There’s a show on Hulu called “Only Murders In The Building.” It stars Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez – and now Nathan Lane,  with cameos by Tina Fey, Jane Lynch, Jimmy Fallon, and Sting (who is a murder suspect.) Yes, I’m serious – and yes, those people.

I started watching it because of my love for Martin Short and Steve Martin, and Selena was basically a bonus. The show is about fellow neighbors living in an upscale and renowned building in New York, and their quest to discover who murdered one of the tenants, on a dark and dreary night. Think of it as a classic Who Done It  murder mystery, peppered with the antics and idiosyncrasies of this leading cast.

It’s…good. I want it to be great! But, it’s good. (The theme music and intro animation are awesome!) I had all but given up on it, now a few episodes behind, until recently I had one of those days that was simply required to be concluded with my good friend the television. Maybe you’ve heard of him and can relate?

I dove into Episode Seven at the very same time I dove into my meal-prepped-from-Sunday fusili with made-from-scratch meat sauce. I know, #mybestlife…

The previous episode’s recap transitioned with music into the new episode, but between chews and reaching for more parmesan cheese, I was caught off guard —- with total and complete silence.

Thinking the episode was paused, I glanced down to see that it was definitely still playing. Gently, a low frequency and rumble sound appeared, followed slowly by piano syncopations of the theme music. All leading up to the introduction of a new character: Theo, who looks straight into the camera, signs a sentence and smiles, which is then translated with a subtitle reading, “People talk way too fucking much in this city.” 

There was four minutes of zero audible dialogue, followed by the intro animation, then the entire remainder of the episode, with no spoken words.

I was gobsmacked. The episode captured 100% of my interest and focus, which is really quite rare for…anything… these days. I fell in love with the story, absolutely encompassed with what I was watching. At the end of the episode, I spent a few minutes thinking about why those 31 minutes were so endearing to me. I’ve got two things for you:

FIRST

The portrayal and presentation of Theo, a person who is deaf, was so masterfully interwoven into this story line. The episode was about telling Theo’s story, which was told without audible words and instead told with signing and subtitles and beautiful sweeping melodies, yet did not focus at all on Theo’s deafness. They introduced a new character who was deaf and a new episode that was without words, yet there was no focus on Theo’s deafness. Instead, the focus was on Theo and his story. 

I think what’s so deeply moving to me about this, was the flawless inclusion and real equity of a person of Deaf culture. So masterfully done, that I really had to think hard about why this episode resonated so much with me.  

I believe we find equality in the existence of our stories. Connected together as beating hearts with souls who are alike by our differences and separated by only the paper-thin walls we construct in our minds to block out the seemingly blinding radiance of experiences and uniquely lived-lives of others. 

The contents of our stories may be so very different, but the existence of our stories are not.

SECOND

People talk way too fucking much in this city. Listen to the story, which may not be yours.