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Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Only Murders in the Building Season 4.
Guess who made a return to Only Murders in the Building Season 4? None other than Jan Bellows (Amy Ryan), the sinister bassoonist and original case culprit from the show’s first and second seasons. Charles (Steve Martin) had become terribly afraid of Jan since finding out what kind of person she really is, but her surprise return to the series actually got him to feel a little more comfortable (as comfortable as being around an escaped murderer gets). Nevertheless, Jan jumpscares Charles just as much as she does the audience, and she stays just long enough to share a sweet moment of reflection with Charles, but also to share some killer intel (literally). The second episode of Only Murders Season 4 reminds us of the strange attraction that thrives between Jan, Charles, and Sazz (Jane Lynch), and it gives us some insight into just how much Sazz cared about her long-time pal.
Why Did Jan Come Back to ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 4?
In Episode 2 of Only Murders in the Building Season 4, Charles begins to see Sazz’s ghost as he processes the death of his friend, not unlike Mabel in Season 1, but in the midst of his hallucinations is a very alive and tangible Jan as an escaped convict (via parkour, no less). The comeback criminal has busted out of prison and has come to find Charles in his apartment, awkwardly placed on hold with 911. Jan explains that she hasn’t heard from Sazz for a week and is worried about her. After finding out why Charles is calling the authorities — to report Sazz’s murder — she and Charles have a talk about what he, Mabel (Selena Gomez), and Oliver (Martin Short) know so far, and about how important Sazz was to the both of them.
Jan’s re-appearance this season is special because, even though she ended up being a crazed murderer, she had become emotionally attached to Charles, and consequently, Sazz. Instead of breaking out to murder somebody, Jan reunites with Charles purely out of concern for Sazz’s well-being. Jan, ironically, has some skin in the game this season, as she even laments that the method of her lover’s murder was, to a degree, heartless. Back in Season 1 of Only Murders, she described to Charles how aroused it makes her feel to watch her victims suffer up until their last breath. Her style of murder is admittedly passionate. Finding out that Sazz was killed by a sniper made her most upset, because it meant the murder was cold and impersonal. In a twisted way, it would have made Jan more comfortable to know that the killer at least took pleasure in taking out Sazz.
Jan, Sazz, and Charles’ Relationship in ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Is One of the Weirder Ones We’ve Seen
When Charles and Jan met, things were seemingly normal: meeting on elevator rides by happenstance, going on romantic dinner dates. They even made sweet bassoon-accordion music from their separate apartments, which was, obviously, something every Arconia resident was never going to be okay without. But the closer the Arconia sleuth trio got to cracking the Tim Kono case, the more unsettling Jan’s behavior became towards Charles. It became clear that Jan’s attraction to Charles’ attention went way deeper than she let on, and by the end of the first season her true colors were on full display.
Jan has always been obsessed with Charles. She loves to be a priority in general, but she particularly had Charles’ full attention when they were in a relationship since he had been feeling so alone. The impact that her actions had on his psyche was anything but harmless. In Only Murders in the Building Season 3, Charles felt some increased apprehension to breaking off another significant relationship, since the last one involved a confessed murderer. Although he was already having trouble feeling content as a single man, Jan’s influence as a threatening and manipulative partner left Charles afraid of separating himself from romantic relationships.
After Charles and Jan had officially gone their separate ways, Jan found someone new who would give her all the attention she so badly needed; someone who was a hop, skip, and a jump away from Charles-Haden Savage. By Season 3, Jan and Sazz had been dating for some time, which likely started the day that Sazz visited her in Charles’ place to break things off between him and Jan. Jan and Sazz were both artists who had an affinity for danger, and they were both wildly sensual people, so it’s not hard to see why they dug each other.
Sazz Is the Real Hero in ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 4
Unbelievable as it sounds, Jan and Charles are actually cool with each other now, and it’s all thanks to Sazz. During a heart-to-heart about their friend, Jan admits to Charles that she really did love Sazz, and that Sazz is the reason she hasn’t killed him. It can be assumed that Jan was able to let her guard down since she had become a priority with Sazz. And judging from her posthumous conversations with Charles, Sazz likely vouched for him all the time around Jan. Charles and Sazz spent almost 40 years working together as a main actor/stunt double duo. They were great partners and best friends. Before she died, she had been voicing some concerns that someone in the Arconia might be out to get Charles, and Jan cared enough to warn him that a killer would only get rid of a body if it was the wrong target. Being the kind of friend she was, ghost-Sazz reassures Charles that even if he was the intended target, she was happy to take the fall for him. “That’s the gig,” she says, “I take hits for my guy.”
It’s no surprise that Charles’ apartment was Jan’s prime destination after her prison break. Jan’s crazy about Charles, but her concern for Sazz was even stronger than her urge to kill him (and she fantasized about it more than we care to mention). As ghost-Sazz sat quietly between them, they were able to reminisce about their times with Sazz, and find some peace with where they are now. Sazz’s relationship with both of them smoothed over (most of) the tension that Jan’s presence brought to Charles and to the audience.
Only Murders in the Building is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S. New episodes premiere every Tuesday.
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