Who doesn’t love a murder mystery? It’s a genre that has dominated culture for centuries, with the collection of Middle Eastern folk tales, best known as Arabian Nights, often being cited as one of the earliest examples of crime fiction. Years later it’s still as popular as ever, with the likes of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out films and BBC’s modern Sherlock series being runaway successes. But in an increasingly crowded market, how do you keep a centuries-old genre feeling fresh?
In 2022 Christopher Miller, one half of filmmaking powerhouse duo Lord and Miller (21 Jump Street, The LEGO Movie, Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse), gave us an answer to this question with the TV show The Afterparty. Featuring an all-star cast of some of the finest comic actors around, we follow the investigation of the murder of pop star Xavier (Dave Franco) at a high school reunion afterparty. Making the series unique is the fact that each episode is presented in a different style, reflecting the different characters' perspectives of what happened that night. For example, drama queen Yasper (Ben Schwartz) tells his story as a show-stopping musical whilst wannabe alpha male Brett (Ike Barinholtz) casts himself as the hero of an action movie.
It was a formula that was not only different but worked incredibly well. And so, only a year later, a second season is now hitting our screens. A year has passed since Xavier’s murder was solved, clearing the names of his former high school classmates Aniq (Sam Richardson) and Zoë (Zoë Chao) who were originally topping Detective Danner’s (Tiffany Haddish) list of suspects. We pick up with the now officially dating Aniq and Zoë as they attend the wedding of the latter’s sister Grace (Poppy Liu) at a gorgeous vineyard estate. Events take a turn the morning after the wedding when Grace’s new husband Edgar is found murdered, with all the signs pointing to his wife as the suspect. Desperate to absolve Grace before police arrive at the scene, Aniq enlists the help of his detective pal Danner to catch the killer.
A family affair
As quick-witted and laugh-out-loud funny as the first season, this murderous tale is full of surprises as new twists are delivered with each episode, which are once again told in various styles from a Hitchcock noir to a Wes Anderson-style caper. Reintroducing our loved-up couple, episode 1 sees the return of the rom-com as Aniq faces one of the toughest tasks known to man: meeting the other half’s family. It’s something which has Aniq feeling the pressure, as actor Richardson told 12DOVE: "The first season was Aniq trying to muster up the courage to do what he thought he should have done a long time ago. So now it’s fun to see Aniq try to muster up the ability to be who he feels that Zoë’s family wants for Zoë, so putting forward this good face whilst trying to stay true to himself. It’s a fun thing to navigate."
The second season is very much a family affair as Zoë’s family takes center stage, introducing fun uncle Ulysses (John Cho), mysterious mother Vivian (Vivian Wu), entrepreneurial dad Feng (Ken Jeong), and spirited sister Grace. Speaking to us, Chao explained how this allowed her to explore new sides of Zoë: "It was interesting as I remember thinking 'Oh wow, we can’t possibly learn more about Zoë after the first season because we saw so many different facets of her personality.' But, we get to meet her as a daughter, an older protective sister, a partner in love, and as a detective. It was fun to explore those sides of her here.”
It’s about what lengths you will go to to protect those that you love
As Chao mentions there, this time round her character gets to play detective, conducting her own investigation – hoping to move doubt away from her family. With the actor being a huge fan of crime fiction, this was a dream come true: "Oh, it was really fun! I’m a big Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett fan, so I’ve always wanted to be a detective. A lot is on the line for her as her entire family is suspected so it’s not really a choice. It’s about what lengths you will go to to protect those that you love."
Fighting the friction
Zoë’s decision to go rogue causes friction between her and Aniq, who is once again Detective Danner’s right-hand man, the Watson to her Holmes. But as Chao emphasizes, there was already plenty of tension: "We get to meet them further into this relationship, they are still sort of in their honeymoon phase but things are escalating, he’s meeting the parents, etc. Then there’s this insane scenario, they are experiencing their second murder together! And with that involving family, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Zoë."
This puts Aniq in a tricky spot as whilst he wants to support Zoë, at the end of the day her family are suspects and should be treated fairly as such. As Richardson states, it presents Aniq with a tough decision to make as to where he will fall: "Aniq’s main trait is that he’s compulsively truthful and he believes in what is right. Zoë’s priorities are really clear – to protect her family. But for Aniq, as they say in cop shows, 'You are too close to this!' He wants to protect Zoë and know the truth, so it’s getting the balance between being supportive of your partner and truthful."
Playing detective
Just like their characters, Richardson and Chao themselves also try to solve the murder mystery whilst reading the script, although only one of them is actually good at it. Chao laughs: "You think I would be better at discerning who the murderers are because I listen to so many true crime podcasts and read so many books, but I actually have no skills when it comes to figuring it out! Sometimes the cast do escape rooms together and Sam goes into full-blown Aniq mode - it’s so funny! It really all depends on him to get us out of the room!"
That’s what I love about the genre, it’s so interactive as an audience member you are a participant
Richardson himself admits that he does "really try" at both escape rooms and solving the murder mysteries at the heart of The Afterparty. But whilst he cracked season 1, he couldn’t work out the whodunnit this time: "I really couldn’t figure this one out despite the fact when you read the script all the details are highlighted, the things to emphasize or obfuscate, it’s all there in black-and-white. That’s what I love about the genre, it’s so interactive as an audience member you are a participant, trying to get ahead of it. And this show is a fair play mystery, so all the clues are there throughout. The Reddit for this is so alive, I read along whilst watching it and I’m like, 'Oh, this person is onto something' or 'Oh no, they fell for the red herring.' It’s a puzzle room as a show."
Are you able to do a better job than Richardson and Chao by solving the mystery before the big finale? Well, you will have to tune in to find out.
The Afterparty season 2 premieres globally with the first two episodes on Wednesday, July 12 on Apple TV Plus, followed by new episodes weekly until September 5 exclusively on the streaming service.
For more great new TV shows coming your way this year, check out our list of what to look out for.
