The Afterparty

This is a funny, clever whodunnit with smart writing and an A-List ensemble of comic actors - but I had never heard of it - I am bombarded by trailers and promos for shows 24/7.

I don't know what the folks at Apple TV+ were thinking by slipping this ingenious gem under the promotional carpet.

It's a playful, smartly constructed mystery from The Lego Movie guys, with each episode being told from the point of view of a different suspect - each in a different movie genre style: romcom, action, thriller, musical, animation, and so on.

Everyone in the cast is at the top of their comic game, and they all seem to be having a great time. Now stop reading this and go watch it.

I've seen quite a few murder mysteries lately, so I'm glad this series does something different. By shaking up the murder mystery genre, each episode is...a different genre. Seeing a mystery unfold from different characters perspectives isn't entirely new, but the way it's presented in the show is. All the characters are pretty interesting and all have motive. The cast has great chemistry with each other. The show isn't quite excellent but it's a fun mystery to solve and I was genuinely surprised by the ending.

The first season of "The Afterparty" is somewhat similar to the concurrent "Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window": both have an eccentric sense of humor and march to their own beat, switch genres from episode to episode (hint: pay close attention to the opening animated credits), do not always give audiences what they want, and sometimes sideline the crime investigation part altogether. The quality varies from episode to episode, with 3 being thoroughly brilliant (it demands to be seen more than once) and 7 being the weakest (perhaps the only time where a bold narrative choice does not quite pan out). Episode 1 is very sweet, episode 6 is very creative, and episode 8 proves how elaborately and carefully designed the whole mystery plot is. Overall the season is very enjoyable, and the whole cast works together beautifully: even minor characters like Indigo or Walt are great. The second season is about as good as the first on the whole: perhaps it has nothing on the order of S1 E3, but it may be more consistent, with just one weak spot (E6). It maintains the same mix of deadpan humor and intricate plotting (with every episode we gain new insights), and most of the genre homages (particularly the one to Hitchcock) are spot-on. The S2 finale certainly ties everything together neatly, yet I found it ever so slightly underwhelming - I expected something a little more shocking. I will still be watching any future seasons of this show made by the same people. 8/10.

It's a very specific kind of humour, and I totally get why people would find the cast annoying - and for me that's a positive point for the series. The exaggeration and campiness of it is part of the whole format, and I think it's a fresh breath of air. It's not easy to sustain a 45 minutes comedy, and I think this show does it well so far.

I thought The Afterparty was going to be some corny comedy with juvenile humor. I was wrong. It is so much better than I expected. This is actually a pretty good murder mystery and the casts are terrific for both seasons. I love how each episode is told through the perspective of a different character, it makes the show seem original and clever and not just another who dun it show. It's almost impossible to guess the killer for each season (which makes it that more interesting). The best way to watch this is to binge it. As much as I was looking forward to this second season after how good the first one was, I still waited for all the episodes to drop before I started it. I suggest you do the same for future seasons because the story just flows better not having to wait a week between episodes. I really hope they keep doing new seasons with all new casts, kind of like what they do for The White Lotus. I think they can keep this going for several more seasons before it gets repetitive.