Next, we’re back in the present, on the set of the Only Murders in the Building photoshoot. We see crew members screaming and fleeing the scene after a gunshot rents the air. Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton) declares that “they’ve been shot,” meaning there are multiple victims. One crew member gestures to a window, which boasts a bullet hole.
Alive
Charles (Steve Martin) notes that Glen Stubbins (Paul Rudd) is alive, although he’s bleeding from his head. Mabel (Selena Gomez) also discovers that Zach Galifianakis is alive. Zach shouts that someone “shot” his fat. And in between them is Oliver (Martin Short), who is, thankfully, unharmed.
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Then, our sleuthing trio and Howard hop into a cab to head back home. Howard reveals he’s also the onset documentarian, so it’s his job to keep filming. Plus, this might help the case, as they’ll have their investigation on film. Charles realizes he was indeed the target, not Sazz Pataki. This means the shooter was aiming for Oliver, and Mabel is most certainly next.
Back in the Arconia, our quartet runs into Uma (Jackie Hoffman), who’s not thrilled that the building is now installing cameras everywhere. Why? Because the residents keep dropping dead. This makes her bouts of minor theft more difficult to pull off. Everyone decides to meet in Oliver’s apartment since, you know, Sazz died in Charles’ apartment, and the killer fired the shot from Mabel’s squatting place.
Oliver admits that when he had his brush with death, he could only think of Loretta. He asks if Charles has any regrets. Charles claims he doesn’t, but Mabel reminds him of when he dated the killer (ahem, Jan).
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New Developments
Detective Williams (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) barges into the apartment, wondering what the hell is going on. She has vital info to disclose: Dudenoff isn’t in Portugal. He’s been cashing social security checks from a bodega in the city. Oh, and Glen is fine — the bullet bounced off the metal plate in his head and hit Zach (who’s also recovering).
Williams orders Howard to shut off the camera. He does this, but we see the scene from a new angle — hidden cameras are planted throughout Oliver’s apartment. Charles tries to persuade Williams to arrest the Brothers Sisters. Tawny’s boot print on the tacky mat matches the one on the window sill in Dudenoff’s place. Plus, the sisters carry a long black rifle case. That’s suspicious, to be sure. Williams states it isn’t enough to go on for an arrest warrant.
Then, we briefly cut to the Brothers Sisters placing said hidden cameras throughout the Arconia. Williams also reveals that Jan is back in NYC. Did she use parkour and psychosexual manipulation to make her way back from Florida? After this info drop, Williams gives Charles the rest of Sazz’s cremated remains. Before she leaves, the detective encourages our crew not to get themselves killed. She doesn’t want to identify their body parts, too.
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Don’t Get Killed on Camera
Later, our crew learns about a team meeting spearheaded by Bev Melon. They wonder if they should attend. Charles asserts they should steer clear of the Brothers Sisters and get the hell out of dodge. Mabel insists they solve the case and avenge Sazz’s death. If the camera stays on them, they’re protected. Who’s going to kill them on film? Charles reluctantly changes his mind, deciding to search for the rifle case.
Next, the trio plus Howard attend Bev’s (Molly Shannon) meeting. Bev reveals that Zach is recuperating in the hospital. The actor encouraged her to keep filming. The show must go on. We cut to Zach in the hospital, who claims he tried to weasel out of the project, but Bev threatened him and sucked his pain meds out of his IV like it was a Capri-Sun. This bit made me giggle.
Bev urges everyone to sign a document stating that she’s not held liable for what transpired on the photoshoot set. Mabel decides to pull Marshall (Jin Ha) aside to ask about the Brothers Sisters. Mabel’s gonna, in Charles and Oliver’s words, “spill the tea on ’em.” Speaking of our directors, Charles spots the rifle case in a separate room, but the sisters file into said room before shutting the door.
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Have You Seen Their Student Film?
Mabel and Marshall chat. They both note that the twins are the only people who don’t seem thrown off by the day’s event. Marshall admits he’s unsurprised they’re suspects. “Have you seen their student film?” he asks Mabel. Side note: I’m not so sure Marshall is innocent. Something is off about his behavior. That said, I’m ready to be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time with this show.
In Oliver’s apartment, the trio indulges in some indie cinema. Side note: I love the Death Rattle Dazzle! The Musical! poster on Oliver’s wall. The Brothers Sisters’ film is called The Desecration of Alice. Charles and Mabel already started watching while Oliver agonized over which dips to eat. Mabel explains that the movie follows an aging artist and the identical twins he molded from clay. We see the artist in question is none other than Vince Fish (Richard Kind) — pre-antibiotic-resistant conjunctivitis.
Dudenoff the Mentor
Later, Charles, Mabel, Oliver and Howard visit Vince, who’s hanging out with Rudy (Kumail Nanjiani). They’re playing with their new drone. Mabel gets down to brass tacks. Why was Vince the star of a Brothers Sisters film? Vince admits he took a film class with Rudy and the sisters. Professor Dudenoff was their instructor.
