Only Murders in the Building Season 5 Episode 10 (finale) recap: Truth about Lester’s death unravels as a new mystery begins

Only Murders in the Building just wrapped up its fifth season with Episode 10, “The House Always…,” which dropped on Hulu on October 28, 2025.

This time around, the big mystery centered on Lester, the Arconia’s longtime doorman. His sudden, suspicious death threw everyone off balance and pulled Charles, Oliver, and Mabel into their most dangerous case yet.

Ever since Only Murders in the Building first hit screens in 2021, the show has nailed that mix of murder-mystery tension and surprisingly warm, goofy humor, and it’s hard not to love the chemistry between Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez.

Only Murders in the Building Season 5 really turned up the heat. The trio found themselves tangled in even deeper secrets, mob connections, and betrayals that hit a little too close to home. By the time the finale rolled around, they had uncovered the real story behind Lester’s murder, but not without facing some hard truths about each other, dodging serious threats, and fighting to keep their place in the Arconia.

Only Murders in the Building Season 5 Episode 10 recap

The Only Murders in the Building finale doesn’t waste any time; it throws us right back to the 1980s. Nicky Caccimelio and Sofia are crazy about each other, totally inseparable. Fast-forward a few decades, though, and their love has soured into something dark. Now, Sofia is done. She is ready to walk away, and Nicky? He is eaten up with jealousy. He swears he will find whoever she is seeing now, and that threat pretty much sets off everything that happens next.

Jump to the present, and the Arconia is just barely holding it together. Lester the doorman is dead. Three billionaires, Jay Pflug, Camila White, and Bash Steed, have basically taken over. Mabel, Oliver, and Charles are caught in a mess involving a severed finger, a mobster family, and a mayor who seems way too excited about all of it.

And as if that isn’t enough, Camila suddenly decides she is going to tear down the entire Arconia so she can build a casino on top of the wreckage.

Desperate for answers, the trio tracks down Nicky’s fierce Nonna. Maybe she can clear up why someone’s finger landed in Charles’s shrimp cocktail. Nonna is not exactly easy to read. Sometimes she is helpful, sometimes she is downright scary, but she drops a hint: the finger belonged to the guy Sofia was secretly seeing. That’s all she will say. Sofia is conveniently nowhere to be found, so the whole thing just gets weirder.

Meanwhile, time is running out. The wrecking crew is about to show up, so the podcasters pull together one last, over-the-top stunt: a fake casino night. Oliver is pulling out props, setting up lights, and roping in Nicky’s sons to act like mafia heavies. Jay, Camila, and Bash saunter in, looking smug and totally clueless that it’s all a setup.

But nothing goes as planned. The billionaires peel off their bandages, and there are no missing fingers in sight. So whose finger was it? Right when everything is falling apart, Mayor Beau Tillman bursts in, looking super shady. And that’s when Mabel, without warning, chops off his finger. Literally.

She was right all along. The mayor’s missing finger matches the one Lester hid, down to the scar. Turns out, Tillman was secretly seeing Sofia, and the night Lester died, everything went sideways. The mayor didn’t even try to deny it.

During a poker game, Nicky found out about the affair, lost it, and chopped off Tillman’s finger in a drug-fueled rage. Lester, always the stand-up guy, tried to break things up and ended up knocking Nicky out cold. But when Lester decided to go to the police, Tillman just snapped. He chased Lester, and in the chaos, Lester slipped, hit his head on the edge of the Arconia fountain, and died right there.

But guilt doesn’t slow Tillman down. He calls in his dirty cops, grabs the podcasters’ phones, and locks Mabel, Charles, and Oliver in a hidden hallway, planning to let them get buried when the building comes down. Lucky for them, the Arconia crowd isn’t about to just sit back. Howard, Trash Man Miller, and Althea rally the rest for a spur-of-the-moment rescue. Althea distracts the media with a dramatic goodbye concert while the others sneak inside to set the trio free.

Inside, Charles gets creative. He channels his inner magician, wrangles a coat hanger, and gets them out of their chains. They barge into the mayor’s press conference just in time. Cameras rolling, Mabel drops the bomb: a recording of Tillman’s confession, all thanks to a bug hidden in the roulette table.

Fast-forward three months. The Arconia’s still standing, bruised, but very much alive. Lorraine, Lester’s widow, lives there now, thanks to Sofia’s generosity. Sofia herself has escaped to Italy and looks happier than ever. Howard has found someone new, Charles is flying solo (and steering clear of femme fatales for once), and Mabel’s podcast is bigger than ever.

The trio is ready for a quiet night, just hanging out and listening to Cinda Canning’s latest podcast, The Girl with the Curls. It’s about a young woman tied to the murder of some royal descendant. Out of nowhere, a red-haired woman staggers up to the Arconia gates, collapses, and dies right there on the property. When she turns over, it’s Cinda herself.

So, forget the peaceful evening. Looks like Only Murders in the Building Season 6 is heading to London, and once again, murder is tagging along with our favorite sleuths.

Trending

Also Read: Only Murders in the Building to change its iconic hotel location for Season 6

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback