TV Recap: "Only Murders" Season 5, Episode 2 Unlocks Lester’s Legacy

Only Murders in the Building fans have seen a lot of doorman Lester Coluca over the show’s four seasons, but how well did we really know him? The second episode of Season 5 takes us back in time to get to know more about this season’s murder. This bottle episode is also full of nods to the past for longtime fans of the show.

Season 5, Episode 2: “After You" - Written by Ben Smith & Ella Robinson Brooks

This episode is bookended by documentary footage about New York City’s doormen and the vital role they play in the lives of tenants. Among the interviewees is Lester Coluca (Teddy Coluca) of The Arconia, who was in his 32nd year at the building at the time of the interview. He shared that this job was meant to be a pitstop on his dreams of becoming a movie star. As he reminisces about this significant chapter in his life, we flashback and relive it alongside him.

George (Tony Plana) was the doorman at The Arconia when Lester (Emory Cohen) was hired as a younger man. Lester asked how he would go about getting time off for auditions, but George had no patience for his outside ambitions, telling Lester that his life has to be about the tenants and if he does his job right, he will fall in love with the building.

During his first day on the job, Lester met one of the building’s most notorious tenants, Bunny Folger (Jayne Houdyshell), who used his birth date as lottery numbers that day. George taught him the art of holding doors, always saying “After you" as tenants left. George also taught Lester to anticipate tenants’ needs, pointing out that since it’s chilly out and Bunny wasn’t wearing a coat, she was likely having a hot flash and would want her radiator turned off later. “Pay attention to the small stuff. That way, you know what’s coming," George shared.

Lester got his first introduction to Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) one night while polishing the lobby floors. Oliver tried to fake an injury, but Lester saw him gently lie down to try to act like he had fallen. Oliver came clean, saying he made an offer on a competitive unit and is in need of a hero inside who can make the other applicants disappear. Lester helped him get his place.

As an aspiring movie star, Lester was excited to have a celebrity tenant - Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin). Lester told Charles of his own celebrity ambitions, and Charles gave him the same kind of smarmy advice he gave a group of fans waiting for him in the lobby. George scolded Lester for being distracted by Charles’ fame, saying there’s a “homeless woman" in the courtyard causing a racket. The woman was actually Rainey (Madison Wray), short for Lorraine, an opera singer with twins who had a hard time sleeping unless they were being walked and listening to her. The Arconia’s courtyard had perfect acoustics. In a montage, Lester and Rainey fall in love and get married in the spot where they first met.

Lester first met little Mabel (Isabella Aparicio) when she was young enough to be carried by her mother (Anna Leah Maltezos) on visits to see her aunt. He would often find her alone and bored in the building, so he would bring her along to do tasks, like decorating the lobby Christmas tree and holding the door for others, using the phrase “After you."

We see a lot of life unfold around Lester. Howard Morris (Michael Cyril Creighton) had a hard time coming out to his mother (Siobhan Fallon Hogan), but when he finally did, she couldn’t have been prouder. And when she passed away, Lester was there for Howard. Teddy Dimas (Nathan Lane) would traipse through the lobby with a revolving door of women who weren’t his wife. Charles and Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch) would pass by his desk, talking about auditions for big films like Gladiator and National Treasure, unintentionally reminding Lester of his unfulfilled dreams. As Charles would get depressed over losing these roles, Lester was there to try to cheer him up. The same was true of Oliver when his marriage to Roberta Putnam (Adriane Lenox) fell apart. He used his hero, Harrison Ford, as a source of comfort to both, saying they were all late bloomers.

When Lester first started at The Arconia, George gave him a very important item - the crank to the elevator. He described it as being an extension of the young doorman’s arm. When the building was upgraded to an electric elevator, Lester continued to carry it with him. However, the upgrade had him worried that the building would no longer need a second doorman. Throughout his time at The Arconia, he routinely saw George interacting with a man in a suit wearing a gardenia who would often give him a fat envelope full of cash. With the electric elevator, Lester shared his concern with George, who decided to finally introduce him to the mysterious man, Nicky Caccimelio (Bobby Cannavale).

“Consider this your big break," George told Lester, announcing that he was retiring. With Lester as the one and only doorman at The Arconia, he was tasked with carrying on a tradition, working late every Saturday to let Nicky and guests in. He was given his first envelope of cash. “Welcome to the family," Nicky congratulated Lester. As George packed up his things to go, he warned Lester to keep his head down. “The less you know, the better," he added. When Lester held the door open for George to leave, he repeated the phrase he was taught: “After you."

A few other notable vignettes occur as Lester reaches older age. We see him grab the old elevator crank to use as a weapon one night when Bunny and Uma Heller (Jackie Hoffman) told him of a creep outside preying on women. Another night, teenage Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) came in with two friends, Althea (Beanie Feldstein) and Tim Kono (Julian Cihi). And on the night of Tim Kono’s murder, we see Lester responding to the alarm as the building was evacuated.

When Lester was introduced to Nicky, he didn’t realize he was making a lifetime commitment. When he asked for one Saturday night off to celebrate his anniversary with his wife, Nicky told him that’s not the arrangement, suggesting he settle for a fancy Sunday brunch. It was implied that Lester would be doing this for the rest of his life, or until Nicky decided to replace him.

Rainey (Dianne Wiest) was a supportive partner to Lester through all of this. When Tim Kono died, and as Only Murders in the Building became a popular podcast, Lester beat himself up over having let the murderer in. She told him one in thirty years wasn’t bad. But as the years went on, even she had to admit that four was a lot of murders under his watch. He decided he needed some help.

It was a busy week at The Arconia as Lester began training Randall (Jermaine Fowler), thanks in no small part to the wedding of Oliver Putnam and Loretta Durkin. Randall told Lester that he plays the upright bass and dreams of playing in a band. Lester imparted George’s wisdom to Randall, including “After you." He also showed him his ledger, a gift from George, that contains everything he needs to know about the building. When Randall sees an envelope of cash, Lester refuses to talk about it, warning him not to speak to the man with the white gardenia. “If you’re lucky like me, you’ll blink and fall in love with the place."

The episode closes with the end of Lester’s interview from the documentary. He talks about how The Arconia could’ve gotten automatic doors and gotten rid of its doorman, but you become an integral part of the community within. “For us doormen, it’s never about us," he concludes, as he wraps up to get back to work.

To be continued in Episode 3, “Rigor."

Songs Featured in this Episode: