Only Murders in the Building: Two for the Road
September 11, 2024 1:42 PM - Season 4, Episode 3 - Subscribe

The mystery of the ham radio and the name of the ham on the lam continue as Mabel, Oliver, and Charles, continue their investigation into who killed Sazz. Unexpectedly, Hollywood's A-list them, Eugene Levy, Eva Longora, and Zach Galifianakis, arrive to shadow their character's true life counterparts in preparation for the film.
posted by Atreides (13 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Holding this space for other ham radio operators who cringed every time the radio was used in extremely unrealistic and/or license-violating ways.

It was weirdly fun to realize I still remember every word to the Perfect Strangers theme song, though. Maybe less so for my partner, who had to endure me singing it (as well as me yelling at the TV about the radio).
posted by rhiannonstone at 6:40 PM on September 11 [9 favorites]


Amen, rhiannonstone, amen.
posted by Archer25 at 6:55 PM on September 11 [2 favorites]


Oh, that theme will be stuck in my head for a while.

I went looking for the game that involved Balki flying to the theme, but it looks like either the Flash emulation isn't up to the task, or it's hanging on an http request to a long-dead server.
posted by Pronoiac at 7:53 PM on September 11


I appreciated this one being hilarious throughout. The first two episodes were (understandably!) pretty sad.

Stuff I liked:

Detective Williams having no idea who Aristotle Brazzos is, but having a major crush on Zach Galifianakas: "That scrumptious fuckable baklava is portraying you in a movie?"

Charles "yes and"-ing through a meandering story about the supposed pinkeye treatment.

Zach's attempts to do an Oliver story:

"Where I did opium with Barbara Eden at a Souplantation?"
"What do you call taking too many Quaaludes with Ving Rhames and getting kicked outta the Playboy Club?"

Rudy's shocking confession of being a Christmas fitness influencer: "I can't crack 100 likes unless it's Christmas-themed content! My success is my prison and these ornaments, the reindeer, that gun from A Christmas Story, these are my jailers!"

Mabel having a moment of inspiration and googling squatters rights in NYC.

Mysterious ham radio operator: "I love you Hammy Faye Baker!"
posted by creepygirl at 11:13 PM on September 11 [6 favorites]


Oh, right, I took notes on that. Pig names:
Natalie Porkman
George Swinebrinner
Gloria Swinem
Kristen Piig
Hammy Faye Bakker!

Also, such painful improv.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:57 PM on September 11 [5 favorites]


Rudy's shocking confession of being a Christmas fitness influencer: "I can't crack 100 likes unless it's Christmas-themed content! My success is my prison and these ornaments, the reindeer, that gun from A Christmas Story, these are my jailers!"


This may have been one of my favorite parts of the episode. It was a fun contrast between the other neighbor, who really did have antibiotic resistant pink eye. I'm sooo waiting for Eugene Levy to have contracted it after his extended hug.

I did feel a little sad for Charles. He had someone who really praised him for Bravos....and then lost it. Likewise for Oliver. Yes, he's had a string of failures, but wasn't he at least at one point successful? Martin Short does a wonderful job of presenting Oliver as someone who is always trying to put on a good face when the worse is being flung out into the world.
posted by Atreides at 6:53 AM on September 12 [3 favorites]


Just popping in to point out that when they went back to Richard Kind's apartment, the camera spent the entire time studiously avoiding the back wall between the two windows. Is the mirror still there? Is it okay? Only mirrors in the building.
posted by nobody at 5:03 AM on September 13 [4 favorites]


I think all of Sazz's notes were just taken while playing cards with the westies. (Long game, looking at Charles, 773440)
And 'tap in' was not too helpful.
I think she wont be providing too much that leads to the solution
posted by Acari at 6:10 PM on September 13 [1 favorite]


It's always dangerous to speculate this early in the season, because past practice has shown that it's almost entirely red herrings until the last couple episodes. BUT. Here's what I've got so far.

- Dudenoff is not a name or a person. Sounds too much like a code word or anagram.
- The woman's voice on the radio is a character we already know. Seemed familiar but I couldn't place it. (Loretta?)
- What is the connection between the ham in the bathroom and Hammy Faye Bakker?
- There's a non-zero possibility that the Westies are a complete distraction and the real killer is someone associated with the film. (Molly Shannon?) Perhaps wanting some exciting real-world news to push the film into production?
- I'm hoping for a Bronson Pinchot cameo at some point.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 7:38 AM on September 18 [4 favorites]


OMG WHEN THE PERFECT STRANGERS SONG STARTED PLAYING!!!
And then when Mabel starts in on it...

Eva is a nutjob and...does she have butt slits in her pants?!

I HATE CHRISTMAS!!!
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:18 PM on September 22 [2 favorites]


To further my “taping” theory, that piece of “tinsel” looks quite a lot like steel tape, which on the one hand would be weird and obscure, but on the other fits with ham radios as another piece of old technology. That said, I don’t know if they made portable steel tape recorders, the ones I know about weighed a ton. Anyway, I’m sticking to my one hypothesis, because other than that I’ve got nothing that isn’t blindingly obvious.
posted by Kattullus at 5:18 AM on September 23 [1 favorite]


rhiannonstone: Holding this space for other ham radio operators who cringed every time the radio was used in extremely unrealistic and/or license-violating ways.

Multiple axes of violation! Failure to station identify and playing music on the legal end and the magic ability to work 70cm without an antenna on the technical end.

The ARRL would have sent them a technical advisor for the price of a train ticket and a Martin Short autograph.
posted by dr_dank at 12:46 PM on September 23 [3 favorites]


> Dudenoff is not a name or a person. Sounds too much like a code word or anagram.
> I'm hoping for a Bronson Pinchot cameo at some point.

Speculating, is Dudenoff Bronson Pinchot or Mark Linn-Baker?
posted by Pronoiac at 3:38 PM on September 23 [1 favorite]


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