Dying for Good Content? The 'Only Murders in the Building' Episode 9 Ending, Explained
Published Aug. 16 2022, 2:34 p.m. ET
Spoiler alert: This article contains major spoilers for Only Murders in the Building Season 2, Episode 9 on Hulu.
Did Cinda Canning (Tina Fey) literally kill for good podcast content? Mabel (Selena Gomez), Charles (Steve Martin) and Oliver (Martin Short) quickly realized in the penultimate episode of Only Murders in the Building Season 2 that someone had to be pulling Detective Kreps's (Michael Rapaport) strings.
Mabel decided to throw her hat in the ring, and question Kreps herself. Meanwhile, Charles solved a mystery of his own, while Oliver chose violence, literally.
Let's unpack what went down in Only Murders in the Building Season 2, Episode 9, and that cliffhanger of an ending!
We think Mabel won this match hands-down.
The 'Only Murders in the Building' Episode 9 ending, explained.
Charles discovered that the woman who claimed to be Leonora Folger (Shirley MacLaine) was actually Rose Cooper. Rose revealed that Charles' father tried to protect her from her abusive husband. She had to vanish to escape the abuse. She shows Charles another painting that she completed — a depiction of Charles as a young boy, standing hand in hand with his father.
Speaking of fathers, Oliver proved to be a better actor than Charles ever was when he told Mabel and Charles that he was Greek-ish.
However, the actual results of Oliver's genetic test determined that Oliver lied. After a tussle in the elevator with Teddy Dimas (Nathan Lane), Oliver finally admitted the terrible truth. Teddy was Will's (Ryan Broussard) biological father.
Well, Teddy did warn Oliver earlier in Season 2 that he was going to f--- him over somehow. Talk about foreshadowing!
Ironically, Teddy and Oliver's elevator scuffle ended up bringing them closer together. They bond over their desire to be better fathers for their sons. Teddy promises Oliver that he'll never tell Will the truth.
Mabel, on the other hand, got Detective Kreps to spill the murder tea in the boxing ring. In between Kreps's expletive-riddled rant, Mabel heard valuable clues. The corrupt detective literally led Mabel straight to the source, the criminal mastermind herself. Cinda Canning.
Did Cinda seriously kill for content?
Mabel was horrified to discover another huge secret Cinda was hiding in plain sight — her assistant Poppy (Adina Verson). After Kreps praised Cinda's podcast All Is Not OK in Oklahoma, Mabel started putting the pieces of the proverbial puzzle together. The case that Cinda covered in the podcast was the mystery of the missing woman Becky Butler, who was never found.
That is, until Mabel discovered that she was working for Cinda all along. "I'm Becky Butler," Poppy revealed to Mabel, nervously.
That'll teach you to hate on millennials, Detective Kreps.
So Mabel successfully discovered the criminal mastermind while Charles and Oliver were sorting out their daddy issues. What does the big reveal mean for the Only Murders in the Building Season 2 finale? Did Cinda really murder Bunny Folger (Jayne Houdyshell) and frame Mabel, Charles, and Oliver for her podcast? And how does Rose Cooper's painting tie into it all?
Hopefully all will be revealed when the Only Murders in the Building Season 2 finale drops on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022, on Hulu.