When they’re finally released, they see Teddy in a parking lot and are quickly ushered into an SUV. Oliver and Mabel are tied up in the back of Theo’s van, surrounded by corpses. The Arconiacs also hold signs outside the Arconia, which is beyond the fandom of any other true-crime podcast (at least to my knowledge). This, my friends, is exactly what it is like to be on Twitter dot com. To him, being a fan means “undying, absolute loyalty.” He’s seen with other Arconiacs, who are frustrated that it’s been one whole week since the newest episode aired and criticize the podcast (including Sting being a suspect). The episode opens with an Arconiac (as fans of the Only Murders podcast call themselves) played by Jaboukie Young-White. Unfortunately, the listeners are so excited to be around the hosts that they just end up agreeing with everything they say and leading the team further in the wrong direction. “Fan Fiction” cleverly examines the joys and the toxicity of fandom when the fans help solve the case before time runs out for the hosts. Without realizing it - or really even trying that hard, even though this is what Charles and Oliver wanted - the Only Murders in the Building podcast has dedicated fans with their own theories about Tim Kono’s murder and about the hosts themselves. It’s tough to follow an episode as emotional and creative as “ The Boy From 6B.” “Fan Fiction” shifts back to the show’s quirkier, upbeat tone and shows how much our main characters have changed since we met them. But now their inexperience is biting them in the ass - they’ve gotten major parts of the story wrong. This category of true-crime fandom is why Only Murders in the Building is a podcast in the first place: Charles, Mabel, and Oliver created it because they felt like being fans somehow made them experts. Fans who think of themselves as experts have been a toxic part of the true-crime space for years, with its peak in 2015 when Netflix’s Making a Murderer - a heavily biased documentary that erased the victim and her family’s perspective - inspired galaxy-brained theories online and confusing thirst for the defendant’s lawyers (what a time to be alive). People gravitate toward true crime - and true-crime podcasts in particular - because having a theory makes them feel like they’re a part of a “community,” as Charles puts it.