The Afterparty Season 2 Review: The Genre-Jumping Murder-Mystery Returns To Prove It Still Has A Pulse
"This is not a sequel!" returning character Aniq (Sam Richardson) comedically insists early on in the season 2 premiere of "The Afterparty." The statement implicitly promises that this next batch of episodes of the well-received whodunnit series will steer clear of many of the tropes (and pitfalls) that have bedeviled plenty of other original properties — particularly ones that enjoyed breakthrough attention and quickly garnered calls for a follow-up. While that's usually not a problem for television, the Christopher Miller-created series seemed primed to become a victim of its own success. Based on the very specific premise of a high school reunion afterparty marred by a shocking murder (RIP Xavier, pronounced with a Z, naturally) and highlighted by the "mind movie" gimmick allowing each suspect to recollect their own version of events filtered through several distinct genres, any subsequent season would seem to have only two choices. Either take the "Knives Out" route of hitching its wagon to Tiffany Haddish's Detective Danner alone and forgo any of the other fan-favorite characters/suspects introduced in season 1, or commit to the incredibly unlikely coincidence that anyone from the ensemble cast the first time around would manage to find themselves in the middle of yet another inexplicable death ... and at another afterparty, at that.
Thankfully, in quintessential Phil Lord and Christopher Miller fashion (both of whom are credited producers), Miller and his writing team chose to have their cake and eat it, too. Season 2 begins by following the now-established romance between Aniq and Zoë (Zoë Chao), our two main holdovers from last year. This time, the wedding of Zoë's younger sister Grace (Poppy Liu) becomes the new main setting as the premiere wisely breezes right to the inevitable murder: that of Grace's socially awkward and fabulously wealthy groom, Edgar (Zach Woods) ... and his beloved pet lizard, Roxana. When the decision is made to temporarily hold off on involving the police, Aniq wrangles the now-retired Danner into the mix again.
And just like that, we're off to the races with another hilarious, unpredictable, and devilishly smart whodunnit that will keep you guessing until the end.
(Re)setting the scene
Read any Agatha Christie novel and you'll know that no murder is complete without an impossibly precise chain of events that allows equal amounts of suspicion to fall on several characters at once. As established in season 1, "The Afterparty" brings the added wrinkle of playing around with the idea of perception and an impeccable grasp of genre storytelling, leading to each episode following the unique personalities of whichever suspect is currently being interrogated. Season 2 instantly keeps things fresh, however, by putting Aniq and Danner on equal footing this time around and making the two into partners with the shared goal of solving the crime of Edgar's death rather than remaining at odds as they were previously when Aniq was considered a prime suspect in Xavier's demise.
Of course, that means once again indulging in all sorts of genre-hopping hijinks and antics, thanks to the colorful assortment of suspects provided by the new ensemble cast. Scene-stealers include Elizabeth Perkins' widowed and stereotypically overbearing mother of the groom Isabel, the smooth-talking Brit and Edgar's business partner Sebastian (Jack Whitehall), John Cho's world-traveling "funcle" (it means "fun uncle," believe it or not) Ulysses, Ken Jeong's neurotic father of the bride Feng and his wife Vivian (Vivian Wu), overeager conspiracy-theorist and Grace's ex Travis (Paul Walter Hauser), and Edgar's oddball half-sister Hannah (Anna Konkle). The structure of the season allows them all to receive their moment in the spotlight, each and every one featuring a backstory more creative and zany than the one before. And if last season's wide-ranging wealth of classic genre influences seemed impossible to top, well, it's only scratching the surface to tease what's in store with the delightful "Pride & Prejudice" riff from Grace's perspective, Travis' old-school 1950s noir yarn, a serendipitously timely Wes Anderson spoof, and even a Hitchcockian homage in the penultimate hour.
(Full disclosure: critics only received nine out of the 10 total episodes of this season in order to review.)
Familiar faces
But as much as each episode succeeds on the strength of its meticulous recreation of various film genres — going far beyond surface-level craft and manifesting in an intuitive grasp of matching visual style and narrative purpose to camera angles, musical scores, editing, and even aspect ratio changes — none of this would matter much without giving viewers a reason to care about the mystery at the center of the season or how it unfolds.
That's partly where the returning trio of Danner, Aniq, and Zoë come in. Not only does the tireless Danner once again receive her own personality-driven and standalone episode, adding further dimension to what could've been a caricature in lesser hands than Haddish's, but Aniq's constant attempts to receive the blessing of his girlfriend's parents in order to propose to her end up driving much of the conflict and drama. Richardson continues to do brilliant work as the bumbling and frequently tongue-tied Aniq, never shying away from the physical comedy that makes himself the butt of many jokes, yet never at the expense of our investment in seeing him come through when it matters most. Zoë, meanwhile, remains just as motivated to protect her sister and her family in general from easy accusations — a relentless pursuit that provides an emotional core to hold onto, leads to some surprising reveals, and makes full use of the talents of the entire cast.
With every secret brought out into the open and all sorts of conflicting motives pointing towards even the most surprising suspects, the clocklike precision of every episode's script only becomes more and more apparent. Yes, there's a whole host of painfully relevant pop culture gags, ranging from cryptocurrency to fedora-wearing Redditors to annoying TikTok trends. But "The Afterparty" never once loses sight of the bigger picture.
Keeping things fresh
Viewers wary of a stale retread won't be disappointed by the twists and turns thrown their way, as the true pleasure of the season comes from seeing how each story subtly builds upon and adds further meaning to the last. At one point, Zoë references how the mystery from season 1 was ultimately solved by paying close attention to the little details, such as minor discrepancies between different stories. Without giving anything away, developments point towards the necessity of an even more observant eye to figure out the tangled web revolving around Edgar's murder. Half the fun results from trying to guess how each episode will unfold based on whichever suspect takes centerstage, or from watching the impressionistic opening credits sequence and steadily putting together the clues of how each visual applies to the major story beats. (Alas, there are no weird, random bears this time around.)
That makes this the rare series to actually lend itself to a true binge-watching experience, forcing us to keep every detail fresh in our minds as we're swept along from suspect to suspect at a breathless pace. Unfortunately, "The Afterparty" works against itself in this way by only releasing in weekly installments. The fact that most (if not all) of the episodes end on cliffhangers will either keep you hooked from week to week ... or drive you a little nuts.
But even with an episodic structure that verges on formulaic at times, the writing team manages to take wring everything they can out of such a potent premise. Even if it's difficult to imagine how this show might keep the title theme going for hypothetical future seasons (in this case, much of the action takes place before, during, and after the actual wedding ceremony and reception), the moment-to-moment thrills more than justify another several hours spent with some of the broadest and funniest archetypes to appear in any recent whodunnit. By coming up with a fresh story worth telling, season 2 of "The Afterparty" proves this series still has a strong, steady pulse.
/Film Rating: 7 out of 10
"The Afterparty" season 2 debuts with its first two episodes on July 12, 2023, followed by subsequent episodes releasing every Wednesday on Apple TV+.