History Series / TheAfterparty

* CastingGag: In the Season 2 finale, [[spoiler: Creator/MartinMull appears as the Sherriff. Mull played Colonel Mustard in ''Film/{{Clue}},'' another comedic murder mystery with ColorCodedCharacters. The dog being named "Colonel" could also be a ShoutOut.]]

*** Vivian: An 80's {{Telenovela}}, [[StylisticSuck replete with constant]] [[{{Zoom}} zooming]], about her, Ulysses, and Feng's meeting under the weeping willow.

** Episode 5 is set at a WildTeenParty that might bring to mind ''Film/{{Superbad}}'' or ''Film/ProjectX''.

On March 2nd, one day ahead of the first season finale, [[https://deadline.com/2022/03/the-afterparty-renewed-for-season-2-apple-1234969426/ the show was renewed for a second season]]. So far, Haddish, Richardson, and Chao are set to return along with a new cast comprised of Creator/KenJeong, Creator/ElizabethPerkins, Creator/ZachWoods, Creator/PaulWalterHauser, Creator/PoppyLiu, Anna Konkle, Creator/JackWhitehall, and Creator/VivianWu. The story will follow Danner as she is called to a wedding to solve the murder of the groom. The second season premiered on July 12, 2023.

*** Episode 8: Converting the points of each dart on the dartboard in the room into a corresponding letter and then rearranging them gets you "ORCHID".

* In Season 2:

*** Episode 8: The numbers on the screen while Maggie is playing in the recording studio, when decoded, read “NOT THE OBOE HOLDER”.[[note]]The killer is not Aniq, who found Xavier’s oboe when hiding in the recording studio.[[/note]]

*** Episode 8: The timestamps on Kyler's video footage, when ordered by minute from shortest to longest, and then having the seconds be converted to the corresponding letter, gets you "NOT THE SPITTER".[[note]]The killer is not Aniq, who spat out the koumiss at the rehearsal dinner.[[/note]]

** In addition to the "not" clues, Season 2 has a second series of hidden ciphers pertaining to flowers. Typing each episode's flower into the [[https://edgarandgracewedding.com/ season's website]] then unlocks a puzzle, each with a hidden key word.

*** Episode 4: A couple of Hannah's hobbies have a shelf in frame with a number of items on it (such as a shelf with two armadillos). Taking the letter of the name of each item that corresponds to the number of items on each shelf gets you "ROSE".

*** Zoe: A surreal girls night out story told in [[MediumShiftGag 2D animation]].

*** Maggie: A goofy, exaggerated version of a kids show, complete with sound effects and puppets.

* HollywoodBoardGames: Edgar keeps a running tally of his Connect Four games with Sebastian, starting from childhood. His intellect is shown from the way he guarantees victory by trapping his opponent in a play that allows a win regardless of the next move.

* IntoxicationEnsues: Aniq takes a swig from Chelsea's flask, thinking it's a regular drink. He gets woozy very fast when he arrives at the party and starts spouting nonsense and mistaking candles for jello shots before passing out. Chelsea's testimony reveals he had actually drank [[spoiler:cat tranquilizers]].

** [[spoiler:Yasper breaks up his ska band due to believing Xavier was a dork trying too hard to be cool and that pop music was a passing trend while ska would have staying power. Flashforward to the present where Xavier is a record breaking pop star and Yasper is a desperate loser trying to get his old bandmate to bless his track so he can get famous.]]

* PlotTriggeringDeath: Xavier’s death by from his bedroom balcony kicks off the murder mystery. The episode hasn’t even crossed the one minute mark when it happens.
* ProductPlacement: The character all use iPhones. Naturally, giving [[Creator/AppleTvPlus the streamer]].

** [[spoiler:Intentionally with Brett. Connecting the dots, Danner accuses him of the murder as no-one saw him in the room when Aniq was passed out, which he cannot defend and accidentally blurts out an "I'll kill you." She spins this theory to evoke a response from Aniq, who saw Brett leaving the house during the timeframe when the murder was committed]].

* SequelEscalation: Season 1 primarily took place over the course of a single night, and every suspect testimony (with the exception of Walt, who mainly just testifies about [[spoiler:the St. Patrick's Day party in 2005]]) is contained within that night, with the most stylized "mind movies" being Yasper's (which is a musical complete with musical numbers) and Zoe's (which is animated). Season 2 takes place over the course of a weekend, and without a unifying incident that links all the suspects together, each suspect account also goes into ''how'' they ended up at the wedding in the first place, with testimonies that span from weeks to ''decades''. The genres are also a lot more greatly stylized, with nearly every one featuring more lavish production values ranging from crowd costume changes to entire sets being replaced.

** In Brett's action movie styled testimony, winning back his wife and retrieving his daughter's plush toy is treated with the same seriousness as defusing a bomb or avenging a dead partner. And don't ask about the literal pissing contest...

** The in universe ''Hungry Hungry Hippos'' movie night put one in mind of ''Film/JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle'' from its visual alone.

** Aniq is drugged, passes out, and wakes up with drawings and crude phrases doodled all over his face. This is similar to what happens to Creator/EdHelms’ character in ''Film/TheHangover'', albeit Helms was tattooed, not sharpied.
** Xavier’s first hit single is titled “X Marks the G-Spot”. This may remind long time [[Creator/PhilLordAndChrisMiller Lord Miller]] fans of the song “G-Spot Rocks the G-Spot” from the duo’s first series, ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh''.

* SlippingAMickey: Grace spikes Edgar's drink with Adderall in attempts to keep him awake for longer so that they can enjoy their wedding night together.

** Danner describes ''Marshall Law'', an in universe cop show akin to ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'' as being “everything wrong with how TV portrays police work in a corny 44 minute package”. For bonus points, the episode she says this in is a pastiche of cop shows.
* TeacherStudentRomance: A belated example, but the cast continue running into their former chemistry teacher Mr. Shapiro while he's in the middle of having sex with their former classmate Heather.
* TemptingFate: [[https://youtu.be/sHYKU9B6NGc This song by Xavier]]. For one thing, it’s called “Imma Live Forever”…

* {{Jerkass}}: Isabel, full stop. Not only did she immediately misname her son's girlfriend and berate Grace for correcting her, but she goes as far as to print her and Edgar's wedding napkins out incorrectly on purpose, insult and demean Aniq, botch her speech on purpose to mock them, and takes the cake by immediately accusing Grace of Edgar's murder.

** Downplayed in season 2, but still prevalent to an extent. Zoe and Aniq retain their colors; Edgar: Black; Grace: White; Travis: Gray; Hannah: Yellow; Ulysses: Brown; Sebastian: Green; Feng: Purple.

* TakeThatUs: The in universe ''Hungry Hungry Hippos'' movie doesn’t seem too dissimilar to the [[Creator/PhilLordAndChrisMiller creators’]] [[Film/TwentyOneJumpStreet past]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie works]].

** Chelsea’s motivation for coming to the reunion was to drug Xavier with cat tranquilizers, strip him, and post his nude pictures online in retribution for

*** Zoe: An EvilDead-esque campy horror flick about [[spoiler:her run-in with Colonel in Grace and Edgar's room.]]

*** Ulysses: An OscarBait romantic drama, with elements of dance films and global epics, about what led to his global expeditions and subsequent return.

