#THE AFTERPARTY EPISODE 1 MOVIE#
#THE AFTERPARTY EPISODE 1 PLUS#

ThatвЂ™s the comedy premise of вЂњAfterparty,вЂќ which just dropped Episode 4 on Apple TV+.ДЇull disclosure: critics were only given access to the first seven out of eight episodes, so I still donвЂ™t know вЂњwhodunnit.вЂќ WeвЂ™ll all have to watch the finale together on March 4. Imagine attending your high school reunion only for your classmate to die that night. WTOP's Jason Fraley reviews 'Afterparty' on Apple TV+

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28 on Apple TV+, with additional episodes releasing weekly. The first three episodes of The Afterparty begin streaming Jan. In the end, youвЂ™re gonna be like, вЂI wish I did more of this.'вЂќ The Afterparty could probably stand to lean more into its fundamental weirdness, but itвЂ™s an entertaining ride nonetheless. He replies, вЂњItвЂ™s gonna be worth it in the end. The season offers clues along the way, but itвЂ™s hard to fully judge the show without the final episode, which Apple didnвЂ™t provide to critics.ДЄt one point, Danner interrupts YasperвЂ™s latest musical number to ask him to skip ahead to the relevant parts of his story. The actors all do well at tweaking their performances to accommodate whose POV and what genre weвЂ™re getting in any given episode.Д«y taking its charactersвЂ™ emotions more seriously than you might expect, The Afterparty in turn has to treat the question of who killed Xavier, and why, as more than a joke. And where Brett is so often a meathead in other peopleвЂ™s episodes, his Vin Diesel fantasies are so over-the-top - in one scene, he intimidates Xavier through his powerfully loud urinary stream - he becomes almost endearing. By opening up with AniqвЂ™s underdog pursuit of ZoГ«, for instance, the show conditions us to root for him to win her over, until her episode reveals that her feelings are a lot more complicated than heвЂ™s ever considered. If The Afterparty sometimes stumbles as it hops from genre to genre, the more fundamental Rashomon concept works quite well at illustrating how easily we all get lost in our own heads. But thatвЂ™s a tease for additional digressions that never come. The Aniq story briefly takes a breather so that we get a pretentious, Ingmar Bergman-esque art film as told by the mysterious Indigo (Genevieve Angelson).

#THE AFTERPARTY EPISODE 1 PLUS#

(*) There are a bunch of additional classmates - plus John Early from Search Party as DannerвЂ™s partner - who donвЂ™t get their own episode. And while Chao ( Love Life) is less famous than many of her co-stars, she gets some of the seasonвЂ™s biggest laughs in both the animated and live-action portions of the ZoГ« episode. But the Yasper episode feels like the musical showcase Ben SchwartzвЂ™s entire career - and particularly Jean-RalphioвЂ™s love of singing in Parks and Rec - has been building towards. And a few of the stories are so similar in visual style that itвЂ™s occasionally easy to forget whatвЂ™s being parodied that time out. The flashback episode features Richardson and company amusingly playing teenagers, but it also doesnвЂ™t feel quite enough like a high-school movie. AniqвЂ™s rom-com has to double as our introduction to the whole story and its large cast of characters(*), so it canвЂ™t fully give itself over to the Never Been Kissed of it all.

#THE AFTERPARTY EPISODE 1 MOVIE#

Even Danner herself eventually gets her own movie of sorts, in which the start of her career on the force is framed as a gritty cop drama.ДЄs you would expect from a project dabbling in so many different genres, some experiments work better than others. (Danner even has a bag of popcorn in her purse to enjoy as she listens to their stories.) AniqвЂ™s account of pursuing ZoГ« through the night positions him as a rom-com hero, while Brett fancies himself as Dom from the Fast and the Furious films, pulling off badass capers and forever blathering on about вЂњfamily.вЂќ Yasper gets to live out his musical dreams with a bunch of choreographed song-and-dance numbers, including a Hamilton-esque tune where Yasper sings that вЂњWe all get one shotвЂ¦ twice!вЂќ ThereвЂ™s also a psychological horror episode spotlighting Chelsea, an animated adventure for ZoГ«, and a high-school flashback story as told by the long-suffering Walt. Miller, though, puts a pop-cultural twist on it, taking DannerвЂ™s вЂњstars of our own movieвЂќ idea almost literally. This kind of shifting POV storytelling barely even needs to be explained after so many others have tried (Marge Simpson: вЂњYou liked Rashomon!вЂќ Homer: вЂњThatвЂ™s not how I remember it!вЂќ). Ben Schwartz, center left, and Sam Richardson in вЂњThe Afterparty.вЂќ

The afterparty episode 1