The Afterparty, with its latest three episodes, “Chelsea,” “High School,” and “Zoe,” prove that the humor from the beginning of the show wasn’t a one-off.
These episodes highlight Ilana Glazer’s Chelsea and Zoe Chao’s Zoe while adding to the mystery of the show as a whole.
Glazer slips into the role of a lonely individual seamlessly, and your concern for her character grows even into the latest episode, "Zoe."
Realizing that Chelsea’s problem, other than the glaring one of sleeping with Brett, is simply that an untrue rumor about her spread like wildfire, and who hasn’t had that happen?
Even though all signs point to Aniq being the killer, even now, the real shock would be if he actually had killed Xavier.
As someone we’ve been rooting for since the very beginning, framing Aniq as the killer, even with several reasons behind it, would be too easy.
Maybe not even easy, but more of a letdown considering we’ve seen that though everyone’s stories differ by highlighting different key moments, almost everyone has Aniq being a good, reliable person.
Then there’s Walt, who really gets his time in the spotlight on episode six, “High School.” He hosts a party, contemplates streaking, and claims he was part of a threesome all in one night.
Christopher Miller, the director of “High School,” frames Walt in the background of every single shot of the episode. Whether at school, at his home, or in the present, he is always lingering, albeit out of focus.
This is a person who can fly under the radar with no issues at all. Who’s to say he himself isn’t the killer?
Clearly, we don’t know yet, since the last two episodes have been spent trying to get Aniq out of being the number one suspect.
The writing on The Afterparty is incredibly clever, leaving you laughing one moment and gasping the next, but never going too far as to make you think something is totally out of the realm of being realistic or funny.
Guys are still jerks. Girls are still catty. Police officers are still bumbling idiots who are barely getting by on regulations.
The pacing of The Afterparty is one of the best things about the show. It’s never too fast or too slow in a way that makes it difficult to follow. The show always fits itself in a perfect slot of just enough information to get you thinking, but not overthinking.
Secrets come out and people are exposed and before we know it, we’re watching a group of adults trying to come to terms with things they’ve been lied to about for years.
It’s an incredibly difficult situation, one I could never imagine, but there’s also, again, enough realism that it doesn’t force viewers to suspend their disbelief.
It’s fun to watch. It’s exciting. It makes you laugh out loud. Unfortunately, many comedy shows now are finding that hard to do, especially more than once in an episode.
The Afterparty has that on lock.
And One More Thing:
- Chelsea being bi is a win for bisexuals everywhere.
- “Why wouldn’t we ask a police officer for help in a stressful situation? I don’t know, maybe all of human history?” So true, so iconic, Yasper.
- The soundtrack to episode five, “High School,” should be made into a Spotify playlist ASAP.
- Aniq honestly deserved to trash Xavier’s car like that.
