Only Murders in the Building season 3 episode 4 recap & review: The White Room

Open Go TV / August 22, 2023 / Reviews

Episode 4 of Only Murders in the Building revolves around the trio following up on a new suspect. At the same time, Charles deals with some anxiety issues and Mabel gets a visit from their past. The episode is streaming on Hulu.

Recap

Mabel is checking out apartments and is shown a really small, somber-looking one but she doesn’t think it’s her style. Joy moves in with Charles and brings a mess with her. Cinda Canning returns after a hiatus to record a wellness podcast.

Charles is worried about a song that he has to perform but Joy assures him that he’ll get it right. He heads over to Oliver’s apartment where Mabel wants to discuss the case and where they have reached.

Oliver is more focused on his budding romance with Loretta and plans an extravagant way to ask her out on a date. Mabel wants to dig into Kimber further even though Oliver is worried about how it will affect his musical.

She shows them a TikTok of Kimber promoting her anti-aging serum and claiming that Ben used it often, giving her the perfect opportunity to poison him.

The rest of the cast arrives and Oliver tells Charles that his number is up first. Charles is nervous and ends up blacking out and performing something despicable.

The others tell him that he traveled to the “white room” which is a stage phenomenon when actors forget their lines or get too anxious during a performance. Charles is advised to find his happy place and everything will be alright.

Mabel goes back to the theatre with Oliver to look for clues and they run into Kimber over there. Charles talks about his anxious episode with Joy and she tells him that she can be good for him because she always has his back, just like she did with Ben Glenroy.

Charles meets up with Mabel and Oliver at the theatre. Mabel talks to Kimber while Charles and Oliver check out Ben’s dressing room.

They simultaneously rule out Kimber as a suspect because she says she was only after his endorsement, and Charles and Oliver find a threatening message on his mirror written in lipstick with it still there.

Kimber also tells Mabel that Ben was struggling with a red spot on his face on opening night but someone came in and fixed it for him, adding a new suspect to the list.

Mabel is getting calls and messages from an unlisted number but she keeps ignoring it until she cannot anymore. It turns out to be Cinda Canning who wants to partner with Mabel and get back in true crime podcasting.

Mabel does consider it for a moment because Charles and Oliver have been busy with the musical lately and she’s been questioning her own path, but she ultimately refuses.

Charles tries to perform the number once again and the same thing happens so Oliver pulls him aside for a talk. He realizes that he might be moving too fast with Joy which is contributing to his anxiety.

Charles tells Oliver that he’s overthinking his plan to ask Loretta out so Oliver sends her a simple message. Charles goes back to tell Joy that she has to move out because he isn’t ready yet.

However, he blacks out again and when he comes to, sees that he’s on one knee in front of Joy and she’s saying yes to a marriage proposal. Mabel and Oliver walk in at that moment with Mabel holding the lipstick from Ben’s dressing room.

Joy recognizes that it is hers, puts it back with her set, and establishes herself as the primary suspect.

Review

When this series highlights a concept, they go all in and this episode is no different. The titular “white room” is featured multiple times but there are other artistic flourishes as well such as the apartment Mabel checks out or Cinda Canning’s whole vibe.
In fact, Mabel’s journey to figure out what is next for her and where she belongs is really getting interesting and it will be very cool to see how things end up.
Meanwhile, there are still multiple suspects up in the air and that is a good thing to have in a murder mystery. The way the narrative shifts from one suspect to the next while still keeping things ambiguous is brilliant.