- Title: Only Murders in the Building – Valley of the Dolls
- wiki: link
Fleeing the Arconia, “Valley of the Dolls” gives us Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) hiding out in the suburbs with Charles’ sister Doreen (Melissa McCarthy) hoping to save themselves from the killer watching them and find some space to solve the murder. Howard‘s (Michael Cyril Creighton) decision to tell everyone where they are basically makes the first part of their plan moot, as Bev (Molly Shannon) and then Zach Galifianakis, Eugene Levy, and Eva Longoria, and later Loretta (Meryl Streep) as well. This will force Oliver to confront his romantic issues, which will (somewhat annoyingly) yo-yo all over the place before settling back down, while also fighting off the advances of Charles’ sister.
In an episode where our main characters are distracted, it’s the supporting characters who will make key contributions to the case. While lamenting her need to now babysit the actors, Mabel is talked into letting them help by Loretta. This unexpectedly allows Eugene, Eva, and Zach to make a huge breakthrough in the case which is later backed up by Howard discovering Vince (Richard Kind), Rudy (Kumail Nanjiani), Alfonso (Desmin Borges), Inez (Daphne Rubin-Vega), and Ana (Lilian Rebelo) are all in in the scam to take advantage of the dead Dudenoff (Griffin Dunne) and now, once again, look like the leading suspects for the the murders of both Dudenoff and Sazz (Jane Lynch).
The episode, which gets each name from Doreen’s home being covered in dolls, has a bit too much over-the-top comedy from Doreen, Bev, Oliver, and even Loretta eventually becoming a farce. However, the idea of the actors and Howard all making valuable contributions to the case is a nice little twist that points to our trio being targeted long before the death of Sazz and forcing them to reexamine all the murders they have solved.
