Only Murders in the Building, created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman, is a Hulu mystery comedy series that mixes sharp humour with gripping murder investigations. Now in its fifth season, which premiered on September 9, 2025, with three episodes, the show follows Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) as they investigate the murder of their doorman, Lester, found dead in the Arconia’s courtyard fountain.
Episode 8, “Cuckoo Chicks,” aired October 14, 2025, at midnight ET on Hulu, running 30 minutes. It escalates the trio’s fight to stop Camila from owning 51% of the Arconia, revealing Randall, the new security guard, as the doorman in hidden camera footage, picking up a bloodied elevator crank the night Lester died, implicating him in the murder.
In Episode 7, we saw Charles, Oliver and Mabel track three billionaires, Bash, Jay and another tycoon, tied to Lester’s murder. Mayor Beau, under Bash’s influence, shares their meeting location, where they compete for New York’s casino permit. The trio joins a Celebrity trivia game, with Mabel using Oliver’s Broadway tales to help Charles win a trophy, hiding a severed finger, and a casino deal clue. Camila, buying Arconia units for her “Camila Club,” demands the finger at gunpoint and takes it, leaving the trio fearing for their home.
The ensemble cast includes Meryl Streep as Loretta Durkin, Renée Zellweger as billionaire Camila White, Bobby Cannavale as Nicky Caccimelio, Christoph Waltz as Bash Steed, Keegan-Michael Key as Mayor Tillman and Logan Lerman as Jay Pflug, alongside recurring players like Michael Cyril Creighton and Da'Vine Joy Randolph.
Episode 8 splits the group to block Camila, who holds 48% of the Arconia and needs one more unit for a controlling 51% stake. Upstairs, Charles and Oliver meet Dr. Stanley, a therapist selling his apartment to Camila, with escrow closing at midnight. They enlist Randall, the new security guard, whose motives are unclear, to convince Stanley to back out.
Charles opens up to Detective Williams, who’s moonlighting as a therapist, about his obsession with dangerous women, rooted in his mother’s past scams. Oliver, rattled by Loretta’s previously unknown spiritual side, worries that he’s married a stranger and debates relocating. Their talks with Stanley, who admits struggling to connect despite his profession, nearly sway him, but the escrow closes, handing Camila the Arconia.
Downstairs, Mabel organises a women’s team for Camila’s ladies’ night in the Velvet Room, a swanky lounge tied to missing club owner Nicky. The group includes Loretta, posing as Celerie from Des Moines, a medium, to deceive Camila; Detective Williams, leveraging her old job’s escrow skills as a card dealer; and Rainey, Lester’s grieving widow, who joins after being found crying in the Arconia’s halls. Mabel instructs Rainey to act like a stranger to avoid suspicion.
The women glam up, but tension spikes when Rainey, overcome by grief, confronts Camila about gloating while her husband is dead, nearly derailing the plan. Mabel escorts Rainey out, learning that Lester’s elevator crank, a potential murder weapon, is missing, sparking a new lead.
At the Velvet Room, Williams deals cards, blending in, while Loretta, as Celerie Whisp, uses a séance ruse to probe Camila.
Camila, softened by nostalgia, reveals her past with Nicky. She was in love with him and proposed buying the Arconia to expand his Velvet Room into a casino, rivalling Bash and Pflug’s plans. Nicky declined, citing his wife’s family legacy, which stung Camila, who hoped he’d leave his spouse.
Later, Nicky, believing his wife cheated, calling it “pathetic” without naming names, agreed to join Camila. Loretta presses for a murder confession, but Camila only expresses rage at “the doorman” before an escrow alert pulls her away, claiming victory over the Arconia. Williams, ejected by Camila after Rainey’s outburst, joins the men upstairs, offering psychological insights that help Charles and Oliver bond and sway Stanley, though too late.
The episode’s climax unfolds in quiet, chilling moments. Loretta discovers Lester’s missing elevator crank, covered in blood, hidden in Nicky’s office, a damning clue tying the weapon to the crime scene. Meanwhile, Mabel and Rainey, bonding over cannabis and boy talk on a fire escape, use Lester’s bird whistle, which triggers a notification to Vince, their bird-obsessed neighbour.
Vince reveals a hidden camera, uncontrolled by Bash, with footage from the night Lester died. The video shows Randall, the new guard, picking up the bloodied crank near the fountain, not Lester. Camila’s “that fucking doorman” remark referred to Randall, not Lester, suggesting Randall killed Lester, possibly to silence him over casino-related secrets or to clear Camila’s path to control the Arconia.
This revelation recasts Randall as a central suspect- linking him to Nicky’s disappearance, Lester’s death and sets the stage for the trio to unravel the casino conspiracy.
Only Murders in the Building Season 5 streams on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally with new episodes every Tuesday until the finale on October 28, 2025.
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