Party Down Season 3 Recap: New cast as it always has been

in 2009, party down felt like lightning in a bottle: an ensemble comedy featuring some of the industry’s hardest hitters, created by Veronica Mars Genius Rob Thomas (no, not that Rob Thomas), alongside John Enbom, Dan Etheridge, and Paul Rudd (yes, that Paul Rudd). The show, which ran on Starz for two seasons, told the story of a group of Los Angeles caterers, aspiring, bitter creative guys struggling to make ends meet in a city that hates them. You had aParks and Recreation Adam Scott, with a postmean girls Lizzy Caplan, next to pre-Silicon Valley Martin Starr and PostVeronica Mars Ryan Hansen, not to mention a pre-Joy Jane Lynch and eternal genius (and former member of The State) Ken Marino.

party down gained a dedicated cult following but ended its run early when his talent was picked up elsewhere. I remember feeling like a genius discovery in the early days of streaming: My college roommates and I had never seen a sitcom that felt so in tune with our referential, goofy sense of humor. That also helped party down wasn’t overly action-oriented – like in the sitcom days of yesteryear, it was mostly about the mood and the workplace, with each episode focusing on a different event. We’ve rarely, if ever, seen the Party Down crew out of work, negating their existence outside of their menial jobs. That’s the fear of many in the service industry: Often humiliated and often underpaid, these workers fear that their customers — their rude, crazy, demanding customers — will never mistake them for anything else. party downThe ragtag group of caterers were delusional in their own right, but never crazier than the people they worked for.

The show is now back on Starz for a limited six-episode run after years of being courted by fans. This was often in response to Thomas’s work, such as Veronica Mars eventually morphed into a fan-funded film (and later a Hulu revival of its own) a few years after its initial run. In many ways, it seems like the perfect time for a show party down hand back; After all, who has been in the clutches of the ugliest conversations or worse conditions in society in recent years than the hospitality workers? But the new party down Episodes, perhaps to their detriment, just wanting to deal with the COVID of everything to one Point. The first new episode serves as a prologue to the series, which takes place in March 2020 and is full of altruisms like “2020 will be my year”. If only they knew! But later episodes slide almost entirely over the pandemic.

Image: Starz

Image: Starz

Since we last saw her, Marino’s Ron has been expanding his Party Down catering service, with Roman (Starr) as one of the few remaining employees in his tenure. Henry (Scott) is now a high school teacher, married to an off-screen wife and some off-screen children. He’s classically unhappy, both for giving up his acting dreams and for always being that way. Caplan’s Casey isn’t returning for these new episodes, though she’s never far from Henry’s mind: an SNL cast member and a tabloid, we always hear about her on the news. Lydia (Lynch) and Constance (Megan Mullally) are back, the former newly married to a wealthy older man and the latter still hyper-focused on her daughter Escapade’s career. The season premiere is almost an experience in its own right, a prologue so to speak, as the gang reunites to celebrate Kyle (Hansen), who has just been cast as “Nitromancer” in a new major superhero slop and is primed to make it big .

Something always goes wrong with someone party down Party: A member of Kyle’s old band Karma Rocket, bitter about his imminent stardom, releases footage of Kyle singing her song “My Struggle,” which is full of unintended references to the Holocaust. This would be a fun and surprising revelation if only longtime fans didn’t remember that “My Struggle” was already a significant part of the season’s first heat. Kyle’s insistence that it’s all coincidence — that the references to “put on a train” and “assigned a number” are to Hollywood — is funny if unfamiliar. With Kyle back to work at Party Down, soon followed by Henry, the gang are now going back to their old catering gigs as if nothing ever changed.

In fact, many of the new episodes are from party down feel familiar, the show content playing the hits a dozen or so years since their first game. The group hosts a wacky neocon event in episode three, “First Annual PI2A Symposium,” which harks back to season one’s “California College Conservative Union Caucus.” Episode four, KSGY-95 Prizewinner’s Luau, features an extended mushroom trip that harks back to season one’s Sin Say Shun Awards Afterparty. The widespread familiarity of these new episodes is both a feature and a bug. at his best, party down spun the wheels: The whole joke was that these people would never go anywhere or do anything, and their pursuit is something to scoff at. Her fears—not good enough, not hot enough, not competent enough to run a Soup’r Crackers—were exposed time and time again for the benefit of her customers. It was dark, frustrating and ruthlessly funny. But the new episodes are less focused on the monotony of work, too replete with loosely coupled plottiness and a half-hearted attempt to poke fun at how Hollywood is now. Things have changed, but neither have they; More of the same doesn’t necessarily mean harsher commentary.

