In Apple TV+’s new murder mystery comedy show The Afterparty, the cast is as killer as the plot… literally. This should go without saying, but bears emphasizing when the show’s cast includes such screwball comedy favourites like Dave Franco, Tiffany Haddish, Ben Schwartz, Ike Barinholtz, and Ilana Glazer. The storyline is also uniquely creative. It’s like watching the board game Clue in action, but through the veil of powerful high-school dynamics that can revert adult personalities back to age seventeen in an instant, with typically funny and relatable consequences.
Former nerd and ska-band member turned international star Xavier (played by Dave Franco) winds up dead on the beach below his oceanside mansion while hosting his high school’s fifteen-year reunion after-party. An over-acting Tiffany Haddish and underratedly funny John Early are the police officers who show up to stop the party in its tracks and interview all of its attendees one by one, episode by episode, about their actions and possible motives over the course of the night.
The fact that the already-elaborate party is halted by a bloody murder, underscores how deeply weird it is for all of these people to be stuck together. The characters also have nothing in common other than their alma mater despite knowing each other intimately from growing up together. While they all have jobs, spouses and cars in their own names now, their relationships and insecurities make them all teens again once the police dig into their individual psyche.
At the time of writing this article, the show is five episodes in (warning: mild spoilers ahead). While some episodes are hit-or-miss, the less successful episodes are still more compelling than the majority of television today.
The appeal of the show is largely due to its strong handle on its own meta-references. Each episode takes the structure of a different cinematic genre that aligns with the individual character’s personalities. For instance, the first episode takes the shape of a romantic comedy as it follows Aniq (played by Sam Richardson), a sweet, earnest nerd with a long-standing crush on the artsy girl Zoe (fittingly played by Zoë Chao) from chemistry class. It’s rife with wine-drinking in the rain and stolen glances during karaoke—and given that it’s the first episode, we don’t think much of that.
That’s why it’s surprising that the next episode, about Zoe’s ex-husband Brett (played by Ike Barinholtz), veers sharply into action-movie territory despite the actor’s usual portrayal of more goofy characters. It offers us car chases and carefully adjusted leather jackets, and it makes Brett the hero of the night’s story because that’s how he sees himself.
As you cycle through the episodes, their vastly different structures begin to make sense. One thing becomes clear, no memory seems truer to life than your own. The show rewards you for paying close attention as different relationships and conversations take different shapes based on the different perspectives we experience them from. For instance, a smooth encounter between Aniq and Zoe looks much more awkward from Aniq’s best friend Yasper’s (played by Ben Schwartz) perspective.
It’s a gentle, quietly funny show given its blood-spattered main plot mechanism, and it leads you to wonder how you would be heading back to your own high school reunion so many years later. You would like to see yourself as the noble hero who solves the mystery, but you never know. For all you know, you could be the annoying one doing yoga, breathing in the corner. The writers do a good job of making the murderer’s identity secondary to the main point of the show. As a viewer, you immediately care about the characters and their relationships. You really just want all of them to get along and support one another.
Furthermore, if you love comedy television, the name-brand value of the cast holds a lot of value. The show is full of incredible actors who arguably haven’t received the universal blockbuster acclaim their talents deserve. Ben Schwartz gets a special shoutout as the far-and-away shining star of the show. I’m biased as a diehard lover of his Parks and Recreation character Jean-Ralphio Saperstein, but his episode and character on the show are my favourite, given that he plays a deeply kind and loveable Jean-Ralphio clone. In his bombastic musical episode, Schwartz sings, dances and showcases his tremendous talent. It also helps that the songs are catchy and clever enough to lodge into your brain for days after watching.
Similarly, Ilana Glazer of Broad City fame and Jamie Demetriou (“Bus Rodent,” for Fleabag fans) both bring subtle tenderness to characters that could look like caricatures of high-school stereotypes in less skillful hands. It feels rewarding to see these actors promoted to main-character billing and receive the focus they deserve in the ensemble cast.
While the show is never going to be my favourite show of all time given its quietness and unusual timbre, I can recommend it strongly in spite of, and perhaps because of that. It’s filled with surprising plot turns and sensitive portrayals of the adolescent moments that irrevocably shape a person’s personality. I’ve already watched the series twice over, and I still catch new moments to appreciate with each re-watch. I look forward to Fridays more because that’s when new episodes air, and I feel confident knowing that each new episode offers its audience multiple things to enjoy.
The Afterparty deserves more acclaim and recognition than it has received so far. I can safely recommend it as a Reading Week binge and not just because it promises Ben Schwartz swinging from ropes while harmonizing with popular-girl backup dancers (though that should be compelling enough).