“Only Murders” is the best season of all time

Forget which of the Pickwick triplets did it – I would pay a lot of money to see Eugene Levy kill a man. In fact, this is a theoretical possibility in the fourth season of Only murders in the buildingin which the Arconia trio goes to Hollywood. But as fun as the prospect of a murderous Levy – or another big guest star – may be, Only murders to do a showbiz season made me wary. The previous Broadway-focused season was almost unbearable, so a seeming repeat of that conceit naturally raised fears that this West Coast swing would be more of the same. Thankfully, that is not the case. In fact, Only murders has never been better.

The problem with last season's Broadway stint was its sheer isolation: There were too many gags coded like inside jokes for theater geeks, Martin Short was given perhaps too much space to do his thing, and the narrative strayed too far from the show's main attraction, which was watching our cross-generational main trio in cahoots. Charles (Steve Martin) and Oliver (Short) frequently clashed as actor and director in the latter's musical, and as a unit they were mostly isolated by Mabel (Selena Gomez), who was isolated in her own corner of the crime drama with a guy named Tobert (Jesse Williams). It wasn't entirely a bust — the addition of Meryl Streep as Loretta was a high point (of course), and the 70-year romance between her and Oliver has a really sweet touch — but the meh outweighed the good.

This time it is pretty much the other way around, starting with the season premiere, which establishes the Hollywood hook, when Charles, Oliver and Mabel are approached by a major studio executive (Molly Shannon, who The other two), who plans to turn the Arconia trio's podcast into a movie. This season also picks up immediately after the shooting of Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch), Charles' cheerful stunt double, in the season three finale, who was seemingly mistaken for the real Charles when she was attacked by a sniper in his dark apartment. Is it uncomfortable to develop these two storylines simultaneously? Sure, but that's Only murders for you: a mix of very cozy and very dark. Soon, as our trio begins to identify suspects both in Arconia and on the set, the season begins to weave together its Hollywood twist, new character traits and the actual crime mystery.

A big part of why this Hollywood season works so well has, frankly, to do with the decision not to fully commit to the role. Aside from an early foray into Los Angeles, most of the season stays in the larger Arconia milieu. Hollywood is instead brought to the apartment complex, embodied primarily by Shannon's top executive, Jin Ha's wimpy screenwriter archetype, two oddball director sisters, and the three actors cast as the Arconia trio in the adaptation: Levy, Eva Longoria, and Zach Galifianakis, all playing different, heightened versions of themselves.

It is of course a wise decision to stay at the Arconia, as the building is so central to the cozy charm of Only murdersbut the season also manages to find new grooves in its setting. We learn that there's a very different section of the Arconia: the East Wing, whose residents—two of whom are played by Kumail Nanjiani and Richard Kind—are far less affluent than the people in Charles and Oliver's area, which opens a small window in which the series can play out some class tensions. (Based on the seven episodes provided to critics, it's unclear to what extent the 10-episode season will actually delve into that particular layer.) There's also a sense of increasing boldness in the construction of each episode, starting with the opening episode, as we follow Charles, Oliver, and Mabel's slow realization of Pataki's fate in a pretty clever—and thrilling—way. Later in the season, we get a more experimental episode that mixes the style of a highbrow thesis film with the found footage genre. On paper, that might sound relentlessly obnoxious, but in practice, it totally works.

The season also exceeds expectations in terms of the number of guest stars and cameos. As with every subsequent season, viewers can expect a whole host of famous faces to appear. Given the recent excesses of The bearI was afraid that the flood of familiar names this season – some announced, some not; some new, some familiar – would be distracting, if not downright annoying. (John Cena as Fak still bothers me.) But that is not the case with Only murderseven if the number of guest stars continues to grow. I suspect this has something to do with the kind of reality that this show has created, which lies somewhere between the register of variety and a New Yorkers cartoon, so that any cameo, no matter how shiny or random, can be integrated in a way that fits Only murders's general unreality.

The greater joy, however, goes to the returning players. Only murders has had a large number of potential supporting characters for three seasons now, and it's a real joy to see the show draw from its reserves, whether for an unexpected diversion or an off-hand gag. A particular highlight is once again Da'Vine Joy Randolph, fresh off a well-deserved Oscar win, whose Detective Williams is responsible for many of the best lines in this film. The way she says “delicious, fuckable baklava,” referring to a character I won't reveal, still rings in my head.

It is wonderful to see Only murders back to such great form. There are even signs of evolution: if you squint, you can see a manic and crazy quality to some of the jokes and scenes that feels distinctly new. But what's really pleasing is how the show has recentered itself. Only murders is at its best when it taps into the deep melancholy that is always present beneath its sunny disposition. Despite the wacky antics, this is a show about people struggling to find their place in the world, whether it comes in the form of Mabel's millennialism, Charles and Oliver's aging to the point of obsolescence, or Loretta waiting her whole life to be discovered. That bittersweetness is brought back to the forefront this season. Charles has to deal with Pataki's death, Oliver struggles with being with Loretta, Mabel is still trying to carve out a place for herself in the world — all while a crazy movie shoot is going on around them. This is the Arconia trio at their most desirable as characters: needy but on the way to progress. Hollywood has often been said to bring out the worst in people, but in Only murdersthe opposite turns out to be true.