Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Only Murders in the Building Season 5 Episode 5.
Season 5 of Only Murders in the Building is in full swing, and Episode 5, titled “Tongue Tied,” keeps the momentum going. Episode 4 introduces the three billionaires that seem to be at the center of this season’s mystery: Bash Steed (Christoph Waltz), Jay Pflug (Logan Lerman), and Camilla White (Renée Zellweger), who play the trio like amateurs and effectively prevent them from digging further into this season’s murder mystery by locking them into a contract with a company they’ve just become majority shareholders of.
Elsewhere, the Arconia has acquired a new robot doorman named L.E.S.T.R. (voiced by OMITB veteran Paul Rudd), Mabel (Selena Gomez) is locked in a competition with her childhood friend turned rival Althea (Beanie Feldstein), and Oliver (Martin Short) is trying to become a more generous person. As for Charles (Steve Martin), he seems to be taking part in a trial for a new drug, but not much has been revealed yet.
‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 5 Episode 5 Signals the Rise of the Machines
“Tongue Tied” opens with a voiceover from Detective Donna Williams, played by returning favorite and Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph. She talks about money, real money, the kind that can buy the most important thing there is: silence. No one rats on the rich, because they have the power to make you stop, one way or the other. In the Velvet Room, Charles, Mabel, and Oliver walk Donna through what they know. However, they’re in bad luck, as all signs of the missing finger, including the blood and the cleaver marks on the table, are gone.
Donna concludes that the billionaires got someone to clean up the place, probably someone working in the Arconia. Pro police tip: when investigating the rich, talk to the help; rich people are always making a mess in front of their staff. Charles asks Donna if she knows the two cops sent to pick up Nicky’s (Bobby Cannavale) body from the dry cleaners, but she shoots him down, saying the last guy who tried to expose dirty cops got punished with vanishment to Florida (yuck!) Oliver then notices a shrimp tail on the floor, and angrily assumes the people at the Velvet Room ate one of his wedding shrimp. Charles then offers to question Sofia (Téa Leoni) because of the flirtation they shared in the first episode.
Back at Charles’, he reveals he joined a dating site for seniors, Last Gasp, and accidentally marked the “bi-curious” box, thinking it said “bi-coastal.” He is also acting more… shall we say “enthusiastic”? What we mean is “horny,” because it turns out the drug he’s been taking is testosterone, which has him all riled up, to the point where he actually carries Oliver over his shoulder. Mabel and Oliver go to the Arconia’s bowels, where they learn that L.E.S.T.R. takes care of all the deliveries overnight, much to Randall’s (Jermaine Fowler) chagrin. The robot also loves to gossip about the neighbors’ medical ailments (Mrs. Beroni’s third cousin has gout!).
However, Mabel and Oliver are there to see Ursula (Vanessa Aspillaga), who knows about the gaming room (the worst-kept secret in the building). She reveals that, while Lester was tight-lipped about the Velvet Room, he did let it slip once that all cleaning of the room had to go through someone called “Tommy the Tongue.” Ursula also says the trio was the beginning of the end of the building. Mabel and Oliver conclude that, if anyone knows about the evidence wiping, it must be Gary, the trash guy. However, turns out Gary retired because there’s more to life than trash, leaving behind Miller (David Patrick Kelly), an oddball who reveals Oliver received a generous offer for his apartment and threw it out. When Mabel mentions Tommy the Tongue, Miller throws them out of the trash room.
‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 5 Episode 5 Sees Charles Getting Romantic with Sofia
Meanwhile, Charles is on a date with Sofia at a sushi restaurant — a very awkward date. See, she brought her sons with her, even if they’re on their own table, celebrating Mikey’s 36th birthday. Then, the Mayor (Keegan-Michael Key) shows up and once again asks to be a guest on the podcast. Charles returns to his date, asking Sofia about the Velvet Room. She says she never knew about that and changes the subject, leading to a hilarious scene where she and Charles catch flying bits of food with their mouths. Sofia also reveals Nicky wasn’t the thug everyone thought; at first, he was a poet (lousy, but still), but her mother turned him into a liar and a cheat, just like all the others. Sofia then kisses Charles, but he says there can’t be anything between them; he’s a professional. She’s wearing red lingerie, so it turns out he’s only a semi-professional. Sofia asks him back to her minivan (the boys can take the bus if they all stick together), and he agrees.
