Review: Only Murders in the Building, "Hello, Darkness" | Season 2, Episode 8
The blackout ends with a major revelation, but diverts from the main story too much otherwise
I don’t think Only Murders in the Building should be an hour-long show, but I wonder if it might have allowed the writers to avoid some of the pitfalls they’ve fallen into these past few episodes.
Take, for instance, Mabel’s encounters with both Glitter Guy and Cara Delevigne’s Alice. It feels like there’s almost nothing sticking from episode to episode with these stories: Delevigne might as well have not existed last week, while Mabel’s time with Theo and her whole fugue state stabbing was tossed aside once the blackout hit and the characters were off to save Lucy from Glitter Guy. The plot certainly accounts for Mabel’s encounter with Glitter Guy, but the characterization is absent, which strands the character when she eventually discovers the real identity of Glitter Guy and it feels incidental rather than a powerful moment in her arc.
We can say the same for Oliver, who has been stranded with the same story for three weeks with no resolution. It made sense for him to…