Season 2 Episode 5 of OMITB unpacks a few mysteries and gives us some answers. One such mystery was Will Putnam’s relationship with Olive Putnam, who we all thought was his father.
As it turns out, Teddy Dimas is the biological father of Will Putnam. Oliver’s wife and Will’s mother, Roberta, had an affair with Teddy, and Will is their child.
The episode begins with Will narrating how his father, Oliver, always knew when people were hiding a secret. According to senior Putnam, everyone had a tell. We are taken back to the 1970s when Oliver is playing a card game called Son of Sam at a dinner party.
Teddy and Roberta are also present there. Putnam slowly eliminates all the people and, in the end, comes to Teddy. He correctly identifies him as the Son of Sam.
We return to the present, and Will tells us that the only way a person can hide a secret from his father is if they didn’t know they were hiding one. During the episode, Will also informs Oliver that his son will be taking an ancestral DNA test for a school project.
We then move on to Charles and Jan’s arc. It was revealed in Episode 4 that Charles had gone to the prison to meet Jan, in order to get her insight into the mystery of Bunny’s murder. In Episode 5, we see him talking to her about the case.
Considering that Jan was the murderer in Season 1, she’d know where to look. While talking about the case, he says that the killer has been composing the scene to tell a story. Something ticks in Jan’s mind, and she says that the person is an artist. After all, only an artist would try and tell a story and wouldn’t leave their masterpiece incomplete.
This means that the person is also physically close to them. That is pretty much how they are able to enter the homes and compose the scene. We immediately cut to Alice, who is shown with several paint cans around her. We know she’s an artist, but this could be a classic diversion because we know the show wouldn’t point to the killer so blatantly.
I won’t narrate the rest of the show, but there are two critical things that you must keep note of. Oliver tries to play the card game with Alice to find out if she’s the killer. He insinuates that she’s hiding something and that she’s the Son of Sam.
Although Alice breaks down and confesses how she’s not the sophisticated artist everyone thinks she is, Oliver’s guess is wrong. Alice hands out her card to him, and when he sees it, he’s disappointed because it’s not the Son of Sam. He wonders how he could’ve gotten it wrong.
Later, Will tells Oliver about his son’s DNA test and how he didn’t seem to have any Irish genes. Instead, the test results showed that his lineage was Greek. It takes just two seconds for Oliver to realize that Teddy is Will’s biological father.
But that’s not the only revelation. We also see Alice and Mabel speak about what happened earlier. The former tells how she’s had to lie to the world. After all, if people knew that she was just a middle-class girl from Essex, no one would buy her painting. The two make up, and in the last shot, the camera pans to Alice’s open purse, and guess what! We see the folded Son of Sam card stashed away inside.
This could mean that she’s hiding something more. Whether or not her secret is connected to Bunny is something we’ll just have to wait and find out.
About Only Murders in the Building
Only Murders in the Building is an American crime-comedy television series created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman. Season 1 of the series premiered in August 2021, and season 2 was released on 28th June 2022.
The series follows Charles, Oliver, and Mabel, a trio of true-crime-obsessed strangers and wannabe investigators who are brought together when they are framed for a murder that takes place in their building.
The series stars Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez as the main cast. The Hulu original has been renewed for Season 3.
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