S01.E08: Maggie

[AnimeMania]

An unexpected eyewitness emerges to help Detective Danner piece together the true story behind Xavier’s demise.

Original Airdate: March 4, 2022  

Everly Carganilla as Maggie

[AnimeMania]

I didn't like the ending, the killer had special knowledge that helped them commit the murder otherwise they wouldn't have been able to. It kind of violates the this is a place we have never been to before and didn't know we were going to end up here tonight, spontaneity of the crime as it drifts into premeditated.

How did Jen 2 get to the hospital, did she drive herself?

[arc]

I'm not gonna go rewatch everything, but it sure seems like they played it pretty fair. We learned in previous episodes that Yasper installed Xavier's AV equipment and I'm going to take it on faith that the various real clues (Yasper with Xavier's phone, the closet door being closed or open, Yasper coming in to Aniq's waking up a different way in his story than in everyone else's) really did play out that way.

Overall I'm very pleased with the season. (It really shows how for a show like this, you gotta stick the landing.)

I did enjoy how Maggie's own story had puppets and was entirely spoken by Maggie, except for puppet Walt.

Also, what a terrific fake-out: "The one that told the most cartoonish and fake story" on a shot of Zoe whose episode was literally a cartoon, but she meant Yasper!

[Zonk]

2 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

I didn't like the ending, the killer had special knowledge that helped them commit the murder otherwise they wouldn't have been able to. It kind of violates the this is a place we have never been to before and didn't know we were going to end up here tonight, spontaneity of the crime as it drifts into premeditated.

I really liked it. It was established multiple times that Yasper had been there before, to install that AV equipment and really, that should have made him the prime suspect all along.

All the clues were there, they specifically showed us his phone case and made a whole spiel about it, when it came to the handwriting analysis. But we saw him multiple times with a phone without that case. Plus the acustics in the shower thing. Also I did think it was odd, the whole time that X would actually agree to the colab. Something seemed super fishy there. I think at the time I just thought Yasper was lying about it to get that colab done post mortem, after the fact. I didn't think he was actually the murderer at that point. But then, how would he have gotten that message from X on his phone? I should have followed that thread more.  I think I just fell for his charm and since I didn't really try to solve this one, I didn't think any further.

After the reveal, I was questioning why he didn't just delete the security footage beforehand, instead of making it seem like the detective did it by accident, but thinking about it, if he had just deleted it, people would have asked who might have had knowledge of that system and could have deleted it and suspicipon would have immediatly landed on him.

I'm sure when you binge all the episodes and really try to solve this, you can figure it out and that is what makes a good murder mystery. It's certainly a lot more complicated than Death on the Nile, which I figured out 10 minutes before Poirot (and I don't know how I had never seen a version of it before, but I swear I hadn't), but it all made perfect sense. I feel if I hadn't just watched this casually I could have put it together. Probably not with all the details, like the closet door I would have never gotten, but who the murderer is, for sure.

2 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

How did Jen 2 get to the hospital, did she drive herself?

She probably called an Uber. Though it is a bit of a stretch that she wouldn't have told anybody, especially her best friend. Then again, they brought up a plausible fanwanky out at the end "pregnancy brain".

19 minutes ago, arc said:

Also, what a terrific fake-out: "The one that told the most cartoonish and fake story" on a shot of Zoe whose episode was literally a cartoon, but she meant Yasper!

Yeah, that was a good one. But also here: fair. Zoe's story was cartoonish, but not fake. Only Yasper's story was cartoonish and fake.

Edited March 4, 2022 by Zonk

[Evie]

10 hours ago, Zonk said:

I'm sure when you binge all the episodes and really try to solve this, you can figure it out and that is what makes a good murder mystery. It's certainly a lot more complicated than Death on the Nile, which I figured out 10 minutes before Poirot (and I don't know how I had never seen a version of it before, but I swear I hadn't), but it all made perfect sense. I feel if I hadn't just watched this casually I could have put it together. Probably not with all the details, like the closet door I would have never gotten, but who the murderer is, for sure.

I was a casual viewer too. I caught the closet door but didn't catch all of the other clues. Reddit had the murderer figured out so the clues were definitely there for those who watched closely enough. 

[BingeyKohan]

My end-of-season question: Did they intend more with the Indigo character but cut her material?

[xander874]

1 hour ago, BingeyKohan said:

My end-of-season question: Did they intend more with the Indigo character but cut her material?

This was my question. I felt she was so wasted. And even though she was super annoying I would’ve loved to see what her story would’ve been like. 

Overall I was happy with the ending even though I loved Yasper. Like that they actually had clues and it wasn’t out of left field. can’t wait for season 2!

[SomeTameGazelle]

13 minutes ago, xander874 said:

This was my question. I felt she was so wasted. And even though she was super annoying I would’ve loved to see what her story would’ve been like. 

Indigo didn't get a whole episode, but she gave her version before Danner decided to interview them individually, early in episode one.  Her version was shot in black-and-white.

[BingeyKohan]

2 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

Indigo didn't get a whole episode, but she gave her version before Danner decided to interview them individually, early in episode one.  Her version was shot in black-and-white.

I vaguely remember that -- but even that is a weird choice. The Jennifers were more integral/integrated characters vs Indigo and they didn't get that kind of treatment. 

