What I’m Watching: The Afterparty (Season Finale)

The Afterparty: Season 1, Episode 8 “Maggie” (B+)

I’m so happy that this is just a season finale since this show just got renewed for a second season ahead of this finale’s airing. This episode’s title was a bit of a misdirect, showing how Maggie saw the evening for just a few minutes, and I liked that it was the final confirmation that Danner needed in order to make her accusations and identify the real culprit. Having it be Brett would have been too easy, though he did a remarkable job of making himself seem guilty by getting so angry and publicly threatening to kill Danner. Walt seemed like a logical suspect, but he just wanted to be seen and remembered, even if he had to streak to accomplish that. Yasper, on the other hand, did have an axe to grind, and his story was very over-the-top in a fantastic way, probably one of my favorite episodes of the season. That he still just wanted fame and glory even after he got arrested said plenty about the type of person he was. I love that Danner was circling around sampling snacks while she was making her conclusions, and I could definitely see her returning to solve the next case. Aniq and Zoe getting a happy ending but with a typically invisible Walt in the back of the car was a fun way to finish a very enjoyable season. I’m not sure who will be back next season, but I’m on board for whatever it’s going to be. More please!

Season grade: B+
Season MVP: Too hard to choose!

What I’m Watching: The Afterparty

The Afterparty: Season 1, Episode 7 “Danner” (B+)

This was definitely a half-hour distraction that had absolutely nothing to do with the current case, but I imagine there will be some connection that will come to light, even if it’s in the form of a major realization that the person telling the story doesn’t choose to share with anyone else. The sheer number of guest stars contained in just one episode rivaled everyone we’ve seen throughout the past six, and that made this seemingly irrelevant journey very much worth watching. Reid Scott is back to playing the mean, manipulative operator he perfected on “Veep,” who may have far more villainous tendencies motivated by a potential TV consultant deal here. Fred Savage was the husband, Kelen Coleman was the apparent mistress, and Barbie Ferreira from “Euphoria” was Willow. My favorite appearance was Jimmy Tatro from “Home Economics” as Danner’s partner, who proudly described Arizona as “Florida of the West” when she assumed he was from there because of how he acted. It’s hard to know what all this had to do with Xavier’s murder, but I did like that Aniq and Zoe got to hear everything that was going on until the very end when Culp finally discovered the phone and knew that Aniq had been listening all along. One of them might go down for murder if this case gets solved at all, but at least Zoe seems to be open to spending time with Aniq, even if her furious side came out again when Brett once again returned with their daughter.

What I’m Watching: The Afterparty

The Afterparty: Season 1, Episode 6 “Zoë” (B+)

I must commend this show for its constant creativity, in this case using both animation and multiple versions of Zoe’s personality, which she expressed through drama to a stunned Danner while we were watching it play out via animation. It does all help to explain why she opted to get into the helicopter with Xavier and wasn’t so into her dorky crush Aniq, who she was later able to convince Fun Zoe was the right choice once it was too late and he passed out immediately after throwing up. I like how she ended her entire interview by telling Danner that if you tell the story a different way, none of them did this, to which she responded that Xavier was still very much dead. We did learn that it was Jennifer #2 who was sending the text messages to Chelsea just to mess with her, which doesn’t help us in any way given that she’s still missing. I enjoyed Jennifer #1’s angry reaction to Aniq and Yasper trying to use her phone charger, and all of their antics were fun, like Aniq not knowing how to escape the panic room even though he works with escape rooms for a living. Culp was on to them even if Yasper somehow disconnected the call (only to reconnect it later despite not being able to answer the phone again?) when he put in the AirPod, and now he’s gone ahead and gotten Danner booted from the investigation because he’s just not having her methodical and long-winded approach.

What I’m Watching: The Afterparty

The Afterparty: Season 1, Episode 5 “High School” (B+)

The concept of Walt as a character is an entertaining if exaggerated one, since it seems virtually impossible that no one would remember him and that they would all fail to notice his existence at any point either in the past or the present. You’d also think that he would be angry that no one bothered to thank him for hosting a party at his house and that everyone just assumed it was Brett’s uncle, and it doesn’t seem like he would have made any stronger of an impression if he had gone through with his streaking. Even when he finished telling the story, everyone else just returned to their own problems that had nothing to do with him. I did enjoy the episode-long flashback, which showed the Jennifers being terrible to Chelsea, who was then consoled by Zoe, while Yasper made the mistake of blaming the break-up of the band on Aniq, prompting Xavier to push him and his carefully-mixed CD into the pool. The bigger grudge that Aniq should rightfully hold against Xavier is that he was able to get off without any consequences because of who his dad was, while pressing charges against Aniq meant he lost his scholarship. Finding out that the note was merely bad lyrics the now-dead Xavier had written meant the end of one trail, but I’m very curious to see why it is that Zoe has just offered herself up as a suspect. She seems like the most level-headed of the entire group, so I’m eager to see her version of events.

