Miller conceived of The Afterparty in the early 2010s, where he wanted to make a murder mystery showing the different perspectives of the murder from its witnesses, inspired by his love of the murder-mystery genre and Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon. The high school reunion aspect was added after Miller attended a high school reunion himself, thinking it would be a unique setting for such a concept. [29] Miller initially wrote it as a feature-length screenplay on his own while he was making Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street with Lord. In June 2013, the project was set-up at Sony Pictures as a film titled The Reunion, with Miller as sole writer and director, while producing the film along with Lord, Jonathan Kadin, and Hannah Minghella. [30] However, the film never came to fruition due to commitments with The Lego Movie and 22 Jump Street. Lord and Miller were still optimistic in making The Reunion while promoting The Lego Movie, [31] so when Miller considered making the project in later hears, he made the decision to make it as a mini-series. Miller felt that expanding the concept into a series would allow him to properly develop the characters. Doing so also gave Miller the idea to present each version of the event as a separate genre in line with the respective POV's of each witness. [32] I was a little confused in the beginning which character was talking and what the main character's name was as it wasn't initially clear. However I soon got into this story and three quarters of the way through I was still wondering if a murder had been committed. I still am.

The historical detail is well researched and it was interesting to learn more about Britain at that time and how life was. The little details about how people lived, entertained and the different, well defined, roles of the sexes were very interesting to read about. These are all part of a bygone era now and it was great to realise how far as a society we had come. Sam Richardson as Aniq Adjaye, [9] an escape room designer and the primary suspect who attempts to use his escape room skills to clear his name after being accused of Xavier's murder, and later to investigate Edgar's murder. [8]

Lizzie's life is stagnating. She still lives in her hometown, & works a job she doesn't like all that much instead of pursuing an art career. One major reason for this is that she has been in love with work colleague, Dean, for three years. Lizzie has never told Dean how she feels but, after all the lingering gazes between them, she wonders if he feels the same. When she is basically goaded into applying for a job in London, she realises that now is the time before it's too late. Phyllis herself is weak, vacuous, almost simple. She never seems to question whether what she's been told is right, morally right, ethically defensible. Is she a victim? Possibly. Do I feel sympathy for her? Not much. She would possibly be easy enough to chat to over tea, but scratch the surface and her contempt for anyone "other" would be right there. Zoë's interrogation is set to a deranged animation. In her story, Zoë's different inner selves attempt to be the more dominant personality. At one point, it is revealed that Jennifer 2 was the one sending Chelsea the anonymous texts. Meanwhile, Aniq and Yasper attempt to eavesdrop on her interrogation, but Yasper's phone is low on battery, so they try to find a charger that is not in use. In their search, they get trapped in a secret room. Culp catches them spying and tells Danner that the police captain has taken her off the case. The novel’s title evokes both the aftermath of a very grand party and the consequences of belonging to the British Union. (Mosley dropped both ‘fascist’ and ‘national socialist’ from the name in 1936.) Charting the subtle interplay between party and party is where Connolly suggests a few answers to the question: how could anyone have joined the fascists? We watch people influenced by their social group, responding to the bossy ones, the seductive ones, the repellant ones. We can see that it is in social groupings that political parties gain their power and their unwritten moral codes, because that is where the subtle parameters of what is ‘not done’ within a group, are formed. We realise the importance of a ‘good party’. There's a little bit of 'death to the jews' graffiti, the true crime there being the graffiti itself not the message (graffiti is frightfully jejune don't you know). We gloss briefly over the little spot of trouble in the East End (the battle of Cable Street?), not the fault of the BU, obviously. But the thing is, there's no context given in the book. If you didn't already know about Oswald Mosley and his despicable party before you read this book, you could reasonably feel sympathy for the plight of the imprisoned party members. In this era where the far right is once again on the rise I find this unforgivable.

