Search Party

[Murdoch]

Search Party started strong in its second season after a rather uneven first. The mystery surrounding a missing young woman and Alia Shawkat's amateur sleuth didn't find its footing until the first season's finale, with a lot of filler in the earlier episodes involving her friend's work lives and relationships. Once the show focuses on the various players in the central mystery, it shines, and this new season seems solely concerned with the fallout from the ensemble solving the mystery at the end of season one.

Spoiler

Shawkat, having found the missing woman hiding out in Montreal, is confronted by Ron Livingston's private eye and kills him with the help of her two friends. The aftermath is a messy comedy of errors and the humor of the show really shines in these moments.

I know there's a lot of shows out there (far, far too many to keep up with) but I'm glad to have stumbled across this one, mainly because I'm happy to see Shawkat in the lead.

[thirtyframesasecond]

Anyone been watching this? The second season has recently shown in the US but I've caught up with the first series, which was recently shown in the UK (it's from 2015, I think).

Alia Shawkat, from Arrested Development, plays an aimless twenty something New Yorker with a doofus boyfriend and some awful friends. She sees a flyer of a missing girl, whom she recognises as a former roommate at college and she begins to investigate. It then goes into many different and weird scenarios.

Ron Livingston, Rosie Perez, Christine Taylor et al play smaller roles and Michael Showalter's also involved.

[Werewolf by Night]

I’m watching it. Only the first couple of episodes of season 2 have aired in the US (though maybe you can binge the whole season on the TBS app or something). It’s great and Alia Shawkat is excellent. (She’s always been good, but she’s quirky-looking so I assumed she’d have no second act after Arrested Development. I’m pleased to be proven wrong.)

I tried to get people here interested in the show last season to no apparent avail.

[knives]

I haven't seen too much, but the little I have seems almost like a comedic Rivette, is that a fair impression?

[Murdoch]

I can't comment on the Rivette parallels since I've only seen Celine and Julie and La Belle Noiseuse, but I would say the show plays out like a dark screwball comedy, perhaps Hawks crossed with Hitchcock.

With the close of the second season I've really fallen for this show, especially for exposing me to Meredith Hagner and John Early, who never cease to charm in their scenes. I've been burned like any TV viewer with the ubiquitous formula of cliffhanger TV, where a show drags on for a season while cruelly teasing answers and meet-ups withheld until the finale. Search Party has so far avoided those pitfalls, and instead provided resolutions both satisfying in their simplicity and hilarious in their irony.

What works best in the show is the brilliant cast, who embody their roles so well and add such an energy to the plot that I think I'd watch even if the show faltered. Alia Shawkat is the weakest link in the four, but that's largely because she's yet to be given the same isolated outbursts of comedy that the other three have. Whereas Early, Hager and John Reynolds all stumble about like cartoons, Shawkat is the straight woman, stressing over the fallout of her decisions and always looking over her shoulder.

Hopefully I'll convince some others to try it out, I don't champion a lot on this board but I've found a cause.

[Murdoch]

Season three will premiere on HBO Max in spring. Yet another streaming platform to subscribe to but I'm elated the show's returning.

[Murdoch]

I'll spoilertag my thoughts on season three since I'm sure there are people who haven't watched the previous two seasons.

Spoiler

While not the impeccable thriller-comedy that I found season two to be, this newest season has its shining moments but also feels like the show's beginning to spin its wheels. It picks up right where season two left off, with the gang's arrests and interrogation. Dory and Drew hire their respective attorneys and the lawyers are by far the highlights of the season. Shalita Grant is definitely the breakout star with her Barbie doll style and dramatic poses, but Louie Anderson is in top form as Drew's forgetful lawyer (although I wish he was given more screen time). The season shines as it focuses on Dory and Drew's chaotic relationship, and Portia being bullied into a confession as the interrogating cop transitions from idle chit chat to screaming accusations at the hapless blonde. Hagner probably has the best comedic chops of any of the leads, and her shift from uncertain ease to bawling her eyes out was great. There's some awkward Fox News riffing thrown in to give Elliot something to do, and his story doesn't fit very well with the legal drama once he's discarded as a key player by the prosecution and goes to focus on his wedding. Shawkat makes the full transition to femme fatale as she poses for the media and stares down anyone who gets on her bad side, and it's the best performance I've seen from her. As much as I liked Shawkat in Arrested Development, I never thought of her as much of an actor. Here though she excels with the dramatic aspects and demonstrates a lot of range.

But the cracks are also beginning to appear. While season one and two felt streamlined once they got to the Keith plotline, season three fumbles. Dory gets an unnamed stalker who the writers seem to want to center the next season around, having him kidnap Dory following her acquittal. This turn of events feels very removed from the show I fell for. The situations in seasons one and two veered into the ridiculous, but were down to earth and veered that way largely because of the big personalities that populated the show (the four leads, Chantal, Marc, Elijah, Gail, etc.) and not because anything that happened felt that unbelievable. The trial and subsequent kidnapping feel less grounded and more like the writers grasping for substance and suspense now that the Keith murder is wrapped up. TV shows set outside the courtroom often use trials as a means to give the writers time to reflect on the characters' past actions as they plan for what to do next, and this is no different. The entire season is dedicated to exploring the morality of Dory as a person, but it feels like a waste. It's obvious from the previous seasons that Dory is manipulative and plays the victim when cornered, so having that reiterated over and over is rather tiresome.

I'm hesitantly looking forward to another season, but think that this show's best days might be behind it. Still, the new season is definitely worth catching up with for the performances. Everyone is in top form, even if the writers have hit a wall.

[Murdoch]

Well, season 4 dropped and all manner of subtlety has evaporated from the show. It still has its shining moments but Dory's odd psychological thriller plotline and Elliot's Fox News pundit turn are pretty lame. I really don't care about Dory's character anymore, who was much more enjoyable as a hapless sleuth than as the half-baked sociopath the writers decided to turn her into. What's clear is the four leads are best together, and this season and the last have done everything they can to keep them separate. I can't imagine it going much longer. If anything, I'm hoping it wraps things up this season so the very talented four leads can move on to other projects.

[Murdoch]

I just finished the last season and I'm not sure if I hated it or loved it. I definitely laughed a lot more than the previous season, but it's hard for me to be completely positive.

Spoiler

To put it right out there, the show ends with a zombie apocalypse, which seems to be the way to end a show where the writers have no idea how to wrap things up but want something that will make headlines. I think amateur sleuth millennial comedy ends with zombie apocalypse is pretty eye-catching, if lazy writing.

That said, I thought it was miles ahead of the last season. Instead of drowning in dull psychodrama, the show embraces its ridiculousness without a shred of seriousness, and the show is at its best when it has its characters act like vapid idiots.

YMMV with this show. As glowing as I was at the beginning, any recommendation I can give now comes with a lot of hesitation. The cast carries it and even at the show's worst, they were fantastic.