** Chelsea’s motivation for coming to the reunion was to drug Xavier with cat tranquilizers, strip him, and post his nude pictures online in retribution for an incident at a St. Patrick’s Day party that ruined her reputation.
* RotatingProtagonist: Due to the RashomonStyle format of the show, every member of the main cast gets a turn playing the protagonist for an episode when giving their testimonies. In the sections outside of the testimonies, focus is divided between Danner and Aniq as they each lead separate investigations into the killer's identity.
* RunningGag:
** Aniq repeatedly gets various liquids splashed on him.
** Every testimony features Walt attempting to ask the focus character if they know who he is only to get blown off without getting an answer.
** Characters repeatedly stumble upon their old chemistry teacher Mr. Shapiro and his former student Heather having sex.
** Xavier's poor grasp of the Spanish language comes up a few times.
* SequelEscalation: Season 1 primarily took place over the course of a single night, and every suspect testimony (with the exception of Walt, who mainly just testifies about [[spoiler:the St. Patrick's Day party in 2005]]) is contained within that night, with the most stylized "mind movies" being Yasper's (which is a musical complete with musical numbers) and Zoe's (which is animated). Season 2 takes place over the course of a weekend, and without a unifying incident that links all the suspects together, each suspect account also goes into ''how'' they ended up at the wedding in the first place, with testimonies that span from weeks to ''decades''. The genres are also a lot more greatly stylized, with nearly every one featuring more lavish production values ranging from crowd costume changes to entire sets being replaced.
* SeriousBusiness:
** In Brett's action movie styled testimony, winning back his wife and retrieving his daughter's plush toy is treated with the same seriousness as defusing a bomb or avenging a dead partner. And don't ask about the literal pissing contest...
** When Brett dismissively compares Aniq to [[Series/FamilyMatters Urkel]], Detective Danner immediately gets pissed, as Urkel was her first crush.
* ShoutOut:
** The in universe ''Hungry Hungry Hippos'' movie night put one in mind of ''Film/JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle'' from its visual alone.
** The Hall and Oates biopic is a clear parody of similar films like ''Film/BohemianRhapsody'' and ''Film/Rocketman2019''.
** Indigo's LeFilmArtistique flashback, complete with 1.19:1 aspect ratio and monochrome presentation, is clearly inspired by ''Film/TheLighthouse''.
** Brett presents himself in his flashback as a gruff badass with a dedication to family, not unlike Creator/VinDiesel in the ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' movies. Capping off this comparison is a high-speed car chase.
** Brett compares Aniq to [[Series/FamilyMatters Steve Urkel]].
** While introducing herself, Danner compares the state of the house to Barnum and Bailey's Circus.
** Xavier references the plot of ''Film/Parasite2019'' to excuse himself from a conversation with Chelsea.
** Aniq is drugged, passes out, and wakes up with drawings and crude phrases doodled all over his face. This is similar to what happens to Creator/EdHelms’ character in ''Film/TheHangover'', albeit Helms was tattooed, not sharpied.
** Xavier’s first hit single is titled “X Marks the G-Spot”. This may remind long time [[Creator/PhilLordAndChrisMiller Lord Miller]] fans of the song “G-Spot Rocks the G-Spot” from the duo’s first series, ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh''.
** Xavier's toast speech at the afterparty has him declare to his classmates that [[{{Music/Drake}} "We started at the upper-middle, and now we here."]]
** Episode 5 is set at a WildTeenParty that might bring to mind ''Film/{{Superbad}}'' or ''Film/ProjectX''.
** [[spoiler:Aniq going off on Xavier's car might echo Creator/JohnGoodman's Walter Sobchak's actions during the famous "Find a Stranger in the Alps" scene in ''Film/TheBigLebowski''.]]
** At one point during Xavier and Aniq's WimpFight at the St. Patrick's Day party, they start spinning around with their arms outstretched. Yasper yells from the sidelines to "stop [[Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic Sound of Music-ing]]", a reference to the iconic opening shot of the movie.
** Grace's retelling of the wedding weekend is an homage to regency-era romances, most notably the 2005 adaptation of ''[[Film/PrideAndPrejudice2005 Pride and Prejudice]]'', from empire-waist dresses to Edgar's Darcy-esque sideburns. It even includes the iconic shot of his hand flexing after touching hers.
* SlippingAMickey: Grace spikes Edgar's drink with Adderall in attempts to keep him awake for longer so that they can enjoy their wedding night together.
* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Lampshaded by Sebastian in his testimony. His first encounter with Edgar is when they meet as roommates in boarding school; Edgar offers a game of chess to win a baseball card off of him, but Sebastian counters with Connect Four instead.
--> '''Sebastian''': I knew a hustle when I saw one. I wasn't gonna beat him at his own game. But Connect Four? The poor kid's chess? That I could play.
* StealthPun: Aniq's mix tape for Zoe is titled "Zoe's Tropes: A to Z". A zoetrope is a device used for animation that predates film, befitting the character whose focus episode is animated.
* StylisticSuck:
** The ''Hungry Hungry Hippos'' movie and the Hall & Oates biopic that Xavier starred in are not very good, with BadBadActing and even worse writing. Case in point…
---> '''Xavier:''' ''(In a bad Creator/SteveIrwin impression)'' Those Hungry Hungry Hippos have lost their marbles!
