Only Murders in the Building: Meryl Streep, Paul Rudd Steal Premiere, Juicy New Murder Drops In

While the mysteries have always been fun and filled with twists and turns, Only Murders is built on the backs of its three leads: Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short. The longer we spend with them, the more endearing and charming they are.

Martin Short, in particular, is in impeccable form in this two-part premiere, but it's the entire trio that is creating dramedy gold.

This season, though, the gang is already being challenged for acting supremacy by the additions of Rudd and Streep. We've seen Streep before dabbling in comedy, and she brings an understated delivery here that's quite effective.

As for Rudd, he starts off so broad and over the top, we found ourselves wondering if we would be able to handle him at all. Yes, we know he died in the Season 2 finale on the stage, but we're already getting flashbacks.

Speaking of death, we'd better get to that **SPOILER WARNING** before we go much further. Beyond this point, we'll get to the major death of this season and all the suspects and layers that have been revealed so far. That's it. This is your final **SPOILER WARNING**.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night came when Rudd's Ben Glenroy came traipsing into the afterparty after his on-stage death. There is some suggestion that his stomach was pumped, so it was something he ate that did him in.

Half the fun of Only Murders is the mystery itself, as the writers always do a good job of putting a lot of work into that. As an example, we saw in the table read that Ben has a weakness for cookies, so our guess is that he ate some bad cookies, possibly tainted by someone.

We say that because of what Mabel discovers later in the night. And it's relevant because even though Ben survived his on-stage collapse ... he's still this season's murder victim! Only, it doesn't look like he was poisoned. Instead, he fell down an elevator shaft.

Or at the very least, that's where our intrepid trio found him, moments before he crashed through the ceiling of it and almost on top of them. Oh, another detail, that particular elevator had been out of order most of that day. On this show, every detail seems to matter.

Remember how we said Rudd was playing Ben obnoxious and broad, much as Oliver often presents. As it turns out, the two have much in common, as the bravado hides a more insecure, vulnerable side. This came out in a beautifully poignant scene where Oliver works with Ben to understand a scene from their play, "Death Rattle."

Don't get us started on this play, as it sounds absolutely ridiculous. A murder in a lighthouse where the only witness is a baby. The rattle appears to be a murder weapon. Yeah, the play was apparent not great, per a critic who was set to brutally pan it before Ben's death shut down production.

In a scene with Charles, Ben also revealed that the show he'd been talking about getting fired from when he was only eight years old was actually Brazzos, Charles' former television show. Rather than return the favor, he vowed to make Charles' life hell on the play. He also said that's why he's such an overcompensating a-hole when he enters a room.

It doesn't excuse his behavior, but it somewhat contextualizes why he behaves the way he does. His rant at the afterparty in Oliver's apartment, when he exaggerates a near-death experience on the stage, did offer us our first glimpse of this season's suspects — unless it winds up being someone we haven't met yet.

Kimber: a co-star in the play that Ben immediately flirted with only to later apologize to her for "making things messy." She was definitely not giving him forgiving eyes at that after-party.

Ty: another co-star that Ben went from calling too handsome to chastising for wanting to get Ben's trainer's contact info. And he never got nicer about that.

KT: yet another co-star we know very little about. Ben apologized to her for accusing her of stealing his mangoes, and we see some very cold behavior after the play gets shut down.

Bobo: a quirky co-star who's had no lines yet, but Ben apologizes to him for telling him "no" all the time. We have very little else on their relationship.

Gregg: an obsessed fan who pretended to be a part of Ben's security. He was in Ben's apartment the night of the murder, stealing Ben's handkerchief (Ben gave out matching ones as opening night gifts, and one was on his body when he died). He also kidnapped Mabel and Charles, convinced Charles was the murderer ... so you know, unstable.

Loretta: Streep's character is an aspiring actress who really shined during her audition, but struggled to find her voice in the table read. We don't know what happened yet from then to opening night, but she stormed off very unhappy that Ben was alive at the after-party saying that "it doesn't change the fact that he is a f---ing a--hole."

