The Arconia, that grand old New York apartment building with more skeletons in its closets than tenants, bid a bittersweet farewell in the Season 4 finale of Only Murders in the Building, but not without one last barrage of twists, laughs, and gut-punches. Titled “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” the October 29, 2024, episode on Hulu wrapped the season’s central mystery— the murder of Charles-Haden Savage’s stunt double Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch)—while delivering a rollicking wedding, a shocking sniper intervention, and a gruesome discovery in the courtyard fountain that promises fresh chaos for Season 5. With Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez leading the charge, the finale blended high-stakes action with heartfelt farewells, proving once again why this Hulu hit remains TV’s cleverest whodunit.

The episode picks up right where Episode 9 left off: Mabel Mora (Gomez) cornered by the unassuming screenwriter Marshall P. Savage (Jin Ha), who reveals himself as Sazz’s killer. Posing as Charles’s (Martin) long-lost nephew and the “Rex” behind the podcast script, Marshall had infiltrated the trio’s inner circle with a single goal: Eliminate Sazz before she could expose his true identity as the podcaster’s plagiarist ghostwriter. In a tense standoff on the movie set of the fictional Only Murders film—starring Eugene Levy as Charles, Eva Longoria as Mabel, and Zach Galifianakis as Oliver—Marshall confesses his motive: Sazz had discovered his scheme to steal the podcast’s intellectual property and pitch it as his own Hollywood breakout. “She was going to ruin everything,” he sneers, rifle raised toward Mabel. But before he can pull the trigger, Charles and Oliver burst in, armed with absurd weapons: a fire extinguisher and a prop sword from the set.

What follows is peak Only Murders absurdity—a chase across ledges, quips about Broadway flops, and a desperate crawl through air ducts that nods to the show’s love for classic mystery tropes. Charles, haunted by Sazz’s death, risks a heart-stopping ledge walk to reach Mabel, embodying the stuntwoman’s spirit in a moment that blends pathos with slapstick. “For Sazz!” he yells, channeling the loyalty that defined their bond. The sequence culminates in a standoff where Marshall, cornered, monologues about his “artistic torment,” only to be felled by a sniper shot from across the street—straight through a window in Charles’s apartment.

The shooter? None other than Jan Bellows (Amy Ryan), the Season 1 killer who’d escaped prison earlier this year and been hiding in the Arconia’s secret passageways and Charles’s closet for weeks. In a delicious twist, Jan—still obsessed with Charles—had been eavesdropping via the building’s hidden vents, waiting for the trio to unmask Sazz’s murderer so she could exact “poetic justice.” “We’re endgame,” she purrs to a stunned Charles as cops haul her away, handcuffs glinting under the set lights. It’s a fan-service callback that ties the series’ mythology together, reminding viewers how the Arconia’s walls hold more than dust—they cradle killers and crushes alike.

With the immediate threat neutralized, the episode shifts to lighter waters: Oliver Putnam’s (Short) wedding to Loretta Durkin (Meryl Streep) in the Arconia courtyard. The ceremony, officiated under twinkling lights and the fountain’s gentle spray, is a masterclass in heartfelt comedy. Oliver, ever the dramatic director, frets over seating charts and vows, while Loretta—bound for New Zealand to film her sitcom Death Rattle Dazzle—assures him their long-distance love will endure. “The algorithm thinks it’s fresh,” she jokes about the show’s relocation, a meta jab at streaming whims. The vows land with emotional weight: Oliver pledges to “direct our chaos,” and Loretta quips about surviving his ego. It’s a tender cap to Streep’s arc, leaving the door ajar for cameos without committing her full-time.

But no Only Murders finale wraps neatly. As the newlyweds depart for a honeymoon jaunt, and the trio toasts their survival, a new mystery bubbles up—literally. The next morning, a trickle of bloody water seeps from the courtyard fountain, drawing Charles, Oliver, and Mabel to investigate. Inside: The bloated corpse of doorman Lester (Teddy Coluca), strangled and dumped post-wedding. Lester, a background fixture with a penchant for cryptic tales, had hinted at his own midnight marriage in the courtyard earlier, but his death smacks of foul play tied to the building’s underbelly. “Every time we close a case, another opens,” Mabel sighs, echoing the series’ addictive cycle.

The discovery coincides with a tantalizing teaser for Season 5: Enter Sofia Caccimelio (Téa Leoni), a glamorous widow desperate to find her missing husband, Nicky—the “dry cleaning king of Brooklyn” with Caputo crime family ties. Approaching the trio post-wedding, she dangles a hefty fee: “What happened to Nicky has everything to do with this building.” It’s a classic setup, blending mob intrigue with Arconia lore, and hints at deeper connections to unsolved threads like the poisoned dog from Season 1 or the threatening messages that plagued early episodes.

Co-creator John Hoffman has masterminded these layers since the show’s 2021 debut, drawing from Agatha Christie and Columbo while infusing Broadway flair. Season 4, which shifted from the Arconia to Los Angeles for the movie subplot, earned a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score, praised for its guest-star parade—Paul Rudd as Glen Stubbins, Molly Shannon as a ham radio sleuth, and Kumail Nanjiani as a suspicious Westie. The finale’s pacing, juggling action, romance, and revelation, clocks in at a breezy 45 minutes, but packs emotional freight: Charles bids a holographic goodbye to Sazz on set, Oliver grapples with empty-nest fears, and Mabel pitches a stuntwoman biopic, nodding to her own outsider status.

Critics and fans have lauded the episode’s balance. “A thrilling sendoff that honors the past while teasing mayhem ahead,” raved The Hollywood Reporter. On social media, #OnlyMurdersS4 trended with memes of Jan’s return—”The killer ex is back and better armed!”—and debates over Lester’s demise: Mob hit or Arconia curse? Hulu reports Season 4 viewership up 15% from Season 3, with international streams surging in the UK and Australia.

Looking ahead, Season 5 production begins in January 2026, returning to New York with Sofia’s quest as the hook. Hoffman teases “bigger stakes and bolder laughs,” potentially exploring the Arconia’s West Tower Westies more deeply after their Season 4 innocence in Dudenoff’s “death” (revealed as a faked exit to Portugal). Will Jan’s arrest stick, or does she have more passageways to prowl? And with Streep’s Loretta off-grid, expect Short’s Oliver to lean harder into podcast absurdity.

Only Murders thrives on its ensemble—Martin’s wry vulnerability, Short’s manic energy, Gomez’s deadpan cool—proving murder mysteries need heart to endure. As the Arconia dims for now, one truth lingers: In this building, every goodbye hides a body, and every wedding a wake.