As published in Caderno B+

I know I know. With the multiplication of platforms, it’s super difficult to keep up with releases and know what’s really worth watching, so I try every week to help with my opinion and filter. And after dramas, sci-fi, and romances, nothing better than laughter, right? Because one of the most interesting contents of the year is on Apple TV Plus, The after party is a hilarious series directed by Tiffany Haddish and with a second season already guaranteed. Fortunately!

The series’ premise is simple: a crime takes place at an after-party for the school’s 15th graduation date and everyone has motives to be murderers. It reminds me of classics like A Shot in the Dark and Clue, where every detail matters, and paying attention to everything helps to discover the answer in the end.

Detective Danner (Haddish), who has problems within the police team, has only one night to find out who is the culprit and adopts a curious method: she wants to hear the individual version of each one. This is because, as she says, we are the protagonists of our films and therefore our narratives are subjective, but by crossing all of them, it is possible to arrive at the truth.

With brilliant scripts, in fact, each episode is a narrative of the same facts, but completely different from the other: we have the romantic comedy version, we have the melodrama, we have the comedy, we have the animation, we have the suspense, the action and the best of all, the musical. Each one of them gives us one more clue about the crime and the solution never ceases to surprise us.

The project took 12 years to get off the ground, Christopher Miller, best known for hits like 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie, had the first idea for the story in 2010, when he thought of telling a murder story precisely from the perspective of each one of the witnesses. According to him, the inspiration came from the film Rashomon, by Akira Kurosawa, made in the 1950s. Before becoming a miniseries, it was even thought of as a movie, but it worked perfectly in separate episodes.

Approved in 2020, production was delayed a little due to the pandemic, but the result is there for us to check out. A superb cast, especially Ben Schwartz (from Parks and Recreation) and Sam Richardson (from Veep), in addition to Tiffany, of course. There’s chemistry, there’s humor, there’s innovation… I can’t praise it less.

The best part is knowing that it’s the start of a franchise with Tiffany Haddish. Her detective Danner is a bit like a female Inspector Clouseau, one who is not as clumsy as he is, but who adopts instinct and unconventional methods for her investigation, which brings a lot of laughs.

In times when distraction is rare, I’m glad I can suggest something light. And with quality!