If “Search Party,” TBS’s newest mystery-comedy show, could be defined in one word, it’d be lost.
It tells the story of Dory, Elliot, Drew and Portia — four self-centered 20-somethings who decide to look for their missing former college peer Chantal Winterbottom. It is one of those growing-up-and-searching-for-the-meaning-of-your-existence comedy shows, expect with a missing person.
In “Search Party,” Chantal is clearly not the only character lost. All of the main characters are, too.
Let’s use Dory as an example. She has a need to find herself, which reminds me a bit of Lena Dunham’s character in HBO’s “Girls.” The difference is that Hannah knows where to start, and Dory doesn’t have a clue. She is just looking for something to be passionate about. She is not living, just existing.
IndieWire’s Ben Travers’ review on the show started with a magnificent quote from Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina.
“The pleasure lies not in discovering the truth, but in searching for it,” it reads.
I couldn’t agree more with how it applies to the show.
In one part of the pilot, Dory goes to her ex-boyfriend Julian’s place and talks to him about how sad she feels over Chantal’s disappearance.
“It’s sad for her, but not for you,” he brilliantly says back. “Jimmy (a college student whom he was tutoring), would you feel sad if someone you didn’t know died? I think you decided this matters to you because you have nothing else.”
Ouch.
Another great aspect of “Search Party” is its ability to set its tone in the very first minute of the pilot, mixing a moment of introspection with humor about dog poop. Often Dory’s thinking moments while walking down the street or riding the subway are interrupted by a stranger saying something that drags her back to earth.
This is a comedy about millennials, but it still delivers reality. In certain parts it’s disgusting how some characters don’t actually care about Chantal. And in one particular moment, Elliot is trying to sell his water bottle collection, saying how they will donate the money to help eradicate thirst in Africa.
A character then responds how Africa’s problem is not the lack of water bottles, but water itself. It is overwhelming how the show throws in our faces how our generation — independent, social media savvy and concerned about the world’s issues — often doesn’t actually care about things as much as we think.
Towards the end of the season, “Search Party” gets a bit darker. In the finale, you realize how small the mystery theme actually is and how the shows’ message is much bigger. Dory needed to be obsessed with something to feel again, and Chantal’s disappearance inspired her.
It is a great show, with a binge-watch-the-whole-season rhythm and a powerful way of wrapping it up in the end.
The season premiered Nov. 21 but is entirely available for streaming on TBS’s website.
