'Only Murders in the Building' Season 5 Episode 5, "Tongue Tied" Review

And just like that, we are already halfway through season 5 of Only Murders In The Building. And, if you are as locked in as I am, you know the writing and performances this season could not be more top-tier in Hulu’s hit whodunit, starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez.

To pick up where we left off in the series — thwarted in their investigative podcast plans having signed away their rights in episode 4, our fav super sleuths have had to regroup for episode 5. Entitled Tongue Tied, the episode finds the trio back in the newly discovered illegal gaming parlor in the basement of the Arconia. The podcasters have brought along police-inspector-on-speed-dial, Detective Donna Williams, this time, played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, to get a first-hand look at what could be a murderous crime scene. 

First introduced in Season 1 as the always no-nonsense, only-adult-in-the-room investigator, Detective Williams must often battle the seriousness of her work against the eager beaver antics of the Arconia’s amateur sleuths. As always, Randolph once again brings a strong presence to the small screen often serving as the straight-woman to the leads’ quirky character approaches to investigative work.

Nevertheless, the visit is short-lived when the group discovers the room has been wiped clean of the evidence from the night of the supposed murder(s). Could the super wealthy, super villains have struck again?! Only time and some deeper investigation will tell.

To divide and conquer, Mabel (Gomez) and Oliver (Short) opt to seek help from the Arconia support staff while Charles (Martin) graciously offers to speak with another, more promising, suspect. 

Oliver and Mabel grow suspicious of Charles’ absolute giddiness, almost youthful energy at the prospect of dining with Nicky Caccimelio’s widow, Sofia, played by Tea Leoni, to learn more about the secret-coded deck of cards she gave him to help find her missing husband in the season opener.

With very little arm-twisting needed, Charles quickly cops to his crime-solving pals that he has thrown his hat in the ring on a sexy seniors dating app. Questionable personal profile facts aside, he’s ready to be back in the dating game.

Not needing to hear anymore, Mabel and Oliver take the road less traveled to the basement to find doorman protege Randall (Jermaine Fowler) roaming the halls. Not too long after, nosy neighbor Howard Morris (Michael Cyril Creighton) arrives on the scene with his trusty new A.I. pal, Robo Lester,  in tow to announce that the mechanical doorman has handled all the building deliveries. Inflamed with losing his standing in the Arconia, Randall storms off.

Mabel and Oliver press on to find Ursula, the Arconia worker with the nondescript job, looking for a shakedown on gut milk and gossip. Though, she could not reveal full details about the Velvet Room, she did let it slip that the deceased doorman Lester had always been tight-lipped about what went on in the makeshift casino. There was also a regular in the room known only as Tommy the Tongue.

The pair retreat to find the building’s trash engineer, Gary, to see what could have become of the room’s refuse. Finding only Gary’s replacement, Miller, living his best life. The scruffy, disheveled garbage man’s appearance belied his having it altogether on knowing a little bit about a lot about the Arconia residents’ often trashy secrets. Pun very much intended.

Mabel and Oliver are caught snooping in the staff break room after finding cryptic messages etched on a lunch table and are confronted by an angry mob of building workers fearing their jobs are being replaced by the machines.

Meanwhile, back at Beni Hana’s, Charles dinner heats up with Sofia (her quintet of adult sons sitting at arms’ length at the overgrown kids’ table, notwithstanding). The couple engage in quirky table talk around the Hibachi as they throat-catch shrimp and mushrooms off the grill. You had to be there! Sofia quickly recounts her backstory with growing up in the mob, ahem, check that - construction life, her dead dry-cleaner husband Nicky, and how they came to be together. 

With his special dating meds working overtime, Charles and Sofia retreat to her minivan.

The episode takes a hilarious turn when Oliver and Mabel organize a building meeting where Howard reveals that robo Lester has been uploaded with data about all the residents from real-life Lester’s ledger notes.

The meeting creates more animosity pitting the residents who love the robot’s efficiency against the devoted staff who are beginning to fear their human connection will be deleted. The other residents blame the true crime trio for getting Lester killed by turning the Arconia into a murder building with their podcast. 

Late to the party, Charles arrives at the tail end of the residents’ discussion, with a Cheshire Cat smile and no real leads. In the hubbub, Robot Lester goes missing.

In the episode’s requisite plot twist, an unexpected crash outside of Oliver’s apartment window the next day reveals that the Arconia may have lost yet another dedicated, but deceased doorman, when A.I. Lester is found in a heap of bits and bytes in the courtyard fountain. For those keeping score, murders in the building this season is up to three. 

As expected, a devastated Howard bemoans the loss of the robot as his short-lived best friend who gave him HOA gravitas.

The tomfoolery continues when trash man Miller shows up to thank Oliver and Mabel for the meeting. Happy to mix with the “upstairs people,” as he sees it, Miller brings a suspect piece of art he has created to pay homage to the real-life deceased doorman that may hold some clues to his murder. 

It is at this time that Charles discovers that he lost his phone, presumably left in Sofia’s minivan. With incriminating photos of an unsanctioned autopsy of one dead drycleaner in the phone’s memory card (Check out episode 2, if needed), the sleuths pile in Oliver’s Peugeot to beat feet in finding the phone.

As they track Charles’ mobile, they discover invoices to Tommy the Tongue attached to the trash painting, that has somehow come along for the ride.

In the interim, Detective Williams has uncovered a clue of her own and radios the podcasters. When the trio discover that the address for Tommy the Tongue may be the very location they have tracked Sofia’s minivan to, Detective Williams cautions against taking action, asking  the podcasters to consider who would benefit from not one, but two deaths in their beloved building. The answer comes sooner than expected in a surprise reveal when the door of the house opens.

Oh, this is gettin’ good…see if you agree.

The first five episodes of Only Murders In The Building are available to stream now on Hulu. New episodes drop each week on Tuesdays.

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