The Afterparty proves that being a dream girl is more complicated than it looks

It’s pretty fitting that after multiple episodes of seeing different Zoes through the eyes of other people, The Afterparty’s eventual reveal is that she feels like a whole bunch of people fighting to discover which one of her is the real one. As the only one of these characters to stick around their high school after graduation, she’s on her home turf for the reunion, but she’s also emerging after years of being in a bad marriage, and doing it in front of everyone she went to high school with, who also all know her husband.

The situation is emotionally volatile, which is reflected in Zoe’s conflicted feelings about the whole night, and the different personas she keeps taking on. Does she want to make out with someone random to celebrate a night off? And if so, who? Or is she so off-balance from her divorce that she’s not ready to date yet? As a look into what’s been going through Zoe’s mind all this time, it’s illuminating (she does like Aniq, but she’s also so lost that it’s not really the point), but as a next step in the ongoing mystery of what happened at this party, it doesn’t really move a lot forward. We get yet another look at the Xavier/Brett/Aniq/Zoe love…square, but it doesn’t give us a whole lot we haven’t pieced together on our own. We already know that Zoe bailed on Xavier, and that she’s angry with Brett but on smoother footing now, and that she and Chelsea worked things out. As fun as the animation is, it’s hard not to feel like the show is spinning its wheels instead of moving the central mystery forward, especially after the Walt episode revealed so much about the history of these characters. How is it possible that someone as distant from the action as Walt was able to provide so many insights about these people and how they relate to each other, but Zoe, perhaps the most central character in all of this so far, doesn’t have much to add?

It’s not like the show isn’t entitled to take detours here and there, but for a character that has spent so much of the season being an object of desire rather than getting to demonstrate what she actually wants, it’s hard not to have higher hopes for the reveal of her role within the mystery. Even after an episode in her company, connecting her narrative to the investigation doesn’t totally work—it’s not clear why she felt compelled to leap up to defend Aniq, or why she was inspired to walk Danner through her pre-midlife crisis in this moment.

The episode ultimately makes for a somewhat frustrating viewing experience. On the one hand, it’s a glimpse into what it’s like to be everyone’s dream girl, and why she’s been chameleonic enough to be a dream girl for all of these people. But the leaps between different aspects of who she is lead to some disjointed storytelling, zipping from one thing to another without adding much to the overall narrative, with the result that her story, despite its web of connections to the prior episodes, doesn’t build much on the momentum of the season so far. It says something that the biggest reveal of the episode is that Jennifer 2 is the one who was texting Chelsea threatening things. It makes sense, as these things go—both Jennifers have proven to be somewhat fixated on maintaining the social hierarchy. And there is a certain frisson of there being a little more to that story, given that Jennifer 2 is also our missing partygoer. But at this point it would be nice to see each new episode providing some shading and nuance to who all of these people are, and as visually inventive as this episode is, it doesn’t really succeed at that. There are glimpses of some more intriguing paths here, like Zoe’s awareness of other people’s discomfort with her divorce, or her complicated feelings towards the Jennifers and Chelsea, but the show unfortunately doesn’t spend too much time on it.

Aniq, at least, finally acknowledges that perhaps pursuing a woman in the midst of a messy divorce might mean that the object of his affection could be going through some stuff. His hijinks with Yasper continue to be a fun framing device for each episode, as he reaches new heights of desperation to listen in on Danner’s conversations, and Yasper alternates between an impressive uselessness and the world’s most enthusiastic wingman. But their obvious ineptitude hasn’t gone as unnoticed as it appeared, as Detective Culp finally makes a move towards taking control of the investigation.

Stray observations

• Some great lip reading from Yasper, who thinks Zoe is saying “My teeth! My teeth!” to Danner.
• By far the most identifiable thing that’s happened on this show so far is Walt mistakenly thinking someone is talking to him and then immediately plowing into a chair in his effort to escape the conversation.
• Would love for Aniq to clarify which foods are wax-inducing, actually.
• The Zoe bear running around and yelling “Where is my human child” is the sort of whimsy the episode could have used a little more of.
• I’ve given it some thought, and I personally think 40% is a more acceptable cut off point for when you can take over someone’s charger, but also my phone is from 2017 and it’s possible I’m operating with a different battery life than other people here.
• Are we going to get more Indigo before the end of the season? She got part of one episode, and has otherwise drifted in the background trying to sell people on breast milk.