Image: Starz

Image: Starz

That’s in part due to a handful of the new characters introduced by the show: Sackson (Tyrel Jackson Williams) and Lucy (Zoë Chao) were recently hired at Party Down, the former a “content creator” and the latter a nouveau gastronomy -Type. Though Williams is energetic and undeniably funny, party down doesn’t have too much to say about being on TikTok being a different job than “Isn’t that crazy?”. and “Aren’t the dances so stupid?” There’s an implicit assumption that the post is work for some, with little more investigation than that (including the often mentioned but seldom discussed fact that Roman appears to be a YouTuber now). Lucy is also feeling monotonous and observed, a foodie looking for an audience who will appreciate her sickening, avant-garde cuisine. She concocts a new gross treat every episode, only to find herself feeling down when Ron scolds her for skipping cake pops or whatever mundane food is being asked of them.

Both Williams and Chao bring a fun energy to the group, and it’s good to see the show trying to diversify its otherwise very white cast, but it’s clear the writers aren’t sure how they’re going to do it with the returning cast should entangle occupation. party down can’t decide if being a full-time content creator is a worthy job, nor can it determine how a person with integrity in the hospitality industry could be a caterer (although there are many TikTok-famous personal chefs in Los Angeles who perform well, according to my feed). The jokes inside party down was less about the nature of the job itself and more about the ambition that drives him, but it’s hard to understand why either Sackson or Lucy got this job they think is among them.

The other significant addition to the show is Evie (Jennifer Garner), a successful producer who has a crush on Henry. party down doesn’t want Garner taking over for Caplan, but she fits in well with the cast. Garner is a game and an avid performer — I’m never mad when she shows up — but an odd match with the always sardonic Scott. It’s hard to know where her plot is going after only watching the first five of six episodes and knowing it party downHis often sadistic tone probably doesn’t go anywhere. But their inclusion is proof that the series is more intent on commenting on Hollywood, the industry’s cruel, casual indifference, than its hospitality staff. Not to mention that the dynamic between Evie and Henry is unfortunately pretty boring for the most part.

That the show skips from March 2020 to sometime in late summer or early fall 2021 overlooks much of the hardest parts of the pandemic for workers, only noting that Ron has worked through it, suffering multiple times from COVID, its various side effects surfacing when it arrives on weirdest (and very good in Marino’s hands). party down was never purely a commentary on Hollywood or the service industry, but his return is so steeped in the injustice and injustice of an ever-repeating Hollywood that he forgets an industry that has completely collapsed in recent years. That the new episodes feel so similar to the old ones is no disappointment, as we’re begging for bitter catharsis in the show, but it tells us nothing about a flawed industry that’s been on full display for its brutality since the show first opened times was broadcast. If comedy generally “beats differently” in a post-pandemic world, why lean on such familiar beats?

In a crowded landscape of reboots and revivals is the new party down Episodes are neither the worst of the worst nor the best of the best. This is still one of the best casts in ages, full of performers who haven’t lost their edge. Marino in particular is a welcome presence on the television landscape, one of the most skilled, wacky, and original comedians of a generation. Ron Donald is also a creation for eternity. I could watch him scream forever, and part of what I realized watching this final season is that he probably will. These new episodes will delight those who missed the show’s undeniably entertaining, goofy Pitter pattern. That was the secret party down the Show and Party Down the Company: This work was always going to be a fill-in job for these characters who were eager to move on to something else. Having these characters stuck in a revival, shiny and shiny and cheap and miserable feels like the original party down would be content to skewer. that the world around party down it’s not their fault that it looks just as grim and unforgiving as it did a dozen or so years ago; The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different outcome.