The Afterparty season 1 episodes 1, 2 and 3 recap

Apple TV+’s new comedy murder-mystery series ‘The Afterparty’ is now streaming. The first three episodes were released simultaneously on the platform.

The show explores the versions of all the suspects when a popular celebrity, Xavier, is murdered during the afterparty following a high school reunion.

Episode 1 recap: “Aniq”

Aniq feels he finally has a chance with his high school crush, Zoe. They’re meeting up at their high school reunion and nothing can ruin the night for him, except for maybe the murder of one of their ex-schoolmates, the celebrity named Xavier.

Detective Danner is not in charge of the case, except she makes herself the lead. Joining her is her equally clumsy assistant, detective Culp.

Xavier is quite the big deal, even boasting of appearances with Channing Tatum. He was pushed from the balcony of his house during the afterparty, making each one of the attendants a suspect. The interrogation begins.

Aniq is nominated as the first prime suspect. Detective Dinner has her own twisted method of investigation; she will let each of them narrate their own ‘movie’ of how the night unfolded.

Aniq’s story begins. He came to the reunion party as Zoe had recently separated from her husband, Brett, and he felt that he finally had the chance to be with his chemistry partner from school.

The two hit it off but Aniq’s progress is threatened by the entrance of Justin Bieber… I mean Xavier, who shows up in a helicopter.

Nothing Aniq tries seems to be coming off as he wishes, while Xavier is smooth-talking Zoe at every chance. Meanwhile, Brett is hell-bent on killing anybody who tries to even look at Zoe.

Aniq and Zoe have a good time as she misuses her privileges as the vice principal of their old school, getting them into all sorts of places that were restricted during their days as students.

Aniq finally confesses his feelings for her, but their moment is interrupted by Zoe’s daughter, Maggie, showing up, leaving her furious at Brett.

For the afterparty, Xavier swoops Zoe in his helicopter, but opts against inviting Aniq, who is left rather distraught.

Aniq rushes to the afterparty with Yasper and Chelsea, getting sloshed on his way. Everything that happens next is a blur to him until he wakes up with scribbling on his face.

Presuming Xavier to be behind the prank, he goes to confront him, but he’s nowhere to be found. His presence in the room right before the murder is taken as evidence of the murder by those at the party.

Right when it looks bleak for Aniq, he and Yasper find some important evidence in the trash, a note that says “This is payback for what you did to me.” The plot thickens as Brett is caught trying to sneak into his car.

Episode 2 recap: “Brett”

Brett’s attempt to sneak out leads him to be the next victim of detective Danner’s interrogation techniques. His version reimagines Brett as sort of an action star, of a really crappy movie if anything. Aniq and Yaspermanage to eavesdrop on their conversation.

According to Brett, he only showed up at the party to ‘protect’ Zoe from anything that she would regret later.

He’s constantly stalking her, but doesn’t feel threatened by Aniq at all, contrary to his own version. Feeling safe, he goes to the bathroom, only to be quite creepily confronted by Xavier.

Surprise, surprise! Brett bullied Xavier during his childhood and the blond now wants revenge, explaining why he was after Zoe.

After Zoe finds out that Maggie is at the party, Brett says that’ll take her home and graciously promises to leave Zoe alone for the night, but things complicate when Maggie tells him that Aniq has her favourite toy Koala and Brett chases him to the afterparty.

Naturally, Zoe is left furious as she believes he came to keep an eye on her and has no idea about Maggie being outside in the car. Brett decides to confront Xavier to give it a classic action movie ending.

But wait, this isn’t your mainstream flick. Brett understands his urge to control Zoe and decides not to fight him, but does throw his stupid hat from the balcony.

He tells Zoe that he will sign the divorce papers in the morning but just as she’s finally about to open up to him, Maggie shows up. Without Zoe noticing, he sneaks her out to the car, where she currently is. Poor Brett was actually sneaking out to his car to check up on her.

Detective Culp figures out that they’re not officially on the case but Danner sweet talks him into cooperating. 

Aniq and Yasper make a breakthrough when they figure out that the one who wrote ‘diarrhea’ is the same person who wrote the note they found in the trash.

Episode 3 recap: “Yasper”

Aniq and Yasper figure out that there’s a secret hidden camera in Xavier’s room, which would clear the former’s name and reveal the real killer.

As they reach the A/V room, they find Dinner and Culp attempting to get their hands on the footage. Despite Yasper’s kind warnings, the two manage to mess it up. There’s only one way to figure out the culprit now; find out who wrote diarrhea on Aniq.

Yasper volunteers to narrate his version and give an alibi for Aniq. Yasper had one sole intention for coming to the reunion; ask Xavier to bless his track. You know, when a star features in a new artist’s video, like 50 Cent did for The Game (Yasper’s example, not mine).

Right of the bat, it’s apparent that Yasper’s version is going to be rather, um, tuneful. It’s like High School Musical with old people.

Yasper is relentlessly pursuing Xavier, reminding him of how they used to be part of a two-man band during high school named ‘Ska-Pe Diem’.

After constant pestering, Xavier accepts to do it after the reunion party. All it takes for him to say is “yeah sure, whatever”, and Yasper miraculously makes a song on it. No, really.

All the while, Aniq is getting people to write diarrhea in an attempt to find the killer. He trusts nobody, not even Zoe.

Yasper, Chelsea and Aniq reach the afterparty, but it looks like Xavier is ghosting Yasper, inspiring him for… yet another song.

He finally gets a response as Xavier tells him to check out a folder on his PC that would work perfectly for the collar, and Jasper is on cloud nine.

But before the two can go to the recording studio, Chelsea makes her move and she and Xavier go to his room. Yasper, unable to contain his supernatural levels of enthusiasm, goes to the studio alone and waits for him.

He takes the liberty of remixing Xavier’s track, which is an ode to the two’s experiences during their school days.

During his investigation, Aniq figures out that Jennifer 2 is missing. The mystery stiffens as Chelsea’s drink holder is found wedged between rocks near Xavier’s body.

Highlights

  • The series is a welcome relief from the usual grim murder mysteries. The humour works wonderfully in offsetting the tension around the murder.
  • Each episode is its own movie with a different genre. The first is a romantic film, the second is full of action and the third is a musical.
  • Yasper is by far my favourite character so far. He just has something hilarious to say at every moment.

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