The Afterparty’s erotic thriller parody is one of the funniest TV episodes of the year
Every once in a while, a show airs an episode that’s so good it makes you wish for a whole series just like it. “Danner’s Fire,” this week’s scintillating installment of Apple TV Plus’ murder mystery comedy anthology messaround The Afterparty, is one of those episodes.
“Danner’s Fire” is an interlude in the second season’s ongoing mystery about a crypto-billionaire found dead the morning after his wedding. It’s an episode about Detective Danner (Tiffany Haddish), the Poirot-esque sleuth dedicated to solving The Afterparty’s mysteries, with a focus on why she left the police force between seasons. Continuing the show’s genre parody schtick, “Danner’s Fire” is an over-the-top tribute to the erotic thrillers of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Think Basic Instinct but with a ludicrous number of double entendres. It’s also an episode that works on its own, if you’re looking to test drive the show — there’s some movement in the ongoing mystery case, but the main draw is in its stand-alone story.
In “Danner’s Fire,” Detective Danner is on the trail of an arsonist (Paul Scheer) and begins a tempestuous affair with Quentin Devereaux (Michael Ealy), a psychiatrist who specializes in pyromania. True to the genre, Devereaux and Danner waste no time hooking up while discussing the case (“I guess you could call me a pyromaniac, only instead of fire…I like sex,” Devereaux intones).
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Most episodes of The Afterparty are a team effort, as the writing, set design, and performances come together in different ways to accomplish the series’ genre homages. “Danner’s Fire” is as close as it gets to a one-man show. Guest star Ealy steals the show as Devereaux, relishing every cheesy line and displaying a natural knack for physical
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