Apple's latest comedy, The Afterparty, hits the ground running - unless you're murder victim Xavier who hits it with a sickening thud and surrounded, somewhat surreally, by discarded scampi.
The class of 2006 have gone to their high school reunion but when a handful of the former students head over to the beach-side mansion of now-super rich Justin Bieber-esque classmate (Dave Franco, clearly having a blast) to continue the fun things take a turn very quickly, with him dead before the opening credits start.
Those opening credits have a real Only Murders In the Building feel to them, but don't let that lull you into assuming you know what this show is going to be.
Early on Detective Danner (Tiffany Haddish) tells a room full of suspects that 'we're all stars of our own movie, the same thing could happen, but we all see it in our own way.'
It's a somewhat heavy-handed but rather neat explanation of the USP of The Afterparty - each character tells the detective what happened from their own viewpoint and in their own way.
And not only does that mean we have more unreliable narrators and motives for murder than you can shake a stick at but also, in the first three episodes alone, a rom-com worthy of Richard Curtis, a Fast and Furious-style action movie and a La-La-Land musical packed with dance numbers and some zinging lyrics as each character uses a different genre to explain exactly what they think's gone on.
This eight-part murder mystery is packed with talent, from creator-director Chris Miller (one half of the team behind The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street) to an ensemble packed with so much comedic talent you'll spend the first ten minutes going 'oooh, where have I seen her before?'
Alongside Haddish as the long-suffering detective trying to unravel exactly what went on before the shrimp started flying, early stand-outs are Veep's Sam Richardson as Aniq, the escape-room designer everyman who is prime suspect and therefore desperate to uncover the murderer and the always-excellent Parks and Rec alum Ben Schwartz as Yasper whose high-energy dance numbers take centre stage in episode three with a solid entry into the 'best TV show musical episode' list.
The genre subversion and constant returning back to events to see them from other's perspectives isn't packed with belly laughs, but as a premise for a show it's incredibly watchable, very fun and at points surprisingly moving, with Ilana Glazer in particular as Chelsea doing amazing things with the shifting nuances.
It's interesting to see how the characters see not just themselves but each other, and also notable that the victim at the centre of the mystery, Eugene-turned-Xavier, is pretty much the same level of egotistical douche no matter who's telling the story.
It's hard to review the whodunnit element as a whole when Apple has released everything but the final episode for review so it's not clear if the overarching murder mystery will be solved in a satisfying way.
I definitely think that once the perpetrator (or perpetrators?) are revealed it will be ripe for a rewatch to pick up the hints and any clues hiding-in-plain sight along the way.
Although, if the brilliant Stath Lets Flats' Jamie Demetriou ends up being the murderer I'll be a bit torn.
On one level as a viewer I'd be grumpy because it feels so obvious as he fits the whodunnit logic that 'the murderer has to be someone who's been in it just enough to know who they are but not so much it ruins the surprise' but I'd also be giddy that he's got a key part in such a high-profile show.
For film and TV nerds in particular, The Afterparty is a fun watch with a solid, likeable cast and some fun playing with (and occasionally subverting) of genre tropes.
Basically, it's not often laugh-out-loud funny, although a notable cameo sequence in the first episode made me guffaw.
But if you are the kind of person who enjoyed Community, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace or Spaced as much for the pop culture references as the comedic set pieces then this is definitely worth your time.
It's clever, witty, well-paced and with stellar performances throughout.
* Episodes 1-3 of The Afterparty are available on Apple TV+ now, with additional episodes being released weekly. You can currently get Apple TV+ free for free months - find out how here.
