When it launched in 2022, The Afterparty was a genius. A whodunit contains the old ‘who killed’ with the twist that each witness would tell a version of it as if it were a personal movie. Thus crime is seen as the background of a romantic comedy, an animation, a musical, an adventure, a drama, a comedy, and a thriller. The cast’s chemistry contributed to the success and guarantee of a second season that, after some delays, is finally available on Apple TV Plus. But… at least in the first two episodes, it doesn’t mesh.

Tiffany Haddish is back as street-smart Detective Danner, who solved the murder of singer Xavier at an after-school reunion party. Away from the police, she is the person who the unlucky couple Aniq (Sam Richardson) and Zoë (Zoe Chao), once again in the middle of a suspicious scene, now placing Zoë’s sister – Grace (Poppy Liu) – in the midst of a crime. In this case, the party is the wedding of Grace and Edgar (Zach Woods) who is found dead the next morning.

The premise of a crime between school friends made a little sense to follow because they were people who knew each other, they had hurts and frustrations and therefore each testimony had a curious tone. Here we have strangers acting strangely, making it even more confusing (and uninteresting) to figure out why irritating Edgar was something of a murder. It’s a major obstacle for the season, even bigger to repeat the formula and still be fun. Furthermore, Danner has no motivation other than business (she wants book material) and it makes even less sense that Aniq would trigger her.

To compensate, the cast brings together Elizabeth Perkins squandering overacting as the controlling mother of the groom, Ken Jeong and Vivian Wu repeating Asian clichés; John Cho as the ‘fun’ uncle, the ever-brilliant Paul Walter Hauser, who, while repeating his signature line, is amusing as Grace’s ex-boyfriend; Anna Konkle as Edgar’s foster sister and Jack Whitehall as a friend. A non-homogeneous group that brings among them, one or a murderer.

We have two episodes already released, which still haven’t exceeded expectations. A Jasper miss? For me, definitely.

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