Cast: Steve Martin as Charles, Martin Short as Oliver, Selena Gomez as Mabel, Michael Cyril Creighton as Howard, Teddy Coluca as Lester, Paul Rudd as Lester, Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Det. Williams, Richard Kind as Vince Fish, Meryl Streep as Loretta, Nathan Lane as Teddy, Russell G Jones as Dr Stanley, Jermaine Fowler as Randall, Beanie Feldstein as The, Dianne Wiest as Loretta, Bobby Cannavale as Nicky, Logan Lerman as jay, Christoph Waltz as Bash, Tea Leoni as Sophia, Renee Zellweger as Camilla, and Keegan Michael Key as Mayor Tillman.

Length: 10 episodes

Release year: 2025

Streaming Service: Hulu

Audio description produced By: Point 360

Written By:

Narrated By: tansy Alexander

What Is it?: At the end of last season, we discovered that the beloved doorman had died adjacent to the building in the courtyard. Our podcasting trio has been told it wasn’t a mysterious death, but they know better.Things are really afoot when a mob wife asks them to look into her husband’s disappearance, which opens up a world of privilege and danger they haven’t faced yet, as well as part of a finger they just can’t seem to place. In the most dangerous apartment complex in New York, who is behind this murder that was really pretty close to the building if you think about it.

What Works: Creatively, the show remains pretty damn strong. It is how they were able to attract three brand new cast members who aren’t just Oscar nominees, nor are they just winners, but double winners. Zellweger, waltz, and Wiest join a stacked cast of lauded talent, and their pedigree certainly seems to elevate the idea that literally anyone could show up. Not to mention the shows continued commitment to Meryl Streep, Paul Rudd, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph. If nothing, it suggests the potential for bigger fish in the sixth season. With them headed to the UK, might we see unlikely additions like Hugh Grant? Colin Firth? Emma Thompson?

This season certainly provided enough twists and turns to show its creative strength. From introducing characters immediately suspicious of wrongdoing in the trio of billionaires (waltz, Zellweger, and Lerman) the question becomes it had to be them, but was it all of them? As the billionaires seem one step ahead, why else would they be so invested in this case otherwise? And what about the new doorman? Perhaps he was looking for a quick promotion? Maybe there’s the mob element here with Nicky (Cannavale). Could that play a factor?

Clearly, corruption, power, and greed are the centrifugal forces at play, and this is seen through even some of the lesser likely cast additions like The, who is an influencer turned pop star with a past aligning with Mabel, who now owns the Penthouse suite. Even though her story doesn’t seem to align with anyone’s, she’s still someone who has risen to power, has a lot of money, and got here because of jealousy from her childhood. So, themes that are blatantly obvious in the 1% club are also applicable to her. Or the Mayor, who is campaigning to get reelected, and spends most of his screentime trying to guest on the podcast.

Then you have recurring themes from other seasons, like Charles being wooed by dangerous women, in this case Sophia, the mob wife (Leoni). Is she another black widow? What about Lester’s wife? I’ll say for certain, in less episodes, Only Murders gave Dianne Wiest more to do, and a far more compelling character than Mayor Of Kings town did in two seasons. She’s a treasure. Treat her well.

I thought I had it figured out, but by the end, I was wrong. And, that’s OK. I prefer to be surprised. I don’t like easy, and this certainly twisted enough at the end, that even those with a correct guess still had some surprises in the end. one of the weirder choices this season with very little payoff was the choice to have Paul Rudd voice a robot replacement for Lester, and one that Howard becomes attached to, diminishing his contribution to the season. Howard, recently upped to series regular, is nothing more than an attendant. if you’ve ever been to a theme park, and met a costume character, Howard felt like the guy not in costume there to facilitate the hug and photo opportunity.

While this loves to recycle characters, the move to UK for at least part of the season will make it hard for too many of the new characters to return. I suspect they will maintain their grip on Rudd and Streep, but even Randolph’s wonderful Detective Williams will seem out of place in a country where she has no jurisdiction.

As far as the set up for next season? Perfection. It once again plays, openly, with what “in the building” actually means.

the Audio Description: For a show with this much dialogue, Alexander certainly is offering a lot of narration. every word fights for its place, and I had very few questions. At the end, nearly every single question I had dealt with Lester the Robot, who has two versions. Were there any changes? And just how tall was the robot? Size relativity! But, some of the stuff was brilliant. Oliver riding in on a tractor, Bash’s kid standing in a pool, and the silly dining sequence between Martin and Leoni all stood out to me and made me laugh. Like they should.

Why You Might Like it: You watched the previous four seasons.

Why You Might Not Like It: You don’t like comedy, or perhaps thought it was a cute concept, but five seasons was a bridge too far for you.

Final Thoughts: As the ensemble continues to explore what ‘in the building’ actually means, a host of very talented and over qualified guest stars once again pack in for another very clever, and still fresh, season.

Fresh: Final Grade: 8.2/10