Diksha Sundriyal
The fifth season of Hulu’s ‘Only Murders in the Building’ leads the audience deeper into Arconia and its den of secrets. It begins with the death of the doorman Lester and leads Charles, Oliver, and Mabel down a path that leads to shocking revelations. While the trio engages in an investigation that tests them to the limits of their wits and investigative skills, the building also goes through some massive changes. This includes the arrival of a robot whose job is to take over as the new doorman of the building, but not everyone likes it. SPOILERS AHEAD.
LESTR the Robot’s Arrival Causes an Uproar in Arconia Staff
As part of the tradition, Arconia retained the system of having a doorman who would not only open the building’s doors for people but would also get to them and look out for them in more ways than one. Lester was trained for this, and when he decided to move on from the building, he started training a young man named Randall. Lester’s sudden death put a stop to Randall’s training, so he had to take some time to find his footing. Still, he was ready to learn and would eventually have taken Lester’s place as the rightful doorman. But then, LESTR the robot came into the picture, and Randall realized he may soon lose his job. With time, it turned out that it wasn’t just Randall’s job the robot was coming for. All the people who worked behind the scenes in the building discovered that the machine was picking up their jobs one by one.
This means it could be the doorman, the delivery man, the laundry man, the garbage man, or any other human who has been employed at the building to do the seemingly menial, but at the end of the day, essential tasks. With Arconia becoming infamous for its murders, longtime residents were starting to leave, leaving the management in a tough financial position. Considering that, keeping one robot instead of a bunch of people started to make more sense, and Randall and the other staff member were in no delusion that they would be kicked out as soon as the residents got used to the robot, who’d have acquired all of the required skills quickly and efficiently. With all this in mind, it seems that there is no option but to get rid of the machine.
LESTR the Robot Meets a Deadly End
The investigation into the building leads Charles and Oliver to seek out the staff. They are advised to do so by Detective Williams, who suggests that often, rich people say or do odd things in front of their help without caring how they will come across. The protagonists believe that the same holds true for Arconia residents, which means the staff is bound to know more than they think. This leads them to the underground section of the building, which they have never visited before, and they come across people they have never seen before. This includes Miller, the garbage man, who has been working at the building for three years, but neither Oliver nor Mabel knew about it.
While they don’t know him, he knows them, and he also knows what they have been up to because he has been through their garbage. They ask him about the garbage from the secret parlor on the day of Lester’s death, but he refuses to tell them anything. Their search eventually leads them to a table that has the words “Die Lester Die” carved in it. At first, it seems that this might relate to Lester the doorman, but Randall reveals that he carved those words for LESTR the robot because it is going to take him and the jobs of the rest of the staff. To gain their trust and milk information, Oliver decides to support their concerns by calling a building meeting. It is supposed to make other residents aware of the importance of the staff, but it doesn’t go as planned. The residents end up favoring the robot, which leads to a chaotic situation where the staff and the residents argue, while also blaming Oliver and his podcast for ruining everything.
In this chaos, the robot goes missing and later is seen falling down, ending up at almost the same spot near the fountain where Lester’s body was found. Soon after, Miller shows up at Charles’ place and confesses that he is the one who threw the robot down the window, which shows just how much he hates the machine. While the mystery of LESTR the Robot’s death is solved, it still leaves the mystery of Lester the doorman’s death alive. Fortunately, Oliver and Mabel showing support for the staff convinces Miller that they are worthy of his help, and he presents them with a crucial piece of evidence that takes the investigation into a whole new direction.
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