Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Chris Revelle | TV | October 30, 2025
The fifth season of Only Murders in the Building comes to a close with Oliver, Charles, and Mabel neatly solving the murders of Arconia doorman Lester Coluca (Teddy Coluca) and failed mobster Nicky Caccimealio (Bobby Canavale) while also saving the Arconia from being torn down. It was a wild ride, but the stakes are never so high or so dire on Only Murders that the status quo can’t be reset. The answers might have felt a little strained, but this show is so charming that it hardly matters. When the murder mystery is so entertaining that it doesn’t need the murder, we can forgive some rushed revelations.
Viewers had ample reason to believe that Lester and Nicky’s deaths were connected, but weren’t shown how until the finale. It turns out that Mayor Beau Tillman (Keegan-Michael Key) was having an affair with Nicky’s wife, Sofia (Tea Leoni). Nicky confronted Tillman with the cleaver in the Velvet Room, the gaming parlor hidden in the Arconia’s basement, during a game with the billionaires in attendance. Nicky cut off Tillman’s finger in retribution. Lester interceded with the elevator crank, finally standing up to Nicky after years of being under the two-bit thug’s thumb. In the scuffle, Nicky fell on his own cleaver, ending his life. Lester took Tillman’s finger and ran, but Tillman wasn’t far behind.
Tillman offered Lester money for the finger back, but Lester refused. He wouldn’t be bought anymore! Lester knew the security cameras would show what happened, but Tillman wasn’t concerned; he could just ask Bash Steed (Christoph Waltz) to wipe the footage. Lester told him his friends would catch him, and he died after a final tussle with Tillman. Lester’s final text, “It’s beautiful,” was a typo borne of autocorrect. He was trying to text, “It’s Beau Tillman.
Once Mabel, Oliver, and Charles found their killer, it was time to reckon with the billionaires. One of them, Jay (Logan Lerman), wanted to prove his good intentions to Mabel, so he decided to turn himself in, along with Camilla (Renee Zellweger) and Bash. With Camilla now going away for her involvement in the crimes, her plans to turn the Arconia into a high-end hotel and casino have been thwarted. The building is saved! No one has to be evicted, and the series gets to keep its titular setting. It’s satisfying to see the billionaires face some justice, even if their connection to the crimes was way more of a supporting role than it seemed.
This season of Only Murders in the Building ended in its typical fashion by setting up a new murder for the forthcoming sixth season. Tina Fey’s sinister Cinda Canning, who had been spinning a new true crime yarn about a royal murder in England. A woman with curly hair was the prime suspect, but Cinda believed she was innocent and sent her to America. When the woman collapses dead on the Arconia’s doorstep, viewers discover that it’s not the mysterious suspect, but Cinda herself. What did Cinda get herself into? We’ll find out next season, when Only Murders in the Building takes Mabel, Oliver, and Charles across the pond.
The fifth season was an enjoyable ride with a Whitman’s sampler of celebrity guest stars and plenty of silly diversions. It was a great season of fun, hilarious television. Making Tillman the killer might have felt cheap on a lesser show, but on Only Murders in the Building, it’s all a part of the joke-a-minute world we get to see each week. Until next season!
