This Secret About Mabel's Past Unlocked OMITB's Latest Mystery
Of course, there was a metaphor.
Only Murders In The Building Season 2 ended its sixth episode with one of the biggest cliffhangers to date, with Mabel having committed an actual crime. Theories abounded over who she attacked, or perhaps her loss of control was not how it looked. However, the series opened unexpectedly, with Mabel waking up in a bed that was not her own and the eventual reveal that Mabel’s dad is key to her memory loss on Only Murders, including one on the night of Bunny’s stabbing.
Warning: Spoilers for Only Murders In The Building Season 2, Episode 7 follow. Episode 7, “Flipping the Pieces,” found Mabel back in the Arconia, but not in her apartment. She somehow wound up in Theo’s bed. More concerning, she had no memory of the subway incident. As Theo probed, she admitted this wasn’t the first time she’s experienced shock-induced memory loss.
Once again, the show flashed back to her discovery of Bunny’s body — this footage has cropped up in nearly every episode. But this time, the memory was different. Upon hearing the sound of someone in her apartment, Mabel grabbed a knitting needle out of her basket. Acting on instinct, she stabbed at the figure staggering toward her, only to realize too late it was Bunny.
But was that what really happened? At first, it wasn’t clear, but as Mabel talked, she had no idea. She couldn’t remember finding Bunny; her brain was afraid to let herself re-live the trauma lest she discover herself at fault.
Meanwhile, Mabel’s memories of when she was 8 years old kept interrupting the action. Mabel remembered visiting her father (played by Mark Consuelos!) after he moved out of their family’s home. The two did puzzles together, with her father suggesting they flip the pieces upside down to make them harder to assemble.
These memories initially seem like Mabel’s dad was a divorced father who continually disappoints his kid. However, as each successful memory of puzzling (and watching The X-Files) played back, her father got thinner, and his hair disappeared. It turned out Mabel’s parents didn’t divorce. He had stomach cancer, and it was progressing quickly.
The horror of her father hiding his condition until it was too late was traumatic for Mabel, who felt like it might somehow be her fault. Since then, her brain has blocked her from remembering traumatic incidents, starting with her father’s passing. She was “flipping the pieces,” just like he told her, so that she couldn’t assemble the puzzle.
Mabel’s realization of why she couldn’t remember things was key to unblocking her memories, both of her dad’s peaceful passing in the hospital as she lay beside him and of Bunny, who bled out in her arms. And in remembering, Mabel discovered she truly hadn’t stabbed Bunny. The knitting needles were already out of the basket before she entered the apartment.
So, Mabel is in the clear, once and for all — at least in viewers’ eyes. But with the footage of the train attack and the loss of the matchbook, it may be some time before the cops come to this conclusion as well.
Only Murders In The Building Season 2 continues on Hulu with new episodes streaming weekly on Tuesdays.
