Summary
- Charles falls asleep while watching Once Upon a Time in the West, creating a mysterious connection to Sazz’s death in the season four premiere, “Only Murders in the Building.”
- The episode title, “Once Upon a Time in the West,” alludes to the trio’s journey from the East Coast to the West Coast and references the film’s silent opening scene.
- “Only Murders in the Building” turns the tables by giving a silent ending in the season four premiere, revealing important details without dialogue.
The premiere of the fourth season of Only murders in the building contains a reference to the 1968 western epic Play me the song of death – but what does this reference mean? Only murders in the building Season 4 picks up from the cliffhanger of the season 3 finale with Sazz’s mysterious death in Charles’ apartment. However, the season 4 premiere subverts audience expectations and turns the usual formula on its head, as the podcasting trio takes a while to figure out that another murder has taken place.
Only murders in the building Season 4 sets up the premise for the season: the trio are invited to Los Angeles to discuss a film adaptation of their podcast, and they decide to investigate Sazz’s mysterious disappearance while they’re there. At the beginning of the episode, Charles falls asleep while watching Sergio Leone’s revisionist western masterpiece Play me the song of death in his apartment. Since the episode is named after Leone’s film, this reference goes a little deeper than just showing a few seconds of the film on screen.
Highlights of the fourth season of Only Murders In The Building: Once Upon a Time in the West
Charles falls asleep while watching Once Upon a Time in the West
In an early scene in Only murders in the buildingIn the premiere of season 4 you can see Charles Play me the song of death in bed. He falls asleep during the opening scene at a train station just as the train whistle blows. After that, Charles keeps hearing a persistent whistle for the rest of the episode. He associates it with Sazz, who he claims is a whistler, but at first it seems to be his subconscious remembering the whistle effect from the movie (and then turns out to be something else entirely).
The most obvious indication of Play me the song of death in the premiere of season 4, the The episode is literally called “Once Upon a Time in the West.” The title has two meanings: It obviously refers to the recurring mentions of the film of the same name, but it also refers to the trio’s journey from New York on the east coast to LA on the west coastCharles also notes that the film’s opening scene is almost entirely silent.
How the Season 4 Premiere of ‘Only Murders In The Building’ Reverses ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’
Once Upon a Time in the West begins with silent films; the premiere of the fourth season of Only Murders ends with silent films
Play me the song of death begins with a remarkably silent sequence that Charles praises as unforgettable, in which three bounty hunters wait quietly at a train station in the middle of nowhere for their target to arrive. Only murders in the buildingThe Season 4 premiere turns that on its head. Instead of a silent opening scene, it has a silent ending. The episode ends with the characters finding out important things about Sazz and her death, but not talking about it (punctuated by the Play me the song of death Opening).
