"The Afterparty" Is a Killer Blend of Comedy and Crime Drama

Created by Christopher Miller (writer of The Lego Movie, producer of Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse and executive producer of Solo: A Star Wars Story), The Afterparty stars Tiffany Haddish (pictured at top) as Detective Danner, John Early (aka Bejohncé) as her partner Detective Culp, Sam Richardson (Champaign, Il) as Aniq, Zoe Chao (Love Life) as his love interest Zoe, Ike Barinholtz (The Mindy Project) as Zoe's nasty ex-husband Brett, the Ben Schwartz as Aniq's BFF Yasper, Ilana Glazer (Broad City) as Chelsea, Tiya Sircar (The Good Place) as Jennifer No. 1, Jamie Demetriou (Miracle Workers: Dark Ages) as the hilariously forgettable Walt, and Dave Franco as their doomed celebrity classmate Xavier (who is already becoming a social media celebrity IRL).

There is so much funny to unpack in this thing that it's hard to keep it simple. But I'll try. Aniq is in love with Zoe, but he didn't make a move in high school, so Zoe married Brett. Just before the reunion, Aniq finds out Brett and Zoe are divorced so, at the reunion, he tries to pursue her. He's pretty successful until Xavier -- who feels like if Justin Bieber had a short clone that also acted sometimes -- decides he's got his sights set on her as well and steals her away to his afterparty. Aniq gets plastered, shows up at the party with Yasper and Chelsea, then passes out, eventually waking up just in time for it to look like he may have been the one to throw Xavier's silly ass from the second floor balcony to his bleach-blonde demise on the watery rocks below.

As the somewhat omniscient viewer, we know well enough that it wasn't him, but we all know a little thing like innocence won't prevent Aniq from getting locked up, unless he can figure out who really did it -- especially since whoever did is still in the house.

So, what moves this thing along is Danner's investigation. She's determined to solve the case before morning when the actual lead detective will show up and send her home. She also has very little interest in traditional, CSI-style evidence gathering, and would rather have everyone explain their version of the night's events to her because, "We're all stars of our own movie." Those are "mind-movies" to be exact, and they are the visual representations of each suspects' unique interpretation and recollection of the night, not unlike the narrative concept established in Akira Kurosawa's classic film, Rashomon.

The way this is shown to us, the audience, is through a genre-bend that takes place during each story, based on the personality of the person telling it. For example, Aniq is a hopeless romantic, so his recollection of the night plays back like a rom-com. Brett, on the other hand, is the school jock turned divorced dad, so his sensibilities give his flashbacks a Fast and Furious feel. You know, a lot of macho bullshit and references to "family." A party guest named Indigo (Genevieve Angelson) actually becomes the first example of this when she takes us on a black-and-white art-house-style romp during which she accuses poor Aniq of killing Xavier.

Aside from the engaging central mystery, the constant changing of style and feel from episode to episode, combined with what is definitely the funniest cast on Apple TV+'s roster --no offense Mythic Quest, I love you -- is by far what sets this series apart. Okay, the cast of Ted Lasso is pretty dope, too. But nothing is funnier than watching Sam Richardson act a fool with Ben Schwartz or trying to take Bejohncé seriously while he tries to take being a detective seriously.

In fact, the chemistry between the Afterparty cast members couldn't have been more obvious during the live-tweeting watch party held for the series premiere on Twitter last Friday night. There weren't too many truth bombs or major revelations coming from the creator or the actors that night, but the experience served as a special features section of sorts. There were plenty of little behind-the-scenes tidbits dropped, like pictures of the crude storyboard Miller made for one of the scenes, or how Richardson did his own stunts, or how hilarious it was the day Channing Tatum came to shoot the fake Hall & Oates biopic that he and Xavier made together called Private Eyes, which might be the silliest 15 seconds in the entire first episode.

Speaking of spoofs, fictional superstar Xavier has dropped a post-mortem EP in real life, and honestly, that shit slaps. There are four tracks -- "Do Wet," "Just Like U," "X Marks the G Spot" (which is a legit bop) and the hilariously ironic "Imma Live Forever," which is great because, you know, he definitely doesn't. (I first caught the video for the latter on my go-to, Vevo.)

My only gripe with this series might actually be the scheduling. Apple TV is doing that thing it does, teasing us by dropping a couple episodes at the start (in this case three) and then making us wait week by week for more. But I get that they are doing us a favor: Like a number of their other shows,The Afterparty also istoo good to just blow through.

The real question here is how will this set us up for a second season, if at all? (We had this same question about Schmigadoon!, because we all want more of that one, too.) If the murder is solved, then I doubt there'd be any reason for a second, but something tells me that people are going to become increasingly obsessed with the "mind movie" plot device, and I've personally got a least one more season of that left in me, for sure.

Granted, the rest of this first season has yet to play out. But given how strong the show came off the line, I have no doubt that, like most poppin' parties, this is one I won't want to end.

New episodes of The Afterparty premiere Thursdays on Apple TV+.

Click the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleagues.

The opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author and/or subject(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet, Inc. management or associated writers.