After treating us to Wes Anderson homages,tiny teens in sex bondage porn video Regency romances, and other delightful genre send-ups, The Afterparty's second season has finally revealed who killed tech mogul Edgar (Zach Woods) — and why.
SEE ALSO: 'The Afterparty' Season 2 review: Genre-bending murder mystery is still a total delightAs the Season 2 finale opens, the police plan to arrest Grace (Poppy Liu) for Edgar's murder. To them, she's an obvious suspect, given that her recent marriage to Edgar allows her to benefit financially from his death. But Aniq (Sam Richardson) and Danner (Tiffany Haddish), who have been investigating prior to the police's arrival, think otherwise. In classic whodunnit fashion, they sit all the suspects down together for one last attempt to crack the case. After some last-minute realizations and more key testimonies, they come to the conclusion that the killer is none other than — spoiler incoming! — Ulysses (John Cho). On top of that, they learn that Edgar wasn't even his intended victim, and that his death was an unfortunate accident.
So how do Aniq and Danner solve the mystery? And what could be next for a potential third season of The Afterparty? Let's break it down.
You May Also Like
Danner and Aniq turn to one last suspect: Zoë.
Zoë Chao in "The Afterparty." Credit: Apple TV+ While the police search Isabel's (Elizabeth Perkins) mansion for evidence, Aniq and Danner struggle with the fact that they don't have a clear idea of who killed Edgar. Their suspicions reluctantly turn to the one person who was absent from the afterparty: Zoë (Zoë Chao). Could she have been preparing to kill Edgar while everyone else was in the library?
Zoë certainly seems guilty when Aniq and Danner begin questioning her, talking about how she didn't "mean to kill him." However, it turns out that the "him" she's referring to is Isabel's ancient dog Colonel, who attacked her while she was trying to leave a copy of her maid of honor speech in Grace's suitcase. The whole sequence plays out like a campy horror film, ending with Zoë launching Colonel out the window to his death.
Or so she thinks! Colonel is alive and well, having bounced off of Isabel's trampoline. That explains Edgar's comment about seeing a "bounding hound of hell" at the afterparty. That's one tiny piece of the mystery solved, but there's still much more to uncover.
Edgar was never the true murder target in The Afterparty Season 2.
Zach Woods and Poppy Liu in "The Afterparty." Credit: Apple TV+ With time running out, Danner finds inspiration in Isabel's theory that Edgar was originally trying to murder her. She believed he'd poisoned her piece of the wedding cake, so she switched their slices at the reception to make sure his plot backfired. While the timing on that idea doesn't quite add up with Edgar's time of death, Danner realizes that there's a good chance Edgar was never the true target of the Devil's Trumpet poison. After all, a similar switch could have occurred at the afterparty, where the guests were enjoying easily poisonable drinks.
All this time, everyone had been assuming Edgar was the murder target because everyone had a motive to kill him. The only person without a clear reason for wanting Edgar dead was Ulysses, but he certainly had a reason to kill someone else: his half-brother, Feng (Ken Jeong).
Personally, I'm rarely a fan of murder mysteries where the victim isn't the intended target, because the reveal risks feeling like a cheap "gotcha" rather than a satisfying puzzle. In the case of Ulysses, though, the clues have been planted throughout. As we learn in the latter half of the season, Ulysses had an intense, ballroom dance-fueled affair with Feng's wife Vivian (Vivian Wu). Even after Vivian ended the affair and chose to stay with Feng, Ulysses still loved her. With Feng gone, he could step in to comfort and woo Vivian all over again. All he needed to do was slip him some Devil's Trumpet — a plant he recognized as poisonous thanks to his many worldly travels.
How did Ulysses plan to kill Feng? And how did he end up killing Edgar instead?
John Cho in "The Afterparty." Credit: Apple TV+ After he got his hands on the Devil's Trumpet from Hannah's (Anna Konkle) eccentric garden, Ulysses fashioned a tea in his drinking horn, using hot water from the obnoxiously long shower he took in Aniq and Zoë's room. Then at the afterparty, he poured the tea into the whiskey he gave Feng as a peace offering.
