Episode three begins with Oliver working on his musical pitch for “Death Rattle.” Unsurprisingly, he is unable to pull together an entire show in a night, but he still tries to convince the producers to give him a shot. He has pieces and fragments of songs, but nothing substantial. Howard is so enthusiastic despite the setbacks. His excitement at suggesting his cousin who does sponsorships for State Farm to help finance the production was precious.

On the flip side, Mabel and Charles are working on solving the murder. The board is together, and Charles is recording dialogue. He admits he misses Oliver’s snarky comments about his voiceovers. The trio seems more separate than normal since Oliver’s focus has been solely on his show. Now that they can finally examine all their suspects, Charles realizes he doesn’t know much about his coworkers, so they have to start simple, and they focus on the handkerchief Ben died holding. He gifted the entire cast with them. Soon Charles is called down to practice and Mabel is banned from it due to her focus on solving the mystery. She tasks Charles with investigating the actors as she goes to search Ben’s apartment. This is the first moment of the episode where Charles is acting goofy and overly ridiculous, though the way he said “meme” earlier was hilarious.

The initial presentation for Oliver went horribly, but Linda Emond as producer Donna gives a fantastic monologue on how a musical needs a song so irresistible it can persuade even the most stable person to fly to New York for a chance to see the music live. She gives him three days for a second chance. Around the same time, Charles tries to convince the actors to create a little quilt of the hankies in honor of Ben, which is a horrible excuse. It seems obvious he is investigating them, though the cast appears unaware. Suspiciously, Loretta is the only person nowhere to be seen. In the same scene Oliver gives a funny speech and cites his mother, but when he reveals the Death Rattle Dazzle poster and announces it is a musical, everyone’s faces fall in shock.

As Mabel heads up to Ben’s penthouse she runs into Tobert, the documentarian, who has to pick up the equipment he left. He is suspicious of her immediately, but that is forgotten whenever they see the obscene number of pictures of Ben’s face in the apartment and foyer. That design perfectly shows Ben’s personality. Tobert claims he is looking for a boom mic, but Mabel sees through him. When Dickie starts to enter the apartment, they jump into the armoire and hide together, which is perfect considering the rising tensions between them. He teases her about the podcast, though he admits it’s cute as Dickie is grieving in the apartment.

When Loretta finally appears at the rehearsal late, she’s doting on Oliver’s musical and confesses that Ben’s brother Dickie offered to be her manager, getting her an audition for a spinoff of a spinoff of Grey’s Anatomy (a nice nod to Jesse Williams). She thinks this play being adapted into a musical would make it more accessible to audiences despite how crazy it seems as long as it has “heart”. She is cheesing up to Oliver big time. While the “Creature of the Night” song seems fun, Oliver’s additions are a bit wild. After he has a miniature freak out in his kitchen, he slams Howard with the door as he sang the State Farm tune, which was a perfect comedic moment. After he dismisses the actors for the day, Charles concocts the plan to have them open up by venting about Oliver. This flips on him when he’s tasked with telling Oliver they refuse to do the musical version.

Loretta is the last one left at Oliver’s. As he explains his frustrations, she supports him on everything. She tells him everything he wants to hear. She admits there’s a vulnerability that makes him an excellent…director. The vibe is strong between the two until Dickie walks in. He announces that she got the part in the spinoff and Oliver congratulates her until Dickie admits they need an answer soon as filming begins next week. When Oliver asks her to reconsider since they’ve spent so much time working and he gave her the nanny role, she starts being negative about the musical despite just cheesing up to him. To shut down the conversation, Oliver reminds her that they have a contract, which feels very immature at that moment.

When Mabel realizes she can’t watch the drive she swiped from Tobert without a passcode she finds him in Jackson Heights like he is admitted he was every morning. He’s impressed by her skills. This is also where he admits to her his baby elephant story was fake, but he realizes that he must take action this time if the killer is still on the loose. Back with Oliver and Charles, this is where he spills that the cast despises the musical, so Oliver convinces Loretta to do the Nanny’s Lullaby song as a solo for the producers. Of course, Meryl knocks it out of the park, and Ashley Park’s voice works perfectly with hers when she joins in.

Mabel and Tobert watch the video of Ben arguing with someone in his dressing room as Cliff, one of the producers, agrees to finance the musical. The Freudian relationship between him and his mother is hilarious, and it makes it even better when he decides to stand up to her on this. Then, Oliver and Loretta kiss and she decides to stay for the musical. When Charles asks for Kimber’s hankie, she doesn’t have it. Is she the one that Ben was willing to ruin his career for? She is also the narrator of the episode, which is interesting.

I have several takes on the characters so far. I think Loretta is subtly manipulative. Charles has his function within the episode, but right now I’m not seeing his character arc. I think Kimber and Ben did have a relationship, but she isn’t the killer. Her admitted numbness isn’t evil, it’s a coping mechanism. Considering the looks of longing, Dickie is in love with Loretta and jumps a little quickly at being her manager after just losing his brother. I’m still suspicious of Tobert, but I love the bickering and chemistry between him and Mabel, and I would love to see more of them together. Tuesday can’t come soon enough!