Only Murders in the Building – Lifeboat

By starrymag | October 22, 2024

By: Sammi Turano

 

 

The eighth episode of Only Murders in the Building on Hulu opens with Dudenoff  (Griffin Dunne) narrating. He talks about Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat and compares life in New York City….specifically in the Arconia.

Vince (Richard Kind) and Rudy (Kumail Nanjiani) meet up and talk about an invite they got for a party being thrown by Dudenoff. Inez (Daphne Rubin Vega), Ana (Lilian Rubelo) and Alfonso (Desmin Borges) show up, along with Helga, who brings a pig. All the while, Vince has an itchy eye and tells Rudy he thinks it is just allergies.

Dudenoff opens the door with an offer that can change their lives.

In the present day, Charles (Steve Martin), Mabel (Selena Gomez) and Oliver (Martin Short) leave Doreen’s. Charles comments that the visit made going home to murders seem more appealing.

The car breaks down and the trio try to fix it while waiting for help. Mabel is annoyed by the guys and constant phone calls, so she decides they should just recap the case. As they go over the details, Eva Longoria, Zach Galifianakis, and Eugene Levy FaceTime them and say they can’t leave the trio alone. After a mishap with muting each other and Zach insulting the trio, they all decide to meet up somewhere that is not the Arconia.

They all meet up on set and go over the case. Zach is annoyed that Eugene keeps bringing up Tony Danza and Charles is annoyed with how the murder board is made.

Eugene decides to invite the Westies to a Tony Danza themed event, thinking he will be perfect to help them. Eva thinks this is stupid and wants a ding dong or sexy surprise soap opera plan.

Charles thinks they know one of them killed Dudenoff and the rest are covering it up. Mabel thinks they should have a game night to get them to talk.

They all argue, with Charles having a meltdown over the whole thing and losing Sazz. He storms out, but realizes he is on set and has no bedroom.

Eva uses a red light product on her face and tries to promote it to the others.

Oliver gets a call from Loretta to plan their wedding.

Eva shows Mabel the device is also a recorder.

After hanging up with Loretta, he talks to Zach about the wedding. Zach offers wedding and marriage advice. As they talk, another person on set walks by and tells Zach to prepare for his next scene, which involved Oliver’s divorce.

Eugene checks on Charles, who doesn’t want to talk about his problems. He is needed on set to do the infamous omelet flip. Eugene purposely tries to knock the prop omelets on the floor, trying to get Charles to crack, almost succeeding.

That night everyone prepares for the Westies to arrive. They come bearing a ham and then demand everyone’s phones.

Rudy holds a knife at them as the Westies explain how they became friends with Dudenoff after his wife died and he began ordering in from the Sauces’ restaurant, leading to them helping each other.

 Eugene still wonders if Tony Danza is involved and the other wonders if they killed Dudenoff.

Rudy was a student of Dudenoff and does a movie monologue. He reenacts it, impressing Oliver and goes on to talk about how they became friends and all got ham radios.

Eva thinks it turned into something sinister, but Rudy says he helped him stay in the city.

Vince talks about how his wife died and how he ended up in one of Dudenoff’s classes. They became friends after a class where they talked about It’s A Wonderful Life.

The Westies and Dudenoff all became friends due to the card games, leading to them all getting their apartments and their dreams. They all think he went to Portugal and cashed his checks so they could keep their apartments.

Just as the trio and actor trio begin to believe them, Helga (Alexandra Templer) arrives to give them the real truth.

Helga talks about meeting Dudenoff after her father died. She helped him fix his lock after he lost his keys and they bonded over Perfect Strangers. She asks for a code and he says Oh, Hell, like the card game. This reminds her of her father, leading to her becoming part of the gang.

She says they became like family until Dudenoff left. She was given a note saying he was leaving to live his own dreams.

When she got it, the power surged, which only happened when the incinerator was used.

They soon began drifting apart and when the podcast began, she started to wonder if they were involved in Dudenoff being killed.

In the present day, Eugene goes off on the Westies and Helga, encouraging Charles to do the same. Charles begins to mime out how he thinks they killed Sazz, with Vince finally saying they also got notes that night….but were told not to tell Helga.

There is a flashback to the Westies meeting with Dudenoff. He tells them that he is dying, and took a hell of a lot of pills. He wants them to put his body in the incinerator and then cash his checks as if he were still alive….all so they can keep their apartments and dreams. They have to promise not to tell Helga. He then makes them film a message to Helga from Dudenoff, explaining everything.

Helga watches it in present day and the Westies comfort her. It is also revealed that Helga and Rudy never dates.

Eva thinks this will make one hell of a podcast, but Mabel refuses to use their recording to send the Westies to jail. They agree that humanity is more important.

As everyone leaves, Zach tells Oliver he got him a wedding venue, but Oliver says he wants to get married in the Arconia. Zach calls him a baloney loaf and kisses him.

Eugene says it has been a pleasure working with Charles.

Everyone minus Mabel get into the elevator as she goes in her own squatted apartment. She draws a pig on the wall, narrating that there was no murder.

Later on, she is with the guys working on the case when Helga arrives with her pig. She tells them that Sazz was on the ham radio about the plotholes in the podcast. She also says that Sazz was harassed by another stuntman….who turns out to be Glen (Paul Rudd). He is shown in the hospital as the episode comes to a close.