by Jeff Alan, Contributing Writer
In the past several years, Apple TV+ has produced some real winner series like Ted Lasso and The Morning Show, and a few great series that seem to fly slightly under the radar like For All Mankind, Mythic Quest, and Physical. And another series that is great, and which I believe is getting overlooked on the tech giant’s streaming service, is The Afterparty! After the success of the previous season, the show was given a Season Two renewal with a mostly new cast to go along with its main leads for a brand new mystery.
The second season of The Afterparty begins a year after Season One ends. Aniq (Sam Richardson) and Zoë (Zoe Chao) are happily in a relationship and on their way to the wedding venue of Zoë’s younger sister Grace (Poppy Liu), who is marrying peculiar Silicone Valley businessman Edgar Minnows (Zach Woods). Aniq is doing his best to make a good impression in front of Zoë’s family because he plans to ask her dad (Ken Jeong) for permission to marry her. Unfortunately for Aniq, things go disastrous quickly, and his first impression goes south.
Throughout the rehearsal and the wedding, he slowly gains the friendship of Edgar and witnesses strange moments between the other members of the family, including Edgar’s mother Isabel (Elizabeth Perkins), Grace’s ex-boyfriend Travis (Paul Walter Hauser), Zoë’s Uncle Ulysses (John Cho), Zoë’s mother Vivian (Vivian Wu), Edgar’s adopted sister Hannah (Anna Konkle), and Edgar’s childhood friend and best man Sebastian (Jack Whitehall). However, the day after the wedding, Edgar and his pet lizard Roxana are found dead by an apparent poisoning. Before he knows it, Aniq is brought into the fold of another murder mystery, and with the help of Zoë and detective Danner (Tiffany Haddish), they need to solve the case before it’s too late.
This season of The Afterparty is an absolute delight, capturing the fun and humor that the previous season started and building off of it, and taking the series in another great direction! Like the previous season, each episode involves the detective(s) sitting down with each one of the persons of interests, and hearing their account of the events leading to the discovery of the body, but each point of view is told through a different genre. Unlike the previous season, however, the genres tackled in this season are a little bit more niche, for lack of a better word. Season One brought some of your more common genres like horror, action, and musical. This season brings in some lesser highlighted genres, like detective noir, an episode that looks like a Jane Austen romance, slick con artist heist film, a psychological thriller, and even a creatively done found footage episode. Being able to do so many genre-specific sets and costumes cannot be an easy feat, and the production design and wardrobe department deserve huge acknowledgement for their ability to rise to the occasion!
But by far one of my favorite episodes to come out of the season is Episode Four, which tells the story of Hannah, and is modeled and shot to look like a Wes Anderson film. Covering the filmmaker’s signature style, it has all of his trademark touches, like his use of the font Futura in his typical yellow color, his very symmetrical camera movements and angles, and his use of slightly obscure classic rock music. Being a huge Anderson fan, I found myself tickled at every nod and reference to the director I adore. But references and homages aside, I think this episode tells a great story, and I enjoy seeing Konkle (one half of the Pen15 duo) in anything I can watch her in.
The acting from all of the cast is wonderful! Like the first season, every character is clearly defined and has their own little quirks that make them feel wholly unique and fun to watch. Woods’ portrayal of Edgar and his many strange idiosyncrasies is really funny, and I can’t imagine another actor in the role of this awkward but good-hearted character. And Aniq is given even more time to shine his ability to put together a mystery and solve the case with Danner’s help. I am not the biggest fan of Haddish; I think she can be a little over the top with some of her characters – especially this one – but I have sort of learned to accept her silliness, and she does have a few good moments where she gets real with Aniq about the case. I think it’s worth mentioning that she can bring it down to earth when she needs to.
I am really loving this series as more and more episodes get released. I sincerely hope it gets picked up for another season of more crazy mysteries and genre-hopping!
Rating: High Side of Liked It
The Afterparty is currently streaming on Apple TV+
You can read more from Jeff Alan, or follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and Letterboxd