When I found out that Jane Lynch’s Sazz Pataki was the victim at the end of season three of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, I knew the John Hoffman comedy series wasn’t playing around. For the first three seasons, we had to get to know the person whose murder we were investigating, but Lynch’s Sazz has been with us all along. Sazz was one of Charles’ oldest and dearest friends. Season four raises the emotional stakes, and saying goodbye to our stuntperson extraordinaire is something that Lynch approached with grace, humility, and humor.
Right before I hopped on the line with the Emmy winner, I realized that Sazz’s death was the first time that Lynch has a played a character who has died.
“You know, I think you’re right,” Lynch admits. “You heard it here first, everyone.”
Luckily for us, we don’t just get to see Sazz in flashbacks as the mystery is pieced together, but she literally talks to Steve Martin’s Charles even though he is the only person who can see her. It’s a striking chemistry shift, and it reinforces the bond between the actor and the person who took the hardest of blows for him.
“I loved those scenes,” she says. “Everyone would love to be a fly on the wall and hear everyone speak so flatteringly about you, wouldn’t they? Knowing that Steve [Martin] was the only person who could see me was very nice. I thought the exploration of the depth of our relationship was delightful to experience.”
Did Charles and Sazz ever talk about their feelings? Lynch doesn’t think so, but she points at the serious dedication the entire stunt community has for one another. There’s something about how everyone risks their physical well-being, and everyone respects what the other does. When we see Sazz and Jin Ha’s Marshall have it out near the end of the season, Lynch delivers on Sazz’s hurt.
“They probably didn’t [talk] about anything personal,” Lynch ponders. “I love Sazz so much, and she is one of those people that is guiless. Her heart is loving, though–she’s very simple in that way. I don’t think her and Charles had any deep, deep chats, but they knew it between each other. Her love for Charles and her love of her work are very strong. Everyone in that stunt community was passionate without strings. They’re affection was never conditional, so when she is thrown for a loop when Marshall betrays her. That’s not how the stunt community works. She couldn’t believe that someone she welcomed into the bosom of this family would do something like that.”
The fourth season brings us to Los Angeles, and one of the most detailed, excitingly new pieces of production design comes in Sazz’s apartment. It feels like her. Lynch was able to spend some time in the space, and she even took a piece of it home with her.
“There’s a drawing of Steve as Charles and me as Sazz in our identical outfits,” she says. “It’s a pen drawing in a frame that is hanging in Sazz’s apartment behind her desk. You can see it when the group goes in to investigate, and John [Hoffman], our showrunner, gave it to me. It’s in my home now.”
Often when we say goodbye to a loved one or we want to imbibe a tribute to them, we lift a glass in their name. What better place to toss one back than Concussions, the famous (infamous?) stuntman bar where Sazz undoubtedly spent a lot of post-shoot evenings. I couldn’t help but ask Lynch what Sazz’s favorite drink was.
“I think Sazz is a moderate drinker,” she says. “I think hers would have something sweet in it. Like a Manhattan with maraschino cherries–but she’d only drink half of it.”
Only Murders in the Building is streaming now on Hulu.
