I loved this episode, although it was odd and interesting to me that what was visibly an accident was turned into something that harmed so many other people needlessly. I was bummed that Theo, who seemed so smart, shy and sweet, was willing to lie, cheat, and kidnap following Zoey's death just to avoid accountability for something he never would have been blamed for.

And yes, to echo @Milburn Stone, that parapet was WAY too low. No railing? Really? Unless something manipulated or removed it, I don't get it.

This was a lot of fun though overall, and I think the show really takes so many interesting creative chances. There is this sense of loneliness and melancholy threaded into this show that, added to the mystery, suspense, silly shenanigans, and pratfalls, give it this occasionally poetic quality. This episode (like the one where Oliver fell and "bounced back up" magically in relief and joy in his mind) had that sense of poetry very strongly.

I was a little frustrated with Zoey as a character. I liked her so much in the middle of the episode where she showed some actual depth (loved that she spoke ASL, loved her flirtation with Theo through the peephole)... then she had to revert to tired Mean Girl cliche in her final scene. (I had similar issues with Lilly Kane in "Veronica Mars," but that's a story for another day.

On 9/30/2021 at 8:45 PM, SlovakPrincess said:

Yes, and the great tragedy of that scene in Carousel is that Bill is so excited and has such high expectations for the baby -- but he also has an overbearing, abusive side (which the audience can just imagine being inflicted on this child, under pressure to be the perfect son or daughter) ... and further, the song ends with him deciding to commit a robbery in a misguided attempt to get money for the new baby.  

Teddy, like Bill, smothers and bullies the people he loves, engages in criminal behavior he justifies as helping his family, and ends up dragging his child into the misery of his terrible choices.  Anyway, I found the song and the scene with the headphones to be a very interesting choice.  Poor little kid version of Theo.  

Despite some lovely songs, I kind of hate Carousel, but what's also interesting about "Soliloquy" is that it's filled with all that irony and expectation that is guaranteed to end in disappointment. So I liked the subtext there and Teddy's desperation (as a famous producer of musicals) just for his son to hear something, to hear the music he loves so much. And it turning into abuse without him meaning for it to (which seems to be the entire core of their relationship -- Teddy's love is just sort of toxically presented in lots of ways). 

On 10/13/2021 at 12:59 PM, dovegrey said:

I wonder if anything will come from Dr. Stanley/the therapist complaining to Lester about "it sounds like someone is shoveling snow over my head." It was a complete throwaway moment...or was it?

He lives on the sixth floor, the same floor as Teddy Dimas (per Episode 2). Someone crawling through the vents? I don't know what else it would be, if it's anything at all.

This was a great point! I wondered about that too!

On 11/30/2021 at 10:30 AM, aradia22 said:

So much love to this show for actually casting a deaf actor as Theo and (from what I can tell) writing the episode empathetically from his POV without tricks to make it more palatable to a hearing audience. It also wasn't a gimmick to have everything be silent for some story reason. It seemed entirely motivated by giving us Theo's perspective.

Caverly's performance as Theo in this episode is fantastic. He rises to the occasion and portrays so many sides to Theo. Whatever happens for the character, I hope the actor gets more work outside of this show.

I echo the kudos for actor James Caverly (and to the show for hiring a Deaf actor), who did a wonderful and expressive job with a complex character here as Theo. And he has so much natural familial chemistry with Nathan Lane -- they are very believable as father and son.

I'm hard of hearing and grew up practicing some Amslan (now ASL) and fingerspelling with friends who were Deaf, so I have enough knowledge of ASL that I'd say that Nathan Lane is sort of a mixed bag -- he's very good and natural on some stuff, but his signing to me seemed a bit muddy and indistinct -- I'm not sure a Deaf person would think his ASL was very good.

But for me as a semi-speaker, I did love his expressiveness and fluidity and it makes sense that Teddy wouldn't be the most fantastic ASL speaker since he didn't do it for all of Theo's life but only learned it later on.

This article has a great interview with director Cherien Dabis and actor James Caverly about the episode:

https://www.insider.com/only-murders-in-the-building-deaf-non-verbal-episode-2021-9

On 11/30/2021 at 11:31 AM, aradia22 said:

I assumed the urns were a way of transporting the jewelry from the funeral home without making it obvious but then we saw Teddy just take jewelry out of a normal envelope and put it in the urn. Maybe the urns and jewelry go somewhere else after the secret store room? I guess if someone has found the secret passage behind your bookcase, worrying about how it looks to have a bunch of urns is the last thing you're thinking about. 

The urns still seem so odd to me and I can't figure out why they're used at all, except as a clear signal to the audience that yes, these are funeral urns, so yes, they are graverobbers.

But also, funeral urns wouldn't all match like that. Am I missing something? Funeral urns come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. And if the urns -- which are engraved with the dead people's names -- are in Teddy's closet, doesn't that mean they are missing from whatever niche or memorial site they should be displayed at? Wouldn't that be a visible absence? Why in the world would he KEEP the urns themselves after the fact?

Am I missing something here? I don't get that aspect at all.

It's not a huge deal for me -- I love the show and it's great, and it's a lot of fun. But there are a few little illogical aspects that are bugging me from time to time, and the urns is another big one for me.

ncG1vNJzZmien6fCrr%2BNqamipZWptq6x0WeaqKVfqbyxtcJoaGtqZmiDbr%2BPapxpb12ptaZ5waiwZp6ipLpugsFop5qflWSAcA%3D%3D