‘The Afterparty’ Season 2 Review: Apple’s Genre-Bending Whodunit Goes Bigger but Not Better
After delivering one of Apple’s most delightful watches with The Afterparty, Chris Miller returns for another round of genre-bending stories, though he is not coming alone this time. Miller directed, wrote, and executive produced (along with Phil Lord) all eight episodes of season 1 but had a smaller role in the second batch of episodes, only helping with writing and directing in specific instances (of course, he was probably busy overseeing Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse). Eric Appel takes the main directing stage of The Afterparty season 2.
The high-concept series follows a murder investigation that happened during an afterparty of a major event for our characters, all of who have a direct connection to the deceased. The investigator will be hearing the events of the night from each witness, thus going from suspect to suspect. The trick? Each of their stories will be told inside a specific genre, from a romantic comedy to a musical or a Fast and Furious rip-off. The first season saw Tiffany Haddish‘s detective Danner trying to solve the murder of a young musician during his high-school reunion party. Our point of view was Aniq (Sam Richardson), who returns along with Danner for the second season.
It’s been a year since Xavier’s murder in the first season, and now, Aniq is finally ready to meet Zoë’s (Zoe Chao) family during her sister’s wedding. But once the groom (Zach Woods) is murdered the morning after the ceremony, Aniq is forced to call Danner and solve the murder; meanwhile, Zoë tries her hardest to prove her sister’s (Poppy Liu) innocence. After all, she comes from Asian heritage and is marrying into a wealthy white family. Plus, her mother-in-law is on to her.
Tiffany Haddish in “The Afterparty” season 2, premiering July 12, 2023 on Apple TV+.
The Afterparty season 2 tries its hardest not to fall into typical sequel stereotypes by openly embracing them. A running gag (which eventually got tiring) during the first episode involves Aniq telling his story as a romantic comedy, something Haddish has already heard from him, so she insists this is the sequel to his season 1 episode. In terms of exploiting the underlying idea for the series, season 2 of The Afterparty took everything the first season taught them and ran with it. There are episodes inspired by The Royal Tenenbaums or The Maltese Falcon, but unlike the first season, most of it is used as the living representation of the Leonardo DiCaprio viral gif as opposed to in service of the story.
The success of the structure of the first season lied in each episode advancing the overall narrative, opening new plotlines and bringing in new suspects, while not losing any of them or the overall focus. By the end, each character seemed to have a clear motivation to do it, and also an excuse that would exonerate them. Season 2’s story is by design much larger, but it fails to replicate the feeling that any character in the story could have done it. There are entire episodes where new plot threads are opened up but there seems to be no real reason for them to exist in relation to the main plot.
That being said, though, therein also lies the beauty of the second season. By the end of episode 9, with only one more to go, the mystery feels wide open because the characters and overall investigation have been so distinctly different from the first season. Aniq takes a step back and sides with Danner as she interviews the suspects, which feels very fitting given the resolution of his arc in season 1. The new season does a compelling job of furthering its main character’s arc and his relationship with Zoë while introducing new characters that we’ll hate to love and others we’ll love to hate, and all emotions in the middle. (New additions include Ken Jeong, John Cho, Paul Walter Houser, and Jack Whitehall; all excellent in it, though I wish someone advised Jeong against taking the same role over and over again.)
Zoë Chao and Sam Richardson in “The Afterparty” season 2, premiering July 12, 2023 on Apple TV+.
Doing a second season of a series that lived and died on its creative concept was always a hard job, and the writers probably did the best they could given the circumstances. Bringing back the two most charming characters from the first season seemed like a good idea and ultimately they were able to walk the questionable line of “another two murder investigation with the two of you involved?” Think of Only Murders in the Building season 2 — a compelling narrative that felt forced by the studio as opposed to naturally created by the writers. But they still made it work, somehow.
And much like that show, The Afterparty season 2 goes bigger, featuring wilder stories that ultimately deviate our attention too much from the plot. And yet, they are still very fun to watch, particularly as a Sunday afternoon binge. If you enjoyed the first season, there is really no reason not to do the same for the second one.
The Afterparty season 2 starts streaming on Apple TV Plus on July 12.
Zach Woods and Poppy Liu in “The Afterparty” season 2, premiering July 12, 2023 on Apple TV+.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
