[Movie] Only Murders in the Building – Season 2 Episode 10 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

“I Know Who Did It”

The cliched title of this episode means that the season 2 finale of Only Murders in the Building will go old-style in solving the murder of Bunny Folger. Becky, or Poppy, begins the episode with a voiceover about her life.

Her ordinary, meaningless, miserable existence in Oklahoma revolves around her alcoholic father and abusive and perverted boss, the Mayor of the town. Once she listens to one of Cinda’s podcasts about Elizabeth Davies, she has an idea: to disappear. Becky even googles how to do it before actually doing it. In a flashback, we see her going to Cinda with her own story and asking for a job. Cinda takes both, the story and Poppy, and her podcast becomes a big hit.

All if not Okay in Oklahoma is actually derived from Mayor Tipton’s (for whom Becky worked) campaign slogan, “All is OK”. Post the success of her podcast, Cinda tries to brainstorm ideas for a new one. All she is asking for is a simple “murder” that she can solve and then record.

Poppy mentions something about a Rose Cooper painting but Cinda shoots it down. We begin the finale in the present timeline where Mabel just dropped the big news: Cinda is the criminal mastermind. The trio plans to catch her in the act before the finale of her podcast drops the next day and implicates them. They need to get ahead of the situation and do something. Mabel still wonders how “14 Savage” relates to Cinda, while Charles and Oliver struggle to come up with metaphors. Now, they need a plan to get a confession out of her and go to Poppy for help.

The trio and Poppy meet at the Pickle Diner. They want to know of ways to get Cinda to confess. Poppy gives some really weird answers like things going in slow-motion and the insides of a tomato. These are some of the things that disturb her and could be useful. She gets a call from Cinda and asks for a liverwurst and marmalade sandwich to go.

Bunny didn’t like the sandwich, as Ivan discloses, and even called it “freak food” before Charles echoes her sentiment. Mabel is called away by a phone call from Detective Williams, who tells her whose fingerprints are on the knife. The trio knows who the killer is!

A shady email is sent to some of the building residents calling them to Bunny’s apartment. It is a “Killer Reveal Party”, which means the killer will be revealed at the party and not a reveal party that is killer. Howard, and later Cinda, both have the same confusion so just to clear that up.

As the residents get antsy, the trio barges in with a camera, tripod, and some accessories to create a fantastic play. Oliver directs the play to give some dramatic tension to the big reveal. Lester, Howard, and his new partner, all show enthusiasm to participate in the manipulative scheme designed to get a confession from Cinda. The event is also to get justice for Bunny. It is just beginning to feel like a finale!

Oliver starts the live stream and in walk Cinda and Poppy. They have brought their own apparatus and want to record the confession from Mabel. Cinda is seated in a chair while Poppy handles the equipment for her, as she always does. The trio starts narrating the events of how the murder happened. There is no need to repeat that as it is well known. Mabel agrees with me.

In dramatic fashion, Charles points the finger at Cinda, shocking her. Lester and Howard join in, as Oliver directed them to do their bits. In the background, we see Alice enter and seat herself on the sofa. Her entrance coincides with Charles saying “we have the murderer here..” So, is Alice the murderer and Cinda involved in the trio’s plan? We will see.

Suddenly, Charles starts moving in slow-motion to freak out Cinda. Oliver soon joins in and it is having the desired effect. The entire group, sans Mabel, joins in the slow-motion freakiness to create a memorable and hilarious incident from the finale. Cinda gets up to leave but not before Charles pulls off another surprise: cutting a tomato in front of her. Midway, as the evidence against Cinda piles up, she pleads her innocence.

A long pause at “because” gives space for Mabel to remark: “Because she didn’t do it”. She then points towards the “real killer” – Alice. “14 Savage” actually means “14 million for the Savage painting”. That is what Bunny was trying to tell Mabel. Alice suddenly came into her life after the murder and wanted to exploit and commercialize her tragedy. Alice wanted to up the price of her art by framing Mabel for Bunny’s murder.

