WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Afterparty, now available on Apple TV+.
The first season of The Afterparty has come to an end and Xavier’s killer has finally been revealed. Although there were plenty of people who didn’t like Xavier in high school, some of his classmates held grudges against him for years after they parted ways. Many of the partygoers could have hated Xavier enough to kill him, but they were proven innocent by some hidden clues in the background.
The Afterparty’s creators slipped in a few clues to let the audience know that some of the suspects were definitely innocent. There were a variety of clues hidden in each episode of the series that spelled out code words related to some of the suspects. These are all the cryptic clues in The Afterparty.
Brett the Fireman Tried to Save His Family
The first clue in the show appeared in Aniq’s romantic comedy episode. Aniq’s attempts to have a romantic connection with Zoë were constantly interrupted by Xavier while they were in the school hall. He managed to get her alone on the bleachers, where there was a small red light flashing behind Zoë as she spoke. The light was flashing a message in morse code that spelled out “Not the Fireman.” In the following episode, Zoë’s ex-husband Brett told her that he had recently become a part-time volunteer firefighter.
The Amniotic Fluid Solved Jennifer Two’s Disappearance
Brett’s Fast and Furious-inspired episode cleverly hid the clue in family photos. Brett was determined to get Zoë back and convinced the DJ at the reunion to play a slideshow with pictures of his family. Each picture featured at least three people holding up their arms in odd positions as they posed for the picture. The positions of their arms were actually semaphore signals, which is a type of signaling that uses flags or lights. Each pose represented a letter that spelled out “Not the Puddle.” Detective Danner slipped in a puddle when she entered Xavier’s home, which Jennifer Two had caused when her water broke before the murder took place.
Mad Dog Danner Wasn’t Even a Suspect
Yasper’s musical episode had a clue that threw viewers off with an unheard of nickname. Yasper went looking for a pair of pants on a clothing rail and picked up a shirt that had Xavier’s tour dates printed on the back. There were seven cities in the tour, but each venue contained the name of one or two former United States presidents. By listing the presidents in chronological order and using the corresponding numbers in the tour dates to represent letters in the alphabet, the numbers spell out “Not Mad Dog.” Detective Danner went by the name Mad Dog when she was in the police training academy, but she wasn’t a suspect in the case anyway.
Indigo the Lefty Was Suspicious of Everyone
Chelsea’s murder mystery presented the fourth clue as she looked through her old yearbook. Some of the students were facing away from the camera, creating the impression that they were looking at people in the pictures around them. This creates a trail from Morgan N. Ford to Shiloh Y. Garcia. Each student has a letter representing their middle name, and the letters in the trail spell out “Not the Lefty.” When Aniq and Yasper were trying to find out who wrote “diarrhea” on Aniq’s neck, Indigo wrote the word on a notepad using her left hand.
Ned the Skier Kept Pulling Pranks
The fifth clue may be a difficult to spot for color-blind viewers. Walt finally got to tell his story as he stood in front of the bar in Xavier’s house. The TV screens behind him were filled with multi-colored dots, but there were some dots in the same color that spelled out “Not the Skier.” The skier was Jennifer One’s husband Ned, who put a ski with beers on top of Aniq while he was passed out.
Chelsea the Cake Eater Wanted to Make Amends
The sixth clue appeared in Zoë’s animated episode. Zoë took a ride in Xavier’s helicopter and as they flew to his house, he described an album cover that he wanted Zoë to design for him. The helicopter flew over some billboards, one of which said, “another of those cloaked Easter eggs.” The building next to the billboard had some lights on in the windows. By matching the position of the lit-up windows with the words on the billboard, the letters spell out “Not the Cake Eater.” Chelsea had eaten some of Walt’s cake at the high school party.
Zoë the Mama Bear Just Wanted a Night of Fun
Detective Danner’s flashback episode had one of the most obvious clues in the background. Danner walked past a bulletin board after getting coffee for a fellow officer. The positioning of the pictures and documents on the board leave empty spaces that spell out “Not the Bear.” Zoë turned into a protective mama bear in her animated sequence.
Aniq the Oboe Holder Was Innocent All Along
The final clue proved that the most targeted suspect was actually innocent. Zoë’s daughter Maggie had been playing in Xavier’s recording studio when she hid from her parents. She turned up the dials of the sound system and typed a bunch of random numbers on the keyboard. The numbers turned out to be the words “Not the Oboe Holder” written in Base36, a binary encoding system. This code proved that Aniq was innocent since he had picked up an oboe while hiding in the studio.
Find every hidden clue about Xavier’s killer in The Afterparty, currently streaming on Apple TV+.
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