Grab Your Hankies

"**Grab Your Hankies**" is the third episode of the third season of *Only Murders in the Building*, starring Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short. It originally aired on August 15, 2023.

## Short Summary

Oliver Races to bring new life to his show as Mabel's investigation into the actual murder collides with a surprising all. Charles bonds with the cast, and Loretta proves her voice is invaluable.

## Full Summary

Oliver writes music. Jonathan and Howard watch from the couch as he plays a bit of a song. Howard isn't impressed by it.

Hours later, Howard and Jonathan sleep while Oliver continues working. Oliver notices they're sleeping and claps to wake them up. They only have an hour before Donna and Cliff will be there. Howard says they have one complete song, eleven fragments, and 25 notions screamed over piano chords. Jonathan thinks maybe one night wasn't enough to write a whole show. Oliver claims to have written two musicals in a single night in 1978, but maybe it was one musical in two nights. It's all hazy. Howard likes the story and shares one of his own about his cousin, who is big in insurance, but Oliver fails to see the point. Howard suggests that his cousin could sponsor the musical. Then they won't need Cliff and Donna. Oliver says they don't need Howard's cousin. They just need their incredible cast.

Charles and Mabel look over their evidence board, which has all of the cast and crew on it. Charles finishes a read and asks if Mabel has notes. Oliver always gave him notes. Mabel just says it was fine, but then imitates Oliver on Charles's request. Charles says he misses Oliver.

Oliver thanks Donna and Cliff for coming and introduces them to Death Rattle Dazzle. Cliff applauds, but Donna is unimpressed and makes him sit down. Oliver admits they didn't have time to flesh out everything. Howard brings in champagne for them, but spills all of it. Donna is not swayed. She's already put a lot of money into the show and musicals are even more expensive. On the other hand, Cliff is on board. He loves musicals. Donna says he needs a showstopper. That's how musicals make money, with a single song that draws people in. She asks if Oliver has a showstopper. Oliver says his show will be nothing but showstoppers. He just needs a few months. She agrees to give him three days, which he accepts. After that, she's on her way to the Hamptons and won't be reachable.

Mabel asks Charles if he has any thoughts as he spent months with their suspects. He thinks maybe he should have gotten to know them better. A lot of them kept their distance because they grew up idolizing him. Mabel wants to start with opportunity. Everyone was at the Arconia when Ben was pushed and at the theater when he collapsed. The cops said his blood was clean, but maybe it was a poison that dissipates quickly. Someone tried to poison him, failed, and then finished the job at the Arconia. Mabel wonders who would want to kill Ben badly enough to do it twice. They talk through their options. Mabel remembers Ben apologizing to Kimber for making things messy between them and wonders if they were hooking up. Charles doesn't know, but female killers are so done. Mabel says the night that Ben died, he was holding someone else's handkerchief. They need to find out who in the cast doesn't have theirs. That could be their killer. Charles gets a text from Oliver summoning him to a rehearsal. Mabel is going to go with him, but she gets a text from Oliver saying she's no longer welcome at his apartment. She's banned from investigating during rehearsals. She decides to check out Ben's penthouse instead because Lester said Dickie would be cleaning it out soon. She tells Charles to figure out who doesn't have their hankie. Charles thinks he should be able to do that easily, but stumbles over his words.

Oliver asks Howard why the pages they have aren't in order and Howard says they weren't numbered when Oliver gave them to him and most of them are on old takeout menus. Oliver says the stuff written on the appetizer pages goes before the stuff written on the entree pages. He asks where Loretta is. Howard left her two messages but got no response.

Kimber finds the rehearsal weird. Jonathan also thinks it's weird. They're rehearsing in their director's apartment instead of a studio. Charles comes in and suggests that they find the hankies Ben gave them and show them to each other. Kimber says they're a bit distracted with their leading man being dead. Charles says losing someone is hard. He thinks it would be healing for them to come up with a memorial. That's why he brought up the hankies. It would be good to take what Ben gave them and use them to create a quilt or something like that. Howard whistles to call their attention to Oliver, who senses sadness in the room. They lost someone important. He remembers when his mother died. He lost her and it wrecked him. But she kept teaching him from beyond. She told him not to let death stop him from living. He asks who wants to keep doing the play with him. They all applaud. He reveals that he's turning the show into a musical and they stop clapping.

Mabel gets onto the elevator with Tobert. When she asks about him going to the penthouse, he says he left some equipment at Ben's he needs to pick up. He was doing a documentary on Ben, which she remembers once he says it. She claims she's picking up a signed headshot from *Girl Cop* that Ben left for her. She doesn't know where he left it, so she'll have to look around. Tobert unlocks the door and lets them both in. The penthouse is full of pictures of Ben. Mabel's been in the penthouse three times and has never loved it more than this one.