What I’m Watching: The Afterparty

The Afterparty: Season 1, Episode 4 “Chelsea” (B+)

One thing, of many, that I can really appreciate about this show is that each new episode makes it feel like you’re watching an entirely new series. This one played a lot like a horror movie, with Chelsea fully aware that she might be hallucinating those terrors at any moment and that they might not be real. Brett already seemed creepy and irritating, and knowing that he and Chelsea had an affair adds an entirely new layer to all of this, with Zoe being particularly uninterested in talking to her given the role she played in breaking up their marriage. I did like that, after everything, they got to bond over just how bad Brett is at sex and how much he loves high-fiving. Walt following her to give her back her car keys was yet another opportunity for people not to remember him even though he was wearing his name tag, and though no one is considering him just yet, it’s very possible that he’s the killer. Chelsea had her sights set on making Xavier pay but ultimately tried to get him to stop drinking the cat poison, something that unfortunately felled poor Aniq, who she legitimately thought was a good guy. But rather than implicate herself, something her interview certainly should have done given her expressed intent to get revenge on Xavier, she ended up revealing that there was someone holding even more of a grudge against Xavier who we’ve already heard from and who definitely doesn’t believe himself to be the killer: Aniq.

Take Three: The Afterparty

The Afterparty: Season 1, Episode 3 “Yasper” (B+)

I’m a big fan of Ben Schwartz from his work on “Parks and Recreation” and “House of Lies,” in addition to a few other projects like the movie “Standing Up, Falling Down,” and I was excited to see him in the ensemble here in the first two episodes. He didn’t have all that much to do, and therefore it was an absolute delight to see him used in the most perfect possible way in this installment. As soon as he started playing his own music to tell his story, I knew it was going to be a blast, and it was made even more fantastic by Danner’s irritated reaction to his need to do it that way. Obviously, in his perception, he was celebrated by everyone when he walked in, and he got to perform not one but several superb musical numbers. The “one shot twice” was my favorite, and I like that Walt almost got a verse in but Yasper interrupted him. I was also thrilled to see another comedy mainstay, Tiya Sircar, from “The Good Place,” as Jennifer 1, who got interrupted doing meditation while she was pregnant and then appeared multiple times as one of Yasper’s very pregnant backup singers. The “purgatory of the dot dot dot” was another great song, one that showed how Yasper was trying so hard to just get Xavier to give him the time of day and he was so close until the celebrity jerk got killed. Chelsea once again seems most suspicious, and now she’s going to be next to explain what happened according to her. After Cusp was so terrible at accessing the evidence video that he deleted all the footage, Aniq was the enterprising detective of the episode, inventing an absurd game involving diarrhea to out the killer by their handwriting, something most didn’t want to do but Walt was honored to be asked to play.

Round Two: The Afterparty

The Afterparty: Season 1, Episode 2 “Brett” (B+)

Episode two of this show was a lot of fun, showing a different side to the story that wasn’t just a retelling of the same events and offered plenty of background to another character we only saw briefly in the pilot. It’s obviously a slanted, embellished tale, one featuring absurd things like Brett competing with Xavier to have the better pee stream and then fighting with a security guard, who he managed to defeat in order to gain entry to Xavier’s house. I’m thrilled that Tiffany Haddish has such a great role on this show, with Detective Danner stopping him to tell him he couldn’t keep comparing Aniq to Urkel as an insult since she had a crush on him and applauding herself for knowing that the hat landed first. I also enjoyed the snippets of Yasper that we got where he said he didn’t have any business cards because it’s the future and then completely failed to comprehend the basic conclusion Aniq had just come to based on the new information he had. The news that Detective Cusp got a call from the captain about how he and Danner weren’t supposed to be in charge of the case just adds a new dimension, one of them racing to solve it before they’re edged out. It’s definitely seeming like Chelsea might be the killer given her vendetta against Xavier, though I imagine we’ll get her side soon. Indigo has been a very minor supporting character so far, and her apparent obsession with breastmilk cheese is definitely off-putting.

Pilot Review: The Afterparty

Check out my one-minute take on every new pilot, which is embedded below and you can also watch by subscribing to movieswithabe on YouTube.