- Lester’s killer is finally unmasked in the Only Murders in the Building Season 5 finale.
- The fate of the Arconia takes an unexpected turn.
- A brand new victim comes to light, hinting at a likely season 6 renewal.
There’s nothing like solving a good murder-y mystery to round out the Halloween season, which is precisely what the Only Murders in the Building season 5 finale delivered to its viewers, in spades, with a few unexpected twists and turns along the way. All season long, Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) have been desperately trying to track down Lester’s killer only to come up time and again with more questions than answers. However, during Tuesday’s finale, the last pieces of the puzzle finally fell into place, helping to explain precisely what happened to their beloved doorman and the horrible series of events that led to his untimely demise. So who committed the diabolical deed and where did the series leave off for a potential season 6?
Here’s a complete breakdown of everything you need to know about the Only Murders in the Building season 5 finale.
Who killed Lester?
Picking up from last week, it was revealed that Sofia’s mother, Nonna, was the one who stole the mystery finger from Charles’ apartment—the very finger that belonged to Lester’s true killer. So what prompted Nonna to do this? Evidently, Sofia had been having an affair with the owner of said finger prior to Nicky’s death and Nonna was simply trying to protect her family from having any further connection with the whole ordeal. It was a sweet gesture (minus the whole gross finger aspect of it all), but not exactly helpful in solving the case.
This meant going back to the murder board and reexamining those pesky billionaires and any secret, severed fingers they may or may not be covering up. So Oliver, Charles, and Mabel gathered Camilla, Bash, and Jay, at the Arconia underground casino for one final meeting in the hopes of identifying the owner of the finger once and for all.
The mission proved to be a complete failure until Mabel received a text from Howard warning her that Mayor Beau Tillman (Keegan-Michael Key) was on his way down to interrupt them. But thanks to autocorrect, instead of writing “Beau Tillman,” Howard initially typed “It’s Beautiful”—the very same text Lester had sent his wife alongside a picture of the Arconia fountain on the night he died. That’s when Mabel realized: Lester hadn’t been admiring the building’s decor—he had been trying to name his killer. “It’s beautiful” was supposed to be “It’s Beau Tillman.” (Thanks, autocorrect. Very ducking useful, as always!)
Mabel confirmed her suspicion by cutting the mayor’s fake finger off with a cleaver upon his arrival. This forced Tillman to admit that he was there on the night that Nicky died, but things had taken a turn for the worse after Nicky confronted him about having an affair with his wife. In a flashback, we see Nicky cut off Tillman’s finger in a fit of rage. This, in turn, prompted Lester to attack Nicky with the elevator crank. One thing led to another and Nicky ended up falling on top of Lester, who was holding the cleaver at the time, accidentally killing him instantly. While the billionaires were left to take care of Nicky’s body, the mayor went after Lester who had run off with Tillman’s severed finger. Not wanting to be implicated in Nicky’s murder, Tillman attempts to bribe Lester to give him his finger back, but Lester is done being bought.
They struggle by the fountain until Tillman pushes Lester back, and hits his head hard. The injury proves to be fatal, but not before Lester uses his bird call device to activate the cameras nearby.
How to catch a crooked mayor
Knowing that he’s been found out, present-day Tillman has his crooked cop friends apprehend Mabel, Charles, and Oliver and chain them up in the basement of the Arconia, which is about to get demolished. It’d be a fitting way for these guys to go, given how many murders they’ve solved in the building only to have their own demise take place there as well. But come on—this isn’t how their story ends.
Thanks to Charles’ magician skills—and impressive pole dancing techniques—they are able to escape and reveal a hidden recorder they had planted in the casino with Tillman’s confession of killing Lester on it. That’s game, set, match, my friends. Tillman gets arrested along with Camilla, Bash, and Jay for their involvement in covering up Nicky’s death. With no billionaires left to close out the deal, that means the Arconia is saved and can remain an apartment building for people to live in (and also probably get murdered in).
A new murder (and victim) get introduced
Of course, this wouldn’t be an Only Murders in the Building finale without having a new victim come out of the woodwork. The final few minutes of the episode jump to three months later with Mabel, Oliver, and Charles listening to Cinda Canning’s (Tina Fey) newest podcast, The Girl With the Curls, which takes place across the pond in merry ole England. Cinda’s new case is about a young woman who is being accused of murdering a descendant of the royal family. The press and general public at large have turned against this woman, but Cinda believes in her innocence and thinks that the safest place she can be is in America.
As Cinda’s voiceover narrates these details, the mystery woman is shown stumbling down a busy street until she drops dead right in the front of the gates to the Arconia. Howard, Mabel, Oliver, and Charles gather around the collapsed body (and debate the logistical parameters of their podcast's jurisdiction) only to discover that the person is none other than Cinda Canning herself. It turns out that she is the girl with the curls. Talk about a plot twist. Welcome to the murder board, Tina Fey!
