Early in the second season of Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), considered one of a trio of newbie sleuths and podcasters, factors out a pitfall of homicide exhibits. “It’s very rare for a true-crime podcast to do a sequel,” he says. “They usually move on to a new case that never hits like the original.”
It’s simply considered one of a number of meta “second season” references, which come throughout half like understanding jokes, half like pre-emptive confessions. “You guys are really struggling this season,” one character says, whereas a Greek refrain of podcast followers grouse about the season-within-a-season’s pacing: “Five entire episodes of vamping.”
“Only Murders” is a brilliant present — sensible, as its New Yorker-esque opening titles counsel, is its model — and it should know what it’s doing right here. It is speaking not solely about homicide podcasts, nor solely about itself.
Instead, this sequence, which returns Tuesday and whose first season was a low-key delight of 2021, is one face in a curious trendy TV lineup: Programs that inform a satisfying, full story in a single season however then preserve going, typically with diminishing returns.
We dwell in the TV age of extra. It’s now not a uncommon miracle for a canceled sequence to discover a new residence. Seemingly any classic present with a fan base could be revived, thanks to a wealth of deep-pocketed retailers. The philosophy at the moment is that in case you can give folks extra of what they favored, then don’t waste time pondering whether or not you ought to.
This additionally applies to sequence that instructed full tales in their first seasons. “Big Little Lies,” primarily based on a novel by Liane Moriarty, returned for an encore, with greater performances however littler payoffs. Showtime’s judicial thriller “Your Honor,” which appeared to finish with lethal finality, is getting a retrial. “13 Reasons Why” grew to become “Four Seasons, Why Not?”
And the previous yr or so is filled with proof that extra isn’t essentially higher. “Made for Love,” additionally primarily based on a novel, was inexplicably made in duplicate, and soon canceled. The amateur-espionage comedy “The Flight Attendant” wrapped up a zingy story of self-destruction and self-discovery in 2020. Season 2 this yr contrived to preserve Cassie Bowden (Kaley Cuoco) in the spy sport, and a boozy good time was a strained hangover.
“Russian Doll” was supposed from the begin as a seamless sequence, however its first season was a crystalline, dirtbag-poetic downtown model of “Groundhog Day” that felt full unto itself. This yr’s time-traveling Season 2 showcased extra of Natasha Lyonne’s crowd-pleasing old-soul wisecracking, however its saggy narrative didn’t do a lot to construct on the existential themes of the authentic.
It is not any sin for TV to repeat itself, in fact. For many years, that was its function. Sitcoms and dramas alike would reset to the established order with every episode, the higher to run indefinitely. No one complained that “Law & Order” encountered one upscale homicide case after one other as a result of that — not advancing the improvement of its characters — was what it was constructed to do.
But as TV grew extra serial and impressive, extra centered on characters’ change and evolution, the query of how lengthy a sequence ought to run grew to become sophisticated. TV fiction, as soon as a machine designed to preserve working till the community accountants stated, “Stop,” was now making numerous totally different sorts of tales, finest instructed at totally different lengths.
Some of them have been nonetheless suited to old-school lengthy runs. “What We Do in the Shadows” no extra wants an expiration date than its undead characters do. The American model of “The Office” had arcs and breadth of character that sustained it for years, whereas the darker British “Office,” extra centered on its central miscreant, would have grated at greater than two temporary seasons.
But different creators are utilizing TV to inform tales which can be longer than motion pictures however nonetheless require a particular finish, inside quite a few episodes you may depend in your fingers. Damon Lindelof could have dissatisfied numerous followers (and some executives) in saying that his spectacular “Watchmen” was executed after one season, nevertheless it was the proper name. Elizabeth Meriwether’s “New Girl” was a pure multi-season sequence, however she has stated that her Elizabeth Holmes docudrama, “The Dropout,” should not force a second season after its accomplished first one.
As for “Murders,” it’s, in any case, a detective story, a style that’s arrange to ship case after case. (In one other meta component, Charles, an actor, starred for years in one such procedural, “Brazzos,” taking part in a detective with the catchphrase, “This sends the investigation in a whole new direction.”)
It’s a detective story with some variations, nevertheless. The first season began as a lightweight, quirky sendup of true crime and its obsessives. It ran on the comedian chemistry between Martin and Martin Short (in the tailored function of the vainglorious however washed-up theater director Oliver Putnam), with Selena Gomez taking part in their deadpan millennial foil, Mabel Mora.
But midway by means of the case — a killing in their Upper West Side co-op that turns the murder-podcast followers into murder-podcast makers — the season shifted gears, from a farce about oddball sleuths to a bittersweet comedy about the loneliness and voyeurism of Manhattanites who dwell cheek by jowl with neighbors.
Each of our detectives is a puzzle lacking a chunk — a lover, a toddler, a buddy — and as the season expands, so does its human scope. The group’s building-mates, nevertheless irritating, covetous or suspect, are additionally pushed by a necessity for connection, as are the step by step revealed villains (together with a shady deli kingpin performed by Nathan Lane) and even the trio’s podcast groupies.
Before its closing jiffy, which arrange a cliffhanger that drives the Season 2 plot, it instructed a full, affecting story that may have stood alone splendidly. The problem now could be how to plausibly preserve its amateurs’ misadventures going. It’s attainable to do that; see “Search Party,” which justified its five-season run by evolving far from its preliminary thriller premise.
Instead, Season 2 of “Only Murders” is entertaining in just about the identical means as Season 1, which is each its energy and its weak spot. The laughs are nonetheless dependable. Oliver nonetheless subsists totally on dips and the energy drink “Gut Milk”; Charles is chasing a profession revival, taking part in the aged “Uncle Brazzos” in a reboot of his previous present. There are expanded roles for the eccentric facet characters, like Tina Fey as a ruthless competing podcaster (suppose Sarah Koenig as supervillain).
But the place Season 1 constructed and deepened, Season 2 primarily coasts, hitting totally different variations of the identical emotional beats for the central trio, inside a brand new screwball thriller that, in the eight episodes of 10 screened for critics, is extra loosely plotted than the first. (The three are being framed for the killing of their former co-op board president.)
If this have been “Brazzos,” returning to a formulation could be no crime. But right here, the procedural half of “Only Murders,” which desires to ship acquainted thrills, is pulling rank on the bold character-dramedy half, which wants to evolve and alter in order to thrive.
If what you need from “Only Murders” is to watch its characters do extra of the identical issues that made you chortle the first time round, then the new season is an effective time. But — like a lot of TV’s makes an attempt to flip what felt like a accomplished story right into a multi-season saga — it doesn’t ship its investigation in a complete new path.