As for Mabel and Oliver, they sneak into the staff room, where she asks him not to move; she’s now committed to the building and doesn’t want it to change. He reassures her that he isn’t going anywhere; the Arconia is his place. Their tender moment ends when they stumble upon a table with carvings, including “Putnam sucks” and, more interestingly, “Die, Lester, die.” Soon, they are being confronted by the Arconia’s staff, including Randall, Ursula, and Miller. Turns out, Randall carved the message about L.E.S.T.R., as they’re all afraid that they’ll soon be replaced by machines. Oliver says he’ll support them, and he calls for justice, revolution, and… a building meeting.
The meeting takes place in the lobby, where Oliver tries to appeal to the tenants’ humanity. However, Vince (Richard Kind) likes that machines deliver his packages, on account of his extremely contagious pink eye, and Uma (Jackie Hoffman) likes that she doesn’t need to make small talk with L.E.S.T.R. The staff soon turns on Oliver, declaring that he turned the Arconia into “the murder building” and, if it weren’t for him, Charles, and Mabel, Lester would still be alive. Oliver tries to bring tensions down by encouraging everyone to sing “Send in the Clowns,” just as Charles walks in, in full walk of shame mode. The meeting descends into chaos, only to end in shock when Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton) realizes L.E.S.T.R. has been taken.
Back at Charles’, he tells Mabel that he made out with Sofia in the back of her minivan. She chastises him for engaging with a suspect, and he tells her to stop slut-shaming him. Charles apologizes for his lack of formality, saying he’s been feeling down and wanted to find his “person” to give his life some meaning. Mabel comforts him and tells him they might be able to learn more about Tommy the Tongue from L.E.S.T.R., since Lester’s notes were uploaded into the robot. Just as she’s saying that, someone drops L.E.S.T.R. from the Arconia’s roof.
‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 5 Episode 5 Proves You Should Never Cheat on Your Wife
At Oliver’s, Mabel laments the fact that the robot is gone and Charles’ date got them nowhere. Howard is also sad that L.E.S.T.R. is gone, since the robot allowed him to be “the lovable despot” he always knew he could be. Luckily, a new L.E.S.T.R. is on its way, and this one connects to his Gmail! As he leaves, Morris walks in and thanks the trio for the meeting, because upstairs people don’t always stand up for downstairs folk. As a thank you, he’s made a portrait of Lester with the garbage from the night he died. Morris also gives Oliver the offer he threw out, since a fresh start could be good.
Charles then reveals he can’t find his phone. Mabel uses an app to find Charles’ phone in Sofia’s house in Rhode Island before it starts moving. The three hop into Oliver’s car and track the phone to Flatbush, to the same address as some invoices for supplies that Lester made for someone named Tommy. Oliver seems to know his way around because he grew up in Flatbush, much to Mabel and Charles’ surprise. The surprises keep coming when Donna calls them to reveal Tommy the Tongue is not a person, but a company worth a lot of money. As it turns out, it was emptied just that morning, and the address is the same one that the trio is now heading to. When they arrive, they see Sofia knocking on a door… only to be welcomed in by Lorraine (Dianne Wiest), Lester’s wife.
And that’s it for “Tongue Tied”! The shocking ending twist seems to suggest that Sofia and Lorraine worked together to dispose of their husbands and get the money from Tommy the Tongue, but the solution can’t be that easy, can it? There’s still the matter of the finger, plus the three billionaires who seem deadset on keeping the trio from investigating the murder. We’ll have to wait and see where this leads, but next week promises a lot of reveals — and the return of a fan-favorite!
