Only Murders in the Building leans fully into the season’s emotional core and investigative engine. After last week’s shocker — the reveal that Rainey and Sofia know each other and seem to be in cahoots — “Flatbush” flips the switch: “home” is theme, mirror, and clue. As a bonus, Loretta (Meryl Streep) returns in ravishing form.

“What makes a home? Four walls holding everything you’ve gathered? Or a vault for your memories?” Loretta asks as we watch her little apartment go up in flames after an electrical short. She knocks on Oliver’s (Martin Short) door — who, ironically, still has a home… for now. Because that tempting offer to buy his apartment, the very letter he tried to toss and fished out of the trash, will matter. Hold that thought.

Mabel and Charles arrive with the murder board: thanks to a strategic gag order, the trio cannot talk about the three billionaires who outplayed them in Episode 4; that leaves the widows. Charles has his phone back but is distracted by Last Gasp, an app where he’s trading messages (and peculiar photos) with a “Priscilla.” Detective Williams shows up to collect the finger Charles was keeping in his freezer — only to discover it’s gone. Bad sign.

Meanwhile, THĒ (Beanie Feldstein’s chaotic, irresistible presence) returns, and with her, building footage that should corroborate her story about movement on the 14th floor. The problem? The file’s been wiped. Between old jealousy and new jabs, Mabel and THĒ replay their broken friendship — until the truth elbows in and a reconciliation sticks.

As for the widows, we head to Flatbush. Oliver takes Loretta to the neighborhood where he grew up and where Rainey lives. It’s a painful trip: flashbacks to a creative kid in a purple scarf who didn’t fit the foster-parent mold (Sue and Al), the bullying, the misfit ache. The script strikes gold by staging this alongside the present: Rainey’s house is for sale — which, in a show like this, usually blares like a siren.

Loretta then slips into her finest persona: Emily Lawler, the Cajun-drawl detective with a well-and-gator backstory from a Law & Order: SVU bit (one of those appearances that never aired but live in an actor’s heart). In a sparkly trench, she enters the off-limits room to “Vissi d’Arte.” Rainey appears with a dagger (which she swears is the one Maria Callas used in Tosca at the Met), and the encounter becomes a ballet: Loretta buys the dagger and lets Rainey keep it, earns trust, and gathers grief. Rainey admits she’s selling because Lester is everywhere and because she can’t afford the place alone. They leave thinking she’s innocent — until they spot Rainey handing a bag of cash to Sofia. Onward.

Between clumsy tailing and a petition against New York’s first casino — hello, foreshadowing — Oliver and Loretta duck into a neighborhood theater. It’s the episode’s beating heart. There, Oliver tells how the stage made him feel seen for the first time. He recalls the role he couldn’t play in Oliver!, the costume he wore anyway, and the adoptive parents who refused to watch. And he confesses today’s bind: the offer for his apartment is massive, “late-career Brando” big, but the Arconia and the stage are the only places he’s ever been himself. Loretta coaxes him onto the boards: she delivers Emily’s monologue with grace and precision, he whispers, “Hey, Fagin, these sausages are moldy!” — and we get one of the most beautiful scenes in the series. Martin Short, a quiet giant of drama, and Meryl Streep, beyond adjectives, are an electric duo.

The truth about the widows lands on that very stage: Rainey runs the theater’s kids’ troupe, and Sofia is just dropping off Lester’s “last cut” (cash from a mysterious Arconia side hustle) and props for Newsies. Rainey, disarmed, reveals she was at the theater when the crime happened and that Lester was saving to buy a place in the Arconia, their shared dream. Casewise, the episode officially clears the widows — and shoves us back toward the billionaires.

Back at the Arconia, the cops arrive with courtyard footage. Oliver tells Mabel he is going to sell; she gets it — the scene is tender, sad, and adult. Scrubbing the video, the penny drops: not only is the clip from the night of the murder tampered with, but the Last Gasp logo matches the security company’s: a peach. And who has a company branded with a peach? Bash Steed (Christoph Waltz), one of the “untouchables.” To make it worse, “Priscilla” texts: “You’re such a smartypants. Now I need to come hunt you down.” The game flips to a cat-and-mouse — with the cat already inside the house.

Why “Flatbush” is special

Because it braids the theme and clue with rare elegance. The episode asks what a home is while it burns one, threatens to sell another, and reveals the dream of a third was to live in the Arconia. Investigatively, it closes one corridor (the widows) and opens a bigger one (the billionaire consortium, with Bash’s reach over cameras and data). In character terms, it gives Oliver layers that ache and illuminate; gives Loretta a return with humor and dignity; gives Mabel a truce with THĒ — even if that arc, frankly, feels a bit undercooked beside the hour’s emotional weight.

Bottom line, “Flatbush” reminds us why we love this show: a mystery well laid, comedy that both heals and cuts, and humanity. If the subject is home, “Flatbush” is living room, kitchen, and bedroom: it welcomes, exposes, and sets the house for what’s next — and what’s next is big.

MiscelAna’s note: Yes, that offer for Oliver’s apartment is not “just” a financial hook. It’s a clue, a trap, a mirror. And when the show plants peaches in our path, we know: there’s poison in that sweetness.