After three seasons, Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building has easily become one of the best television shows ever created. Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) are the crime-fighting, mystery-solving trio of our dreams, besting murderers in their comical and unique way that never gets old—no matter how far off the rails the story goes. However, one major issue thus far with the series, and possibly the biggest problem since the first season wrapped, is that the writers don’t seem to know what to do with the lovable and intense Mabel Mora.
While Mabel is an excellent character and the show wouldn’t work without her (as one must never insult the legend and talent that is Selena Gomez), the series’ struggle to figure out what to do with Mabel since the end of the first season is very apparent. She took a sharp turn in Season 2, suddenly declaring she wanted nothing more to do with murder, including their beloved podcast, only getting wrapped up in it because of her connection to Bunny’s murder—after all, she is the one who grabbed the knitting needle and found the body. But, once again in Season 3, Mabel took another sharp turn and was the only one of the central trio that wanted, more than anything, to start the podcast again and dig into Ben’s murder.
Every season, it feels like we’re getting a different version of Mabel delivered to our screens, which certainly isn’t the case for Oliver or Charles. As such, this hasn’t done many favors for Mabel’s development. She’s practically just as lost by the end of the third season as she was when the story began. It feels like a rollercoaster that’s being built as it’s being ridden because there seems to be no solid plan for Mabel long-term. There’s so much talk about her being lost, stuck, and trying to find herself, but there’s very little effort put into actually exploring that side of her story.
Season 3, in particular, was the worst season for Mabel yet. She carried the podcast and burden of the investigation on her own for multiple episodes and received very little time to focus on anything else—outside of her new romance with Tobert (Jesse Williams), of course. What we did see of Mabel’s personal life was not very promising. Her aunt decided to sell her apartment, leaving Mabel without anywhere to stay and getting rid of her home in the building, which has been left up in the air. Considering a big part of Mabel’s story in Season 1 was about painting the wall in the apartment and settling in, it’s frustrating to see yet another aspect of her growth stripped away. She has no job prospects other than to go work for Cinda Canning (Tina Fey), but that doesn’t seem like a real choice for her to make as long as the trio’s podcast is running.
Additionally, the back and forth with Mabel also extends to her revolving door of love interests. (To be clear, there’s no issue with her having multiple love interests; the issue is the execution of these relationships has been just as messy as Mabel’s giant leaps in personality.) Her romance with Oscar (Aaron Dominguez) in the first season added to the story and aided Mabel’s development immensely, helping her to open herself up and begin to cope with the trauma of her past. So, by comparison, her relationships with artist Alice (Cara Delevingne) and documentarian Tobert fall flat.
Alice gave Mabel a harsh reality check in the second season after everything she had been through, showing Mabel that she couldn’t run away from her problems and her past. This was an important message but, ultimately, not worth the time spent on Alice and their short-lived romance. Then, with Tobert, she found a safe space to confide her feelings as the series decided to split the central trio up for a handful of episodes, but nothing worthwhile came from this relationship. It was cute, sure, but offered nothing of substance for the character or the show.
It also doesn’t help that Oscar was written off after the first season with a passing comment about their mutual trauma being the only reason for their relationship, completely throwing away their connection and diminishing their hard-earned growth. Or that the most promising romantic prospect, Theo (James Caverly), is one that received criminally little focus in the third season, only appearing in one episode.
All in all, there are a lot of issues with how Only Murders is handling and writing Mabel. There’s so much potential to do more with the character, including telling a complex and deep story about overcoming severe trauma, if only more focus was put into crafting a well-developed, purposeful arc for her. Losing her home in the Arconia is such a major blow, too, and something to dread about the upcoming fourth season. Ultimately, it’s difficult to watch such an integral part of the series continue to be treated like an afterthought.
Jay Snow is a freelance writer. He has published many places on the internet. For more of his thoughts on television and to see his other work (or to simply watch him gush again and again over his love for the original Charmed) follow him @snowyjay.
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