Note: This story contains spoilers from “Only Murders in the Building” season 5, episode 10.
“Only Murders in the Building” solved its latest crime and set the stage for a wild new international adventure in its potential season 6.
Episode 10, titled “The House Always…”, followed the murder mystery-solving trio of Mabel (Selena Gomez), Charles (Steve Martin), and Oliver (Martin Short) as they went on one last wild ride through the Arconia underground casino to solve Lester’s murder.
The confrontation led to a big reveal of corruption, some heartwarming moments, and a surprising new murder. Read below to learn more about the ‘Only Murders in the Building’ season 5 finale.
Who killed Lester?
Season 5 revolved around the investigation into the murder of Arconia’s beloved doorman, Lester (Teddy Coluca), which the trio discovered was connected to a secret plan to turn the titular building into New York’s first casino – orchestrated amid a feud between billionaire trio Bash Steed (Christoph Waltz), Camilla White (Renée Zellweger) and Jay Pflug (Logan Lerman). triggered by a severed finger found in Oliver’s apartment.
Episode 9 revealed that Lester killed Nicky Caccimelio (Bobby Cannavale). But the finale revealed that before this tragedy, Nicky had been shocked by his wife Sofia (Tea Leoni) announcing that she wanted a divorce. Her mother – the latest suspect in Lester’s murder – revealed she was simply protecting her daughter when she got involved, who said she recognized the severed finger the trio had been holding since the start of the season; and it belonged to the person Sofia had always cheated with.
This led investigators to return to the trio of billionaires, the main suspects of the season. After confirming that none of them were missing fingers, Mabel realized that the only remaining culprit was Mayor Beau Tillman (Keegan-Michael Key). He turned out to be Sofia’s lover and Lester’s killer – admitting he had always been the person to make deals for billionaires. But on the night of the murder, things took a turn for the worse after Nicky confronted the mayor about the affair.
In the chaos, Nicky ended up accidentally dying at Lester’s hands. The doorman initially fled, in an attempt to bring everything to light, but Beau reached him first and killed Lester. Lester had attempted to reveal the identity of his killer to the trio from the start, but the message was muddled thanks to a bad case of self-correction.
Saving Arconia
As the murder mystery came to a head, the trio made efforts to leave the Arconia. The finale revealed that not only was the building being transformed into a casino, but it would be completely demolished so construction of the new venue could start from scratch.
Once Mayor Beau revealed himself to be the killer, he used his crooked police force to trap the trio in a secret room so they could die when the building was demolished. But Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton) discovered his plan and, along with pop star Althea (Beanie Feldstein), created a diversion to help save their friends.
Just as Howard arrived to help, Charles, Mabel, and Oliver broke free in time to publicly reveal Beau’s crimes. They had recorded their entire conversation, which led to his arrest. Jay then revealed that he and other billionaires helped move Nicky’s body and hide the crime, which he confessed to the cops, which retroactively saved the Arconia from its fate – and all three ended up behind bars.
Who is the next victim(s)?
True to “Only Murders in the Building” form, the season 5 finale also set the stage for the trio’s next mystery.
After the arrests, Sofia came into the building to tell Charles that she had feelings for him. She also invited him to Positano with her where she planned to build a new life. But for the first time, Charles “said no to a dangerous woman.”
The show then jumped forward three months to find Lester’s wife Lorraine (Dianne Wiest) in her new apartment at the Arconia. She had just received a huge cash reward from Sofia, reward for her investment in a local theater. Next, the show caught up with Sofia in Positano as she said goodbye to her mother, who was on her deathbed.
Back in New York, viewers learned that Howard had (finally) found love with one of Sofia’s sons. And the trio reunited to listen to a new podcast about the murder taking place in the United Kingdom of their former enemy Cinda Canning (Tina Fey). The podcast centered around a red-headed woman from London who Cinda believed was wrongly accused of killing a royal descendant. His narration followed as the woman, apparently dealing with an injury, collapsed in a street.
It turns out the subject of the podcast was in the United States and was killed just outside of Arconia. The biggest shock? The woman turned out to be Cinda Canning herself, making her the latest murder victim for the investigative trip should the series return for season 6.
Seasons 1-5 of “Only Murders in the Building” are now streaming on Netflix. The series has not been officially renewed for season 6.