[AnimeMania]

‘The Afterparty’ Stars Ben Schwartz and Sam Richardson Discuss the Killer — and Dissect the Clues

 

Mystery solved! The Afterparty cast and producers break down the whodunit's twists and turns

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by AnimeMania

[arc]

7 hours ago, BingeyKohan said:

My end-of-season question: Did they intend more with the Indigo character but cut her material?

I think as presented here, Indigo is one of the furthest from having any motive for the murder. So that might be part of why she didn’t get a full episode. And then, with the mystery constructed that way, they gave her a personality and corresponding “mind movie” that wouldn’t support the full episode treatment either.

[twoods]

Since there is a season two and Aniq gave Danner his card, I hope he shows up to help her solve the next case. I enjoyed his character.

[Zonk]

I just stumbled upon this article: Yasper On 'The Afterparty' Is The Good Alter Ego Of Jean-Ralphio From 'Parks & Rec'

Well that one aged like milk in record time. I don't think Jean-Ralphio was a murderer. (though the author does mention it in the last paragraph)

[blackwing]

Enjoyed it, and totally did not see Yasper as the killer.  I especially liked how as the events were being recounted, we saw the multiple versions, like when Yasper was coming back into the living room or when people were looking at the closed closet.

I really wanted the killer to be Brett, because I found Brett and his squinty eyes to be really irritating.  He was like a very very poor man's Mark Wahlberg.

On 3/5/2022 at 7:53 AM, BingeyKohan said:

My end-of-season question: Did they intend more with the Indigo character but cut her material?

On 3/5/2022 at 9:09 AM, xander874 said:

This was my question. I felt she was so wasted. And even though she was super annoying I would’ve loved to see what her story would’ve been like. 

Overall I was happy with the ending even though I loved Yasper. Like that they actually had clues and it wasn’t out of left field. can’t wait for season 2!

On 3/5/2022 at 9:26 AM, SomeTameGazelle said:

Indigo didn't get a whole episode, but she gave her version before Danner decided to interview them individually, early in episode one.  Her version was shot in black-and-white.

I was wondering about Indigo too, like why bother to even make her a character if she barely was in the show?  I wanted to learn more about why she was so morose and Daria-like.

The same with Ned.  I find it hard to believe that toolish Ned was the most popular guy in high school... what happened?  I needed to hear more about what happened to Ned in the intervening years.  He used to be popular, and now he's a dork, and the most dorky person in the class is now the most famous and popular.  Seems like he could have had a good motive for murder if we found out that Xavier did something to him.

I guess the Jennifer 2 disappearance was just a red herring?

Indigo, Ned and the Jennifers (the two of them as one episode, since they are pretty much one person) all deserved episodes.  This season should have been 12 episodes long.  I wanted more!

Will be cool to look up these links and see all the clues, and then re-watch the season to see all the clues that I missed.

Tiffany Haddish is a delightful gem.  She should have gotten an Emmy nomination for this, she has a great sense of comedic timing and I love her irreverence.  The whole time I'm thinking "is it part of the joke that Tiffany Haddish is a detective, because, she's Tiffany Haddish, the lady who peed on a crowd in New Orleans, there's no way she's a detective!"

[arc]

14 hours ago, blackwing said:

I find it hard to believe that toolish Ned was the most popular guy in high school... what happened?

Everyone else grew up but Ned didn’t. Makes sense to me how not changing and growing meant he went from cool guy to unaware tool.

[Lady Calypso]

So, I just binge watched the series this afternoon. What a delightful way to spend my Sunday. I found the series really good and really compelling to watch. 

I don't know how I had Yasper as my primary suspect from the start. I'm not sure if I might have stumbled across a spoiler at some point and it subconsciously pointed me in his direction, or I just happened to catch a couple of the clues that were given, but I thought the overall reveal was well done and I LOVE how they really did have clues, some obvious and some not so obvious, spread out over the eight episodes. It wasn't something they snuck on viewers and expected you to buy; they really did put in the work to show little moments to pay attention to.

I actually had Yasper at the top of my list when we first saw him come from the balcony. I immediately went "where was HE coming from? Was he just hanging on the balcony for no reason?" and that made me watch him more closely throughout the season. I didn't catch all the hints; the phone one totally flew past my head, but I did note his multiple exclamations of how he put in the security system, so I figured he knew the house well. And I did note that the closet door was open when Aniq showed up upstairs. 

It was intriguing because there was such a heavy dose of unreliable narrator that it was hard to tell for sure whose stories were legit and what was fabricated, depending on the narrator's perspective. This is a series I'm gonna have fun rewatching for the smaller details, that's for sure.

I'm surprised not all the characters got major episodes, or even that much to do. Indigo and Ned, in particular, seemed like they'd be bigger red herrings but they really were just used as additional bodies. At least Jennifer 2 was used as a side mystery. 

A lot of the characters, at least the important ones, were really fleshed out. Despite how it ended, I loved Yasper and Aniq's friendship. It was so fully developed that the betrayal felt really raw and real. I also enjoyed that Brett turned out to be ok; he wasn't the best guy or husband BUT he was a pretty great dad. And I like how Zoe seemed like she'd be the straight woman for the series, along with Aniq, but turned out to have one of the most creative stories which made me cackle from time to time. 

I very much enjoyed this, overall. I will gladly watch it again.  I think the only thing I didn't like was the Walt running gag. But I'm personally not a huge fan of one character being the butt of the joke, and he really was the entire time. It made me feel bad for the guy more than laugh, and I'm not exactly sure how I was supposed to take Walt as a character.