Flipping the Pieces

I thought this was probably the best episode of the season, and one of the best of the series. It was meaningful, not too busy, and was well done. My only gripe is that Mabel somehow learned to read sign language in an afternoon.

Mable's past has always been a subject of mystery and we have never quite gotten into what really shaped her character. A person's past, or the life they have lived until a certain point, has a big role to play in defining them in the present. In episode 7 of Only Murders In The Building Season 2, we "flip" the pieces to look underneath our most beloved member of the tribe. Mabel is clad in a yellow night-suit sitting in a bedroom. She has pieces of a puzzle in front of her. Not just any puzzle; the puzzle of her life. This episode did not feel like it had too much story progression. On the face of it, "Flipping the Pieces" seems like a decent companion piece to the previous episode. Mabel Mora's deconstruction was hinted at from the very first episode of this season. And it has finally happened in an emotional harkening back to the past. She has always been a character who seems to be going through a lot. She carries a lot of baggage from the past and it reflects in the way we see her. Even when she was able to go past that stage, life wasn't kind to her. Detective Williams is back in town and some of her bits with Oliver and Charles were really good. They do have an infectious and charming bromance that has begun to blossom. Theo was humanized in this episode too, and I liked that choice very much. His crimes beside, he's still a good person and a similar target of pain and misery. The ghost from his past, Zoe, has troubled him but we didn't see that suffering before this episode.

OMITB (Only Murders In The Building) is not one for glorifying or focusing on the chase/action sequences. Mabel had a run-in with the killer but still didn't see his face and was able to get away with ease. Although it does not diminish OMITB's appeal, it doesn't give it brownie points either. Overall, this episode felt relatively weaker than the previous ones in the season. I don't want to say the word but "filler" pops up as the perfect way to describe it. Mabel's revisit to the past was effective but the lack of anything else really couldn't rouse us up.

The first series of Only Murders in the Building (2021) contained Episode 7, 'The Boy from 6B (2021)'. Told from the perspective of Theo Dimas (James Caverly), a notable resident of the Arconia and a suspect at the time, it was an ambitious and fantastically delivered instalment that had almost no dialogue. Theo is, after all, deaf.

In this episode, 'Flipping Pieces', the younger Dimas is, once again, playing a prominent part - except the delivery is not to the previously established standard at all. Instead, his perspective is half-acknowledged, and Mabel, who shares scenes with Theo, spends a while talking at him. That does not work well in terms of logic; it works even less in terms of acting: Selena Gomez is delightfully cynical when her lines are given in response to those spoken by Steve Martin and Martin Short. When left to carry the dialogue on her own, the actress's speech turns unmodulated and grating.

The story remains unconcerned with questions posed earlier: who is Will's biological father? Has Alice left Mabel's apartment - and do we care that the former is dangerously duplicitous and obsessed? When Detective Williams (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) went on maternity leave, did she take the rest of NYPD with her, since the well-recorded and publicised stabbing on the subway has not prompted any arrests or questioning?

Instead, the episode introduced more questions. Such as: Why wouldn't you be wearing gloves when committing theft at winter-time? How many new products are in the Gut Milk line? And, at which point does the required suspension of disbelief become too great, and one has no choice but to treat the show as a melodrama? Asking for a friend.

I'll be honest. Season 2 of Only Murders is turning out to be not as good as the first. However, there have been gems that I come back to, one of them being this episode. I love how everything seems to come together in this episode, and I also love the development we get between Mabel and Theo Dimas. There are so many moments between the two that just make me love both characters. The writers really nailed this episode. I rate this episode a 10/10 simply because I can't let it be lower/equal to the blackout episode (probably the most disappointing episode this season).

Every episode I remark how well produced, written and acted this show is. Flipping the Pieces is a masterpiece episode. Superb performances by all of the actors.