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.