All bets are off in Search Party’s ambitious and delirious fifth season
Nothing will prepare you for Search Party's game-changing pivot in its riveting final season
TV Reviews Search Party
Search Party goes for broke in the moments leading up to the final credits rolling on its fifth and final season. The bizarre denouement won’t necessarily appease everyone, but it’s an oddly perfect fit for a show that revels in its heightened situations. The HBO Max comedy dials up the absurdity in the last few episodes of season five, mostly pulling off a whiplash-inducing third act pivot like no other TV show can, thanks to a virtuoso but vastly underrated cast.
The series started off as a dark comedy in 2016, and has since experimented with genres with almost every season: true-crime, legal dramas, psychodramas/thrillers. Search Party’s smart and structured approach slowly builds out its scope; the final season just takes it to a whole new level. While it struggles under the burden of too many narrative threads, the series manages to tie its various arcs together for a delirious and riveting end.
Created by Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers, and Michael Showalter, Search Party has ultimately been about Dory Sief’s (Alia Shawkat) staggering identity crisis. Over a four-season span, she caused upheaval in her life and the lives of her friends, with little to no remorse in a quest for adventure. As the show races to the finish line, Dory’s narcissism has literally world-changing consequences. Revealing more will spoil some colossal events, but suffice it to say that the show moves forward with all-bets-are-off levels of satire to complete its journey.
Search Party rarely misses with its derision of the millennial lifestyle and internet culture. The new season views these topics through the lens of tech moguls, Instagram influencers, modern-day cults, and fear of an impending doomsday. As Dory, Drew (John Reynolds), Portia (Meredith Hagner), Elliott (John Early) navigate the chaos they’ve haphazardly caused, the show reflects on current times with accuracy and hilarity. That humor is vital, but the show always cuts deep because underneath surreal circumstances and unscrupulous protagonists, it’s rooted in surprisingly strong emotional hooks. The twisted central bond between the core four humanizes their overall ludicrousness.
Despite an awful track record, Dory’s friends can’t help but fall for her confident charm, whether it means keeping a murderous secret or driving in a loop to rescue her from her kidnapper. Season five capitalizes on the enigma Shawkat expertly crafts around her character by turning Dory into a sort of messiah.
Fresh from her near-death experience, Dory believes she has found inner peace while locked up in a clinical institute. She ropes in her pals to help share this newfound wisdom with the world. Their first move is to team up with Tunnel Quinn (Jeff Goldblum), an eccentric, Elon Musk-like CEO, who offers them all the resources and funds needed to create an “enlightenment pill.” If only it were that easy. To add to the vanity, they invite top influencers to be guinea pigs. The crusade gradually spirals into an uncontrollable and entertaining disaster.
Search Party provides a biting analysis of how Dory and co. can barely save themselves through this faux sincere notion of them saving humanity. There are some fascinating insights into how gullible society is about the superficiality of social media, buying into ideas and feeding egos that need to be checked. It’s not just Elliott, Drew, and especially Portia who start serving a fool’s paradise—it’s the whole online world. Consequently, the show’s metaphoric response to the dangers of Dory’s apparent work is a bloody big swing.
A sweeping focus on the genre-bending shift does result in less payoff for other subplots. Elliott and his partner Marc (Jeffrey Self) adopt a creepy son straight out of a horror movie. Sadly, their new family dynamic results in not much outside of a couple of fantastic cameos. To no one’s surprise, Goldblum seamlessly fits into Search Party, but Kathy Griffin struggles with her frenzied performance and an abrupt storyline with Chantal (Clare McNulty). To the show’s credit, it does reward patience with Chantal’s unusual arc, especially in how it finds a parallel between her and Dory by the end.
Dory’s transformation—from bored NYU graduate to an attention-seeking criminal, from a kidnapping victim to now a viral sensation—feels far-reaching. Shawkat sells it with ease; she has a clear grasp of Dory’s complexities and nuances. It is downright unsettling to watch as her alter ego descends into measured madness as a cult leader. Her chilling performance is the best on the show yet.
The other cast members are consistently hysterical, but Hagner remains the breakout star as she gets to demystify Portia’s psychological state. Her roadmap here is reminiscent of Dory at the start of the show. Weary of a dull relationship and subpar job, Portia is attracted to Dory’s enlightenment option as an escape in the same way her friend felt about the mission to find Chantal. She even finds herself in an unexpected love triangle that is both compelling and ridiculous. At one point, Portia is drinking Dory’s bathtub water like it’s actual Kool-Aid.
