We are in the midst of the revitalization of the whodunit genre. Some of it has been inspired by the success of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, which spawned a winning sequel in Glass Onion. Johnson continued developing the genre in the spectacular series Poker Face, available to audience members with a Peacock subscription. That show follows the fantastic Natasha Lyonne as a wanderer with a flawless bullsnit detector, and every episode wraps up a wildly original crime. But then there’s The Afterparty, a sprawling murder mystery streaming on Apple TV+ that stretches over the course of an entire season, with each new episode providing clues by looking at the story from fresh angles. And some changes were made behind the scenes from Season 1 to Season 2 that, believe it or not, made things a bit more complicated for the cast.
The Afterparty made it to our list of the best whodunit shows on television, which also includes Only Murders In The Building and Mare of Easttown. The action on Season 2 of The Afterparty moved to a wedding reception, and brought back three characters from the first season, including Zoe Chao and Sam Richardson. And when we interviewed them about the differences between Season 1 and Season 2, where Richardson mentioned a specific change. He told us:
The difference between this season and last season, last season it was all directed by Chris Miller. This season, we had many different directors, so the blocks of shooting… we would shoot, each director had two, maybe three episodes that they would direct. So they would direct their episodes in a block, and they weren’t linear. You’d be shooting, maybe, 1, 5 and 6. Or 2 and 4. So you are doing those in blocks. You’re getting different energies. I’m sure that’s helping the episodes to feel different, in a very good way! That changes the scale of everything, and changes the feel of stuff.
But as you might imagine, having watched the first three episodes of The Afterparty Season 2, that can make for a nightmare of continuity. Because each episode centers around a new character, and adopts the tone of a fresh genre (so far, we have seen a Jane Austin period piece, and a gritty film noir). Both Zoe Chao and Sam Richardson praised the work of Chris Miller and the creative team for helping the cast to maintain their narrative threads, and knowing what their characters are supposed to know, and when they are supposed to know it. Otherwise, the whole mystery could unravel.
There are a handful of incredibly clever genre spoofs still to come in The Afterparty Season 2, including one inspired by the films of Wes Anderson. The trailer for Season 2 will give you a hint of what’s still to come:
We were huge fans of The Afterparty in its initial season, and even had a very special guest crash our ReelBlend interview with Phil Lord and Chris Miller on behalf of the show. We knew that the concept would easily transition to a new location (like we said, in this case, a wedding reception), and can’t wait to see where the rest of the episodes in Season 2 will take the characters. Here’s information on how you can stream The Afterparty Season 2, which definitely ranks as one of the best Tiffany Haddish shows that you can watch right now. Make sure that you catch up on the series before the next episode drops!
