“The Afterparty,” which premiered Friday on Apple TV+, is an exceedingly delightful, cleverly constructed, adeptly acted comedy-mystery set around a 15-year high school reunion. Created and directed by Christopher Miller, with his customary partner, Phil Lord, as an executive producer, it has roots in an unproduced film project floated around the time of their “Lego Movie.”
Sam Richardson plays sweet, brainy Aniq, who has come to the reunion to connect with Zoe (Zoë Chao), his undeclared high school crush, recently separated from her oafish husband and classmate Brett (Ike Barinholtz), who wants her back. Yasper (Ben Schwartz), Aniq’s best friend, as much of an extrovert as Aniq is an introvert, encourages him to make up for 15 years of lost time, while he pursues a nonromantic agenda of his own. Chelsea (Ilana Glazer) has gone from “class president to hot mess,” but none of them have wound up exactly where they hoped.
Also in the mix are “the Jennifers” (Tiya Sircar and Ayden Mayeri), best friends, both hugely pregnant; Ned (Kelvin Yu), married to Jennifer #1 (Sircar), as she is called; Indigo (Genevieve Angelson), dark and alternative, promoting “homemade human breast milk cheese”; and Walt (Jamie Demetriou), the student no one remembers, either from high school or a previous conversation. (My only real difficulty with the series is the treatment of this character; it makes everyone else seem cruel. But then, I had similar complaints about the constant dismissal of Jerry/Garry on “Parks and Recreation.” Maybe I feel that I’m that guy, I don’t know.)