Here's where his plan went downhill. Feng set the glass down when he offered Edgar a taste of his bao bing, but when he left, he picked up Edgar's glass, leaving the poisoned glass behind. A video shot by Feng's employee Kyler (Zack Calderon) confirms the switch, catching Ulysses red-handed.
There are other clues to Ulysses's guilt too: In his account of his wedding night chat with Vivian, he tells her about trying to get a paternity test for Grace. However in Vivian's account, told as an '80s soap opera, she doesn't mention the test at all, meaning the test was just a cover for Ulysses tampering with the whiskey glass. Feng's extremely energetic behavior the morning after the wedding also indicates he drank from Edgar's glass, which had been laced with Adderall by Grace.
But perhaps the biggest clue of all is just how similar Ulysses is to Season 1's murderer, Yasper (Ben Schwartz). Both distract Aniq and Danner with varying types of showmanship: Yasper with his musical bangers, and Ulysses with his dance drama. Seriously, who can focus on a possible murder suspect when a rain-soaked Ulysses is dancing his heart out to George Michael's "Careless Whisper"? Certainly not me: Dance and "Careless Whisper" are my kryptonite.
Related Stories
- 28 of the best mystery movies on Netflix for you to solve
- 31 shows we can't wait to see this fall
- 'One Piece' review: Netflix does the impossible
- NordVPN review: A full-featured VPN service that's getting better at transparency
- 27 films we can't wait to see this fall
The Afterparty Season 2 gives basically everyone a happy ending.
Anna Konkle, Zoë Chao, and Sam Richardson in "The Afterparty." Credit: Apple TV+ With Ulysses caught and Grace off the hook, The Afterparty sets about wrapping up everyone's stories. Grace signs her prenup, which leaves most of Edgar's fortune with Isabel while still giving her enough money to help Feng get his bao bing business back on track. Meanwhile, Travis (Paul Walter Hauser) tips off his "Reddit army" about the crypto coin Bucephalus, the value of which skyrockets after Sebastian (Jack Whitehall) sells it off in a "fire sale." Isabel fires him as a result, leaving him high and dry (although I'm sure he'll find a new heist to enjoy).
Elsewhere, love is in the air. Grace and Hannah are finally able to pursue their relationship publicly, and Vivian and Feng's marriage is stronger than ever. They also give Aniq their blessing for him to propose to Zoë, only for her to turn around and propose to him first!
Danner also solves her writer's block thanks to Aniq. He points out how strange it is that she'd choose to write a book when her whole technique revolves around mind movies. With that, it's off to Hollywood for Danner, where one year later she is directing a movie about Xavier's murder. A jaw-dropping cameo-fest ensues as The Afterparty reveals the film's cast: Daniel Radcliffe is playing Xavier, Keke Palmer is playing Danner, Elijah Wood is playing Yasper, Gemma Chan is playing Zoë, and Jaleel White is playing Aniq. Also, White and Danner are engaged. Happy endings for all! (Except for Sebastian.)
What's in store for The Afterparty Season 3?
Sam Richardson and Zoë Chao in "The Afterparty." Credit: Apple TV+ While The Afterparty has yet to be announce a Season 3 renewal, the reveal that Danner is shooting a movie raises an exciting new possibility for where a Season 3 murder could take place. We've already seen afterparties for a high school reunion and a wedding — what if Season 3 takes us to the afterparty of Danner's movie premiere?
Think about it: Zoë and Aniq would still be in the mix, along with Danner and some of the other characters from Season 1. The Afterparty could also make Danner's film's stars like Radcliffe and Palmer into suspects, allowing actors to play heightened or inaccurate versions of themselves, à la James Marsden in Jury Duty. That alone opens us up to some wild mind-movie possibilities. Would White's inner monologue resemble an episode of Family Matters, or Wood's an epic fantasy film (a genre I desperately want to see The Afterparty tackle) like Lord of the Rings? Or do they view themselves in entirely different lights? This is just one route The Afterparty could take, but whatever the show does next, I'm certainly excited for a new mystery.
The Afterparty Season 2 is now streaming on Apple TV+.
Topics Streaming