Aniq (The Afterparty)

"Aniq" is the series premiere of the American murder mystery comedy-drama television series The Afterparty. The episode was written and directed by series creator Christopher Miller, and co-written by Kassia Miller. It was released on Apple TV+ on January 28, 2022, alongside the two follow-up episodes.[2][3]

This article is about the episode. For the titular character, see Aniq Adjaye. For the village, see Aniq.
"Aniq"
The Afterparty episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 1
Directed byChristopher Miller
Story byChristopher Miller
Teleplay by
  • Christopher Miller
  • Kassia Miller
Produced byCameron Angeli
Featured musicDaniel Pemberton
Cinematography byCarl Herse
Editing by
  • Joel Negron
  • Nick Olah
Original air dateJanuary 28, 2022 (2022-01-28)
Running time67 minutes
Guest appearances

The series follows the events that follow a high school reunion after-party ending in a murder, where everyone is a suspect, as Detective Danner interviews the various suspects present, having her tell them their "mind-movies" about the night in question and the events leading up to it. The episode follows Danner as she interviews the current main suspect, escape room designer Aniq Adjaye, who simultaneously begins his own investigation to clear his name alongside his best friend Yasper E. Lennov.[4]

The series premiere received positive reviews from critics, who praised Miller's directing, writing, editing, cinematography, and the ensemble cast's performances and pacing as strong points.

Plot

In Marin County, California, a prominent pop music icon named Xavier (Dave Franco) is found dead after falling off his cliffside home. Prior to this, he was holding the after-party of his 15-year high school reunion at his house. Against her superior's advice, Detective Danner (Tiffany Haddish) and her partner Culp (John Early) take on the case. They arrive to the scene where cooked shrimp lie around Xavier's body. They rule out the theory of Xavier committing suicide after noticing a contusion on his nose, theorizing someone murdered him by pushing him off the balcony after a physical altercation.

The first person to be questioned is Aniq Adjaye (Sam Richardson), an escape room designer with scribbles all over his face. He becomes the prime suspect after a guest named Indigo claims she saw Aniq at the crime scene saying "this ends now". In private, he tells his story of the night to Danner in the style of a romantic comedy. Aniq's only reason for attending the reunion was to pursue his high school crush, Zoë Zhu (Zoë Chao). He also bumped into a former classmate named Walt (Jamie Demetriou) right before Xavier's grand arrival on a helicopter.

Aniq's attempt to impress Zoë backfires when the karaoke machine glitches and he is stuck singing a crass song to the crowd, giving Xavier the opportunity to swoop in and make a move on her. However, Zoë's ex-husband Brett (Ike Barinholtz) arrives to the reunion ready to fight anyone who interacts with Zoë.

Aniq has his best friend, Yasper E. Lennov (Ben Schwartz), distract Xavier while Aniq and Zoë spend the evening to themselves. The two almost share a kiss but the moment is ruined when Zoë's daughter Maggie (Everly Carnagilla) arrives. Xavier then reappears to fly Zoë to the afterparty at his house in the helicopter he came in, leaving Aniq out in the rain. Refusing to give up, Aniq hops in Yasper's rental car and head straight to the afterparty. Brett follows suit after Chelsea (Ilana Glazer) tells him she saw Aniq making out with Zoë.

With a clear motive of jealousy, Aniq panics that he will be arrested for Xavier's murder and resolves to solve the case on his own to prove his innocence. When Aniq goes to the bathroom to clean his face off, Aniq finds a piece of paper that says: "This is payback for what you did to me. Feel the pain."

Production

Development
Series creator Christopher Miller wrote and directed the episode, co-written by Kassia Miller.

