TV Recap: Only Murders in the Building’s Explosive Season 5 Finale

Only Murders in the Building closes its fifth season with “The House Always…,” a twist-packed, emotionally charged finale that ties the casino conspiracy, Lester’s death, and the fate of The Arconia into one last theatrical caper. It’s an episode about what you wager—and what you keep—when everything you love is on the line.

Season 5, Episode 10: “The House Always…” - Written by J.J. Philbin & Ben Smith

In a flashback to the dry cleaner years ago, Nicky Caccimelio (Bobby Cannavale) flirts with Sofia (Téa Leoni) and promises her the world. She tucks a gardenia bloom into his pocket, a symbol of a future she believes in. But years later, we see that like all blooms, the promise wilted. Sofia ends their marriage; Nicky pleads for another chance and demands to know if there’s someone else. She refuses to name him, and Nicky vows revenge on her mystery lover.

In the present, the trio confronts Nonna (Elizabeth D’Onofrio) and her grandsons at the dry cleaner about the severed finger found in their freezer. Nonna insists she stole it because her daughter recognized it. “She knew that finger,” Nonna says, implying Sofia once loved the man it belonged to.

Back in The Arconia lobby, Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) debate why Lester left them that grisly clue, realizing the finger’s placement in Oliver’s shrimp bowl was intentional. Randall (Jermaine Fowler) and Romy (Caitlin Houlahan) warn that developers plan to demolish the building within hours because that’s easier than converting it into a casino. 

Retreating to Oliver’s apartment, the trio spends what could be their last night together by the murder board. Thinking back on his childhood magic tricks, Charles remembers having a fake finger and wonders if they ruled out the billionaires prematurely. When a mover (Monroe Martin) starts to take Oliver’s poster for Newark, Newark, the show he had financed through the mob, he gets an idea.

In classic Arconia fashion, they stage a sting in the Velvet Room, luring the billionaires and the Caccimelio brothers to a dramatic sit-down. “New mob, meet old mob,” Charles quips as Mabel brandishes a cleaver, demanding hands on the table. Jay Pflug (Logan Lerman) unwraps his bandage — his missing finger was a ruse he concocted in hopes that they would give him the digit that could determine the fate of New York City’s first casino. Camila White’s (Renée Zellweger) gloved fingers are intact; Bash Steed’s (Christoph Waltz) fingers are equally real. Then, unexpectedly, Mayor Tilman (Keegan-Michael Key) strolls in from the other end of the room, surprised to see everyone there.

Mayor Tilman covers, acting like he came to find Camila to take her to the press conference. Mabel’s phone pings: a message from Howard, confusingly reading “It’s beautiful,” but quickly followed up by a correction: “It’s Beau Tillman.” Autocorrect confusion gives way to revelation — Lester’s dying text to Rainey wasn’t romantic; it was a warning. Mabel swings the cleaver toward Tilman, slicing off his fake finger. Tilman finally admits it: he was at The Arconia the night Lester died. “Things went sideways,” he confesses.

Tilman recalls arriving at the Velvet Room the night Lester and Nicky died. Nicky had caught wind of the mayor’s affair with Sofia and was ready to take him out. Coked-up and furious, Nicky brandished a cleaver, slicing off the mayor’s finger as he sat down to play the deciding game for the casino rights. Chaos erupted. Lester tried to stop his boss, brandishing his visitor log full of proof of Nicky’s corruption. Nicky ripped a page out, stuffing it in his mouth mockingly, but then was unable to talk. As Tilman confronted Nicky about his finger, Nicky fell on top of Lester, and when he was rolled over, the cleaver went into his own chest.

The billionaires panicked. Tilman, bleeding and humiliated, looked for his severed finger, but it was gone. So was the doorman.

Tilman rushed up to the lobby, cornering Lester, demanding his finger back. Lester refused: “You’ll have to kill me. Right here. In front of all the cameras.” Unfazed, Tilman pointed out how quickly Bash could make Lester’s death look like an accident on camera. Lester rushed to a drawer, pulling out his bird whistle and racing into the courtyard. Using his phone, he took a picture of the fountain and sent it to Rainey. “It’s Beau Tillman,” he dictated, and the text became “It’s beautiful.” He dropped the door crank, his only weapon, just as Tilman caught up with him. Confronting the doorman for his finger, Lester fumbled, dropping his bird whistle in the fountain and stepping in to grab the lifeline. Trying to get out, Tilman pushed Lester, and his head hit the cement center of the fountain, cracking the back of his head. Still alive, but on the edge of death, Lester used his final breath to blow the bird whistle, activating the only camera not under Bash’s control. Moments later, Randal happened upon the scene, finding the crank and picking it up with a dog bag.

