It would not be Only Murders in the Building without the murder of Bunny Folger as a plot highlight in Season 2. However, this time, the characters and audience are plunged into a maelstrom of speculations as the cranky, yet very memorable president of the Arconia board lies found stabbed in her apartment.
This thrusts Charles, Oliver, and Mabel on a wild goose chase, where viewers try to put two and two together. But why murder her? Well, it turns out it's a plot by Poppy White, alternatively, Becky Butler, who was miffed at not getting some credit for her ideas.
Poppy, working with Detective Kreps, had come up with a scheme to kill Bunny, planning on "filming" the entire affair so that they could sell it as sensational programming for Cinda Canning's true crime podcast. Shocking Only Murders in the Building fans, it's time to break down this interesting mystery.
Poppy White’s connection to Bunny’s murder in Only Murders in the Building
Poppy White had been assistant to true-crime podcaster Cinda Canning, but she was growing increasingly frustrated over not being given credit for helping come up with great ideas for podcast stories when Cinda only used them and pocketed all the praise.
Bunny's murder was Poppy's way of making a high-profile case that would get her the attention she desperately wanted. This plot was in place after Poppy learned of the Rose Cooper painting connection, which had a tie-in with the family history of Bunny.
According to Cosmopolitan, Poppy had been planning a "New York story" with her lover, Detective Kreps, for some time. The storyline of the two comes from mutual ambitions - to commit a sensational crime that would raise their profiles.
Poppy murdered Bunny and planted some evidence to mislead the three podcasters so that while someone else is framed she will be making sure that the crime is kept in the spotlight.
This complex design also explains why Poppy was playing around with the plot of the story and misleading her fans.
For most of Only Murders in the Building Season 2, several characters were suspected to be behind the murder, including Cinda because she had a motive in killing Bunny to have some podcast material. In the end, it was Poppy's ambition and need to be in control that made her the real culprit of the crime.
The fake-outs leading to Bunny's killer on Only Murders in the Building
The writers of Only Murders in the Building kept everything on a chain throughout the season with all those red herrings that misdirected suspicion at various moments.
The most compelling fake-outs contained Cara Delevingne's character, Alice, who suspects murder because she was a stranger and didn't have much going on in her art gallery.
The drama increases when Alice pretends to stab Charles using her toy knife where things could get confusing once more until the truth is unveiled.
Another suspect was Nina Lin, Bunny's successor for whom time never went so well—the uncomfortable moments between Nina and Bunny in the days leading to Bunny's death fueled this suspicion.
Nina aspired for a more contemporary Arconia (the mainstay of Only Murders in the Building) that did not resonate with Bunny's conservatism. Most of the people believed that this was what could have been the reason she had to take the life of Bunny.
As Cosmopolitan noted, these were a series of intentional fake-outs, whereby everything was kept hidden until the very end: each clue, from the diner matchbook to Bunny's last day-epoch emotional melt-down, was placed there with the intent to mislead the characters and the viewers in front of the screen.
But it was all in a dramatic revelation towards the end of the episode when Mabel, played by Selena Gomez, bursts out to reveal Poppy is the murderer and solves the mystery of that season of Only Murders in the Building.
In retrospect, Bunny's death is likely to be the springboard for much deeper explorations of ambition, identity, and the lengths some people will go to be seen and heard.
Poppy's desperation for recognition and her secret affair with Kreps stand out against the darker side of ambition in the world of true crime.
All episodes of Only Murders in the Building are available to watch on Hulu, each season gathers the complicated and often hilarious cases of the Arconia.