This month Verve’s star teen reviewer Lucy Kennedy finds After the Party hard to watch, but impossible to switch off.
After the Party
TVNZ+
Penny Wilding sees something inexcusable – or so she thinks.
A party is at its peak with everybody relaxed, dancing, drinking. Penny’s daughter and her friends slip upstairs with a bottle or two and soon a teenage boy is blackout drunk. Penny’s husband, Phil, innocuously offers to take care of the boy. Later, Penny thinks that she sees her husband sexually assault the boy. Nobody believes her. The event, the accusations, and Penny’s pursuit for justice shatters her life. As the lack of evidence becomes glaring many of her closest relationships wither – including with her daughter Grace who idolises her disgraced father. When Phil returns to the Wellington community five years later, old wounds are wrenched back open.
Robyn Malcom is raw and burningly real in the role of Penny. She’s both incredibly believable and recognisable. She feels so familiar, like someone you might know. Perhaps you even see a piece of yourself in her. It’s one of the many reasons why the show is so addictive. Her steady downward spiral and stubborn unwillingness to just let it go is gripping but often hard to watch. And when you begin to side with the disbelievers, you wonder if her battle is really worth it?
After the Party skilfully manipulates you into a kind of harried embarrassment for Penny. It’s compelling, nightmarish, and utterly disturbing. You won’t be able to look away.
Available to view on TVNZ+. 4 stars.
Instagram: @lucykennedyreviews