Christopher Miller conceived of The Afterparty in the early 2010s, where he wanted to make a murder mystery showing the different perspectives of the murder from its witnesses, inspired by his love of the murder-mystery genre and Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon. The high school reunion aspect was added after Miller attended a high school reunion himself, thinking it would be a unique setting for such a concept.[5] Miller initially wrote it as a feature-length screenplay on his own while he was making Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street with Lord. In June 2013, the project was set-up at Sony Pictures as a film titled The Reunion, with Miller as sole writer and director, while producing the film along with Lord, Jonathan Kadin, and Hannah Minghella.[6] However, the film never came to fruition due to commitments with The Lego Movie and 22 Jump Street. Lord and Miller were still optimistic in making The Reunion while promoting The Lego Movie,[7] so when Miller considered making the project in later hears, he made the decision to make it as a mini-series. Miller felt that expanding the concept into a series would allow him to properly develop the characters. Doing so also gave Miller the idea to present each version of the event as a separate genre in line with the respective POV's of each witness, called "mind-movies" in the series itself.[8]

On June 24, 2020, it was announced that Apple TV+ had given the production an eight-episode straight-to-series order, now titled The Afterparty. The series is created by Miller who is also the showrunner and is expected to executive produce alongside Lord while Aubrey Lee is a producer. Production companies involved with the series were slated to consist of Sony Pictures Television and TriStar Television.[9][10][11]

Casting

In November 2020, the cast was announced, including Tiffany Haddish, Sam Richardson, Ben Schwartz, Ike Barinholtz, Ilana Glazer and Dave Franco.[12]

Filming

On November 11, 2020, Miller, in an Instagram post, confirmed that filming for the series had officially begun.[13] Miller directed the series premiere and all eight episodes in the series, making it the first time he had directed separately since his collaborations with Phil Lord.[14]

Critical reception

"Aniq" received extremely positive reviews from critics. Greg Wheeler of The Review Geek called it "a hilarious episode that manages to combine drama, mystery and comedy together into a delightfully heady cocktail", stating that "the idea of having a different character give their version of events each chapter, subtly shifting the genres around and using that as a way of projecting their own persona and version of events is, quite frankly, genius".[15] Mary Littlejohn of TV Fanatic called the episode "a light-hearted, breezy take on the murder mystery", with the cast "keep[ing] it engaging and dynamic".[16]

Richard Valero of The Music City Drive-In praised Dave Franco's "eccentric over-the-top" performance as Xavier, calling it "the perfect role" for him, with "the rest of the cast highlight[ing] some phenomenal casting and does a great job setting the tone for what is ahead on the show", stating that "you can't ask for a better pilot".[17]

Nick Carudo of TVLine complimented the episode as precedence to a "next comedic murder mystery obsession", comparatively with Only Murders in the Building,[18] with OC Movie Reviews calling it "a fun start to The Afterparty [with] some interesting characters".[19] Emma Fraser of IGN praised the premiere as "avoid[ing] repetition thanks to the genre-blending set-up and leaves you wanting more [with] Chris Miller's grasp of the various tropes and familiar beats [serving as] more than a corny gimmick",[20] Erin Allen of TellTaleTV lauding its "sympathetic" portrayal of Aniq.[21]

Rating the premiere "10/10", Christian Hubbard of Full Circle Cinema lauded the premiere for "succeed[ing] in setting the stakes as well as introducing the characters",[22] with Alex Welch of Inverse calling it "a homage to a Richard Curtis-penned rom-com".[23] Shirley Tayshete of Meaww called the premiere "a real treat", praising Richardson's performance as "adorable and funny", Haddish as "quirky", and Franco "making an excellent sleazy, arrogant, and dumb star".[24]

