‘Only Murders in the Building’ finally made me care for its most annoying character
When it comes to Only Murders in the Building, some characters are less enjoyable than others. One of those characters, for me, has been Sazz Pataki. Jane Lynch played Charles-Haden Savage’s (Steve Martin) body double and best friend. She was odd, a character, but loyal. And she’s the victim this season.
Sazz was shot in Charles’ apartment when the shooter in question seems to have thought Charles was home. It left Sazz dead on the kitchen floor, but when Charles and the team got back there, she was gone. We didn’t know if it was a mistake or if the killer wanted that added mystery to the mix, but it has led to a newfound appreciation and love of Sazz, for me.
She was someone who would do anything for Charles. That was her best friend, and even if she was running around and working all the time, she always came back to be there for him. In the second episode of the season, Charles is watching old footage of her, and it is emotional when he talks about how it’s now the only footage that exists of her face despite her long career. She was always behind him, supporting him, and it clearly means a lot to Charles.
What really made me change my tune on Sazz, though, was Charles’ reaction to her death. He always kind of saw her as just there because that was who she was, but knowing she was gone switched something in Charles. He wasn’t going to just have Sazz there for him.
When a character is “annoying” or someone you maybe don’t care about, it doesn’t really matter when they die. Or their fictional death maybe isn’t that meaningful. But with Sazz, the reaction to it made me love her so much more.
She was a support system
It was a perfect way to set up a character. You only see Sazz as Charles’ body double who is overly loyal, so when she dies because of that job title, the guilt weighs on Charles. If he really saw Sazz as just his annoying double who worked with him for all these years, he wouldn’t be this upset.
But his reaction to her death, the pain he’s feeling, and his inability to cope with it really moved me. I can think Sazz is just this overzealous woman who thinks she is Charles at times, but Only Murders in the Building does used Charles’ grief to show that Sazz is just a creative who took her status as his double beyond seriously.
It wasn’t about just being Charles. It was about understanding him and working to make him shine. Sazz knew that her job was to support Charles, and she’d do whatever she needed to do to succeed.
I don’t think I’ve fully come around to calling Sazz my favorite character, but she is someone who I can now have empathy for. I will miss her randomly showing up and being there for Charles, and that’s a great arc for a character.
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