Zoe
Episode 6 of The Afterparty Season 1 begins with the attention turning to Zoe for the next stage of this investigation. This time though the entire visual palette changes to that of an animation, as Zoe believes her “fun zone” Zoe has been stuck inside her head and it’s only at the reunion that she’s unleashed. The way Zoe narrates this story, turning back and forth while dramatizing her own internal conflict, certainly catches Danner off-guard. She claims this is all just a metaphor but eventually we get moving with the story. Zoe shows up at the party and wants to get drunk with the two Jennifers but they’re both pregnant. However, she also sees everyone looking at her and pitying the woman over her divorce. So in order to quell that, Zoe steps up and sings. Zoe was not actually singing to Aniq, she was literally just singing a song to try and stop everyone from looking at her like the poor divorced woman she believed they were perceiving her to be. While this story is being told, Aniq and Yasper manage to leave the former’s phone inside and listen to this whole conversation. Anyway, the rest of the story progresses just like we’ve seen, only this time with zanier visuals and stoner Zoe joining the fray just before the big kiss with Aniq. Or, not, given her daughter shows up on the timeline. Meanwhile, Yasper and Aniq find themselves trapped in a hidden safe room which happens to have security footage for all over Xavier’s house. As they’re in the room, Zoe continues her story as she stays with Xavier, complete with the helicopter ride and hanging in Xavier’s room. The thing is, he talks about himself the entire time. The only part of this story that’s actually something new in the timeline comes from Aniq starting to sing for Zoe. With a guitar in hand, he strums his first note… and throws up on the floor. In doing so, Aniq tumbles over and passes out with his trousers falling around his ankles. Zoe is the one who drew all over Aniq’s face after this, while Zoe lets loose and allows herself to enjoy the party. The only confession Zoe has to make is that she believes no one actually killed Xavier. She wants Danner to look into saving Aniq but just before she leaves, the captain rings; Danner’s time on the case is over.
The Episode Review
Sure the visuals are nice and there’s a cutesy theme here about letting oneself go and enjoy the moment, but there’s absolutely nothing noteworthy going on in this episode. Zoe clearly didn’t kill Xavier, which she admits at the end, while the entire episode recaps everything we already know, just with an animation filter, That’s a shame, to be honest, as there’s a lot of potential with this series but the past 2 or 3 episodes haven’t really added anything to this plot. Given how strongly this one started, The Afterparty seems to have just faded into mediocrity, which is a real shame. Hopefully the next episodes can end this one on a bang but it’s becoming increasingly clear that the real culprit behind this death is probably Xavier himself. It looks like it could well be an accidental suicide. We shall see.
