Gwen got me to watch the first episode and we're caught up, so I won't chat any specifics.
Martin and Short are so good at doing their usual shtick that you wonder how much is actually scripted and how much is just ad-libbed with the camera on. But really makes this stand out is the interplay between them and a revolving cast of eccentric neighbors, family and friends that set up so many awesome unexpected plot twists.
If L.A. Story is Steve's look at the idiosyncrasies of Hollywood, Only Murders is everything bold and brash about the quirkiness of the Big Apple in 30-minute bites.
Gomez -- who could be just a wasted side piece -- is actually excellent at gluing everything together, pushing the story forward and keeping Martin/Martin from careening off into Sillyland.
Quick synopsis. Martin, Short and Gomez all live in the same New York upscale apartment building and like listening to the same true crime podcast, a fact they're not aware of until a young man is found dead in his apartment. Martin is a one-hit TV actor, known by everyone for his lead role in "Brazos," but the joke is nobody remembers his catch phrases or why they watched it. Short is Broadway show producer who keeps soldiering on despite a Who's Who of incredible flops: for example "Splash: The Musical" which featured an actual swimming pool built into the theater. Of course, the machinery designed to open the floor failed on Opening Night, resulting in something akin to "splat."
Gomez is an art student who is living in her aunt's apartment, which is being renovated. But it's her evolving story, and the little pieces of information she decides to reveal (or keep a secret), that give us little hints into the mystery. The fact that she pals around with two clueless, naive, over-the-hill white guys is part of the fun.
Police believe the death is open-and-shut suicide, but there's something tantalizing enough about the case that Martin, Short and Gomez decide to start their own podcast based on the small amount of information they know -- including riding in the elevator with the deceased just minutes before he died and hearing what might have been his last phone conversation.
It's getting excellent reviews across Rotten Tomatoes, from both critics and viewers. It's not laugh-out-loud funny, but there's a lot of "wait, back it up so I can hear that clearer" tongue-in-cheekiness. And the police are definitely wrong. Tim Kono was killed. But why? And by whom?