Donna & Cliff Demeo: the producers of "Death Rattle," we got an odd read from both of them right away. Perhaps they wanted to kill the play, though that wouldn't make much sense financially, unless there's a way to capitalize on Ben's death.

Ben's brother: also working as Ben's assistant, Ben is constantly dumping on his brother. But as we already had the assistant did it last season, we're not thinking it'll be a repeat here.

Tobert: Jesse Williams is looking as fine as ever as the documentarian filming Ben's first foray into Broadway, but we're sure Ben was awful to him because he was awful to anyone, so, maybe?

Jonathan: also unlikely, but he is Ben's understudy and Ben did make it clear that he's been actively working against giving Charles any opportunity to take the stage. Yes, he's Howard's love interest, but we've seen love interests be killers (Season 1, anyone?).

Ben: It seems unlikely, but he has a lot of demons and regret about his own behavior. Is it possible he made the decision to end his own life? It wouldn't be much of a murder, in that case, but it's still at least in the realm of possibility.

Ben nearly died on stage, suggesting there is a likely connection from this attempted murder to his eventual murder later in the building. It's even possible he was killed the same way (poisoning or some such) and the fall down the elevator shaft isn't what killed him.

Mabel takes pictures of his death which includes a spotlight on the watch he is wearing, as well as the handkerchief he's holding. If Gregg stole Ben's hankie, whose did he have? Also, Mabel now has Gregg's as he shoved it in her mouth to silence her before police grabbed him.

Speaking of Gregg, his entire apartment is a treasure trove of Ben memorabilia, so there could be any number of clues there. Perhaps that pair of pants of Ben's from Old Navy? Or maybe that was just weird.

Loretta seems eager to date Oliver, happy the play is over as he has a policy of not having personal relationships with professional colleagues. That gives her potential motive, along with the fact she thinks (rightly) that Ben is an a-hole. Also, Ben tells her at the after-part, he knows a fellow snake when he sees on, so the two might have some kind of understanding of one another. Maybe she knows something of him, too.

Ben reluctantly took a phone call at the after-part after his brother handed him the phone, and his whole demeanor changed. He quickly announced he had to take it in private and went to his apartment. The person on the other side of that phone call may have a connection to the call, or at the least whatever bad news they had to share.

If Tobert was documenting Ben's Broadway premiere journey from the table-read on, there's surely some evidence or clues in the footage he captured along the way that could help lead to the murderer!

Once again, Oliver is keeping secrets from Charles and Mable. This time, as they eagerly reopen the podcast, he doesn't share that he suffered a minor heart attack after hearing that critic Maxine was going to trash his play.

He's been advised to keep his blood pressure down, and even give up his beloved dip! He also had a vision of his son, Charles and Mabel doing a musical number, which inspired him to stop directing scared and make "Death Rattle" a musical.

Oliver's fatherly advice to Ben to be himself was such a sweet and sincere moment, it's these reminders of his decency and humanity that make his over-the-top antics more palatable. It was also advice he wasn't taking for himself.

Mabel's aunt's apartment is gorgeous, but with that completed renovation comes the reveal that Mable has only four weeks to vacate the apartment, as it's been sold. What that means for her future, and the future of this trio, this season will surely reveal.

So far, we're off to a fantastic start with the guest stars meshing perfectly with the established cast. It's fun seeing Oliver back in his element of the theater after having seen Charles enjoy returning to the revived Brazzos, now on harassment-induced hiatus. It gives Short some new facets of his personality to play with, like that beautiful scene with Rudd.

This premiere, filled with blood and death and mystery, still felt like a warm blanket, welcoming some old friends back into our lives that we've missed. Gomez, Martin, and Short are so comfortable in these characters now, it all feels authentic and real.

There's no indications of any kind of slump so far. In fact, we'd argue Only Murders is off to its strongest start yet, with great new cast additions, a fresh approach to the titular murder mystery, and fantastically multi-layered performances by our leads.

We'll be taking notes and sleuthing right alongside them to see if we can't figure out whodunnit before they do!

Only Murders in the Building drops fresh episodes every Tuesday on Hulu.