‘The Afterparty’ Recap: ‘Isabel’

8/30/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Elizabeth Perkins, Anna Konkle, and Zach Woods as Isabel, Hannah, and Edgar in Episode 209 of ‘The Afterparty’ – ‘Isabel’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 209 of ‘The Afterparty’. To revisit the previous episode, click here. Also, this piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

It is definitely safe to say, that Alfred Hitchcock, serves as the father of the psychological melodrama. For up until he hit it big in the 1960s, that kind of story was unheard of. For those two genres were rarely combined in the slightest, for the melodrama really was something designed to set a mood and offer up an emotion and anything psychological in nature in film, really did hold to the human psyche. But Hitchcock really came to realize that combining elements from those two genres in a manner that was intense and artful, could produce something powerful on the silver screen. Something raw, and visceral, that could entertain and wow and keep the audience guessing as to what was going on, and that gave rise to real classics, and a new type of film that remains with us to this day. The kind that explored dark corners of the human psyche and took us for a ride and, well, the majesty of this subgenre and what it can accomplish is top of mind today, because it took the center stage in the next episode of The Afterparty on Apple TV+.

For ‘Isabel’ was a story that saw the matriarch of this family, speak to how Grace was innocent because she knew the true killer of her son. But in order to properly explore the truth about how Edgar died on that night… we needed to understand Isabel’s plight and journey, and that… allowed for a Hitchcockian story to come to life. One grounded in sorrow and heartache since Isabel’s tale began… when her husband’s life ended. Which was a moment that broke her deeply and left her in a pained place and rightfully so. For she was grieving and truly, she needed support and it seemed for a time that Edgar and Hannah were going to give her that support. Since they invited her into their home and gave her great care and well… that’s when a powerful concern came about regarding Isabel. Because she wasn’t sleeping well, and she was engaging in erratic behavior and well… that left her wondering if by chance… her mind was slipping away because of the power of grief.

After all, she had not shed many tears, nor had she really faced the pain and the mistakes she was making leading up to and at the wedding, had her deeply worried that this was it, that her mind was gone forever, and she was going to be put under psychiatric care. But some odd behavior from her son, and the belief that she was too strong to lose her mind, prompted her to carefully look at her situation, and come to realize that dear Edgar… wasn’t the son she remembered. No instead, he was toying with her, trying to get her to commit to a bit, really, so that he could take her money and use it for his own purposes and well… she was right. Since she eventually found proof that he was messing with her, and of course… we already knew that Edgar was doing nefarious things with money to launch his budding crypto business. So… that brought forth a hard choice on mom’s part. For at the reception, she not only told her son what she knew, long after she read the lyrics to ‘Mmmbop’ to the crowd… but she switched cake slices when Edgar offered her some. For she truly thought… she was to die on this night of poison and since her son did, she was the one that killed Edgar.

Which was… a powerful story to say the least, one that truly captured the majesty of Hitchcock’s work and the wonder of the genre. Since we were privy to the stunning and jarring visuals that Hitchcock made use of, and of course, the story fit the mold nicely as well. Since it was full of twists and turns and epic revelations that took our breath away, and it even featured an amazing visual shout out to Hitchcock himself, and this episode reminded us why we love this subgenre. Because it truly celebrated the best parts of it, and it truly felt akin to a classic Hitchcock story, and that made this episode fun and exciting and the jokes worked too, and of course… it made sure to save its best surprises for the very end of the episode.

Since we also came to discover, that Isabel was wrong, she could not have killed her son because of the timeline, and well… as an added stunner, the police have arrived (led by Martin Mull as the Sheriff), and once again Grace is in the crosshairs of the investigation because Isabel felt the need to turn the tables upon her yet again. Which means… we still haven’t a clue who did it, we only know that Zoë has been the only person missing from these stories and well… with the police on site and with one episode left… we will definitely be counting down the minutes to next Wednesday. To learn at last… who killed Edgar and why. Until next time.

Watch ‘The Afterparty’

0 Comments