The previous episode of Only Murders in the Building revealed that it was the residents from the West Tower who were encashing Dudenoff’s checks. Mabel, Charles, and Oliver knew that Vince, Rudy, and the Sauce family could have had motives behind murdering Dudenoff, and they were probably the ones who had killed Sazz, too. So, let’s find out what happened in episode 8 and if the West Tower residents actually had something to do with the murder of Sazz and Dudenoff, or if there was another twist awaiting the trio around the corner.
Spoiler Alert
What did the actors find out about Oliver and Charles?
We saw in the previous episodes that the actors—Zac, Eugene, and Eva—always wanted to be around Oliver, Charles, and Mabel, just so that they could pick up on their behavioral traits. In episode 8, too, we saw something similar happening. Mabel, Charles, and Oliver were on the run when they got a call from the actors, who told them that they had a safe place where the former could come. Zach was on a quest to find out how romantic Oliver was in real life, while Eugene wanted to know if Charles dealt with anger issues. Charles wanted to show everybody that he could be calm and composed even in the direst of situations, but the reality was a bit different. It was just a matter of time before he lost his temper, and Eugene was just waiting for that moment to arrive. Zach was quite interested to know how Oliver was going to propose to Loretta. Oliver thought that he was not going to have any pomp and show. He had decided that he would take Loretta to the court and enter into a matrimonial alliance there. Zach was extremely disappointed when he got to know that, as in his mind, Oliver was a hopeless romantic. Zach started pitching ideas to Oliver, but nothing seemed to click. At the end of episode 8, Oliver finally decided that he would get married in Arconia. He told Zach that that was where everything started, and where he’d shared all those beautiful moments with Loretta. Zach was overwhelmed, and he knew that he was not wrong in thinking that Oliver was a passionate man.
Did the West Tower residents kill Dudenoff?
Oliver, Mabel, and Charles decided that they needed to call the West Tower residents to Arconia and find out if they were behind Dudenoff’s murder. The Westies (as they were referred to by the trio) arrived at the so-called party, and before Charles, Oliver, or Mabel could say anything to them, they decided to spill the secrets. They told the trio that they were the ones who had put Dudenoff in the incinerator, but their intention behind doing so was not what they’d assumed. Firstly, Alfonso and his family said that Dudenoff used to come to their restaurant quite often, and that’s how they got acquainted with him at first. Eventually, the Sauce family started going over to Dudenoff’s place to play the card game Oh Hell on Friday nights. Rudy said that he attended Dudenoff’s film class, and the latter got quite impressed when he delivered a monologue from the film A Few Good Men. Rudy was a struggling actor back then, and he was juggling between five jobs to earn a living. For a man who didn’t get validation from any casting agent, it was an overwhelming moment when Dudenoff appreciated his dialogue delivery and called him a good actor. Rudy also became a part of the Friday night ritual, and eventually he too shifted to the West Tower.
After Vince’s wife passed away, he decided to join Dudenoff’s film appreciation class, as firstly, he wanted to kill time, and he was passionate about films, and secondly, his wife had asked him to not be miserable after she was gone. Vince and Dudenoff connected while the latter was discussing a film in his class. The youngsters in the class didn’t seem to get why it was called a classic, but Vince told them that it was their lack of experience that was making them say such a thing. He told them that being lonely and not having anyone in one’s life was the worst thing that could happen to anybody. That day Dudenoff realized that Vince was grieving, and so he invited him too for the Friday night card game. Dudenoff wanted to look after this band of misfits. He offered them a place to stay at Arconia, and he made them a part of his family. Time passed, and everything was fine, but then, one day, Dudenoff revealed to them that he was suffering from a terminal illness and that he only had a couple of months on his hands. He told Rudy, Vince, and the Sauce family that he wanted them to stay in the West Tower, which was only possible if he was alive. The house lease would have been considered void in case of his death, and so he asked them to never let the world know that he had passed away. He told them to keep encashing his checks and make the world believe that he was still alive. Dudenoff fabricated a story about his move to Portugal, and he wanted the Westies to stick by it. The Westies put Dudenoff in the incinerator, and then he recorded a video where he explained everything just so that when the time came, nobody blamed them for his death.
What did Helga say about Glen Stubbins?
When the Westies were narrating their stories about how they met Dudenoff, they did not mention the name of one other person who was a part of the Friday night group. That person was Helga, whose voice we heard on the ham radio. Rudy had told the trio that Helga was his girlfriend, but it was not so. Helga was a locksmith, and she met Dudenoff when she came to open his locked door, as he misplaced his keys quite often. One day, Helga told Dudenoff that he had reminded her of her late father. From that day onward, they developed a very strong bond, and Helga, too, became a part of the clan. Dudenoff had told everybody not to tell Helga about his death. He knew that she had lost a father once, and he didn’t want her to go through the entire ordeal once again. Helga, for the longest time, believed that the Westies had something to do with his death, but at the end of episode 8, she came to know about the truth.
Oliver, Mabel, and Charles were back to square one, and they had no leads whatsoever. That’s when Helga once again made a dramatic entry and told the trio that she knew Sazz since she often talked to him over the ham radio. Just before getting murdered, Sazz had told Helga about a stuntman who was harassing her and was after her life. That stuntman was none other than Glen Stubbins (played by Paul Rudd), who worked as the stunt double for Ben Glenroy. Stubbins was in the hospital at that moment, as he, too, got injured during the shootout that happened on the set. Only Murders in the Building season 4 episode 8 left us on a cliffhanger, and it would be interesting to see how the trio take matters from here and find out about Stubbins’ involvement in the scheme of things.
