In its first season, The after party created by Christopher Miller, instantly became the best comedy on Apple TV+. A hilarious whodunit with a terrific ensemble cast and a genuinely engaging mystery, it blended genre and style to create an innovative and exciting new take on comedy that, given its structure, almost seemed impossible to replicate. Still in the second season The after partyThe series has managed to continue the quality and excitement of this concept (with a few exceptions), cementing it as one of the best comedies on TV.
The second season brings back Anik (Sam Richardson) and Joe (Joe), who are now dating after the events of the first season. They are going to the wedding of Joey’s sister Grace (Poppy Liu), who is marrying wealthy crypto investor and lizard enthusiast Edgar (Jack Woods) The first episode, “Anik 2: The Sequel”, begins by showing that Edgar is found dead the day after the wedding — and, once again, Anik and Joey find themselves in the middle of another murder mystery.
Anik calls Detective Danner (Tiffany Haddish) who helped solve the murders in season 1 and has since left the force to write a book about the events. Together, Anik and Danner investigate various possible murder stories and try to crack the case. Among the suspects is Edgar’s loopy mother Isabel (Elizabeth Perkins); Her strange adopted sister Hannah (Anna Kankle); and his business partner Sebastian (Jack Whitehall) on behalf of the bride’s family, the suspects include Grace’s mother and father, Vivian and Ken (Vivian W And Ken Jeong); Grace’s long-absent funny uncle, Ulysses (John Cho); and Grace’s ex-boyfriend, Travis (Paul Walter Hauser)
‘The Afterparty’ Season 2’s “Mind Movie” is great with a few exceptions
As in the first season, Detective Danner likes to explore the “mind movies” of each of these suspects, getting an idea of their larger story. For series, it allows the directors to play with all the approaches of different genres. For example, “Aniq 2: The Sequel” makes Aniq look like an awkward rom-com. Meet the parents, while “Grace” gets a period romance, and “Travis” is told as a humorous film noir. In this second season too, the creator is Christopher Miller and the entire team continue to find smart, fun ways to use these jumping styles and manage to never feel like a gimmick.
However, this second season may rely a little too much on this single flashback. In the first season, The after party Spending a lot of time in the present gave us the backstories of these characters, as we saw the dynamic between them as they waited their turn to ask questions. The present still has ongoing stories, yet they don’t feel as interesting as what happened in the past. Whereas in the first season Anik and Joey, or Anik and his best friend Jasper, would-they wouldn’t-Ben Schwartz), Season 2 doesn’t have anything that comes close to that dynamic. The closest we get to this line is Joe running his own investigation in addition to Danner and Anik’s work, but at least in the first nine episodes (the tenth episode wasn’t screened for critics), these modern-day stories don’t have the same excitement as flashbacks.
Yet the flashbacks and exploration of different styles are just as fun this season as they were last time, and maybe even more focused than before. The aforementioned “Travis” is a particular highlight, thanks to an incredibly sincere and funny performance by Houser, who believes himself to be a detective with his love of conspiracy theories and Reddit. The style of each episode is a delight, especially when it surprises you or goes with a tone that pulls the rug out from under this investigation. It’s a great way to see how versatile these actors are, and in Woods’ case, we see how easily he can fit into any style with perfection. Our view of who Edgar is evolves over the course of the season, and Woods always does a great job of making any possible version of himself seem real.
The biggest misstep this season, however, comes from the choice of style of one episode in particular. While most episodes go for a broad genre or film style, “Hana” tries to recreate it Wes AndersonIts distinctive tone, which makes his films great, is little more than his collection of quirks. It also doesn’t help that the timing of this episode isn’t ideal, considering the hollow attempts to make things look Andersonian on social media, and that Anderson released one of his best films this month. Asteroid City. It is clear that this episode, which is basically an adoption Royal Tenenbaums, is done out of love, but it feels relatively empty—a shame considering large chunks of the episode. Yet this season shows that focusing on specific filmmakers can work, as one particularly melodramatic episode evokes the films. Douglas Sirk Effectively, but unfortunately, it misses the mark when it comes to a version of an Anderson theme.
‘The Afterparty’ is still one of the most innovative shows today
Yet these are relatively minor issues in terms of the quality of the second season as a whole. The greatness of this cast rivals the first season, and the mystery is just as compelling as the last. The after party It’s nice to feel like you’re one step ahead, with the different perspectives of this great cast, twisting the mystery in ways that were never expected, only to pull the rug out from under the viewer. Like a great comedy, this season is always funny and often laugh-out-loud funny, and as a mystery, it always knows how to keep the audience on their toes. Something truly special for a show both on this level and the comedy in its central mystery.
The after party A series that could have easily been one and done, yet this fantastic second season shows that there are plenty of ways to keep this party going. It remains imaginative and intelligent in how it plays with what we expect from comedy and mystery. Even if some ideas don’t quite work like they did in the first season, The after party Takes interesting swings that continue to make it one of the most innovative and creative shows today.
Rating: a-
Its first two episodes The after party Come to Apple TV+ on July 12. New episodes will air every Wednesday.
