It may not seem that way at first, but "Search Party" is an absolute trip for anyone who loves nail-biting thrillers about terrible people making terrible choices. But isn't "Search Party" a comedy? It's a fair question, and "yes" isn't an incorrect answer. It begins as a mystery comedy hybrid, and while it takes a while to get there, "Search Party" becomes one of the darkest in the genre to ever see the light of day. For comparison, it is easy to forget just how funny the early seasons of "Breaking Bad" were. Also, before Walter White, Bryan Cranston was still best known for his time on sitcom "Malcolm in the Middle."
At the beginning, Dory Sief (Alia Shawkat) convinces her conceited group of Brooklyn hipster friends to help her look for a missing girl they went to college with — albeit one they mostly don't remember. It is a commentary on millennials, but the Season 1 finale brings a shocking twist, and "Search Party" turns suddenly into a crime thriller in Season 2. The best thing about the show — which started on TBS, got cancelled, and was eventually picked up by HBO — is that it pulls this trick every season, to greater and greater success. Each one is a different, darker genre. By the final two seasons, we are very nearly in horror territory before the penultimate episodes become something entirely unexpected.
