I watched Only Murders in the Building season 5 and it’s the best season of the hit Hulu show yet

08 Sep 2025, 16:00 · TechRadar

TechRadar Verdict

Only Murders in the Building season 5 raises the bar on what's come before but doesn't lose sight of what makes the show so beloved. Be prepared to suspend your belief to the ceiling, though.

Pros

+Our leading trio are more charismatic than ever
+The new guest stars are as unhinged as we need them to be
+AI might actually be a hero after all
+A near-faultless season structure
+Meryl's Danish clairvoyant impression is genuinely astonishing

Cons

-It's basically more of the same
-Wouldn't have more tenants moved out by now?
-Not enough Meryl, though there never is

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You know those shows that feel like a warm hug whenever they return to our screens, even if their subject matter isn't always savory? Only Murders in the Building season 5 is exactly that, and for me, it's by far the best installment of the Hulu show to date.

For anyone that needs a recap, poor Arconia doorman Lester (Teddy Coluca) was bumped off at the end of season 4, leaving our clumsy podcasters Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) to try and solve the crime in new episodes. Pretty much all of our Arconia residents and recurring cast members return for more distant sleuthing, with new guest stars Renée Zellweger, Dianne Wiest and Keegan-Michael Key each having a crucial role to play.

It's rare that a TV show can get me to laugh out loud, resist fast-forwarding through typical filler scenes and try to jump the gun by deciding who the murderer is even if I'm wrong, but the quickly turned-around season 5 has managed that with ease.

It's more of the same, unsurprisingly, but you can't mess with near perfection, can you? We passed the signpost warning us of ridiculous storylines back in season 1... so of course we're all in for this delicious new round of chaos. Can it be more unhinged? Turns out, yes.

Only Murders in the Building season 5 kicks things up another notch

Only Murders in the Building | Season 5 Trailer | Hulu - YouTube

Watch On

Obviously, I'd be committing the cardinal whodunnit sin if I gave away any spoilers, but I can tell you that I've not enjoyed a season of Only Murders in the Building as much as I have with season 5. Why? Mostly because we've got the perfect balance of old and new. Our main cast have embodied their roles so well that they're essentially symbiotic, while our new players are introduced in ways that continue to surprise and delight.

I started episode 1 thinking season 5 was basically a glorified Disney channel for adults who don't want to age out of their silliness – and then I realized that's exactly what the show's been this entire time. Everything about its composition is incredibly playful, able to manipulate the typical boundaries of genre and structure that we'd normally see our best streaming services rigidly stick to. In a nutshell, it's in its own lane.

The chemistry between Martin, Short and Gomez is obviously what's continuing to drive all of this. I genuinely believe that they're unlikely best friends both on and off camera, and the fact that the podcasters know each other as well as they know themselves only makes the overall story land that much more naturally.

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