Summary
Whilst the title character of this episode may not be the most likable, the episode does a stellar job of carrying on from the quality of the previous one, with even more questions raised in regards to Xavier’s death.
This recap of Apple TV+ series The Afterparty season 1, episode 2, “Brett,” contains spoilers.
Brett tries to persuade Detective Danner that he wasn’t trying to escape but refuses to reveal anything unless taken somewhere that Zoe can’t listen. Elsewhere, Aniq tells Yasper to look into the note more. But he can do more than that, as since he helped create the penthouse, he can enable Aniq to listen in on Brett’s interview.
The Afterparty season 1, episode 2 recap
To do so, Aniq must first interrupt Brett’s interview and hack the telecon. As expected, it goes terribly wrong, and loud music blasts out. Yasper saves the day, and now he and Aniq can secretly listen to the interview.
In the interview with Detective Danner, Brett reveals that whilst he and Zoe agreed that only she would go to the reunion, he decided to “infiltrate” the reunion to discover what kind of night Zoe had planned for herself. As Brett views Aniq as “threat level zero”, he has the perfect time to go to the toilet. This is where he bumps in Xavier. After a pee stand-off (that Xavier loses), Xavier daunts Brett with the threat that he will set his sights on Zoe.
Following on from this, Brett hacks the slideshow with images of his past family life with Zoe. As he cries to the slideshow, he spots Zoe leaving. Chasing after her, he injures Walt in the process before he bumps into Chelsea. As for Chelsea, she claims that she has plans for Xavier.
Outside of the interview, Aniq finds more of the ripped-up note. “Now is time to feel more of the pain, what goes around comes around, they say revenge”. Back to Brett’s interview and after Zoe tells him to take Maggie home, he warns her about Xavier. His warning gets ignored, and Zoe maintains that she will go to the afterparty as she wishes.
As Brett is about to drive Maggie home, Maggie tells Brett that Aniq has her koala teddy. The chase is on. (Although it’s slightly different from the car chase in episode 1, Brett is less violent this time around). After Brett goes to the afterparty and leaves Maggie in the car, he fights through security and takes the koala from Aniq. After Brett pushes Aniq over, he and Xavier argue. Which is when he throws Xavier’s hat off the edge. (This explains how Xavier’s hat ends up next to his body).
After talking with Zoe, Brett agrees to sign the divorce papers and claims he wants Zoe to be happy, even if it is with Xavier. But even Zoe admits that Xavier sucks. Brett decides to leave, and after he finds Maggie in the cinema room, he sneaks her back to the car. But after Brett spots Chelsea trying to get Xavier alone, Xavier falls to his death, and Brett gets trapped at the afterparty.
The ending
Now that Brett’s interview is over, he is seemingly out of the running of being Xavier’s killer. Meanwhile, Aniq learns that whoever wrote the word diarrhea on his face also wrote the ripped-up note, as both contain backward “E”s. As the second episode comes to a close, it’s revealed to the audience that there’s a hidden camera.
Still a great episode, but as the first episode blended a couple of genres (rom-com, art movie) into the storytelling, this episode doesn’t come across as brilliant. Plus, the leading character Brett is a complete douchebag. As for the killer, I’m still leaning towards Zoe, although I’m not completely ruling out Walt.
What did you think of The Afterparty season 1, episode 2? Comment below.