** Xavier and Yasper's old {{Ska}} band Ska-Pe Diem is recognized as having sucked in-universe by everyone other than Yasper (who is clearly in denial). The one song of theirs we get to hear is just about the most trite-sounding thing it could possibly be.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Aniq tries putting his AmateurSleuth skills to use by performing an investigation of his own independent of the police, and finds a pattern in two seemingly unrelated pieces of writing that he believes to be a lead to who the true culprit is. [[spoiler: As it turns out, the two pieces of writing were created by Xavier, the victim, and provide no relevant information about the killer's identity; something that Danner, an actual professional crime solver, puts together in seconds once they're presented to her.]]
** Danner got into police work for the sake of justice and keeping the peace. As she and other academy hopefuls discover during her career, the majority of police work is still ''work'' rather than exciting car chases and investigations. Many of her colleagues are shown to become lazy or unnecessarily brutal out of sheer apathy towards the routine domestic disputes and complaints. Others take the shortest route possible towards solving a case [[spoiler: in the interest of climbing the ranks as fast as possible, such as Germain.]]
* SympatheticMurderer: Subverted. Throughout the series, most of the cast are shown at their most sympathetic when dealing with Xavier, even Brett. These stories are meant to make you understand to an extent why someone would want to kill him. [[spoiler: Turns out it was Yasper who isn’t sympathetic at all since years ago he was the one who cut off Xavier coldly because he thought Xavier was holding him back in his rose to stardom. Quite the opposite. Xavier catapulted to success while Yasper went nowhere and pathetically tried to glom on to Xavier’s success. When Xavier justifiably turned him down, Yasper murdered Xavier for supposedly taking the game that he decided was so rightfully his.]]
* TakeThat:
** Xavier is more or less a parody of hyper-sexualized pretty boy pop stars from the prior ten years, such as Music/JustinBieber or Creator/JustinTimberlake.
** The aforementioned Hall & Oates biopic is one towards similar biopics of musicians such as ''Film/BohemianRhapsody'' and ''Film/Rocketman2019'', with their similar story beats.
** There is a jab towards Music/HallAndOates themselves with Xavier as Hall telling Channing Tatum as Oates to “go high” and that he’ll “go the exact same high” in the film.
** Indigo is one for NewAgeRetroHippie and {{Beatnik}} characters. Her flashback is dripping with pretension, she interprets a prank as an art piece, and she refuses to look at any television screens. Not to mention her promotion of cheese made from human breast milk because of how “barbaric” it is that humans drink milk from other animals. Chelsea's testimony goes on to reveal that she is also part of an incredibly shady pyramid scheme involving a nutrition supplement and is also an anti-vaxxer.
** While hiding out in Xavier's music equipment room, Aniq finds an oboe and drops this gem about pop artists trying to improve their credibility by making a NewSoundAlbum.
---> '''Aniq:''' Oh god. He was making a serious album?
** Danner describes ''Marshall Law'', an in universe cop show akin to ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'' as being “everything wrong with how TV portrays police work in a corny 44 minute package”. For bonus points, the episode she says this in is a pastiche of cop shows.
* TakeThatUs: The in universe ''Hungry Hungry Hippos'' movie doesn’t seem too dissimilar to the [[Creator/PhilLordAndChrisMiller creators’]] [[Film/TwentyOneJumpStreet past]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie works]].
* TeacherStudentRomance: A belated example, but the cast continue running into their former chemistry teacher Mr. Shapiro while he's in the middle of having sex with their former classmate Heather.
* TemptingFate: [[https://youtu.be/sHYKU9B6NGc This song by Xavier]]. For one thing, it’s called “Imma Live Forever”…
--> ''Oh-oh! I got enemies / I betcha wanna push me off a balcony…''
* UnknownRival: Aniq portrays both Brett and Xavier as his hostile romantic rivals in his testimony, whereas Brett's testimony makes it clear that Brett never viewed him as a threat and that he saw his rivalry as with Xavier. Every instance of Brett acting aggressively toward Aniq turns out to have an explanation unrelated to trying to sabotage his chances with Zoe.
* UnreliableNarrator: Naturally for a RashomonStyle story, there are various discrepancies, and with a few exceptions, it's hard to tell what is the accurate version of events and what isn't. [[spoiler:A major example with Yasper's account, as he previously presented Xavier as being accepting, but overall dismissive of his request to bless his track. This encounter, in fact, ended with Xavier sarcastically brushing him aside after proclaiming that he'd never help Yasper]].
* UrineTrouble: Early testimonies point towards Xavier (from his bedroom balcony) accidentally peeing on Jenn 1 (on the lower balcony) as evidence of his disgusting jackassery. It turns out to have been [[spoiler:Xavier pouring out Chelsea's tranquilizer cocktail]]. Jenn 1 doesn't think this was an improvement.
* WeUsedToBeFriends:
** Yasper and Xavier used to be in a ska band together before Xavier broke out on his own.
** Chelsea used to be friends with Zoe and the two Jennifers as well before the infamous St. Patrick’s Day party. [[spoiler: The affair with Zoe’s husband Brett was also a factor in their current hostilities.]]
* WhamShot: In Episode 7, when Danner reveals she has one more secret witness to interview, the camera cuts to [[spoiler:Maggie, Zoe and Brett's daughter]].
----

