Meryl ex Machina

[setsuled]

An effort to find something for Meryl Streep to do on Only Murders in the Building seemed to lead to her doing everything in last night's episode. She's such a good actress, it feels especially odd for her to be dealing with this TV sized dialogue. But, okay, it was a decent episode.

A "ladies night" in the secret casino leads to Loretta (Streep), Mabel, and Detective Williams going undercover. This allows Selena Gomez to show off her newly skinny body with a stunning little gold cocktail dress.



Loretta claims to have psychic ability and I was amused when it turned out she really did, apparently able to see into Renee Zellwegger's mind when conversing with her. Though, in the end, it felt a bit like the inexplicable mind vision scenes in Ant-Man and the Wasp: In Quantumania. Like the writers just couldn't imagine a more logical plot so felt obliged to randomly introduce a supernatural ability.

But Meryl Streep is so good. I really liked her performance in the airport when she was slightly bewildered by her flight delay. She chews the scenery but it's plausible.



Yet, Dianne Wiest steals the episode a little when she unexpectedly joins the group and completely fails to maintain a poker face when talking to Zellwegger.

Only Murders in the Buildingis on Disney+ and/or Hulu.