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Jordan Stokes, Matthew Wrather and Pete Fenzel overthink “Only Murders in the Building” (spoiler-free), the latest entry in the beloved “Steve Martin plays an artist struggling to make an example of the thing you are watching” oeuvre. Riding the line between low-affect sadness and broad comic shtick, the new Three Amigos: Selena Gomez, Martin Short and the aforementioned Martin form a polygon of character dynamic. The overthinkers follow with ruler and protractor in hand to chart their angles.

But is this show about podcasting, or is “Murders” about the struggle of millennials and the younger to find places to live and belong in the Children of Men heckscape that is the American housing market? We trace Murders’ style and influences back to the 2006 New Yorker personal history column, “Moving On a Love Story” by Nora Ephron, where she describes the eccentric characters and underhanded dealings at a rent-stabilized Manhattan apartment building. And we purse who can, and cannot hang with Martin Short, with a bonus never-before-heard Hollywood true story.

Plus, a bonus delve into the phama-sexual phantasia of the Hulu commercial plan, as we overthink “Chapter 22: House of Frostfire,” a romantasy-themed commercial for the Nexplanon etonogestrel implant—coming to a “Murders” showing or doctors office waiting room near you. Reproductive health is important—more important, perhaps, than tightly knit chain mail, flower lore for offscreen coitus, or practical footwear in the foods.

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Further Reading

• “Moving On, A Love Story” by Nora Ephron, in The New Yorker
• ‘The Bear’ Sets Record For Comedy Wins At Emmys—Despite Controversy Over Category Placement
• The Royal Tenenbaums – “You’ve Made a Cuckold of Me” via Brian Thesing on YouTube
• The Morning After | Final Scene | Superbad via Boxoffice Movie Scenes on YouTube
• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas on goodreads
• This Organon campaign for birth control jumps into BookTok’s ‘romantasy’ craze from Medical Marketing and Media
• Listening for Traffic on the Ones, by Glenn Eichler in The New Yorker