Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘Only Murders in the Buildings’ Season 4 takes many twists and turns as Charles, Mabel, and Oliver try to solve the murder of Sazz Pataki. The investigation goes in all sorts of directions. Some seem like important clues, like the whole arc about the Westies and Dudenoff, but then turn out to be detours that have more or less nothing to do with the murder. The season also delivers one red herring after another, making the audience and Arconia’s podcast trio raise all sorts of questions. At one point, it is theorized that the murder was a two-man job, considering the time crunch that the murderer would have had. But in the end, the truth turns out to be something else entirely. SPOILERS AHEAD
The Second Killer Turns Out to be a Red Herring
In the penultimate episode, it is revealed that Marshall Pope murdered Sazz because the script for the Only Murders movie, being made by Paramount, was originally written by her. Marshall stole the script from her, and to keep the truth from coming out and ruining his life, he decided to kill her and every other person who could expose him. Marshall’s athleticism, which had led Sazz to take him under her wing and turn him into a stuntman, allowed him not to murder Sazz and dispose of her body within the span of twelve minutes. However, when he realized how fast the investigation was moving, he found a way to send the detectives on a fool’s errand.
Initially, Charles, Mabel, and Oliver believed that one person had killed Sazz. This allowed their investigation to be very focused, as they already had a footprint that they could use to find the killer. Everyone working on the movie fell under suspicion, and with their track record, no one had a doubt that the trio would find the killer. When Marshall realized this, he found a way to disrupt the investigation. Under the pretense of getting to know them better and rewriting the script, Marshall finds his way to Charles’ apartment, where he gets a look at the trio’s murder board. Believing that an outside opinion could help them see what they hadn’t yet, they explain the whole thing to Marshall, which is when he points out something.
Marshall wonders how one person could shoot Sazz from Dudenoff’s apartment, then run all the way to Charles’ apartment to take her body to the incinerator and burn it while also removing all the evidence from the crime scene. For a person to do this, they must be in the best shape of their life, and even then, they’d be cutting it a bit close. Unless it is a two-person job, where one fired the shot while the other cleaned things up. This realization leads the trio to focus on the Brothers sisters and the Westies, who are connected to Dudenoff, another mystery in the Arconia at this point. As they dive deeper into these possibilities, Marshall feeds their suspicions by feeding them seemingly relevant information.
It is he who points them toward the Brothers sisters’ ‘The Desecration of Alice,’ focusing on how violent and macabre the content of their films can be. Marshall tries his best to keep the suspicion away from him. However, eventually, the truth about Dudenoff comes to light, and the directors and the Westies are given a clean chit. It is then that the investigation turns towards the stuntman, Sazz’s protege who had turned into a menace to her. Chasing those clues finally leads the trio to Marshall, where he has no choice but to confess his crimes.
Marshall Took an Unusual Route to Enter Charles’ Apartment
The thing that sparks the possibility of a second killer is the logistics of traveling from Dudenoff’s apartment to Charles’. No matter how physically fit a person would be, it seems impossible for them to run that distance and take care of everything while also avoiding attention. That is unless they took a different route. It is when Marshall holds Mabel captive in Dudenoff’s apartment, and Charles looks at her through his window that he notices something none of them had before. Charles sees the ledge outside the windows of the building, which connects the West wing of the building to the one that Charles lives in.
If someone had walked that ledge, they could have easily made it to Charles’ apartment, entering not through the door but the window, giving them ample time to take care of business. Considering that Marshall was a stuntman and stuntmen often had to jump off buildings or walk dangerous paths like the ledge, it doesn’t seem entirely impossible that Marshall could have made that journey. This also explains the footprint by the window, showing that the killer got on the ledge. In the end, Marshall confirms all of this in his confession, clearing the air for good and proving that there never was a second killer. He didn’t have an accomplice when he murdered Sazz.
Read More: Only Murders in the Building Season 4 Finale Ending, Explained: Is Marshall Dead?