Oliver leads the cast through a song. Once they're finished, he says that's their showstopper and asks if they love it. Loretta walks in and says it's brilliant. She apologizes for being late. Dickie offered to be her manager and he got her an audition for a network drama, an offshoot of an offshoot of a *Grey's Anatomy* spinoff, as the mother of a dermatologist. She has a backstory and lines. The producer said they might give her a limp. Oliver wants to get back to his musical. Loretta says making the show into a musical is odd, but that might make it accessible. She was in the original cast of *Little Shop of Horrors* while it was being workshopped and no one got that show either. But it worked because it's a story of a boy who would do anything for the girl he loves. It felt true. Oliver is pleased that she gets it and takes that as permission to be as wild as they want. Loretta says they could have a hit as long as they find the heart. Oliver says they'll have so much heart on stage. He wants to get back to rehearsing.

Tobert asks Mabel how her search is going. She's still looking. She asks how his search is going. He's looking for a boom mic. She realizes he's lying when he looks for it in a drawer. Robert says it's clear they're both up to something and they're both bad at lying. He wants them both to get their chance to sleuth, but before he can finish, they hear someone coming in and Tobert pulls Mabel into the armoire to hide. They watch through the window as Dickie comes in.

Mabel and Tobert are stuck in the armoire while Dickie packs. Tobert realizes Mabel's looking for something for her podcast. He's heard it and pictured her differently. They hear Dickie crying and peek out to see him holding a movie prop and crying over Ben. Suddenly, he throws it and breaks a lamp. Then he apologizes to Ben. His phone rings and answers it.

The rehearsal continues. When they finish the song, Oliver says it's a start. He asks for a few seconds to collect his thoughts. He goes into a room, but they can all hear him yelling that he's screwed. Howard reminds him of his cousin, but Oliver ignores him. He goes back to the cast and says they're close. He wants them to start fresh in the morning. The cast gathers nearby and Oliver thinks they're bonding over their hatred of him. Nothing brings people together like a common enemy. Charles realizes that might be his way in. He asks Oliver how he'd feel if Charles threw him under the bus. Oliver tells him to go for it because he was about to throw himself in front of one.

Tobert tells Mabel he actually thinks their podcast is innovative. She tells him he can leave a five-star review. Tobert says before Ben hired him, he was in Botswana for a year, filming a herd of elephants. There's a basin and three times a year, it floods and thousands of animals gather there. Tobert was there alone for weeks, perched in a tree, watching the beauty of nature as well as its horror. One time, he saw a baby elephant get stuck in the mud. He had to decide if he should help the elephant or just do his job and film it. Mabel interrupts his story to ask why he's still there since Ben is dead. He could go back to Botswana. Tobert says he's there because Ben is dead. There's an incredible story there and he could be the one to tell it. He was with Ben opening night and Ben took his camera and threw it, but it was still recording. Mabel realizes he's actually looking for that footage. He shows her that he found it. They hear Dickie talking again and watch him leave. Once he's gone, they step out of the armoire. Mabel stops Tobert from leaving and asks him what happened to the baby elephant. He says he climbed down and used rope to pull it out. Mabel is impressed. Once he's gone, Mabel pulls the footage she stole from him out of her sleeve.

Jonathan wonders if Oliver ever considered that the problem isn't them, but the material. Ty doesn't get anyone's intentions. Kimber doesn't like the way Oliver yells. Charles degrades Oliver's hair, but the rest of them are okay with his hair. Charles says they could take the hankies Ben gave them and throw them at Oliver's feet to make a statement. They all agree to bring their hankies tomorrow. Kimber says she's been numb since Ben died. She wants to feel something or to cry, but she can't. Bobo asks if she's on xanax and she says no. She wants them to demand to go back to the straight play. The musical version is disrespectful to Ben's memory. She wants Charles to tell Oliver they won't do the musical. Charles reluctantly agrees.

