An Ode to Millennials

“Women get scrutinized, men get pasta”

Thinking about the integration of millennial zeitgeist into a clever almost-sitcom not-quite-thriller but-definitely-somewhat-of-a-comedy, gives me goosebumps all over again. This master piece sits in its own crowned category that I cannot get over. We had a solid 6 years from the first episode airing in 2016, to experience this gem, and the show still stands. I’ll try to stop gushing as I explain why. And I’ll try not to give away toooo many spoilers.

In Search Party’s first couple of episodes, we are introduced to literal caricatures of millennials to a satirical perfection. Then you are taken on quite the journey. The antihero squad that you hate to love encapsulates whiteness, classism, and an obsession with true crime in a satirical brilliance that I did not know I needed. This fever dream of a show has it all: cults, a missing cute white woman, murder, brunch, embezzlement, influencer culture, wellness 'gurus', a shady billionaire, zombies, and the struggle to find an okay job.

I have been obsessed with Alia Shawkat since her guest appearance in Broad City and a creepy off-putting fiction podcast story about a real life Siri or Alexa. I never watched Arrested Development but I am sure I would have loved her in that too. She plays the main character, Dory, and knocks it out of the ball park. You’ll both empathize with her as a main character and then think is she a sociopath? It gives you very You vibes. Her story arc is truly *chefs kiss*

Drew, my lovely darling Drew. I have a love hate relationship with him. But. He is Dory’s partner and you hate to love him too. He does try to act as the voice of reason in the show which is super annoying, since he should realize he is just as big of a problem as everyone else. He plays such a fantastic typical boring white dude hipster though I’ll give him that.

Portia the hot bimbo and Elliot the rich asshole, represent the worst type of people but I cannot understand why I love them so much. Their loyalty? Their humor? The shenanigans they get in? There’s a sigh of relief that maybe I can love my whole shitty self or maybe they just make me feel better about myself.

I stopped trying to guess and just shut up and embrace it.

Because some of the shit they do in this show will make you for real watch through the slits of your fingers with a scrunched up nose.

But then there's Julian. The true logical and cute voice of reason. He adds style, tension, and keeps us on our toes with the whole will they or won’t they in many different aspects. He is a journalist and his story arc ends up being pretty wild…If I did fanfiction I would totally write about Julian.

While I could go into a much much deeper analysis of all of the characters in the show (a future post?)…I don’t want to give too much away because if I haven’t convinced you by now to watch it, I need to work on my persuasion skills. I’ll give it one last go if you aren’t convinced yet.

Search Party takes you on a path to enlightenment you didn’t know you needed. I would even go out on a limb and say this show is close to perfection. Search Party encapsulates our societal obsession with true crime and a will, no a need, to be someone important. They say the quiet parts out loud of our society and grasp the millennial satirical experience far too well…even if they are all mostly rich hipster assholes.

You can watch it on HBO Max as far as I know, at least that’s where I watched it.