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Rudy and Vince reveal the Brothers Sisters were Dudenoff’s favorite pupils. He would invite them to Oh Hell! game nights. The sisters would do anything for Dudenoff and vice versa. Mabel insists they finish watching The Desecration of Alice before basing their theory around it. Oliver departs to phone Loretta while Charles asks Rudy and Vince if he can use their drone to peek inside that rifle case.
Charles informs Vince and Rudy that Dudenoff isn’t in Portugal after all but is back in the city. Naturally, this would ruin their rent scam. Rudy believes that Dudenoff wouldn’t return to NYC without saying hi. Suddenly, they lose control of the drone, which hurtles toward their window. Charles slams it shut before the drone crashes inside.
A Confession
Meanwhile, Oliver calls Loretta and confesses his plan to propose to her while they were in LA. Loretta simply moans in response — twice. Then, the call drops. Oliver looks dejected. However, we see Loretta wrapped in bandages from head to toe while in a hospital bed, making it impossible for her to speak. She’s still shooting on set. Of course, Oliver doesn’t know this.
Oliver updates Mabel and Charles on the Loretta situation. They offer their sympathies. Howard returns with his camera and Gravey, our favorite former cadaver dog. She now has a camera affixed to her collar. Suddenly, Gravey knocks over the box containing the rest of Sazz’s ashes.
While collecting said ashes, our trio finds two left metal shoulders. Charles admits he knows the word for “left” in Bulgarian because of Brazzos. This means that someone else was in the incinerator along with Sazz. They brainstorm who could be behind both murders. Did the Brothers Sisters kill on Dudenoff’s command? Mabel texts Williams the serial number of the second shoulder. Perhaps she can identify its owner.
773440
Before they confront the Brothers Sisters, Charles tells Mabel that if their podcast got someone else killed, he doesn’t know if he can live with himself. After this, our crew interrogates the sisters, who admit they were in the Arconia on the night of Sazz’s murder. They were visiting a friend — Milton Dudenoff. They entered the complex using Dudenoff’s password for his favorite card game: Oh Hell! or 773440.
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We see a flashback to the sisters’ film class after they showed The Desecration of Alice. Their fellow students fled in equal parts terror and disgust. Dudenoff encouraged them to keep filming. He even gave them his camera. In the present, the sisters confess that they would kill for him. However, they didn’t murder Sazz. Mabel receives a text from Williams, who identifies the second shoulder as belonging to Dudenoff. He was murdered with Sazz that night and thrown into the incinerator.
The sisters look distraught. They disclose that they hadn’t spoken to Dudenoff in three years. The retired professor cut off contact with them after the filmmakers tried to go mainstream and moved to Los Angeles. But they hoped to rekindle their friendship with Dudenoff when they took on the Only Murders movie. His death explains why he never answered them that night. Mabel reveals they need to look into who’s cashing those social security checks since it isn’t Dudenoff like Williams said.
Always Keep Filming
Then, the twins start sobbing as Charles opens the rifle case. He pulls out a tiny camera. That’s when Tawny and Trina admit they’ve been planting hidden cameras all over the complex. Dudenoff taught them to keep filming so that the story would unfold.
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After this, the Brothers Sisters help our quartet remove all the cameras from Oliver’s apartment. Oliver locates yet another one; however, the twin directors claim it doesn’t belong to them. It even looks different than the others.
Suddenly, Charles receives camera footage from Sazz’s phone. It’s from the new camera and shows him as he’s being filmed. Then, Oliver gets a text with footage of him from five days ago (he’s in his Monday jammies). He’s in his kitchen and a red target centers on his face. Mabel also receives a text with footage of her in Dudenoff’s apartment — that same red target zeroing in on her face.
I’m Watching You
Next, all three get texts with “I’m Watching You” in black text on a white background. How ominous. Realizing they’re in grave danger, our trio flees the Arconia.
“Look, did we murder? Sure. We murdered the rules of narrative storytelling, but nothing more,” Tawny says, concluding the documentary (and the episode).
Only Murders in the Building drops new episodes every Tuesday on Hulu.
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What I do: I'm GGA's Managing Editor, a Senior Contributor, and Press Coordinator. I manage, contribute, and coordinate. Sometimes all at once. Joking aside, I oversee day-to-day operations for GGA, write, edit, and assess interview opportunities/press events.
Who I am: Before moving to Los Angeles after studying theater in college, I was born and raised in Amish country, Ohio. No, I am not Amish, even if I sometimes sport a modest bonnet.
Bylines in: Tell-Tale TV, Culturess, Sideshow Collectibles, and inkMend on Medium.
Critic: Rotten Tomatoes, CherryPicks, and the Hollywood Creative Alliance.
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