The Afterparty Review: Maggie (Season 1 Episode 8)
The Afterparty has come to its thrilling conclusion and the killer has been revealed.
It has been quite the wild ride with genre-encompassing detours and red herrings. Misdirections, clues, and different points of view have made the task of solving the murder not so simple.
But, while we were being entertained with romcom sweetness and cartoon rebellion, Detective Danner was doing her job and doing it well. Not only does she figure out who killed Xavier, but she breaks it down in classic whodunnit fashion—very Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple.
And very fun to watch.
Note: The rest of this review contains spoilers for the finale of The Afterparty.
Tiffany Haddish has made a character out of Detective Danner that can hang with all those legendary literary sleuths. Danner has a shrewd investigative eye and quick wit that, along with her warm, likable manner, make the big reveal as climactic as it should be.
Complete with a cleverly-placed diversion that gives it a nice last-minute twist.
Like Zoe, the audience doesn’t want to believe that Brett is capable of murder but it’s not something that seems implausible either. He is a reactionary hot head and he has a motive.
However, if the story did go there it would be ending on a rather dark tone. No one wants to see the father of adorable little Maggie hauled away as a killer.
The beginning of the episode puts us into a cheery, childlike mood. To the eyes of a child, this afterparty, at night, way past her bedtime, at the home of a celebrity (and star of her favorite movie, Hungry Hungry Hippos), is a wondrous, magical place.
At one point, Maggie is literally like a kid in a candy store. And her joyful jaunt throughout Xavier’s clifftop manse leaves clues behind that help Det. Danner to solve the case.
She works out that sweet, lovable Yasper is, in fact, the killer. He was the charismatic performer, star of his own musical comedy, on his episode, Season 1 Episode 3, “Yasper.” He was the helpful, funny sidekick on Aniq’s romcom as well.
The show definitely has the audience rooting for him, maybe with a little bit of niggling doubts, but it makes the best sense for the story. It would have been a big blow if Aniq was named and a let down if it was Chelsea or Zoe.
The only other viable suspect is Walt, but his whole thing is being unnoticeable and in the background, so the story can’t end up centering around him.
It had to be Yasper.
This way, Aniq’s vindication hits harder because he proves that he is actually a good guy who is unable to let someone take the fall in order to save himself. Also, Yasper is going to get his fame after all—it will just be for murdering a mediocre pop star.
Detective Danner gets a very satisfying moment of glory over her career-long nemesis, and Aniq and Zoe ride romantically into the sunset in Yasper’s rental, claiming, finally, their happy ending that had been in the making since high school.
What did you think of The Afterparty‘s Season 1 finale? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Afterparty is now streaming on Apple TV+.
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Erin Allen
Erin is a former script supervisor for film and television. She's an avid fan of middle aged actresses, dark dramas, and irreverent comedies. She loves to read actual books and X-Files fan fiction. Her other passions include pointing out feminist issues, shipping Mulder and Scully, and collecting pop culture mugs.