The new episode of The Afterparty follows the events leading up to Edgar’s murder from Hannah’s point of view. The episode is definitely Wes Anderson-coded and may be one of the more entertaining ones of the season. It’s possible Edgar died accidentally and was, in fact, never murdered, but we’ll see about that only at the end of the season. We left off with Travis claiming that Hannah was interested in breaking off the wedding, and that seems like a clear motive to make her the next suspect for Aniq and Danner. It looks like Zoe is keen on blaming Hannah, specifically to take the suspicion off of Grace, but is Hannah the killer? Let’s find out in episode 4 of The Afterparty.
Spoilers Ahead
What happens in the episode?
Aniq, Danner, and Zoe find their way to Hannah’s yurt, and she welcomes them in as if she’s the spider and they’re the flies. Zoe shows Hannah the “Devil’s trumpet,” the flower that was allegedly used to poison Edgar. Hannah doesn’t look terrified or suspicious, though; instead, she’s ready to tell her side of the tale in a very unique way. It’s like everyone wants to be a writer in this household! With some classical music playing in the background and what feels like a session of meditation, Hannah begins her story. In her early childhood, Hannah was different from everyone else. As an adopted child, she developed weird hobbies, but Edgar never othered her; instead, he joined her and played along. They were like weird siblings, joined by Sebastian more often than not. Although it was time for them to grow up, Edgar became obsessed with work rather than play, whereas Hannah got stuck in her little bubble all alone.
The day Hannah met Grace was a celebration of her adoption anniversary (not her birthday, as she clarifies). Edgar gives her the typewriter he bought from Grace’s shop and tells her that he brought her along because it’s almost as if the gift was from the both of them. Immediately, because of their similar tastes in antique typewriters and other vintage things, Grace and Hannah hit it off. Soon we understand that the time Grace was supposed to be spending with Edgar ended up being spent with Hannah because he was unavailable most of the time. On the day of the bachelorette, Hannah saw Grace and Zoe fighting. Grace confessed to Hannah that she didn’t know if she was mad that Zoe was right or otherwise. Grace told Hannah that she only wanted love. Then, when Hannah replied that Edgar didn’t deserve a girl as beautiful as Grace, Grace kissed Hannah (Danner’s reactions are gold, though!). Zoe interrupts the story then because she doesn’t believe Grace wouldn’t tell her about this. Upset, she leaves to find her sister while Aniq and Danner listen on. While Zoe is trying to talk to Grace, we see Sebastian getting their father to help him with a business deal. Considering his partner just died, Sebastian should be telling people about Edgar’s death rather than making deals.
On the other hand, in Hannah’s story, Grace and Hannah keep meeting each other in secret for about a month after the Bachelorette. It seems like they were really enjoying each other’s company (if you know what we mean). One week before the wedding, Grace realized it was time to stop for real. To her, this was just a confusing fling, but what she didn’t know was that Hannah had fallen in love with her. On the day of the wedding rehearsal, Hannah saw Grace in the wedding dress and had to tell her how she felt. She created a distraction at the rehearsal dinner and got Grace to come to meet her secretly. Grace paid no heed to Hannah’s words, and so she became sad. She asked Grace to visit her yurt later at night. Seeing Grace being all cuddly with Edgar, Hannah thought she was putting on a show for her. That’s when she met Travis and pretended to want to sleep with him. Hannah decided to write a letter for Grace in her yurt, but the G-key would not work. That’s when she decided to remove it and possibly gift it to Grace.
Sebastian visited her in the yurt, thinking Hannah would be interested in him because she was upset. According to him, the wedding was a big deal for both of them because she was losing a brother and he was losing a business partner (but why would a marriage mean losing a business partner?). Hannah, uninterested, sends him away. Elsewhere, Zoe finally gets some alone time with her sister and asks her what the story is with Hannah. Grace admits she was confused and doesn’t love Hannah. It was because Zoe was cheated on (you know, by her ex-husband from season 1) that she couldn’t tell her the truth.
Back to the story: to let some steam off, Hannah tried to do some archery, and Ulysses gave her some advice to shoot from the heart, not from the eyes. This is why Hannah decided not to give up just yet and cooked up a plan with Travis. She thought if her brother was really a criminal, as Travis claimed, she could win over Grace while Edgar went to prison. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a very foolproof plan. At the wedding, when Hannah heard Edgar’s vows, she realized how much he really loved Grace and finally decided to give up on her. After the wedding, Hannah congratulated Grace as closure for herself, telling her that she was happy for her. She then decided to go on an adventure alone. Travel far away, leaving on the same night to wallow in her pain. Before leaving, she decided to gift Edgar the G letter, and he showed his delight by reminding her that the typewriter would not work without a G key. Hannah thanked him for treating her like a real sister and told him she was leaving then, quietly disappearing into the distance. Before she was gone, though, she bumped into Sebastian, who was holding a bottle in his hand, and that’s where her story ends.
Danner is confused because all of this just sounds like Hannah has all the motives to kill Edgar, but Aniq picks up on some other clues. It’s Sebastian who is looking really suspicious now, as the guy who said he was “losing a business partner”. Edgar must’ve fired Sebastian before the wedding, but now that he’s dead and nobody knows, Sebastian is making all the business deals to make sure he can take over the company. Next week, we’ll be seeing his side of the story.
Final Thoughts
This episode was visually charming, and Hannah is a great narrator. We’re also advancing a little bit in the case, so it was more fast-paced than some of the previous episodes. With Sebastian looking suspicious, we’re looking forward to seeing what lies he may conjure up next week.
