Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for The Afterparty Season 2.
When Season 2 of The Afterparty was announced, some fans were skeptical it could deliver on its stellar Season 1. The show’s original run worked so perfectly as a miniseries, wouldn’t a second season be just more of the same? Was there going to be another afterparty with yet another murder? Yes, that is precisely what The Afterparty Season 2 is about, and it works wonders. Despite some minor hiccups along the way, such as the weird filler episode that is “Danner’s Fire,” the show’s sophomore run often manages to surpass than the first. And now that the season finale is finally out, it’s more than time to crown The Afterparty Season 2 as a definite win. After all, not only is the conclusion of this season’s whodunit great, it also surpasses Season 1’s reveal both in its themes and in how it manages to hide its mystery until the very end.
Season 2 of The Afterparty wraps up with the revelation that Zoë (Zoë Chao) and Grace’s (Poppy Liu) fun uncle, or funcle, Ulysses (John Cho) is the one responsible for killing Edgar (Zach Woods) and his pet lizard Roxana. But you see, it was all an accident — in reality, Ulysses was trying to kill his brother, Feng (Ken Jeong), in order to be with his wife, Vivian (Vivian Wu). As Ulysses himself explains in his “mind movie” in Episode 7, back when Zoë was still a baby, he had an affair with Vivian, and though the relationship ended, he never quite got over it.
It’s an ending that is similar to The Afterparty Season 1’s in that it relies heavily on jealousy and past grievances. For those that don’t remember, the series’ first run ends with Danner (Tiffany Haddish) pointing out Yasper (Ben Schwartz) as Xavier’s (Dave Franco) killer due to a beef over songs they wrote when they were both in high school. You see, as a failed musician, Yasper deeply resents Xavier for his success in show business and believes him to have stolen the life that he deserved. More than that, he believes Xavier to have used songs he wrote for their teenage ska band to further his success.
How Are ‘The Afterparty’ Season 1 and 2 Different?
In its first season, The Afterparty does everything in its power to keep the audience, as well as Danner and Aniq (Sam Richardson), from realizing that Yasper is the real killer. Not only does it misdirect us through the many stories told by its characters, all of which seem to have a different reason to want Xavier dead, it also places Yasper in a position above all suspicion. Since he’s the one helping Aniq clear his name, how could he be the person behind Xavier’s death? It’s a fun charade, but one that doesn’t work as well as intended. By making Yasper Aniq’s sidekick, The Afterparty puts the character in the spotlight, making us doubt him the most. After Danner and Aniq, Yasper is the most important character in the show, thus, it makes sense for him to be the killer.
Furthermore, Yasper’s obsession with Xavier should also be taken into consideration. While all the titular afterparty’s guests have motive to want Xavier dead, Yasper is constantly reaffirming his love for his high school buddy and claiming that they were on the verge of an artistic collab when he died. This might not sound like a big deal at a first glance, but when we say he talks about that collaboration, we mean he never shuts up about it. Sure, everyone has a reason to kill Xavier, but not everyone is as fixated on him as Yasper is.
Meanwhile, Season 2’s Ulysses is a background character through and through. He’s the one with the least reason to want Edgar dead, as he has no interest in his money, nor is being wronged by him in any way, but that ends up being precisely what reveals him as the killer. Ulysses had the biggest reason of all, just not to kill Edgar. His real target was Feng. Additionally, he’s hardly ever in the spotlight, appearing on-screen only from time to time to deliver some joke in the form of a faux-enlightened comment on shamans and psychedelic flowers. Unlike Yasper, he doesn’t feel like too important a character not to have a relevant role in the end. In fact, he feels almost like as much of a filler as poor Colonel, the dog that Zoë believes to have killed in the final episode. This ensures that the mystery of who killed Edgar remains a secret until the very last second. We are so focused on looking at the motives and means of more important characters, such as Sebastian (Jack Whitehall), Grace, and Isabel (Elizabeth Perkins), that we forget to look at who’s on the sidelines.
But, if we really pay attention to Ulysses, he’s the one with the most knowledge about the poisonous flowers that killed Edgar. Having used them for their psychotropic properties he’s even more knowledgeable about them than Hannah (Anna Konkle), who merely plants them for their ornamental value. He’s also the one with the most motive to kill someone, as we have previously stated. However, his story doesn’t take place front stage, but remains strictly in the background. Heck, we don’t even risk a guess that there’s something going on between Vivian, Feng, and him until his episode comes along. Initially, it seems like his animosity with his brother derives from a simple case of fraternal rivalry, and all their drama develops mostly in the corners of scenes, precisely where viewers aren’t looking.
‘The Afterparty’ Season 2 Hides Its Most Important Plot
The Afterparty Season 2 has the audience so obsessed with the woes of Edgar’s family and business, drowning us in plots of betrayal and bitcoin babble, that it makes us completely forget the hardships that Zoë and Grace’s family might be going through. We only remember them when it comes to Feng’s wishes to have Edgar invest in his struggling baobing business, which is to say that we only remember them when their main concern is money. Showrunner Christopher Miller creates a whole atmosphere in which money is the only thing that matters — Grace is a suspect because she allegedly only married Edgar for money, Isabel was being driven into insanity by her son for her money, Sebastian was cheated out of his money, and so on. In the background, however, there are stories going on that aren’t about money at all, but about love. There is Grace’s secret relationship with Hannah, Feng trying to charm his wife through his baobing business, Sebastian trying to recover a childhood treasure, and there is, of course, Ulysses’ unresolved feelings for Vivian. The Afterparty Season 2 sells us a story about wealth, but it is, in fact, a story about the most human of emotions. It makes sense, then, for the murder to be a crime of passion instead of financially motivated.
But more than just selling us a story about money, The Afterparty Season 2 makes us believe it is a story about the wealthy. It gets us so hung up on what is going on in the Minnows household, that we nearly forget that there is another family’s drama taking place in that vineyard. In other words, The Afterparty Season 2 gets us so obsessed with the upperclass, that we forget all about the regular folk. It’s almost an inversion of what happens in Season 1, in which the ordinary people at the afterparty serve as a window to a story about fame and wealth, with Yasper killing Xavier because he feels cheated out of a prestigious life that he believes should’ve been his. However, while Season 1 is a straightforward story about high school grudges, Season 2 delivers a more poignant social commentary. Though they’re not in the spotlight as often, the common folk have drama of their own. And, sometimes, they might even be more central to the overarching story than what’s going on in the mansions of the one percent.
The Big Picture
- Season 2 of The Afterparty surpasses the first with its intriguing mystery and themes, making it a definite win.
- In contrast to Season 1, Season 2 hides its most important plot behind the woes of Edgar’s family and the obsession with money.
- The Afterparty Season 2 delivers a poignant social commentary by focusing on the drama of regular folk, showing they can be more central to the story than the wealthy.
