Photo: Patrick Harbron/Disney

One thing Only murders what she is very good at is strategically timing Meryl Streep’s appearances so that we don’t realize that she is barely in this show. Personally, I don’t even mind how infrequently she shows up – in fact, I think she shows up just the right amount. But it’s funny to look at the excessive amount of press she does for the show, as if she’s a prominent cast member, considering she’s a guest star who exists mostly off-screen. But every time it dawns on me that we haven’t seen Meryl in a minute, poof, there she is. It’s like they know I’m going to point it out in a summary.

But before she finally shows up this week, Oliver reaches a breaking point in their long-distance relationship. That subplot created perhaps the best depiction of spiraling I’ve ever seen on film. Martin Short captures the overthinking and complete unraveling beautifully, especially after his attempt at a proposal went unheard in the blink of an eye Three company-ish farcical misunderstanding. So he decides to finally put himself out of his misery and pulls the plug on the relationship via text message. Even crazier: He does this right before he has to turn off his phone and hand it over completely, as the trio are being watched and possibly followed by the killer – who they hope won’t find them in Charles’ house sister on Long. Island.

I think the murder mystery element of this show can sometimes overshadow how full of jokes it is. It’s not a whodunnit that’s funny, it’s a comedy about a whodunnit – often overflowing with jokes in every possible nook and cranny, despite the deadly subject matter. For example, the doorbell to the house on Long Island consists of the opening notes of “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” or the boat in the driveway called “Master Boater,” and of course any mannerism pronounced by Melissa McCarthy as Charles’s . Sister Doreen. I can only imagine that McCarthy was intimately involved in her character’s wig choice – if not just straight from her personal collection. Oh, and speaking of collections: the dolls! Doreen collects hundreds of dolls! That’s never a good sign.

Before the trio fled from Manhattan Island to Long Island, they only told Howard about their top secret whereabouts, meaning the news spread very quickly and soon enough the place was overrun with unwanted visitors. It ends up being like this The great cold but if they were all hiding from a murderer. The first to arrive is Bev Melon, who needs confirmation that the Brothers Sisters are innocent so she doesn’t have to pull the plug on the movie. Then all three main characters appear, needing a safe haven of their own and angry that they have been left for dead. And what else is an actor? Loretta then arrives and flies across the country after receiving Oliver’s text message about the breakup out of the blue. Fortunately, Oliver is much better at face-to-face interaction and the couple is able to figure out the misunderstanding. It wasn’t Loretta who rejected Oliver’s proposal; it was her gauze-covered stand-in. It’s fitting for a season that focuses so heavily on stand-ins and body doubles.

The latest arrival is a real setback for leopard print-clad Doreen, who immediately falls in love with her little King Oliver over vodka Crystal Lights. While she could have easily been a nice host for their hideout, the episode actually spends a lot of time introducing her to Doreen. We hear all about the childhood injury, accidentally caused by Charles, that cost her her spleen – which she likes to joke about despite his protests. I imagine this is hitting a little too close to home lately, as he already feels responsible for causing physical harm to those around him, especially Sazz. Their argument about it eventually leads to a conversation about their distant mother and how lonely Doreen is – especially as they listen to Charles talk about it with his podcast friends. She is certainly not in suspicious territory, but I have taken into account that Doreen may have difficulty with Charles doing the podcast.

In the kitchen, Mabel is overwhelmed by everyone’s presence, so she asks Loretta (who we discover is a fan Baskets) to distract the other actors so she can concentrate on investigating. But Loretta tells her that would be a mistake: actors are implicit researchers of the human condition and can therefore be invaluable in her detective work. For example, when Bev mocks everyone in an angry stupor, Eugene, Eva, and Zach are quickly able to diagnose her as “middle child,” “single mother,” and “high thyroid.” See, Mabel? They know people.

As they sit together at the piano, a callback to where most of their relationship took place last season, Loretta wonders what Oliver had told her during that phone call. He reluctantly comes clean, not only about the proposal, which he tries to downplay, but also about his finsta account. Loretta’s reaction is almost identical to that of Sally Field finding out that Mrs. Doubtfire was her ex-husband, minus the classic, “ALL THE TIME?” After a proposal, stalking and a break-up text, Loretta is understandably overwhelmed – and to make matters worse, a jealous Doreen tries to beat her up.

That’s right, we get a full-fledged, choreographed fight scene between Meryl Streep and Melissa McCarthy. Not since Paula Pell abused the Property Brothers Girls5Eva has television seen such an iconic brawl? It turns out to be mixed martial arts Are the arts, finally, Meryl. And luckily, when Loretta fights, she wins. Not only do she and Oliver make up, but she also proposes – meaning we can expect another seven minutes of Meryl spread across season five.

For the most part, the episode is largely devoid of investigation – until the next morning, that is, when the house wakes up to find the three actors having taken it upon themselves to create their own murder board. Now, I admit this, but it’s a bit convenient that they’re all suddenly master sleuths, especially considering that a major point of an earlier episode was how bad Eva Longoria was at interrogating Rudy. Let me suspend my disbelief for a moment. Their big break is that this case started long before Sazz’s murder – in fact, it goes all the way back to season one (of the show and the podcast). The show’s plot holes – or purposefully unanswered questions – from that season are back in play and ready to finally be resolved. For example: who poisoned Winnie? Who wrote the note threatening them if they didn’t end the podcast? And who left the ‘I’m watching you’ note on Jan’s door?

This killer has been after them since those early days, the actors reveal. And it turns out Sazz was on the case, because all the ominous notes they found on her desk are tied to those unresolved plot holes. I wonder if the writers were really playing the long game by deliberately leaving those loose ends open or if this season they thought they could use them retroactively to their advantage. Anyway, I love that they’re pulling from their back catalogue. Let’s bring back Jayne Houdyshell as a ghost or something while we’re at it.

All this time, Howard has been back in New York trying to figure out who cashed Dudenoff’s checks. And he continues the trend of the season’s best research being done by everyone but the trio, and he gets to the bottom of it. After making a deal with a bodega cat, he accesses the ledger and security camera to see that Dudenoff’s checks have been cashed under five different signatures, all with one phone number. The Westies. He somehow manages to pass this information on to Doreen’s husband, who arrives at the house with the news. When Charles calls the number, it’s sure to be the unmistakable voice of Vince Fish, who quickly tells the other Westies that they’re on to them.

But keep in mind that there are still three episodes left. The fact that the Westies are caught in a money laundering scheme doesn’t necessarily mean they’re murderers, but it does suggest they know Milton Dudenoff is dead. While they are still a suspect couple to me, I don’t think it can be that cut and dry. Yes, I think they are involved in this tangled web, but I think we are still missing some crucial pieces of the puzzle. I’m more inclined to think that someone else killed Dudenoff, and that the Westies discovered the body and covered up the murder to avoid losing their rent-controlled apartments. The fact that they are all accidentally complicit in a murder that they don’t know much about is much more interesting to me and would give us more to offer in these final three episodes.