Only murders in the building – drama series review

I had postponed watching this series for a really long time, thinking it would be yet another dull drab British series. But was pleasantly surprised within few minutes into the first episode. It is as goofy a series can get around murder investigation almost bordering on illogical, making one logical deduction after another, with things literally falling in place by themselves, aiding in solving the jigsaw for the lead trio. The “investigative sleuth trio” are a weirder bunch in themselves, comprising of the goofiest guy who played pink panther better than the cartoon character (steve martin), the other one being the short Martin or Martin short rather and Selena Gomez(surprise of surprises). Of the three, Selena is the more reasonable one with the 2 martins trying to relive their glory days. Martin short, who plays a down and out theater director is amazingly original, leveraging extensively on his stage experiences. I was waiting for Steve to enact his Pink panther shenanigans somewhere on the screen and finally on the last episode he does gets a little scope to be the mad hatter he can be. Selena is as stoic (literally no facial emotions, polar opposite to Steve’s eccentricity) as Katrina Kaif or Mahesh babu on screen. The series actually begins with Selena sitting near a dead body drenched in blood and goes on flashback mode from then on, with people soon forgetting that the entire series are in flashback mode till the last scene. Cleverly, they’ve set the scope for next season from first scene itself. 

The story is set in an upscale apartment/gated community, where in a guy is found lying dead in his room with his brains blown out, having a pistol in his hand which the police quickly wraps it up as a suicide. The trio, having been hooked on to a true crimes podcast, which helps in bringing the unlikeliest pairing together, decides to make a true crime podcast of their own, by investigating this murder. Selena has some hidden secrets and her own reasons to check the killing. Short wants to find some means of making money on a creative platform before getting evicted from the building for non-payment of dues. Steve, is a compulsive loner who feels he could use the break to relive his glory days as sitcom detective. The trio stumble into clues that gets lined up for them and eventually crack not just one but two murders on the apartment, finally getting trapped/arrested for the third one as suspects. Season 2 is already in the making I believe and if it matches the goofiness of the first, this would be a sure treat. The only minus being the OTT where this is being streamed – Disney+Hotstar. Of Amazon primes and Netflixes, this is one global app that is so poor in interface and ease of use. Looks like the Microsoft of IT world, where in the curation may be decent but application is poor.