References
  1. Markle, John (February 3, 2022). "The 10 Funniest Characters In The Afterparty, Ranked". Screen Rant. Retrieved February 3, 2022. In The Afterparty, two actors portray themselves on screen, Will Forte and Channing Tatum. Tatum is a comedic and serious actor but in this series, viewers see Channing in the first episode play a young John Oates alongside Xavier's Daryl Hall in a fictional Hall & Oates biopic of the hit 70s-80s Pop duo.
  2. "Apple TV+ sets worldwide premiere of highly anticipated murder-mystery comedy series The Afterparty for January 28". Apple TV+ Press (Press release). November 17, 2021. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  3. Kubicek, Joan (January 28, 2022). "The Afterparty Series-Premiere Recap: Meet Cute". The Review Geek. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  4. Porter, Rick (June 24, 2020). "Phil Lord, Chris Miller Land Murder-Mystery Comedy at Apple". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  5. Meszaros, E.L. (January 19, 2022). "The Afterparty: Lord & Miller's Murder Mystery Comedy Series Was Almost a Movie". CBR.com.
  6. McNary, Dave (June 27, 2013). "21 Jump Street Directors, Sony Reunite on New Comedy (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  7. Sampson, Mike (February 5, 2014). "Block Party: Talking The LEGO Movie With Writer/Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller". ScreenCrush. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  8. Weintraub, Steve (January 29, 2022). "Chris Miller and Phil Lord on The Afterparty and Having Every Episode Tell the Story Using a Different Visual Format and Genre". Collider.
  9. Andreeva, Nellie (June 24, 2020). "Apple Picks Up The Afterparty Murder Mystery Comedy Series From Phil Lord & Chris Miller". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  10. Otterson, Joe (June 24, 2020). "Chris Miller, Phil Lord Set Murder Mystery Comedy Series at Apple (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  11. Nakamura, Reid (June 24, 2020). "Lord and Miller Murder Mystery Comedy The Afterparty Gets Series Order at Apple TV+". TheWrap. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  12. Petski, Denise (November 11, 2020). "Tiffany Haddish, Sam Richardson, Zoë Chao Among 9 Cast In Apple's The Afterparty". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  13. Miller, Chris [@chrizmillr] (November 11, 2020). "The Afterparty! Been working on this one for a decade. Now it's finally happening, with the best cast imaginable. @tiffanyhaddish @thesamrichardson @zchao @rejectedjokes @ikebarinholtz @ilana @jamiedemetriou @bejohnce Dave Franco and more!". Archived from the original on November 30, 2020. Retrieved November 30, 2020 – via Instagram.
  14. Miller, Chris [@chrizmillr] (February 17, 2021). "That's a season wrap on The Afterparty. Coming to AppleTV+ soon. Here is a knit version of the film clapper @jamiedemetriou had made for me". Retrieved April 27, 2021 – via Instagram.
  15. Wheeler, Greg (January 28, 2022). "The Afterparty – Season 1 Episode 1 "Aniq" Recap & Review". TV Fanatic. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  16. Littlejohn, Mary (January 28, 2022). "The Afterparty Season 1 Episode 1 Review: Aniq". The Review Geek. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  17. Valero, Richard (January 18, 2022). "The Afterparty Season 1 Episode 1 Recap: Aniq". The Music City Drive-In. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  18. Caruso, Nick (January 28, 2022). "The Afterparty Premiere Recap: A High School Reunion Hangout Turns Deadly, But Whodunit? Plus, Grade It!". TVLine. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  19. OC Movies (January 20, 2022). "The Afterparty — Episode 1, Aniq Review". OC Movie Reviews. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
  20. Fraser, Emma (January 28, 2022). "The Afterparty Premiere Review – "Aniq," "Brett," and "Yasper"". IGN. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  21. Allen, Erin (January 29, 2022). "The Afterparty Review: Aniq, Brett, and Yasper (Season 1 Episodes 1–3)". IGN. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  22. Hubbard, Christian (January 27, 2022). "'The Afterparty' Ep. 1–3 Recap/Review: "A Modern Day 'Clue' Featuring The Clueless"". Full Circle Cinema. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  23. Welch, Alex (January 27, 2022). "The Afterparty Review: You've Never Seen A Whodunnit Like This". Inverse. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  24. Tayshete, Shirley (January 28, 2022). "'The Afterparty' Episode 1–3 Review: Mix of genres and cast make a great comedic stew". Meaww. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
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