*** Ulysses: A romantic drama, with elements of dance films and global epics, about what led to his global expeditions and subsequent return.

** Throughout the first two seasons, people will constantly compare/mix up Aniq with [[Series/FamilyMatters Steve Urkel]]. In the final scene of Season 2, Aniq learns that [[spoiler: Jaeleel White is playing him in the movie based on Season 1.]]

** Money is another major theme of the second season with many of the characters suspecting that Edgar was murdered for his money and the different socioeconomic levels of the Zhu and Minnows family being a through line. Throughout their testimonies many characters express a disdain for money and the circumstances it brings, such as Grace not signing the prenup because she doesn't want to be thinking about finances before her wedding, Travis going after Edgar's cryptocurrency Bucephalus because he was tricked by a similar scam in the past, [[spoiler:Sebastian]] wanting a sentimental item more than millions of dollars, or [[spoiler:Isabel being convinced Edgar is putting her into a conservatorship to attain her money]].

* EurekaMoment: Danner has an epiphany about the murder in episode 7 that she explains in episode 8. After Culp brings up an old case of hers involving a woman who was murdered when she opened the door, Danner realizes that [[spoiler:the closet door in Xavier's bedroom was closed in every story except Aniq's, meaning the killer could have hidden there and killed him before Aniq went upstairs]]. She quickly pieces who it could have been and [[spoiler:guides Aniq to the same conclusion]] in the finale.

* FairPlayMystery: All the clues needed to solve the mystery are given to the viewer, and a particularly astute individual may be capable of solving the case - that is, figuring out the trick behind the murder and who the killer is - before [[spoiler:the St. Patrick's Day party is disclosed to the audience.]]