The Afterparty: High School

February 11, 2022 8:59 AM - Season 1, Episode 5

Everyone's stories trace back to a high school party 15 years ago, which Walt recounts to Detective Danner--revealing huge secrets.

Also revealed, Walt's last name is Butler, as in "The butler did it."

posted by Stanczyk (11 comments total)

I'm having a bit of trouble with motives right now. Two are obvious:

Aniq had his budding relationship ruined because Xavier pushed him in the pool, and then lost his Stanford scholarship thanks to Xavier.

Chelsea had her reputation hurt by Xavier's lies.

Who else has a clear motive?
posted by simonw at 4:20 PM on February 11, 2022

thinking about this episode after watching it, I found myself chuckling at the realization that the flashback begins with "HIGH SCHOOL" instead of "WALT," subtly continuing the "everyone always forgets and overlooks Walt" conceit that we've had going on for a while
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:21 PM on February 11, 2022 [3 favorites]

Still waiting to figure out what’s going on with Chekov’s bear in the opening credits
posted by thecaddy at 7:06 PM on February 11, 2022 [4 favorites]

Possible motivations list

Walt: I think has motivation to kill just about everyone there, especially the one who now gets ALL the attention
Yasper: envy?
Aniq: Zoe / Stanford / embarrassment
Brett: maybe just a macho shove gone wrong?
Indigo: the DRAMA.
Ned: either delayed jealousy about Chelsea or anger at what happened to her subsequently
Jen 1: ?
Jen 2: ?
Zoe: I think something happened in the helicopter, but I don't know.
Quiet Heather: ?
Science teacher: ?
Chelsea: take your pick.
Bear: confusion at even being there

I think our most reliable info comes from this episode. Everyone else made themselves look good, but not here.
posted by Acari at 8:36 AM on February 12, 2022 [3 favorites]

That's a great list, thanks!

Huh, I'd forgotten about the helicopter ride.
posted by simonw at 9:51 AM on February 12, 2022

It's hard to know how seriously to care about the whodunnit, when everything is so cartoonish, very much including the detective. Aniq and Chloe have the most actual pathos, but even with them it's pretty thin.

Where is Jennifer 2?
posted by emjaybee at 7:52 PM on February 14, 2022

I just rewatched the first three episodes and the most interesting thing I noticed is that Jennifer 2 has been gone the whole time. When Aniq first meets with the detective he lists everyone who's left at the party and she isn't on the list.
posted by tangosnail at 7:21 AM on February 16, 2022

thinking about this episode after watching it, I found myself chuckling at the realization that the flashback begins with "HIGH SCHOOL" instead of "WALT," subtly continuing the "everyone always forgets and overlooks Walt" conceit that we've had going on for a while

The best part for me: this is Walt's episode but 90% of the scenes don't involve him at all. BUT in order for him to recall the scenes, you can see him following the other characters or hiding behind them or sitting in the background in every scene.
posted by mmoncur at 4:45 AM on February 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

So why did Xavier get so mad at Aniq and pants him at the original party? It seemed a bit out of the blue...
posted by chortly at 11:13 PM on February 21, 2022

So why did Xavier get so mad at Aniq and pants him at the original party? It seemed a bit out of the blue...

Because Yasper told Xavier that Aniq supported (or maybe suggested? I can't remember) Yasper's decision to break up the band and go solo.
posted by jedicus at 8:47 AM on February 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

Which was all Xavier needed to go over the edge, since he already resented Aniq for "taking his spot" at Stanford.
posted by jedicus at 8:48 AM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]