She suddenly picks up a knife and before she can jam it in Mabel’s stomach, Charles intervenes and pushes her out of the way. Instead, he takes it and a few moments later, dies. Poppy gets everything on the boom mic. Charles’ lifeless body sits in the middle of the room as the others wait around for the police. Alice is tied up by the party attendees and Cinda consoles Mabel. She also compliments her for her investigative work on the podcast and suggests she should have her “own podcast”. It is a strange thing to say and it isn’t clear why she says it. Just then, Poppy lashes out at Cinda.

She calls her out for using her like a servant and says Mabel finding out the killer’s identity is luck. Poppy starts sneezing as she moves closer to the couch, adjacent to which Mrs. Gambolini’s cage is kept. The bird was kept back in her apartment by Oliver. Poppy brings up her painting idea and Mabel says Poppy was more interested in the story and Bunny’s painting than Cinda. Poppy keeps sneezing, prompting Mabel to say even the killer had allergies. Poppy ridicules them for “believing some young girl” and voila, she is caught.

Only the killer would know that Lucy was with the killer that night in the catacombs of the secret passageway. Cinda calls her Becky and it is revealed Cinda is in on the plan with the trio to catch the real killer – Poppy! Suddenly, Charles wakes up too, confirming the clever ploy. With her guilt out in the open, Poppy takes over the narrative and explains everything. It was she who messaged Mabel and the others that day to get out of the building. But she came back to her apartment to spoil things for her. Williams had called Mabel and said the prints on the knife belonged to a dead girl in some far-off state, to which Mabel replied “Oklahoma” and Williams confirmed it.

“I know who did it” Ending Explained: Who killed Bunny Folger?

“14 Savage” is actually “#14 Sandwich” on the Pickle Diner’s menu – liverwurst and marmalade sandwich. Williams walks in and arrests Poppy. Kreps is also in the background in cuffs. It is then revealed that Kreps fell in love with Poppy, who was standing beside Cinda in the small clip we see from the bar.

We also see a small flashback where Kreps and Poppy plan the murder, where he insists that “Bunny deserves to die”. The murder would take them to a profitable future and they can begin a life together post that. Cinda and the trio finish their podcast together with the real story. Life begins to settle after solving the murder.

Charles’ popularity has gone through the roof after the podcast and the network has decided to make him the star of the show – once again. He also asks out – barely – Joy, the makeup woman. Mabel invites Alice to paint over the walls in her apartment and renovate, although she will not get back together with her. Oliver reveals the truth to his son William about his biological lineage and William is okay with it. He feels proud of the attachment he has with Oliver and is the true father he will ever know.

Just then, Oliver gets his due and is called by Donna to work on a Broadway act opening in a year’s time. Ben Gilroy (played by Paul Rudd) is the star and we jump one year hence to the premier night.

Oliver calls him out for the final positioning. Ben is a bit jittery but swears to “kill” the other actor after the show. It is revealed the other actor is Charles, who says to Ben, “I know what you did. Stay away from her”. The crowd settles as the curtain is about to go up.

Mabel takes her seat with Lucy, Joy, and Oliver in the front row. Mabel even says “Any year without a murder is a good one”. The curtain rises and Ben begins his monologue. A couple of lines later, he stops. He starts to feel uncomfortable and falls down on the ground with blood coming out of his mouth. Charles confirms he is dead and Mabel says, “you’ve got to be kidding me”!

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The Episode Review

The last two episodes of Only Murders in the Building’s season 2 have elevated the story. After a couple of weak episodes in the middle, we have a serene ending. The finale left us restless and unfolded constantly to give us a surprise name as the killer.

Poppy was probably the last person among all of the associated cast in this season who could have been the murderer. Kudos to Martin and Hoffman for creating a thoroughly enjoyable season once again with an even better finale. The ending was the most unexpected and that has raised hopes for a season three. Will it happen? We will know in due course. Until then, can we not get over this finale, please?