A Simple Search Party

If you’re anything like me, you’re always looking for a good old fashioned mystery-driven story arc to occupy your time (and distract you from everything going on in the real world that no one has the answers to right now). That’s why, during the abundance of binge-watching time I had during my furlough in 2020, I was so delighted to finally get around to watching A Simple Favor (2018).

Decidedly little of my other viewings that year brought me as much joy as this look-left-look-right plot and Emily Nelson’s (played by Blake Lively) co-ord blazer ensembles. To me, this movie quite literally had it all: luxurious ensemble cast members, mysterious back stories, adorable children, and a script that passed the Bechdel Test with flying colors. And, as with all things that score a 10/10, it was hard to match when my streaming services made their AI-driven recommendations.

However, in a recent scouring of said streaming services, I finally found a series that recaptured the delight and intrigue I found in A Simple Favor. And I can very confidently give my non-AI-driven recommendation that, if you liked A Simple Favor, you will love Search Party (2016-2021). Search Party brings the “who dunnit over mimosas” energy, the same closet envy (though this time with deeply vintage and heavily accessorized ensembles), and adds in its own dashes of absurd-yet-compelling circumstance to create an abundantly effervescent, if truly dark, dive down the rabbit hole of self-identity, misplaced trust, and the dark sides of just about everyone.

Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development) plays Dory Sief, the compelling lead of Search Party and arguably the definitive anti-hero of this generation of television. Fans of A Simple Favor will be drawn to her complex personality that, much like Lively’s Emily Nelson, is difficult to articulate but easy to appreciate, evidenced most clearly by her ability to convey Sief as both the protagonist and the antagonist of every scene. Sief is surrounded by her ensemble of friends Drew, Elliot, and Portia (played by John Reynolds, John Early, and Meredith Hagner, respectively), each with the motivational (if not moral) clarity of Anna Kendrick’s Stephanie Smothers. While together, these four core cast members create a multi-fractal caricature of the millennial urban experience, their individual personhood is written and played so consistently and convincingly that, not only do you know people in your life who these characters embody, but you likely identify deeply with one or more of them.

This is what, in my opinion, Search Party does even better than A Simple Favor in terms of character development and story telling. It encompasses an expansive, compelling, often out-of-left-field narrative while deeply connecting the viewer and their identity to the center of the swirling plot. While the thrills of A Simple Favor harness the viewer's suspension of disbelief and make good use of it, Search Party's cliffhangers drive to the core of the viewer's psyche and force theoretical answers to uncomfortable (though admittedly thrilling) questions like, "What would you do if it were you?" The absurdity of this series does not culminate in a final showdown finale, as in A Simple Favor, but rather carries on in fits and starts throughout each episode with the tantalizing effervescence of brunch gossip. It is grounded while haywire, surprising and thrilling while thematically consistent, and poignantly human in good and troubling ways. All this is to say that, if you ever wanted to see more of the mystery-solving shenanigans of Stephanie Smothers and Emily Nelson, Search Party has to be your next binge (if only for the wardrobe inspo).