Bloody Mabel strikes again.
It’s remarkable how many ways Only Murders In The Building can leave episodes on the cliffhanger, but Season 2, Episode 6, “Performance Review,” really took the cake, with Mabel putting her knitting needle through someone in public. The person she attacked looked to be the same one she was looking for with Charles and Oliver, someone who claimed to be able to help them match and fingerprint and DNA. But who was it? Mabel’s subway stabbing is the next big mystery for Only Murders fans to solve.
Warning: Only Murders In The Building Season 2, Episode 6 spoilers follow. Episode 5 ended with Oliver realizing the matchbook found near Bunny’s body was probably dropped by her murderer. Episode 6 presented a new problem: The podcasters had a matchbook with blood, a fingerprint, and no tools to investigate it. They needed a detective.
Luckily, Detective Williams, the cop working on the Tim Kono case in Season 1, is their friend. So, Mabel texted Williams asking if she’d help, and got back a reply that she would meet them later that day.
But that was before Detective Kreps came to see them and casually mentioned Willaims’ wife gave birth, and his right-hand woman is on maternity leave with the wife’s family in Denver. So who were the podcasters actually texting? Convinced it was Bunny’s murderer, they set a glitter-bomb trap (a “Mariah,” as Oliver called it), because if there’s one thing that’s impossible to get rid of once it’s on you, it’s glitter.
The plan worked... up to a point. The person who showed up triggered the bomb, but ran away before the trio could catch up to them. But they were heavily marked with glitter, and later on, Mabel spotted someone in a glitter-covered hoodie on the subway.
That’s where things went off the rails; the next thing Charles and Oliver knew, Mabel was recorded attacking the glittered figure on the subway with her knitting needle.
So, who did Mabel stab? Who was under all that glitter? Here are a few possibilities.
Bunny’s Murderer
When the podcasters learned Detective Williams was on maternity leave in Denver, they immediately concluded they’d been texting the person who took out Bunny. What if, for once in their lives, they were right? If so, the Mariah’ed murderer is exactly who Mabel saw on the train. It’s possible the murderer then tried to attack Mabel, and the knitting needle stabbing was an act of self-defense.
Detective Williams
Having seen a season and a half of Only Murders, viewers know there’s no way things are so straightforward. For example, the podcasters only have Kreps’ word that Williams was in Denver, and as Cinda Canning noted, he’s not the brightest bulb in the string. Maybe Williams was in New York the whole time, and now she’s pretty cranky at having a pound of glitter and glue blown up in her face.
Detective Williams’ Wife
Just because Williams was in Denver, it doesn’t mean her wife is. The most logical phone number for the podcasters to mistake as Williams’ phone is that of her wife, the true fan of the podcast. She’d also be the one who would most logically be jumping to help, even when she’s supposed to be convalescing after having a baby.
Someone From Alice’s Collective
Alice pinged everyone’s radars as sus since her arrival in the beginning of Season 2. But her depths of obsession with “Bloody Mabel” came out in this episode, starting with those covert photos of the bloodstain on the floor and ending with whatever that art installation she was creating was about.
Considering Mabel caught her dressed in a Bloody Mabel outfit and then ran out on her, all after the glitter bomb went off, it’s hard to imagine it would be Alice on the train. But someone helping her out from the collective seems like a distinct possibility.
Cinda’s Assistant, Luís
Episode 6 spotlighted Cinda and her obsession with taking down Mabel as a significant threat to her podcasting kingdom. Just before Mabel got on the train, Cinda’s assistant, Poppy, called and warned her that Cinda would do *anything* to make Mabel look bad in order to promote Only Murderers In The Building’s ratings, that she was obsessed, and that Poppy knew what she had planned.
Was Poppy trying to warn Mabel that Cinda was setting Mabel up for a scene in public, just like the one that followed? Could Cinda be the one behind the texts? It wouldn’t be Cinda in the suit; for heaven’s sake, this woman can’t be bothered to do anything for herself. And it’s not Poppy. But it could be the other assistant, who was oh-so-helpfully given a name in this installment, Luís.
None of The Above
If there’s one thing Only Murders does best, it’s zig when expected to zag. Honestly, it could be anyone in the glitter-bombed outfit, from Lenora Folger to Howard, or even Theo Dimas, trying to get back at the podcasters for his father’s foolish behavior. Fans will have to wait for Episode 7 to find out who has been stabbed with a knitting needle and how Mabel will clear her name.
Only Murders in the Building Season 2 continues with new episodes streaming every Tuesday on Hulu.
