'Only Murders In The Building' Season 5 Episode 4 Recap & Ending Explained: Whose Finger Is It?

After watching 3 episodes of Only Murders In The Building Season 5 at a go, it feels like we’ve been robbed because we get to watch only one episode per week. It feels like the ultimate betrayal to give us so little each episode and then make us wait a whole week to see what’s coming next. Season 5 only introduced us to the 3 new characters who make up the “new mob” in episode 3, but episode 4 gives us a little bit more about each character and what to make of them. The billionaires certainly look suspicious, and there’s no way I’m going to buy their story, even if the gang does. I did quite like it when both trios split off into sets of two. Also, seeing Logan Lerman in this role definitely makes me feel like he’s done it just for the fun of it. The same for the other two as well; it just looks like these roles would’ve been so exciting to play, especially the Musk character. But with that said, let’s jump straight into episode 4.

Spoiler Alert

Episode 4 begins with the 3 billionaires all describing their interest in games and how that’s the thing that gives them the biggest high. It’s clear that they love to play mind games, and that’s exactly what this episode is about—bluffing. I suppose you can’t really be a billionaire without being able to lie to someone’s face with ease. The scene then shifts to our favorite trio trying to run out of the velvet room without the billionaire trio finding them. The question is, why are 3 of the richest people in the world in the Arconia’s basement? After the intro credits roll, Mabel is talking to Charles about how it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that the finger they’re hiding in his fridge is Jay Phlug’s, since he has a bandage around his hand. Charles thinks it might’ve been the same cleaver that was in Nicky’s chest that was used to cut Jay’s finger off. Their discussion is interrupted by a robot and Howard. The latter explains that the robot is a tribute to Lester, full form: Logic Engineered Secure Tenant Robot. Clearly, this is just to introduce everyone to a robot in the building, one that scans everybody’s irises and basically has everybody’s details. Clearly, this was a gift from Bash. Oh, and Howard is meant to babysit it. 

Soon after, Charles and Mabel are surprised by Vince, who makes a return without the eye patch. Apparently, Oliver felt bad after being called selfish, so he made a murder board with Vince’s help. Turns out Vince used to birdwatch with Lester, or you know, people-watch, whatever you want to call it. Vince tells the gang what each of the new rich guys was in Lester’s eyes, but more importantly, he gives them crucial information about them as well. It starts with Nicky, who’s just a bird that sounds like a mobster. Then comes Jay, who we learn had a company that gave everyone lead poisoning, so he then created a pharmaceutical company to sell lead poisoning medicine. Bash is revealed to be way older than he looks (and Charles is eager to find out how old that is). And then finally, Camila White, who is a design genius, and Mabel claims she’d buy a candle if it smelled like the inside of White’s nose. 

On the other hand, Mabel and Oliver run into The, Howard, and robot Lester. The robot announces that she is the most played “Wandify” artist. Already Mabel is upset about this woman, but she later reveals to Oliver that they used to be friends in middle school until she turned everyone against Mabel, which put her off making friends altogether. As an adult, when Mabel’s friend, Zoe, died, Mabel was depressed and lonely, but she felt worse when she went back home and found Althea had completely changed. She’s upset seeing her now, so she decides to send an email to Wandify too, hoping for something big. At the same time, Jay Phlug sends the gang a video message because he’s coming to visit after hearing the podcast intro. 

Jay arrives a bit earlier than expected, and Oliver has only planned some nibbles to eat, while Charles thinks they should make his grandmother’s duck à l’orange. Turns out Charles was right because it isn’t just Jay who’s shown up, but Camila and Bash arrive shortly too. It seems Camila and Bash are there to help out their dear friend Jay, but what’s the real story? It becomes clear almost immediately that this new gang is there to promote their work while blackmailing the gang into not doing the podcast (the OMITB fam really didn’t have to tell them about finding Nicky’s body, uff). The gang decides to split up and pair off. 

It seems the only normal duo is the millennial one because they seem the most realistic of the lot. Bash helps Charles make the duck, while Camila shames Oliver for his maximalist house. In Charles’ case, he drops his grandma’s recipe inside the sauce he’s making and immediately freaks out, but Bash manages to get a hand on it on his phone because, you know, he has a private video of Charles cooking his grandmother’s dish just lying around in an app.

The new trio are fantastic at pretending they’re normal people and not eccentric billionaires, and somehow the OMITB gang trust their story and matching alibis. Finally, the poddy gang gets the truth out of all 3 of the newbies. They claim that Nicky came in with a cleaver, and he was also upset, so when Jay came in his way, he lost a finger. Somehow, the conclusion after all this for our band of three is that Mabel has fluttery eyelashes for Jay (I mean, fair enough, plus he’s a billionaire). Does this cut him off the list of suspects, like his finger was cut off, you think? Anyway, each of them believed the billionaire they got teamed up with, but they’re distracted with an email from Wandify. 

At the end of episode 4 of Only Murders In The Building season 5, the gang is getting a tour of the Wandify office and has to sign a 3-year contract. But what does this mean? They have to do what Wandify says, which means it’s secretly what Bash, Camila, and Jay want, i.e., stopping season 5 because their names are mentioned in it. In the middle of signing these papers, Mabel realizes that the finger they have does not belong to Jay because pointer fingers point outwards, and the finger they have might be a left one. But Phlug’s right hand is bandaged. This means everything is a lie. Also, didn’t Vince say that Lester mentioned there were 5 people on that fine day in the Velvet Room? But we only saw the bird comparisons for the 4 people we already know about. Anyway, in the end, the podcast is stolen from the OMITB gang, and it seems to be a win for the billionaires’ gang, but will it last? We’ll have to wait to find out.