The grotesque snobbery of Phyllis's family is as horrifying as their politics, every last detail of their lives is intended to confirm and proclaim their status in society. Patricia is a particular odious creature amongst a cast of horrible characters. At times I thought Lizzie was going to get into hot water with her investigations and even to a point where I thought surely she can't trust her neighbour she's too nice, what is she hiding. Will Forte as himself (season 1), who co-starred with Xavier in a dramatic film adaptation of the board game Hungry Hungry Hippos and was due to reprise his role in the sequel before Xavier's death This was creepy AF and kept me guessing the entire time. Definitely not a predictable thriller and so many twists and turns’ Lisa, NetGalley Thompson, Simon (August 1, 2023). "Here's Why ' The Afterparty ' Might Be Giving You ' Moonlighting ' Vibes". Forbes . Retrieved August 1, 2023. "Sam is home for me," [Zoë] Chao, returning as Zoë Zhu, an artist and high school vice principal, she was married to Brett with whom she shares a child.

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Danner questions Brett, who tells his story in the style of an action movie, in which he casts himself as a ne'er-do-well hero who is committed to his family. Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Aniq and Yasper look through the garbage to find a discarded note written by one of the partygoers. a b c d e f g Ashley, James (August 8, 2023). " The Afterparty Season 3 Release Date, Storyline, Cast Member, and Everything You Need To Know". The Bulletin Time . Retrieved August 8, 2023. It’s 1938 and returning to England from abroad, Phyllis gets involved with helping her sister, Nina, organise the summer camp Nina runs as part of her ‘peace work’ for a political movement. For quite a while the identity of the charismatic individual who heads the movement, referred to only as ‘the Leader’, is not revealed, although readers will probably have their suspicions given some of the unpalatable views espoused and the period in which the events take place. What the book does well is reflect the range of views that prevailed at the time. How many people were fearful of the prospect of war not so much because they were advocates of appeasement or supporters of the Nazi regime but because they feared the upheaval of war, remembering only too well the carnage wrought by the First World War. Hannah's testimony is set up as a twee-themed coming-of-age story. [nb 2] Hannah's friendship with Grace began at her adoption anniversary party, but their relationship eventually blossomed into an affair. Zoë confronts Grace upon hearing this, who confirms they were having flings. Grace ultimately chose Edgar over Hannah, which led to Hannah conspiring with Travis to sabotage the wedding. Despite planning Travis' objection, Hannah had a change of heart after seeing Edgar's vows and realizing how much he loved Grace. After exploring Edgar's office, Aniq and Danner discover that Edgar was looking at candidates to replace his business partner, Sebastian, who is actively doing business while pretending to be Edgar. Ben Schwartz as Yasper E. Lennov (guest season 2), [11] Aniq's best friend and Xavier's former bandmate, who hopes to restart his music career

It’s not true that there is a house style to New Zealand television drama, but there are some threads that show up here quite often. There’s the fusion of high stakes with comic elements, well-executed in previous Robyn Malcolm projects like Outrageous Fortune and Far North from earlier this year. This is likely both a natural outflow of the material and an attempt at going broad, which is understandable in a small market like ours. Less forgivable is a tendency toward caricature, with roles reduced to heroes and villains – a pernicious issue that infects plotting and scripts and flows out into performances that leave our fine actors grasping like the soap stars they once were. This is the first book by this author I have read and I will definitely be looking forward to reading more from her in the future. The rest of this psychological thriller follows Lizzie as she tries to help with the investigation. A prominent pop music icon Xavier is found dead at the afterparty of a high school reunion in Marin County. Against the advice of her superior, Detective Danner takes on the case. She first questions Aniq, an escape room designer who tells his story in the style of a romantic comedy. He was in pursuit of his high school crush Zoë at the reunion, but he faced competition from both Xavier and Brett, her ex-husband.

Zoë asks her parents, Feng and Vivian, why they don't want to be questioned. Next to be interrogated is Ulysses, Feng's half-brother and the self-described "funcle" of Grace and Zoë. His retelling of the weekend is told as an epic romance when he reveals that he had a torrid love affair with his own sister-in-law, Vivian, before Grace was born. Feng eventually discovered their secret, prompting Ulysses to travel the world in an attempt to move on with his life. Ulysses stayed distant from Feng and his family until he got a personal visit from Edgar, who wanted Ulysses to attend the wedding. When Edgar suggested that Ulysses could be Grace's biological father, Ulysses chose to attend the ceremony with the intention of confirming Grace's parentage, much to Feng's fury. Despite his personal suspicions, Ulysses ultimately chose to leave the past behind him. After Zoë attempts to force a confession out of Hannah, she realizes that the wedding videographer, Kyler, should have plenty of footage from the previous night that could help pinpoint the killer.