Search Party (2016)

It's hard to say what kind of show this is. My first impression was satire. The show pokes fun at the preoccupations of creative twenty-somethings in Manhattan. But in the midst of all the laughs a story takes shape in which Dory becomes convinced an acquaintance, Chantal, is still alive, even though her family is grieving her loss.

Dory's friends help her look for Chantal, but the investigation suffers as the friends seem incapable of focusing on anything but themselves. In each episode, just when I'm expecting this to turn into a murder-mystery spoof, something happens that gives me a genuine chill.

Somehow the writers of Search Party have found the tunnel that connects the absurd and the uncanny. In a lot of ways we're in David Lynch territory. I've just finished the first season. Two more are available for streaming, and there's talk of a fourth season. It's a half-hour dramedy, definitely worth a try for something funny, suspenseful, and off-beat.

See also Search Party (2017) and Search Party (2020).