Photo courtesy of Entertainment Weekly

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

“You’re the reason I care about murder.”

This is what character Charles Haden-Savage, played by Steve Martin, tells his favorite true crime podcaster in the most recent episode of “Only Murders in the Building.” In a show that has danced around its central characters’ desensitivity to death, it was startling, yet somehow expected, to hear it said so flagrantly.

“Only Murders,” Hulu’s newest original hit dramedy show, is at its core a commentary on society’s simultaneous obsession with death and the grotesque as well as its disregard for the victims of these crimes. On the night of a mysterious death in their New York City apartment building, lead trio Charles, Oliver and Mabel bond over their mutual obsession with a true crime podcast. As fate would have it, a murder to investigate pops up for them that very night and they start a podcast of their own.  

Their investigation leads them to such places as the apartment of a mourning cat owner, to Sting’s doorstep and even to themselves. However, through it all, the entire show is cloaked in comedy and a sense of amusement for the characters. For the three of them – even Mabel, who viewers come to discover had a relationship with the victim, Tim Kono – the investigation is primarily a game, a harmless mystery for them to solve. When the supposed murderer leaves a message to Oliver in the form of poisoning his dog, it was still played for laughs, with Oliver claiming it was “a message to the leader.”

This nonchalant attitude in the face of humanity’s darkest outcome is a harsh look at how true crime podcasts, YouTube videos, documentaries and shows create a separation between consumer and victim. Much like Charles, Oliver and Mabel, the public has become so desensitized to murder and violence that they then go on to create this content themselves, capitalizing on the suffering of others. It begs the question: At what point is the line between entertainment and exploitation drawn? 

This is a question that “Only Murders in the Building” has not – at least in the four episodes released thus far – necessarily answered, but rather one it has forced its audience to confront in their own lives. Does the outcome of these stories only begin to matter when it’s someone one personally knows? A friend of a friend? How many degrees of separation can there be before a crime goes from being a personal tragedy to the show someone plays in the background while getting ready for their day? 

For “Only Murders in the Building,” it seems the answer might be zero, with the most recent episode hinting at the murderer striking once again. One thing’s for sure: Only time will tell.