Summary
Dory is kidnapped while her friends, unaware of her condition, share their grievances.
This recap of Search Party season 4, episode 1, “The Girl in the Basement”, contains spoilers.
Search Party has always thrived at imbuing classic genre tropes with a contemporary twist, and the fourth season premiere, “The Girl in the Basement”, shows that the writers haven’t lost their touch. As the show shifts slightly, it makes the compelling argument that the only thing worse than being kidnapped and trapped underground is being kidnapped and trapped by a kidnapper who claims to be doing this for your own mental health.
As we left off last season, Dory has been taken away by her stalker, Chip (“the twink from the wedding”). Chip is a fascinating character, a highly competent but emotionally underdeveloped monster who has an obsession with the nineties dance hit “Groove is in the art” and shifts between cutesy-horrifying and horrifying-horrifying in a moment. Cole Escola does a tremendous job bringing him to life. His delivery is both humorous and terrifying, such as when he tells Dory that they are kindred as they have the same lips.
He forces her into an intense hostage cell, where, chained up, she’s forced to deliver a statement to the camera: “Chip is my best friend and together we can do anything. If you can’t handle it, get a life.” It’s Psycho by way of Tumblr.
Chip has built for Dory a replica of her apartment, complete with fake apartment buildings through a fake window — except everything is soft and fake. Shawkat is so good at playing Dory’s horror, and Dory still being Dory, her attempt to escape. Unfortunately, her prison is protected by a padlocked door; without Chip, she has no hope of escape.
It would be horrifying enough if Chip’s evil ended there in Search Party season 4, episode 1. He is convinced of his own righteousness. He pathologises Dory, justifying with his degree from “a top university. It’s not an ivy, but might as well be.” He positions himself as her savior from a “maladaptive co-dependency” from her awful friends. “They don’t respect you,” he says, and there’s truth to that. Chip uses the common abuser tactic of deploying clinical language to justify his abuse. It’s a clever twist and makes Dory’s situation all the scarier.
As to those friends, some (Portia and Elliott) are planning to throw a “happy you’re Not Guilty party” at Dory’s apartment. Unable to get into her apartment, they call Drew away from his own similar celebration (the way Drew always leaves his family dinners will always be funny to me).
When they get inside they find a letter from Dory; she talks about breaking up with Drew and “needing time for myself,” ending on the sudden announcement of a trip to Europe and a request not to contact them. Worst of all, she refers to Elliott and Portia as “the gang” (I’m sorry, she’s gone full boomer!,” says Elliott).
In true Chip fashion, the letter is filled with self-care buzzwords that only infuriate “the gang” and prevent them from seeing through the forgery. They spend the rest of the night drinking and commiserating, even opening up to each other. Portia believes she was taken advantage of, Drew is nostalgic for a time when he “used to be the good boy.” “I ate all my vegetables,” he says, looking back to a time before they went looking for Chantal. (Elliott frets about his new Fox News-esque show, which will be featured in the future). Then they all start kissing, in a way that is so funny but also kind of realistic.
The gang (I will be referring to them as that from now on, thanks Chip), end up leaving a message on Dory’s answering machine where they pile on their grievances. “You feel bad because you’re the ugly friend and I’m the pretty friend,” says Portia, and the others share all the rage they’ve been feeling towards the one who dragged them into this mess. As we see Dory return to her cell, Elliott yells, “You deserve terrible, horrible things.” It’s a brutal end to an excellent premiere that indicates an intriguing new direction for the season.
Notes from Search Party season 4, episode 1:
- Chip feeds Dory a meal of chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes (“I saw you order that once when I used to follow you around all the time and you ate it right up.”
- Questioning her choice to throw a “Congrats on being Not Guilty party,” Portia asks “Is this tacky? Or is it tacky to not throw it?”
- Portia is also jealous of Dory’s closing statement (from last season). “It’s selfish of her considering I’m the actor of the group.”
