Spoiler warning: Spoilers for Only Murders in the Building Season 3 follow. Only Murders in the Building has made Tuesday nights one of my favorite nights of the week — I get to watch Selena Gomez, Martin Short, and Steve Martin be hilarious, I get to gasp at all the A-list guest star appearances, and then I go on Reddit to look for fan theories about who the killer is. But after Season 3, Episode 3 premiered on Aug. 15, I was met with a new theory that kind of blows my mind: What if Ben had more than one killer? And what if they were his twin or triplet?
The Arconiacs on Reddit are, much like the podcast’s fans in the show, really good at searching for clues, and they’ve found a few that make it seem plausible that the person who poisoned Ben before opening night of the show might not have been the person who pushed him down the elevator shaft. They think that Ben might have a secret twin or triplet who either was killed, was the murderer, or is involved in the case some other way. Let’s break down the evidence that supports this theory so far.
- Ben’s odd phone call
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Patrick Harbron/Hulu The strangest part of this murder mystery is that there were two murder attempts on Ben, and it’s shown that the first one didn’t succeed when Ben arrives at Oliver’s apartment afterward, where the Death Rattle cast has gathered. He makes a pretty unsettling speech directed at each individual member of the production, and when Dickie — his brother and manager — gets a phone call for Ben toward the end of the episode, Ben says, “Oh yeah, Ben has to take this,” in third person. We don’t see him again until his body is found in the elevator.
It’s not uncommon for quirky actor types like the one Paul Rudd is channeling here to talk about themselves in third person, but fans have noticed that he says it like he isn’t Ben, and it’s worth considering whether the Ben that appears at the Arconia is a different Ben than the one who collapsed on stage.
- Ben’s hand tattoos
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I have to hand it to the sleuths on Reddit — these people are eagle-eyed. They noticed that Ben’s hand tattoos have seemed inconsistent throughout the season so far, with the “GC” (potentially a reference to his show that Mabel loved, Girl Cop) in the correct order during the table read in Episode 1 and in Mabel’s photos from when Ben’s body was found in the elevator.
But in the flashback scene where Charles and Ben argue about Charles’ treatment of him on Brazzos in Ben’s dressing room, the “GC” changes to “CG.” And in Mabel’s vision of Ben on her couch, he doesn’t appear to have the tattoos at all. Perhaps one of the Bens drew on the tattoos and forgot the correct order — or someone else drew them on for him.
- The “female killer” line
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Hulu With Oliver focused on getting Death Rattle back on Broadway after it’s been shut down, Charles and Mabel are left to take the wheel on the Only Murders podcast. They’re pretty sure that the killer is someone in the Death Rattle cast, but Charles also makes a joke, “Another female killer? That’s so done.” It’s true: Jan killing Tim in Season 1 and Becky aka Poppy killing Bunny in Season 2 means that the Only Murders writers might want to try something new. This is either a meta joke, or a clue that this season, a man is involved in the murder — and I’m banking on the latter.
- The “coincidence”
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There’s a weirdly flat moment in Episode 3, while Charles and Mabel are looking at their murder board, when Mabel says, “A coincidence is like someone having the same birthday as you.” Charles doesn’t respond to this, and it’s not a line played for laughs, so I thought it might’ve been an odd mistake, but with the twin theory in mind, it could be foreshadowing. Who has the same birthday as you? Your identical twin or triplet. Coincidence? In this case, I think not.
- The Death Rattle triplets
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Patrick Harbron/Hulu Oliver changes Death Rattle to Death Rattle Dazzle, a musical. And instead of one baby who was a witness to a crime (and being nannied by Loretta), there are now three — triplets! The three baby carriages onstage for “The Nanny’s Lullaby” could be a throwaway detail because Oliver wants to make his show bigger and splashier, but almost nothing is a throwaway detail in a mystery show like this. Could the addition of triplets point to a real-life counterpart that’s going to come in later?
Interestingly enough, Ben’s full name — Ben Glenroy — is made up of three first names, as fans have pointed out. Take that as you will…
- The “common enemy”
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While the cast of Death Rattle are protesting Oliver’s switch to a musical instead of a play, Charles decides to use that to his advantage to get information on which cast members still have the Death Rattle hankies that Ben gifted them (remember, Ben was found in the elevator with a hankie, and the main trio think that he grabbed onto it before he fell).
When he tells Oliver about his plan, they agree that nothing brings people together like a common enemy. Could this point to a clue about the possible killers sharing an enemy in Ben, and working together to get the job done?
- Loretta and Dickie’s connection
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Patrick Harbron/Hulu Loretta seems sus to me, not least because you don’t cast Meryl Streep on a TV show without giving her a juicy role. The fact that she starts working with Ben’s brother Dickie as her agent almost immediately after Ben’s death, when Ben has made it pretty clear that he thinks Loretta is “a snake,” should raise our eyebrows. Did she have a previous connection to Ben, or did their animosity begin with Death Rattle and the table read gone wrong?
The Dickie-Loretta connection is also making some on Reddit wonder if Loretta killed one Ben, and Dickie killed the other. Dickie could also be the third of the unofficial “triplets” but because he’s not identical, maybe feeling left out and living in Ben’s shadow drove him to murder. Your guess is as good as mine. Yet another theory posits that Loretta is actually Ben and Dickie’s birth mother, which might explain Ben’s resentment towards her and Dickie’s desire to work so closely with her. And, well, it does fit with her role as the nanny of the triplets in Death Rattle.
So could Ben actually have a secret twin (or triplet with Dickie) that will be revealed later this season? Only time will tell. There’s still suspicion around Cliff and Donna, as well as the fact that Episode 3 was pointing pretty clearly at Kimber seeming guilty. But personally, I’m starting to think this theory is on to something, especially if Only Murders is trying to shake things up after two seasons of solo female killers.