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The OMITB finale sets up a brutal fifth season: Who is the killer?
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The OMITB finale sets up a brutal fifth season: Who is the killer?

(This story contains major spoilers from the Just murders in the building Fourth season finale.)

We finally know who killed Sazz Pataki and why. Unfortunately, there is no time for relief as another body ends up on the ground at the end Just murders in the building Season.

In its final episode, season four ended with the revelation of Marshall P. Pope, Jin Ha’s stuntman-turned-scribe, as the finger behind the trigger and the person responsible last season for shooting and killing Sazz (Jane Lynch ) was responsible. The motive: Stealing Sazz’s script about the Arconia’s leading trio and passing it off as his own. Produced and released after the WGA strike in 2023, Pope’s role as the murderer is a commentary on the power of writing and the lengths some will go to silence the artistry.

The penultimate episode brought Pope’s role in things into focus, which is something of a tradition Just murders Tradition. However, it is often accompanied by a clarifying twist in the finale. Not so this year; Pope is the murderer, and he did everything by himself. The case is closed, quite simply.

Jane Lynch’s Sazz with Jin Ha’s Marshall P. Pope in a final flashback.

Disney/Patrick Harbron

The murder structure for the already renewed fifth season is much more complex. In the final moments of the season, Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) walk through the Arconia’s courtyard and discover a murder victim, albeit right outside the building: longtime doorman Lester, played by Teddy Coluca. The episode ends with the Big Three outside calling for help in a panic and Lester’s lifeless body bleeding to death in a red-watered fountain. It’s a pretty scary sight Just murders standards, leaving the door open for a criminal investigation in season five.

So who killed Lester? Yes, we are already asking this question because it is never too early to put suspects on the murder list. Coming out of the fourth and fifth seasons, we can take some big names and put them on the list already (and probably cross them off too). Examples of this are:

Jan Bellows: Amy Ryan’s original serial killer from season one struck again in season four, giving us a rare second murder in the building in the same season. However, immediately after killing Marshall P. Pope from a distance, Jan returns to police custody. Could she have somehow escaped them in time to kill Lester? It feels pretty implausible, but at the same time it feels stupid to exclude the only living person who has killed in this series and actually likes it. She also tells Charles in her final moment of season four, “You and I are the endgame!”

Cinda Canning: Tina Fey’s podcaster was completely absent from season four. In season two, she was the most likely suspect on the board before the finale, but then her protégé Poppy was revealed to be the actual killer. After a full season on ice, could Cinda return to finally put her murder money where her murder mouth is? We still need to find out who Moriarity is Just murders in the building is, and Cinda is as good a suspect as anyone in this regard.

Uma Heller: Jackie Hoffman’s curly-haired neighbor is probably our next best pick. She has lived in Arconia as long as any other character we know in the series. She hates Charles, Oliver and Mabel. And one could argue that the podcast investigations in season one led directly to her friend Bunny (Jayne Houdyshell) being killed in the season one finale. If any single resident of Arconia has a reason to want to kill these three people, it is Uma. Why would she want Lester dead? That’s the big secret…

Howard Morris: There’s another member of the Arconia community worth keeping an eye on right now: Michael Cyril Creighton’s Howard. Howard was largely absent from the action in season four, despite being a series regular, and should always be on the suspect list given his length of time on the show. He was already one of the very first suspects in the first season, and should remain a suspect until proven otherwise as long as the question of a “Moriarty” in the building remains – although if he is a murderer, then he probably has in the first one too Season 1 killed his own cat, which is a pretty dark turn for the character. Darker than killing Lester? Depends on what skeletons the dead bouncer has in his closet…

Who does that? You Do you think you killed Lester?

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Just murders in the building Season four is now streaming in full on Hulu. To read THR’s interview with showrunner John Hoffman on the fourth season finale.

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