The Big Picture
- Mabel’s revolving door of love interests in
Only Murders in the Building
lacks on-screen development, hindering her character growth. - Significant others for Mabel, such as Oscar and Alice, are introduced and quickly dropped without proper exploration at the end of each season.
- The writers of
Only Murders in the Building
have failed to provide closure for Mabel’s relationships, leaving her character stagnant after three seasons.
It is common practice for television series to give their main characters various romantic leads as the seasons progress. In fact, most shows that feature single characters have them partner up with a new significant other fairly regularly. This keeps things interesting, allows new actors to join the cast, and creates tons of fresh storylines for the writers to explore. But there’s one show that seems to be missing the mark when it comes to a main character’s revolving door of a love life.
Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building (which recently snagged an impressive 21 Emmy nominations for its third season) is a high-quality show for so many reasons: top-notch comedic actors, shockingly good guest stars, and a fantastic blend of comedy and mystery. But there’s one area where the writers have dropped the ball every single season. Mabel (Selena Gomez) is an important member of the show’s main trio, which is rounded out by Charles (Steve Martin) and Oliver (Martin Short). Every season, Mabel gets a new love interest, but they’re quickly dropped before the next season picks up. This wouldn’t be all that unusual except that most of the breakups happen off-screen. It’s fine that Mabel can’t stay in a relationship (it actually makes sense given her complicated past), but this trend is holding the character back from reaching her true potential.
Only Murders in the Building
Three strangers share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one. When a grisly death occurs inside their exclusive Upper West Side apartment building, the trio suspects murder and employs their precise knowledge of true crime to investigate the truth. Perhaps even more explosive are the lies they tell one another. Soon, the endangered trio comes to realize a killer might be living among them as they race to decipher the mounting clues before it’s too late.
- Release Date
- August 31, 2021
- Creator
- John Hoffman, Steve Martin
- Main Genre
- Comedy
- Seasons
- 4
‘Only Murders in the Building’ Has a Pattern for Mabel’s Love Life
Mabel’s first love interest in Season 1 is Oscar Torres (Aaron Dominguez), a friend from her childhood who also grew up at the Arconia. They go through an intense journey of trying to discover who killed their friend Tim Kono (Julian Cihi), and the connection seems strong between them. However, Oscar is completely missing from Season 2 of Only Murders in the Building. In Episode 2, Mabel casually mentions that they had decided to remain friends instead of pursuing something romantic, and then Oscar is never referenced in the show again. In an interview with Deadline, series co-creator John Hoffman mentioned that the writers “made a call that we didn’t want to see Mabel develop a relationship where the trauma bond is strong. With all that Oscar had gone through, we thought his leaving made sense.” This is a reasonable take, but it would have been much more interesting for that conversation between Mabel and Oscar to have happened on-screen. By just casually dismissing the character, Mabel doesn’t have any space to process this relationship (and we don’t see her growth).
Then in Season 2, Mabel starts up a romance with Alice Banks (Cara Delevingne), a mysterious artist and gallery owner. At first, it seems as though Alice is encouraging Mabel to process her trauma, but then Alice starts to throw off some major red flag vibes. Mabel discovers towards the end of the season that Alice was actually trying to use Mabel and her experiences for inspiration for her art. Mabel breaks up with Alice, stating that she can’t be with someone she doesn’t fully trust. At least this breakup is an improvement over Oscar’s because it happens on-screen. However, like Oscar, Alice isn’t really discussed in great detail ever again. We don’t get to see Mabel truly deal with what it was like for her to experience heartbreak related to a potential partner (and someone she thought she could depend on). Being reluctant to trust someone is a pretty significant personality trait to reveal; it speaks to the trauma Mabel has gone through in her past. But again, the writers don’t dig into what this means for Mabel as a three-dimensional character.
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Mabel’s Latest Love Interest Also Won’t Be Returning in ‘Only Murders in the Building’
Finally, in Season 3, it seemed as though Mabel would finally be getting a love interest that could be a long-term one. She meets documentary filmmaker Tobert (Jesse Williams), and they connect while investigating the death of Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd). Tobert is extremely charming and brings out a softer side to Mabel’s character (not to mention that Williams and Gomez have some pretty evident chemistry). Season 4 is going to be set in Los Angeles, and that’s where Tobert is headed at the end of the last season. Although she shuts down his offer to go with him initially, there was always the possibility that Mabel would still visit (especially with a new case to investigate). It seemed that Mabel would at last have a romance that lasted more than one season. Until Jesse Williams did a recent interview where he revealed that he actually won’t be returning for Season 4 after all. When asked about his character’s possible return, Williams shut down the speculation, saying, “No, I’m not on that show anymore.”
Not only is it disappointing that Williams won’t be back because he added a great deal to the show, it also illustrates that the Only Murders in the Building writers once again seem to have no idea what to do with Mabel’s character. And yet again, the complete dissolution of their relationship won’t happen on-screen. Perhaps there will be a little discussion between the characters about why Mabel is no longer interested in Tobert, since it wouldn’t really make sense for them to be visiting Los Angeles without her looking him up. It is another example where Mabel doesn’t get to grow or mature as a character. It’s possible that her history of trauma is preventing her from forming a healthy, long-lasting relationship with someone. But there’s no real exploration of that theory, so it seems confusing that these love interests keep getting introduced for no reason. Plus, the focus of Mabel’s character is on romance and whichever person she’s currently attached to versus other aspects of her life that could be delved into (a trap that many female characters fall into).
Charles and Oliver have had partners that have come and gone, but there is always a sense of closure there. There is definitely less consistent storytelling for Mabel’s character. Even when characters are brought in as significant others for her, those bonds don’t last, and there aren’t really legitimate reasons given for those relationships ending. Going forward, the writers should either end each of Mabel’s romances with finality and closure or just allow her to be single altogether. Mabel doesn’t need a partner to make her character interesting (or to be good at solving crimes), and including love interests for one season just to have the breakups mostly happen off-screen is a let-down for audiences. Mabel is a core member of the show, and she deserves better.
Seasons 1-3 of Only Murders in the Building are available to stream on Hulu in the U.S. Season 4 will premiere on August 27.
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