Tilman confesses to murdering Lester, and it should seal the case, but crooked cops, loyal to him, rush in to protect him. The trio are chained up at the bottom of the secret staircase to the dry cleaners. Their phones are smashed and then tossed down the garbage chute. “When this building’s demolished,” Tilman sneers, “you’ll go with it. The final murders in the building.”

Upstairs, Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton) senses trouble when the officers block him from going downstairs. He tries to text the trio, who are on a group chat he titled “Jack, Janet & Chrissy.” The press conference begins in the lobby. THÉ (Beanie Feldstein) finds out that Howard thinks the trio is in trouble downstairs and that the cops won’t let them pass. Miller (David Patrick Kelly) brings Howard the phones that just dropped down his chute, which Howard recognizes as belonging to the trio. THÉ gets an idea.

Bound in the basement, Charles laments his useless testosterone trial that ended up being a placebo. Mabel realizes that means his resilience was all him. Oliver encourages Charles to draw on his childhood magic skills to set them free.

At the press conference for The Camila Club casino, chaos erupts as paparazzi flood the space — THÉ’s doing, announcing a final performance in the Velvet Room. With unwanted media attention, the crooked cops let her through. The commotion drives everyone downstairs to the Velvet Room.

"Wish You Were Me" blasts through the walls. Charles instructs Oliver and Mabel to twist their bodies to loosen their chains so they can reach him, helping him shimmy up a pole to a dry cleaner rack, where he procures a wire hanger and uses it to pick their locks. The trio bursts into the packed Velvet Room. With cameras rolling, they announce that Mayor Tilman is a murderer!

Mayor Tilman laughs, demanding proof. Mabel spins the roulette wheel, triggering a hidden latch. From the safe, Oliver pulls out a hidden recorder, rewinding it to Tilman’s confession. The mayor bolts for the stairs. Thankfully, Vince Fish (Richard Kind) wheeled in a cage full of pigeons, releasing them. Tilman trips beneath a shower of feathers and flashbulbs. Detective Williams (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) storms in to make the arrest.

Jay confesses to Mabel that he helped move Nicky’s body, and that Bash froze it for a week so the two deaths would look unrelated. He tells her she was right, he’s not a good person, but he wants to be, which is why he turned himself in, along with the other billionaires. “I hope this means you get to keep your building,” he says as he’s escorted out. LESTR cheerfully holds the door for them all. “After you,” he chirps (voiced by Paul Rudd).

Sofia enters, apologizing to Charles and admitting she sold the billionaires that infamous finger to secure her family’s future. She invites him to Positano with two tickets and a wistful smile. Charles, finally learning his lesson about dangerous women, declines.

The trio later gathers around Lester’s memorial display, telling their old doorman how much they miss him. Rainey (Dianne Wiest) thanks them, teary-eyed.

Three Months Later

Rainey now lives happily in The Arconia, a suitcase of money at her side, a gift from Sofia. 

Sofia enjoys the Italian coast. The boys call her when Nonna is on her deathbed. “I did this, so you can shut up now,” Sofia mutters to her dying mother, hanging up.

The Arconia’s Board Secretary, Howard, gets heckled by Uma (Jackie Hoffman) and LESTR about his new cologne and “slutty cardigan” as Howard is picked up for a date by Vinny Caccimelio (Evan Mulrooney). Vinny brought Howard a bouquet of gardenias, with LESTR warns is toxic to dogs and cats.

Upstairs, the trio listens to Cinda Canning’s (Tina Fey) new UK-based podcast, The Girl with the Curls. Cinda teases her next subject — a royal descendant accused of murder, now hiding in America. 

We see a woman with a head of red curly hair running frantically through the streets of New York City. As she braces herself against a building, she leaves behind a bloody handprint. She finally reaches her destination, the arched gates to The Arconia’s courtyard. She collapses just on the other side, a crowd gathering around her in shock.

The trio is on their way to lunch, finding a crowd on the other side of the courtyard gates. Howard tells them the curly-haired woman is dead, and what a shame it is that she died just outside the bounds of their podcast’s limits. As Oliver questions if she isn’t close enough to become their next season, the woman momentarily resuscitates, reaching her hand through the gate as she officially dies. And now they see her face. Cinda Canning!

Cue sirens. Cue Season 6.

Songs Featured in This Episode:

• “Somebody Got Murdered” by The Clash