Search Party’s ambitious and implausible conclusion is emblematic of its main character in a way; it’s terrifying, fearless, and goes big because there really is nothing left to lose. There are some minor misses along the way, but the anarchy of the final season sharpens the show’s understanding of the zeitgeist.
18 Comments
aww, im guessing this means no regular coverage?show has been fun, even if it never reached the heights of its first two seasons.
The third s aeon is the best for me.
no regular coverageThe AV Club
This is one of those shows (like Seinfeld and Always Sunny, I’d argue) where the four leads are so specifically and precisely observed/written/acted that the main fun of each episode is watching their rock-solid dynamic bounce off of the latest madcap scenario or absurd cameo guest (Anne Dowd! Wallace Shawn! Susan Sarandon!). It’s consistently funny, but they never make a character do something wildly out of character just to hit a laugh. Like Seinfeld and Sunny, they’re all self-absorbed assholes, but each in a unique flavor (well ok I contend that Portia, while extremely insecure and manipulable, is fundamentally a good person). So glad HBO let them wrap up the show exactly as they wanted to!
This season is really interesting because it escalates the story to a point that’s no longer grounded in reality, but the performances are so good and the character dynamics are so well-established that it works.
So excited to watch this final season. I want to make a very Portia-esque squeeeeeeee.
This show is so special in its ability to maintain integrity while shifting genre influences. From Nancy Drew and Hitchcock, to Courtroom dramas and Stephen King, It’s taken some big swings and most of them hit. Even when they miss, they are at least interesting. The core 4 cast is criminally under-recongized for their great work and the revolving door of great guest stars meet their high bar. Extra shoutout to Season 3’s Shalita Grant as Cassidy Diamond. One of my favorite comedic performances in recent years!Cant wait to see how they wrap it all up!
After watching Season 5 – “This show is so special in its ability to maintain integrity while shifting genre influences.”
oh Past Me, if you only knew then what you know now….
I was onboard with this season until the last two to three episodes. I was not a fan of the ending. Though I guess good for them for committing to the idea. Slightly Spoilery Musing: when they started seeing people from different seasons I thought it was a surreal nightmare scenario and I kept expecting the characters to wake up.
Honestly, once it got to the last couple of episodes I was expecting (mild spoilers) that time travel would actually play into the finale. As Elliott says in the last episode, “Fine, I’ll believe anything at this point.”
Very excited! Will be watching this one ASAP.
Definitely a step up from last season and a biting analysis, indeed.
I really liked the fourth season. The conclusion wasn’t what I wanted, but I like how the writers commit to the moral vacuum of the show’s universe – the final confrontation between Dori and the Li’l Stickies Kid makes it clear that his pathological need for validation isn’t going to fulfill her pathological need for validation. It was a little surprising that they went straight-faced (so to speak) with the deranged/trans antagonist – he was more developed as a character and played by a nonbinary actor, but it’s fundamentally the Silence of the Lambs dynamic. Anyway, I didn’t love the cult stuff at the beginning of this season, but I assumed that by Episode 4 or 5 the writers would start tipping their hand – sure enough, it’s spectacular when things go off the rails, although I wasn’t expecting the commentary to be as biting as it was.
Literally biting 😉
Watched the last episode of about an hour ago. Well that (S5), was unexpected.
Necro’d to respond: you mean you didn’t have ‘ends with zombie apocalypse’ on your bingocard since S1?
Just finished Search Party, all of it.I absolutely think this is one of the most ridiculous yet well-balanced shows I’ve ever seen. No matter how ridiculous, each hilariously dramatic/thrilling/comedic moment feels plausible and fully possible, which really gives the show an addictive and riveting sheen.I agree with another post that much like Seinfeld, one could reanimate this series for many more years and it would always work; the cast feels real and everything they go through?- it’s all for Dory’s endgame of self-destruction.SPOILERS & OBSERVATIONS…> Jeff Goldblum rocks as always
> We barely recognized Kathy Griffin in this role; from the make-up to the demeanor, she wasn’t the usual person you would expect
> Dory is one of those people who tells you everything, but you just have to listen and pay attention. Signs of the apocalyptic ending were present all along, we just didn’t know how it would happen and well, her friends naturally got screwed once again… Portia’s line addressing this sad arc and truth was magically timed: “Dory, you did it again!”
> Aspen, the doppelganger for Damien, was the only one left hanging during moments that could have been written with more humor; his final curtain call was underutilized and quick
> John Waters was lovely as the head of Kiddos — an adoption agency for customizable children (LOL)
> This show will be missed; the simultaneous depth and shallowness of each character could bleed into the real world and any one of these folks could be someone you call a good friend