Villainess Review: Becky Butler (Only Murders in the Building)

What a sophomore season of Only Murders in the Building! We saw our favorite trio work hard to solve the Arconia's latest murder, the victim being owner Bunny Folger, as well as attempt to clear Mabel of the murder. The season saw the return of Season One's main villainess, Jan Bellows; however, the only thing Jan was guilty of in Season Two was wanting to rekindle her relationship with Charles. Since Jan's return, the trio's plan to trap the killer with a glitter bomb somewhat fizzled, we received an episode centered on Mabel's past (mainly her memories of her late father), and we did get the reveal of "Glitter Guy": detective Daniel Kreps.

However, the trio did not believe that Kreps worked on his own, he had to have someone helping him. Mabel's confrontation with Kreps at a boxing gym revealed that the detective was seeing someone who had a podcast, and that led Mabel, Charles, and Oliver to Cinda Canning, the host of Only Murderers in the Building. After all, Cinda had been smearing the trio (especially Mabel) on her podcast, and Mabel's pleas to Cinda's assistant, Poppy White, to help her saw two things: refusal and a surprise reveal from Poppy. Regarding the latter, it was a doozy--Poppy's real name was Becky Butler.

Why is that a doozy? No reason, other than the fact that Becky Butler's supposed to be dead! The disappearance and murder of Becky Butler was the centerpiece of Cinda's previous podcast, All is Not OK in Oklahoma, but as the season finale, "I Know Who Did It," fully revealed, Becky disappeared from her boring life in Oklahoma, which also saw her sexually harassed by her small town's mayor, and ended up working for Cinda as Poppy White. Poppy's revelation increased the suspicion towards Cinda, with Poppy helping the trio get a confession out of her controlling boss. The moment came during a "killer reveal party," but their attempts to get a confession out of Cinda were only met with denial. Charles, Mabel, and Oliver even resorted to Poppy's idea, which was playing on Cinda's fears of slow motion and the inside of tomatoes (yes, that's apparently a thing), but Cinda remained defiant.

Mabel realized that Cinda's denial was because she didn't do it, but she had an idea who did: art gallery owner (and Mabel's girlfriend) Alice Banks. It was established during the season that Alice had made art from Mabel's tragedy, and Mabel figured that Alice turned villainous in her quest to keep her gallery afloat, doing so by demanding Rose Cooper's famous painting from Bunny--and killing Bunny when she didn't get what she wanted. Alice berated Mabel in response, and even went as far as grabbing a knife and stabbing Charles, who apparently bled to death while Alice was being restrained. Cinda expressed pride towards Mabel, even saying that she could have her own podcast, which drew anger from Poppy, who stated that Mabel was lucky and that nothing tied Alice to the murder. She also vented over everything she had done for Cinda, while also reminding Cinda that she suggested Rose Cooper to her, only for Cinda to dismiss it completely.

During Poppy's rant, she started sneezing, after which Mabel figured out that Poppy was interested in Rose's painting. Not only was the sneezing another giveaway (the killer sneezed on the night in question), but Poppy gave herself away by mentioning the still-alive Charles' stepdaughter, Lucy, hiding in the secret passageway. In addition, Cinda revealed that she knew all along that Poppy was Becky Butler, and she was the true criminal mastermind behind everything, which began with colluding with Kreps to fake her own death and pin her "murder" on the aforementioned mayor. Once Poppy was hired by Cinda, she wanted to increase her fame with a podcast on Rose Cooper, and it was Poppy who demanded the painting from Bunny. When Bunny refused, Poppy stabbed Bunny to death eight times, and she revealed that she sent the text to the trio to get out of the building on the same night that they captured Jan as Tim Kono's killer.

However, Mabel entered and saw Bunny dying and uttering the words, "14 Savage." In actuality, she said "14 Sandwich," which was Poppy's signature order: a liverwurst and marmalade sandwich (blech!). Poppy simply said that all she wanted was for Cinda to notice her, and she said that her life was ordinary before everything happened with her. Becky/Poppy was arrested, along with Kreps, Charles found a new romance with Joy, and we have a new story for the upcoming Season Three...with Paul Rudd playing that season's victim.

So just like Season One, Season Two gave us a main villainess, this time in the form of Poppy White, aka Becky Butler, who was played by Adina Verson. The character first appeared in two episodes from Season One, and it was in the first season finale that the villainess committed the murder of Bunny Folger, meaning that "Open and Shut" had one murderess defeated, while another one was at large. Becky/Poppy was introduced as a quiet and insecure young woman, and from what we learned about her in the season finale, it's easy to see why. Her life in Oklahoma wasn't an easy one. It was boring and tedious, and originally, all Becky wanted to do was to get away and start a new life under a new name, which she does. She ends up crossing lines when she fakes her own murder and sets up an innocent (yet disgusting) man, but even that doesn't make her any less sympathetic.

What does, however, is Becky/Poppy's willingness to resort to murder to further her ambitious goals, and in that regard, she transforms from a somewhat sympathetic figure into a cold-blooded and remorseless villainess. Even as she is revealed, we still see emotional pain in Poppy, but in spite of this, she wrecked a lot of lives with her actions. Verson's performance was amazing; she really acted out Poppy's insecurities and her quiet demeanor very well, and she truly showed out with her comical rant and her villainous admission in the season finale. This isn't Verson's first time on a Hulu program; in fact, her first acting role was on an episode of Deadbeat. I hope to see more of Adina Verson on TV and in film, she is immensely talented and hilarious.

So ends the second season of Only Murders in the Building, and thanks so much for reading my review! Click the heart if you liked it and feel free to click the subscribe button as well, and if you really want to, feel free to leave a tip and/or pledge!

Check out Becky Butler's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!