The Only Murders In The Building Season 3 finale is here. After 10 long weeks of waiting to find out who the killer of Ben Glenroy is, we finally got the identity. It stuck with the show’s theme, albeit with a slight twist.
With another season most likely on the way, I’m intrigued to see how they’re going to do it if they’re going to get some great celebrity guests, and also how the killer of Saz carried out their plan and why they wanted it to be Charles.
It is an ending that also sets up a new season of the show and a new killer being at large. Let’s do Only Murders In The Building Season 3 Ending Explained and Breakdown all that there was in the season finale.
Here is Only Murders In The Building Season 3 Ending Explained:
Who Was The Killer Of Ben?
Well, the killer was Cliff. Yep, just like I predicted last week. Donna was taking the rap to protect her son, which was key to the theme of this season of the show. It was confirmed in this episode that Donna was the individual who laced the cookie with rat poisoning and gave it to Ben due to the review that was left on the show.
However, she didn’t plan on Ben getting into the critical condition like he was. She only wanted to knock him out so that he wouldn’t be able to do the show and somebody else would have to go on, ultimately saving Cliff, her son, from receiving a harsh review on his debut opening night. The night we heard essentially makes or breaks somebody in the theatre industry.
This was something that Cliff didn’t even know about. It was only later at a party that Cliff found out that Donna killed Ben the first time because Ben worked it out himself when he confronted Cliff.
Ben received a phone call from his doctor, who informed him that there was rat poisoning found in his system. Due to bending fasting and not eating anything all day except the cookie on his table in the dressing room, he realized that it had to have come from there.
Donna said Ben should be nice to himself and do what he could to get ready to get on stage. He realized that she had egged him into eating the cookie and that she must have been the person that was behind it.
So when Ben confronted Cliff and was going to call the cops on his mother, upon calling Cliff Boy, it ignited his inferiority complex and the view that he only thinks he’s got a leg up in the industry due to his mother. And then Cliff proceeded to grab a hold of Ben and pushed him. I don’t think he deliberately meant to push him down the shaft and kill him, but it was the result of his actions at that moment.
Cliff was protecting his mother and also himself, and then he fled. This was something that Mabel discovered due to the way that she saw how he was acting. But also because it was his handkerchief that Ben had in his hands.
They originally thought that it was Donna due to the lipstick stain that was on it. But Donna did this thing with her son, where before a show, she would say, “One for the lips and one for the heart,” in which she would then kiss his hanky and place it in his pocket above his heart, the place where Ben grabbed it from before he fell.
So, with them eventually confessing to the murder and poisoning, they were taken away after the show by the police, most likely never to see the light of day again.
Who Killed Saz?
The season’s final scenes were undoubtedly unexpected, and I certainly didn’t expect it. When Charles said he would walk up to his apartment and get a bottle, in the shadows, we witnessed a single shot being fired, which went directly through the window and into the person we initially thought was Charles.
However, I kind of hoped it was Charles since it would have indicated that the show’s decision to kill off a major character was gutsy. The similarity in Charles and Saz’s clothing was highlighted only moments before when they took a selfie, and Charles grabbed a hat.
Saz must have urged going upstairs rather than Charles. Then, the murderer might have assumed it was Charles. Particularly given that they were staring directly into the shadows and that the main figure would have been a silhouette.
Saz appears to have been killed, and the following season will be focused on solving the murderer’s identity. However, that raises the question of who murdered Saz and intended Charles to be killed until then.
Charles received a text message from Joy just as he was about to climb the stairs. Joy was the woman he was scheduled to marry just a few episodes earlier. “Scott Bakula says hi,” was the text message. This might be a clue that the bullet he was meant to get later was the one he said he would say Hi to.
Another possibility is that it was only meant to make him envious that she was spending time with another actor. You would think that would make him envious. Or perhaps Joy is the murderer? Maybe she was waiting outside the building because she wanted to harm Charles for hurting her by calling off the wedding during the season.
Only Murders In The Building Season 3 Overall Review
I thought this finale was a great way to round off the season. I would say that the reveal didn’t feel as impactful as I would have liked it to have been, nor did the reveal that Loretta did to dicky about her being his mother. Two things that the entire show was building towards didn’t have the punch that I thought they should have done.
I would also say that I have a bit of a problem with the character of Tobert. I feel he was a pretty pointless character in the show and offered no substance or plot development whatsoever. I thought he could have been involved in the killing, which would have justified his inclusion.
But it seemed as though he was just a bit of a pointless love interest that will now be leaving. That’s why I quite like the idea of him being behind the killing that took place of Saz. At least it would justify his involvement a bit more.
I’m so glad that we got to see a lot of the songs from the season in the finale. Because, like I’ve said before, I genuinely want to listen to them in my own time. So I hope they decide to release an album and recorded the tracks properly because they’re so damn good.
I like how the theme of her mother protecting her child was prominent throughout the whole season of the show, and it tied into the ending, along with the child doing everything to protect their mother. I thought it was a good way of showing us a major clue without being too upfront about it.
Meryl Streep will most likely not be returning to the show, judging by the fact that her character is going to be moving to LA, and I think that’s such a shame. She did a phenomenal job in this season of the show, and she brought something so fresh to her character, yet something so mature with the seasoned acting chops that she had. The episodes that she was in were always far better than the ones that she wasn’t.
Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short have a chemistry like no other, and they do shine as a three. The electricity that they have and the way that they bounce off of each other when it comes to the dialogue makes it feel like you’re watching three best friends all together trying to solve a murder.
They fight, they make up, and then they do it all again, just like how real friends are. So friendship is something that definitely allows the show to have a realness to it.
Do I think the entirety of the season was consistent? Personally, I don’t think so. In the middle, there were a few episodes where it really did feel like filler, and like, not that much happened at all. So much so that I’d argue that they could have even been removed. And I don’t think it would have impacted the overall story of the journey towards the ending.