Oliver finds Loretta looking over the song ideas he wrote out on a Chinese food menu. His lyrics make her feel hungry. They're at the piano ago, like at the opening night party. Oliver says this isn't his best day as a director. That day was when he got his Tony, a dog he named just to confuse people. Loretta loves Oliver's stories. Oliver asks what he has to do to get people to see what he sees. He wants her help. She asks him about The Nanny's Lullaby. He starts to play it, but stops and hits a sour note. He promised Oliver Putnam, which means big and loud and the lullaby isn't big or loud. Loretta knows he's more than just loud. What she loves about his shows is that underneath all the chaos, there's a vulnerability. That's what makes him special as a director. Dickie interrupts their conversation by coming in. He tells Loretta she got the part on *Grey's New Orleans Family Burn Unit*. She celebrates. He says it starts next week in LA, so they have to let them know right away. Oliver says Loretta has to be in New York next week for his show. Loretta asks if the show has any flexibility. Dickie says no and there's a guaranteed season pickup. It's stability. Oliver is upset that Loretta is considering it because he discovered her. Loretta reminds him he lost his leading man and he's trying to make a play into a musical. Oliver says Loretta is under contract.

Mabel finds Tobert at a cafe. He's impressed that she was able to take the drive without him noticing. She asks him for the password. She needs to know what happened right before Ben collapsed on stage. He says he's making a movie about that. Mabel wants to find out who killed Ben and Tobert says that the police already got the guy. Mabel says this isn't Botswana. This is where she does her work and she's good at it even if he doesn't think so. Tobert admits that he lied about getting out of the tree to help the baby elephant. He just kept filming. The elephant's mom came back and saved it, but even if she hadn't, he would have kept filming. If she thinks Ben's killer is still out there, he doesn't want to stay in the tree again. Mabel pushes the drive over to him.

Charles goes to Oliver. He wants Oliver's assurance that he won't be mad before he tells Oliver what he needs to say. Oliver won't give him that, so he just tells him that no one wants to do the musical. Oliver says that's fine, but then threatens to stab himself in the eye with a spoon so he won't be humiliated when Cliff and Donna arrive in five minutes. Charles says he thinks they're just scared. They don't understand the show and he doesn't either, but he came from television and was trained not to question a script. Loretta and Dickie arrive. She's there because she's under contract. Oliver apologizes to her and says he was scared of losing her and he hasn't eaten in weeks. But Loretta understands him and not many do. He asks her for a favor before she leaves for LA. He won't enforce the contract. He asks her to sing the lullaby before she goes. She says they haven't rehearsed it and there's no choreography. And it's not a showstopper. He says she's the only person who gets it and he wants her help to make the others get it. Donna and Cliff come in as she says she'll give it a shot.

Oliver tells the cast they're not doing *Creatures of the Night* anymore. It'll be the opening showstopper still, but it's not ready yet. He has something else for her and he thinks it might hold the heart of the show. He sets the scene and Tom begins to play. Loretta sings *Look for the Light*.

Mabel and Tobert watch Ben tell a silent person that they're not supposed to be there. The person refuses to leave and just sits there.

Loretta continues singing. Kimber starts singing along with her.

Donna tells Oliver it's a lovely song, but she can't risk Cliff's first time solo producing. Cliff interrupts and says they'll do it. His mom taught him never to give up on something he loves. He loves the musical and he doesn't want to give up on it.

Ben tells the hidden figure that he wants them so bad, but they'll ruin his career and he'll like it.

Oliver thanks Loretta and says he'll miss her. She tells him she's going to stay. He discovered her and she likes being found. He says he could kiss her and after a moment, he does.

Charles tells Kimber that the song was beautiful. She agrees and now she feels better about the musical. She feels like it might work. Charles asks her about the hankie and she says she must have thrown it away or donated it.

Mabel gets a text from Charles saying Kimber doesn't have her hankie.

Kimber and Loretta finish the song and everyone claps.

## Cast

### Starring

* Steve Martin as Charles-Haden Savage
* Martin Short as Oliver Putnam
* Selena Gomez as Mabel Mora
* Michael Cyril Creighton as Howard Morris

### Special Guest Stars

* Meryl Streep as Loretta Durkin
* Paul Rudd as Ben Glenroy

### Guest starring

* Gerald Caesar as Ty Wessex
* Linda Emond as Donna DeMeo
* Ashley Park as Kimber Min
* Don Darryl Rivera as Bobo Malone
* Jeremy Shamos as Dickie Glenroy
* Wesley Taylor as Cliff DeMeo
* Jason Veasey as Jonathan Bridgecroft
* Jesse Williams as Tobert

## Notes and Trivia

### General

* The Easter Egg in the opening credits is the Lighthouse on the roof of The Arconia

### Soundtrack

* "Look for the Light", performed by Meryl Streep and Ashley Park
*Written by Sara Bareilles, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul*

## Navigation

 **Season 3** | "The Show Must..." · "The Beat Goes On" · "**Grab Your Hankies**" · "The White Room" · "Ah, Love!" · "Ghost Light" · "CoBro" · "Sitzprobe" · "Thirty" · "Opening Night"