The Afterparty season 2 review: The comedy comes up short in its return

You know that feeling when a fun party lasts too long, ultimately squeezing out the enjoyment and draining the revelers’ energy? The Afterparty’s dull second season is like that—lingering needlessly because it doesn’t know how to politely say goodbye after the high note of its debut run. Apple TV+’s mystery comedy returns as a shadow of its former self (a redundant afterparty, if you will). The case is less intriguing, the genres less exciting, and the humor subpar. A saving grace is its spectacular ensemble, but even they can’t revive this dry Rashomon-meets-Agatha Christie take.

It’s surprising to see the series fall flat just weeks after creator Christopher Miller’s stimulating Spider-Verse sequel (with Phil Lord, who executive produces the show) exploded at the box office and the premiere of Lord and Miller’s Clone High received a unexpectedly warm reception on Max. The Afterparty fails to sustain its premise of changing genres that depend on the unreliable narrator’s perspective, with the setting moving from a reunion to a wedding. It’s tonally insipid, barring a couple of standout episodes, because it’s not nearly witty, experimental, or absurd enough with the concept. Season two proves that not every successful project needs to be continued; let some things die peacefully instead of turning them into pointless anthologies. Miller, Lord, the cast, and everyone involved can do, and deserve, better.

A major drawback this time is a lengthier run, with 10 episodes swirling and dragging around the strangely predictable suspense. (Nine outings were provided for review). As it jumps from focusing on one suspect to the next, The Afterparty lacks the bite into its investigation because of limited group interactions, a general lack of zingers, and a midway detour catching up on Detective Danner (Tiffany Haddish). Her episode takes away from an already drawn-out pace without adding value, except for a comically directed kinky scene involving various food supplies, and the welcome return of John Early.

Returning cast members Sam Richardson and Zoë Chao reprise their leading roles of Aniq and Zoe, who have now been dating for a year since their high school reunion. (Her ex, Brett, gets mentioned a lot. Curiously, no such luck for her daughter, Maggie, who played a pivotal role in season one). The couple is relegated to crime-solving separately, so there’s nothing more to glean about their relationship. At least Richardson and Chao (2023 MVP with Party Down, Your Place Or Mine, and Somebody I Used To Know) are individually solid.

Aniq spends time with Danner to question wedding guests suspected of killing Edgar (Zach Woods), the rich, awkward, lizard-loving, crypto-nerd groom, the morning after his wedding. Meanwhile, Zoe is desperate to prove that the bride, Grace (Poppy Liu), a.k.a. her sister, isn’t the culprit. A murderer’s row of talent bolsters the weak narrative. Of the star-studded ensemble, John Cho, Vivian Wu, Pen15's Anna Konkle, and Woods thoroughly chew up the scenery. Cho plays Zoe and Grace’s nomadic “funcle,” Ulysses. His episode is a Western infused with song-and-dance routines, sibling rivalry, and a torrid romance. Cho steals every second. Why Hollywood hasn’t turned him into an all-out rom-com hero should be the central mystery for season three.

Paul Walter Hauser, Elizabeth Perkins, Ken Jeong, Jack Whitehall, and Liu are equally enigmatic in their turns. Perkins’ melodramatic outing, Konkle’s Wes Anderson-style episode (directed to perfection by Anu Valia), and Hauser’s black-and-white noir lend themselves well to The Afterparty’s gimmick. The rest—including a heist, a promising Jane Austen period piece, and a bare-bones TikTok-reliant episode—not so much.

The Afterparty’s obviously complicated challenge is to utilize its myriad genres and retell the same story, often frame-by-frame, while hopefully adding nuance, context, and a satirical take to the mystery, characters, and genres. That’s not always accomplished here, even if answers are eventually laid out in a mostly perfunctory manner. It shouldn’t be a chore to witness Ulysses enter the rehearsal dinner on a horse, Grace and Edgar’s meet-cute, or Isabel (Perkins) icily walking around the vineyard again and again because of the actors’ dependable versatility. Yet, that’s what happens. The show takes an incredibly funny cast and squanders them by barely fleshing out its comedy.

For all its inventiveness, the twists are remarkably formulaic. The affairs, betrayals, and lies can be seen from a distance. It’s telling when the most confounding plot turn relies on a random gag about Whitehall’s accent. Even the emotional beats arrive a little too late for them to leave an impact. It’s not like The Afterparty season one was flawless or every episode was a banger. But it arrived in a post-Knives Out murder mystery comedy haze with something fresh and funny to offer. Both elements are sorely missing in season two, which shouldn’t have evolved beyond the party planning stage.

The Afterparty season two premieres July 12 on Apple TV+