First the Celebration. Then the Afterparty.

Week 40

Katie Cronin

Apr 22, 2025

Welcome to Watch TV. Drink BEER.

Week 40 Vibe: Mystery. Romance. Pet Tranqs.

The TV.

The Afterparty. Season 1. Episode 1.

WATCH IF YOU LIKE: The Residence. Search Party. No Good Deed.

Stream: Apple TV+

Episodic or ~~Stand Alone~~

Episode Description

Aniq, a fun-loving escape room designer, attends his 15 year high school reunion with the hope of rekindling an old flame, Zoe, who is recently divorced. But things fall apart when their fellow classmate is murdered at the after party. A mix of comedy, genre-bending, and whodunnit, The Afterparty is a mysterious romp from the brilliant minds of Christopher Miller and Phil Lord. In the first episode, we meet Detective Danner played by Tiffany Haddish and her sidekick Detective Cupp (played by John Early) who interview the afterparty attendees to figure out who shoved Xavier from his balcony to his untimely death. Aniq describes his evening in the style of a rom-com as his attempts to pursue his crush lead him to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Why This Episode

I love Lorde and Miller. If you’re unfamiliar, they are the hilarious and brilliant minds behind Into the Spiderverse, 21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie, and Last Man On Earth. This show sort of slide under the radar during its COVID release, but is filled with all of your favorite comedic actors and is a feat of production with every episode playing out in a different cinematic genre. The show is an ambitious and expensive undertaking that only Apple and this directing duo could pull off. I chose the pilot episode because I don’t want to give away any spoilers! Start from the beginning and try to solve the mystery as you go. Each person’s different (genre) perspective reveals details from across the evening and the characters’ shared history to eventually reveal a murderer in their midst. Its cute, entertaining, and fun. If you’re looking for a palate cleanser from the intense prestige offerings airing currently (Last of Us, Severance, The Pit), look no further.

The BEER.

pFriem + Belmont Station 28th Anniversary Beer

Brewed by: pFriem + Belmont Station | 6.5% ABV

DRINK IF YOU LIKE: Dunk Dust IPA, Buoy IPA, Vortex IPA

Beer Description

If a beer could taste like Old Portland, this west coast IPA, born of collaboration and celebration, is Old Portland in a pint glass. The aroma is juicy and rich, with a hint of the PNW fir forests. The flavor is an elixir of dark berries and dank pine tree, with just a lingering dash of citrus. Its bitter, but still quite drinkable with a light golden hue. The style is a staff favorite at Belmont Station, and its clear why - this beer packs the traditional hoppy punch of an old-school WCIPA with the fruity and crisp finish that put Portland IPAs on the map. It packs in a whopping seven different hop varietals: Chinook, Mosaic, Mosaic Cryo, Simcoe, Simcoe Dynaboost, Columbus Cryo, and Krush Hyperboost. I recommend this beer to anyone reminiscing on the good old days, dreaming of simpler times, when there was only a few drinkable IPAs across town.

Why this Beer

Celebrating the decades is what a high school reunion is all about! I selected this 28th anniversary beer because its celebrating the past, and how far we’ve all come. Belmont Station is a beloved bottle shop in SE Portland, bringing delicious and unique beers to the masses for the last 28 years. Belmont Station’s dedication to community, great beer, and friendship has kept it going strong over the decades of change in Portland. Much like the reunion attendees in The Afterparty, it takes time and distance to mature and grow in order to come back together and celebrate. And while there aren’t any mysterious deaths involved in the making of this beer, its intriguing and complex flavor profile is definitely a bit mysterious.

Tasting Notes

I want to start the tasting notes with a declaration of love for some of these actors. Sam Richardson is one of the funniest and most versatile comedians and actors of our time. Ike Barinholtz is really crushing it in general right now as an actor and producer, he’s funny and enduring and plays scary rage guy quite well. Tiya Sircar as Jen 1 is a excellent, you may recognize her from The Good Place. Ilana Glazer gets to play a little more serious and sinister in her Horror themed episode. And finally Zoe Chao who I first discovered in a great show called Love Life that definitely deserves a post later this spring. I imagine being on set for the show is a form of heaven for any comedy nerds like myself.
The episode starts with exposition - our two detectives arrive to the crime scene, discovering a celebrity has fallen to his death. But right away, we learn that they aren’t meant to be the lead investigators adding stakes and tension going into the rest of the episode. Normally exposition heavy content isn’t ideal, John Early and Tiffany Haddish make it entertaining with their quips. Its the key to keeping a whodunnit mystery fresh and interesting - cast A-list comedians to fill all the roles. Its a show full of “number 4s and 5s on the call sheet” meaning full of actors who are often not the lead star of a show, but come in as your favorite side character. Detective Danner then literally states the premise of the show: You are all stars of your own movies, and every person will have a different viewpoint or perspective on the evening’s events. We will now witness each character’s movie, in a genre reflecting their personality.
The first cinematic genre we explore is “arthouse” film with Indigo. Its a quick scene, but helps establish the show’s mechanics to the audience. We see Aniq dramatically awoken by a loud noise and flashing lights, and his friend Yasper come in from the balcony to comfort him. Its melodrama at its finest.
The rest of the episode is spent exploring Aniq’s mind movie. As the most obvious suspect, he is desperate to clear his name and dives into his “rom-com,” his quest to win over his high school crush, Zoe. If you choose to watch the entire first season, pay attention to the moments that get repeated through each retelling of the night. It will start to reveal clues about the real murderer.
I love the way this show explores the idea of unreliable narrators. Because we follow Aniq first, and we are all suckers for love stories, the audience is immediately on his side, believes him, and hopes that he is able to get away from the accusation unscathed. But, there really isn’t any reason to believe Aniq’s story yet. We will quickly learn in a future episode (no spoilers, really, I promise) that Aniq believed that Brett was chasing him in a jealous rage for Zoe, but that’s not really true. So the show invites us as an audience to think critically, take sides, and join along in the mysterious fun!
After watching the first episode top suspects include: Chelsea with her mystery flask and sloppy demeanor, rage-filled Brett, and Walt who declared that no one would forget him after tonight… But I wouldn’t rule anyone out just yet.

Fun Fact: I dropped one context clue in this post that gives the smallest hint at who the real murderer is… leave your guess in the comments.

Thanks for reading! See you next Tuesday. Cheers!