Farewell, "Search Party," I Hardly Knew You
I was very late to the Search Party party. And by that I mean I started watching it last Tuesday and the final season premiered over the weekend. Very late. It was always on that list of shows that I want to watch but I never actually start. Not this year, though! If nothing else, 2022 is the year of me making my Watchlist shorter. Yellowjackets and Station Eleven are next on my list.
But we’re not here to talk about what’s next. We’re here to talk about what has ended in a truly spectacular fashion.
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Search Party began as a twenty-something millennial hangout comedy. Like the characters in Girls and Broad City before her, Dory (Alia Shawkat) is aimless in New York City. She’s got a boyfriend, Drew (John Reynolds), who could be a little more present in their relationship. She’s got two eccentric friends, Portia (Meredith Hagner) and Elliott (John Early). She feels stuck. Dory works as an assistant to a wealthy woman, but went to school for graphic design. Bursting with the desire to make a difference in the world, but not knowing how exactly to do that, Dory takes it upon herself to find her missing college classmate, Chantal (Clare McNulty). Missing posters of Chantal are all around Brooklyn and Dory swears she saw Chantal duck out of the back room of a Chinese restaurant. Thus making Dory believe that Chantal is still alive when many have given up hope.
What’s so special about Search Party is that it starts in a very familiar place. The hangout comedy was popularized by Friends and has been a staple of TV ever since. While the first season stays mostly within that realm, each season after naturally morphs into a different genre. Season two is Hitchcockian, season three is a courtroom drama, season four is psychological, and season five is cult-y. “Genre-bending” is wildly overused when describing pop culture. However, Search Party is quite possibly the only example of a truly genre-bending show. Despite the multitude of tonal shifts, Search Party’s off-the-wall series ending actually makes sense. (Obviously, I’m not going to tell you how it ends.) The show’s humble beginnings of hangout comedy manage to keep everything grounded as the world around Dory, Drew, Portia, and Elliott morphs into something fantastical.
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The less I tell you about Search Party, the better. I’ve been trying to sell it to my friends as “characters from Broad City try to solve a missing person’s case.” If that even remotely intrigues you, I cannot recommend it enough. Alia Shawkat’s performance of Dory is a thing of beauty and if she does not sweep the awards it’s proof that the world is cursed. She’s been a scene stealer since her Arrested Development days and is the beating heart of Search Party. A performance for the ages.
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