On The Afterparty Season 1 Episode 4, we hear Chelsea's story -- in what is the darkest (literally) offering of the season so far.
It's still funny, but the humor can be pretty grim, and comes mainly from Ilana Glazer's deadpan delivery. Here is a woman who has been traumatized and damaged (by what is still a mystery). Chelsea has squandered her potential and turned to drugs and alcohol. She's so miserable and paranoid and only has one goal -- revenge.
Every aspect of the production served to build up the suspense. There was heavy rain, introspective narration, moody cinematography, poorly-lit hallways, jump scares, blurred vision, and a tension-riddled score courtesy of Daniel Pemberton. It was unsettling to watch Chelsea's spiral, especially when she kept running into Brett, who was a total jerk. And then there was poor invisible Walt, who was just trying to get her keys back to her, but in giving her space, he actually terrified her even more. Several scenes took on new meaning as we saw them from Chelsea's point of view. In the confrontation with Zoe and Aniq in the hallway, Chelsea wasn't drunk at all -- she was trying to get Zoe alone to ask about the texts. Also, she was scared of whoever was following her, and there is safety in numbers. The following scene in the hallway with Brett made more sense from Chelsea's end. It does pose the question -- why did Brett leave the whole Chelsea affair out of his version of the events? Maybe because it would make him look bad? Throughout the episode, Ilana Glazer projected that strug-out, desperate vibe that is stereotypical of women in this genre, while still maintaining a dry sense of humor to mask her pain. The Afterparty definitely feels like one of those shows that will need to be rewatched in sequence again from the start once it ends, just to see all the clues and how everything was set up. It's all there, but there are so many possibilities. Whose stories will have been the most accurate, or will we ever know? Hopefully, the final reveal will come as a shock that also feels satisfying.