‘The Afterparty’ Rounds Up a Comically Killer Posse of Murder Suspects

Alci Rengifo

“The Afterparty” is a whodunit that understands the rules of the game well. The murder gets things going but it’s really the characters that keep us invested. This Apple TV Plus comedy expands the concept by also giving each character their own genre. This allows for the mystery to not grow stale because everyone’s different point of view has a particular flavor or style. Tiffany Haddish is the perfect choice to play the detective in charge of cracking the case. She has such a welcoming, yet strong presence, that all the different narratives can just converge back to her in the interrogation room.  While the tone of “The Afterparty” is vivacious and funny, Haddish is the real standout.

It always has to start with a corpse. Dropping from his luxurious home to the rocky bottom of a cliff by the ocean, singer-movie star-social media personality Xavier (Dave Franco) is the tragic death that opens the series. Detective Danner (Haddish) arrives on the scene and lines up the suspects: Aniq (Sam Richardson), a nerdy type trying to reconnect with old high school classmate Zoë (Zoë Chao), Zoë’s obsessive soon-to-be ex-husband Brett (Ike Barinholtz), aspiring singer Yasper (Ben Schwartz), once respectable Chelsea (Ilana Glazer) and a few others. What everyone has in common is that they graduated from the same high school class in 2006 and were gathering for their reunion which was to culminate at an afterparty in Xavier’s place. But how did the obnoxious unpopular kid turned celebrity drop to his doom? That is the question Danner tries to solve by interrogating each party-goer, probing into their motives, millennial frustrations and bizarre insecurities that all came crashing together on that fateful night. 

“The Afterparty” is the creation of director Chris Miller, known for lively comedies like “21 Jump Street” and “The Lego Movie.” Many of his constant themes are present all over this show with a knack for visual exuberance that makes the jokes land even better. All of the suspects represent some idea about age, dashed hopes and random human quirkiness. This is not a dark murder mystery ala Agatha Christie or even a brain teaser in the style of “Knives Out.” You will laugh more than gasp. Each episode functions like a miniature movie. The first chapter is told from Aniq’s point of view as a hilarious rom-com. He is the typical, reserved “nerd” who is nervous about seeing Zoë, the high school crush he never got over. Aniq is a constant victim of bad luck. When Zoë does a flirty karaoke rendition of Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time,” Aniq tries to reciprocate but someone sabotages him with Khia’s “My Neck, My Back,” which is not the ideal song to win over your soccer mom love interest. Pleasant bonding time with Zoë gets interrupted by Brett charging in and made worse when Xavier decides he wants to get revenge for his bullied days by seducing Zoë at his after party. There’s a witty jab at date movies when Aniq describes watching his crush being taken away by Xavier on a helicopter in the rain. But it wasn’t raining. His feelings just made it feel that way.

Every episode of this first season has its own charms. In the second point of view, Brett describes his plight to Danner as if he were an alpha male in an action thriller. Ike Barinholtz and Dave Franco make a perfectly absurd pair in this chapter as they challenge each other and snipe away with pure farce. Franco is allowed to take Xavier to over-the-top levels that are genuinely funny. He talks like a “cool” guy in his ‘30s who stays up to date with the Gen Z lingo. The same goes for Yasper, who gets a musical episode where he raps like a hybrid of Eminem and Lil Dicky, then croons like a reject from “Dear Evan Hansen.” His ambition at the after party was to have Xavier listen to his “track” and hopefully make him famous. Chelsea, who was once class president but is now a “hot mess,” gets a horror film episode, while Zoë’s side of the story is told in a hand-drawn animated episode full of ‘90s aesthetics. Everyone has some good enough reason to have wanted Xavier dead, from Aniq competing for Zoë to Yasper feeling rejected. 

Material like this allows Miller and co-writer Phil Lord to satirize how millennials are entering their mid-30s with particular generational quirks. Many of us remain late bloomers, others are followed by an odd melancholia where a well-paying job still doesn’t mean fulfillment. Overall it’s also a riff on high school reunions. Xavier may be the cocky classmate who was once a joke and now basks in wealth, but for every Xavier there’s a Walt (Jamie Demetriou), the overlooked guy whose name Aniq can’t even remember. Every class also needs an Indigo (Genevieve Angelson), the moody cynic who can’t respond without sounding like the world is hopeless. There’s nothing debauched about the party Danner needs details on, either. Aniq awoke from a drunken stupor with his face drawn all over with marker. Brett just wanted to make sure Zoë didn’t want to sleep with Xavier. It’s all comically mundane. Miller still tosses in plenty of sleuth elements. Aniq fears he might be the victim of a frame-up when a mysterious piece of paper with a threatening message seems connected to him. And who was actually with Xavier when he fell from his own cliff?

Tiffany Haddish, who was such an excellent dramatic revelation last year in Paul Schrader’s “The Card Counter,” drops the cool intensity for a great performance in “The Afterparty.” Her detective is focused and smart, but willing to laugh and joke around with her suspects. Haddish doesn’t play the stereotype murder mystery detective, although she has plenty of moments that wink at the genre. She’s an island of sanity amid all these semi-loons. Like the excellent “Only Murders in the Building” over at Hulu, “The Afterparty” can be enjoyed purely on its characters. It builds enough intrigue to keep us wanting answers to who killed tragically annoying Xavier, yet the party itself is entertaining enough to attend and observe before the shrieks.

“The Afterparty” season one begins streaming Jan. 28 with new episodes premiering Fridays on Apple TV+.