The Afterparty Season 1 episode 2 takeaway: Controlling relationships

Romance, murder, an afterparty, and a deep desire to be The Thin Man is what makes this episode likable. Apple TV+ has dropped its newest series The Afterparty with some interesting characters, plot twists, and a hilarious lead performance from Tiffany Haddish.

Whodunits created nowadays, most if not all, try to imitate the Sherlock Holmes series. However, this series, which revolves around a group of people coming together, carries a fresh take on the genre. In an unexpected turn of events, Xavier, the popular one, played by Dave Franco, is murdered by one of the party guests. It is now up to Detective Danner, played by Tiffany Hadish, to find the suspect.

Here are some of the takeaways from the second episode of The Afterparty.

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Takeaways of The Afterparty episode 2

Brett views himself as an action hero

Issac Barinholtz as Brett (Image via Apple TV)

When Brett, Xavier's high school bully and Zoe's newly-divorced husband, tells his side of the story to the murder of Xavier, he narrates it in a dark, brooding fashion adjacent to that of a Jason Bourne-esque actor. He pulls off stunts, car chases, and epic lines that seem straight out of a Taken movie.

By this admission, it is obvious that he has an exaggerated sense of himself and attempts to chase a man because he has his daughter’s stuffed koala bear. He even beats up a security guard to get into Xavier’s house. Whether that is true or not is still up for debate or it could be that Brett just embellished the scenario.

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A controlling relationship is a toxic one

Brett in The Afterparty (Image via Apple TV)

When Brett snuck into Xavier’s house, he went up to his room to find Zoe and Xavier inside. Brett is angered that his ex-wife decided to hang out with Xavier and is about to punch him just as Xavier tells Brett that he is controlling his wife, which is why his wife wants a divorce.

At this point, the audience realizes that Brett's controlling and toxic nature is a recipe for disaster and the episode discusses the negatives of trying to control your family and the catastrophic effects of said actions.

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Xavier’s picture frame held a hidden camera

Dave Franco as Xavier (Image via Apple TV)

At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Xavier has a hidden camera in his picture frame that recorded all of the video and what happened on the balcony when Xavier died. It’s quite possible that in one of the future episodes, the detectives will use some of the footage to see who was the one that killed him.

However, if someone deletes the footage or has already deleted it, it would mean that the people telling the stories would be exonerated and the characters would end up back to where they started.