Tuesday TV Touchbase: Only Murders In the Building and High Potential

Last week, Only Murders In the Building brought it's 5th season in for a landing and we have answers to all the burning questions Charles, Oliver and Mabel had all season. 

SPOILERS coming if you don't want answers. Just skip ahead to High Potential if you want.  

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Who used to have that finger found in Oliver Putnam's wedding shrimp? Turns it out it belonged to New York City Mayor Beau Tillman. The incident occured in the Arconia's "secret" basement game room during a poker game with Nicky, the Mayor and the three billionaires. The digit was chopped off by mobster Nicky Caccimelio in a drug fuel rage when Nicky realized the mayor was sleeping with Nicky's wife.  

Who killed Nicky?  Dear sweet doorman Lester Coluca did that deed. It was an accident. Lester intervened while Nicky was still swinging around his cleaver in a murderous rage and in the struggle, Nicky was impaled by the blade?

So who killed Lester? Would you believe it was New York City Mayor Beau Tillman? Yeah, I would. I never liked the guy.

How exactly where the three billionaires involved? Camila White, "Bash" Steed and Jay Phlug, way too rich and super bored, made recovery of the mayor's finger into a wager. Whoever recovered it first would win the Arconia and turn it into a casino. After tearing it down. Camila wins the Arconia and successfully buys 51% of the residents out.  

In rare moment that I wish we would see in real life (billionaires actually facing consequences for their actions), Jay confesses everything to the police. He really wants to show Mabel he can be a good person.  Well, that's a start. 

Camila loses her hold on the Arconia and all is right and good with the world again.

Until...

You guess it!

There's a murder in the building.

Well, technically, the victim collapses just outside the entry gate of the Arconia. But as she rolls over to gasp her final breath, her hand falls inside the gate as she dies. So technically...

It's a murder IN the building.

And the victim is murder podcaster Cinda Canning!

And that will be our case for season 6.

What of our intrepid trio of Arconia based murder podcasters? Forced to confront life away from the Arconia, they are forced to confront just how much this unlikely friendship means to them.

Mabel (Selena Gomez) seems particularly lost and hurt at the prospect of losing her septuagenarian cohorts. At 30 years old, Mabel has no real friends her own age. Her former friend Althena is now a successful pop star known as "The" (she will always be first in Google searches) and only makes Mabel feel inadequate. And Phlug seems nice until he repeatedly proves untrustworthy, at least until the very end; Mabel is wary of trusting anyone.  She's become very dependent on her relationship with Charles and Oliver and is most shaken by the potential loss of that bond.

Charles (Steve Martin) has an interesting subplot as he participates in a medical trial using testosterone to starve off aging in men.  He gets stronger. (To Oliver: "I'm gonna pick you up now!" and he does, carrying him around the room.) And he has sexy times with Nicky's widow Sofia.  Turns out he was in the placebo group and all that was just Charles.

Oliver (Martin Short) is... Oliver. His value and his absence is keenly felt when Charles and Mabel are forced into a trivia contest about Broadway... which they win because it turns out they really were listening to Oliver's bizarre stories about his life and career on Broadway. And they were true!  And Oliver also confronts possible life choices in the wake of his marriage to Lorretta (Meryl Streep).

Meryl is only in a couple of episodes this season but she absolutely crushes it. Although Oliver wonders just how crazy this woman is that he married without really knowing her. 

Next season will reportedly take the gang to London in their investigation of Cinda Canning's death.  OK but as long as they come back home to the Arconia.

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High Potential aired it's fall finale last week.

Already?

Yep, no new episodes until January.

Two+ months of no Morgan Gillory and Adam Karadec. Damn!

So what are we hanging with until then?

We have some ominous developments regarding the investigation into the 15-year-old disappearance of Roman Sinquerra, the father of Morgan's daughter Ava. A backpack belonging to Roman has come into Morgan's possession.  Major Crimes supervisor Lt. Selena Soto is reviewing the contents of that backpack and ponders a photo found there. Who is that guy?

That guy turns up to threaten Arthur Ellis who is Morgan's only line of contact with the missing Roman. The mystery man demands the return of that backpack. 

Meanwhile, Morgan and Karadec are investigating the theft of a Rembrandt which has turned into a case of... MURDER.

There is also the not so small matter that Rhys Eastman, art recovery expert may in fact be the thief.  And a murderer? And also Morgan came thisclose to hooking up with Rhys. 

And on top of all that, what the hell is going on with Capt. Nick Wagner who was promoted over the more qualified Lt. Soto to head up the precinct? He's a damn neppo hire who acts skeevy, creepy and mercurial. Quite frankly, Morgan Gillory doesn't like him, Adam Karadec doesn't like him.

Nobody watching this show likes the S.O.B.  

We can but hope that come January, Nick will be busted, fired or even killed off. 

January?

Damn! Why is High Potential torturing us like that?  

Well, mostly because ABC wants to make sure it can draw out the shows 18 episode season for as long as they can. And the series can't make more because Kaitlan Olson who plays Morgan is also making It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Hacks.  

That is that for this week's Touchbase.

Next time, I have finally finished with the first season of Outlander: Blood Of My Blood. I do have thoughts about that.  

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.