At the end of season three of Hulu’s Emmy Award-winning TV megahit Only Murders in the Building, Mabel’s future prospects look bleak and uncertain. Selena Gomez’s character, Mabel Mora, had lost her apartment lease in the Arconia Hotel, she was not in a serious relationship, she was homeless, childless, and had no career goals beyond spending her rapidly diminishing youth (Mable has turned 30) with two eccentric senior citizen fellow travelers in the hotel, Charles Haden-Savage (Steve Martin) and Oliver Putnam (Martin Short)solving murder cases and running a murder/mystery podcast.
In this self-reflexive mood, Mable concludes that her prospects are not what she envisioned. She confides her feelings of malaise to her crime-solving partners. She is seriously thinking of chucking it all and starting fresh all over again.
Charles and Oliver are dismayed at the thought of losing Mabel.
“You can’t leave us,” they protest. “You are the Mabel between the Charles and Oliver sandwich. Without you,” they conclude, “we are just two old, stale slices of white bread. You are the glue that holds us together.”
Indeed. That was a revelatory piece of truthful dialog by the brilliant writers of Only Murders in the Building. Selena Gomez is the glue that holds the series together. She has become the pivotal character, the axis around which the storyline revolves. Mabel Mora’s character arc has evolved over the first three seasons, and so have Selena Gomez’s acting chops on the show.
Gomez was already a show biz veteran by the time she was cast in the role of Mabel Mora in season one of Only Murders in the Building. Her career began as a child actress on the popular kids’ show Barney & Friends. Later, she left the Purple Dinosaur for greener pastures on the Disney Channel. There Gomez became a teen idol for her role as Alex Russo on the Disney Channel sitcom, The Wizards of Waverly Place. The young teen’s star continued to rise with her chart-topping singing and recording career.
But the question among critics when the cast for Only Murders in the Building was announced was, could Gomez hold her own alongside comedy legends like Steve Martin and Martin Short? Would Selena be able to deliver the clever, witty, screwball comedy-like dialog and back-and-forth rapid repartee with any comic conviction? The answer, we know now, is a resounding YES. She has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt she is more than ready for prime time.
Gomez’s Mabel Mora is a street-wise, potty-mouthed character — a perfect foil for Charles and Oliver. She delivers her low-key, subtle, acid rejoinders in a quiet, deliberate monotone, with a laconic, slightly nasal tone, yet with laser-like accuracy. She has the coquettish, sexy, deadpan demeanor of Gloria Grahame, along with the cynical but vulnerable qualities Linda Darnell portrayed so brilliantly in the classic film A Letter to Three Wives.
Mabel Mora is a conflicted person. On the one hand, she relishes and is obsessed with solving crimes. Mabel keeps Charles and Oliver focused on the task at hand. On the other hand, that obsession is the locus of her questioning the value and validity of her life. But the affection and chemistry between this podcasting, crime-solving trio is undeniable, and yes, the show’s writers, Charles and Oliver, got it right: Mabel Mora is the glue — no, make that the “super glue” holding it all together.
Mabel Mora may have doubts about her future, but that certainly is not the case for Selena Gomez. She unfortunately and unjustly, still has not won a much deserved Emmy or Golden Globe for her terrific comedic acting on Only Murders in the Building. However, she did recently win the award for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her work in the offbeat, Spanish-language film, Emilia Perez from writer/director Jacques Audiard.
Additionally, Gomez has been cast in the lead role of the biopic of Latina rock singing superstar Linda Ronstadt. She will also produce a reboot of her hit Disney Channel sitcom, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place. This on top of her many product endorsements, charitable work. And, oh yeah, did I mention, a cooking show on the Food Network? And did we mention that Gomez was recently proclaimed the first Latina billionaire!
There are many irons in the fire for this native Texan, but Gomez, despite her young years, has proven she has the talent and right stuff to hold it all together and then some!
Produced in association with Latin Heat
