Who's the most likely killer in The Afterparty season 2?

Alright, for the sake of getting it out of the way, Aniq is definitely not the killer. But if The Afterparty can pull that maneuver off, we promise to rank it number one in our top shows of the year. We’re not too worried, though. Sam Richardson is alluring as the romantic crime-solver, bringing calm to Detective Danner’s (Tiffany Haddish) manic energy. Since he’s the co-lead and the “hero,” we don’t see the show suddenly turning his character around to such a degree.

Zoe (Zoë Chao) is pretty much in the same boat as her boyfriend Aniq. She’s not the killer, although we did strongly suspect her in season one because she had a good motive to push Xander (Dave Franco) off that balcony. Even now, she might have wanted to save her sister from a potentially loveless marriage to Edgar, but that’s not a reason for murder, is it? And let’s not forget: She has a young daughter, even though The Afterparty hasn’t bothered to bring up Maggie at all so far after making her such a pivotal part of season one.

On paper, Hannah’s (Anna Konkle) motive is pretty solid: The love of her life is about to marry her brother. And if he’s out of the way, she could get her happy ending. However, Grace actively chose Edgar over Hannah, which is why Hannah tried to stop the wedding. But we also think episode four (which paid homage to Wes Anderson’s directorial style) established that Hannah didn’t want to hurt Edgar emotionally after hearing his wedding vows. So why would she want to hurt him physically and permanently? Hannah is seemingly sweet, lovely, and simply heartbroken. We don’t think she’d resort to poisoning her sibling, even if she has the means to do it.

Grace (Poppy Liu), a.k.a. the non-blushing bride, has been dubbed a killer since episode one. In other words, because this is a TV murder mystery, she clearly didn’t do it. Despite giving up on the woman she loves (Hannah) for a chance at a more stable life with Edgar, Grace is distinctly not a murderer. We’re confident because almost everyone, especially Edgar’s mother, has pointed the finger at her. Grace wouldn’t really gain anything by killing her new husband on the night of their wedding. Okay, technically, there was no prenup so she could inherit his wealth, but that doesn’t seem like Grace. The Afterparty isn’t the epitome of murder mysteries, but neither is it so basic as to make the obvious suspect the killer.

“Eh.” Sorry, but that’s just our one-word reaction to Travis’ whole deal so far. Don’t get us wrong, Paul Walter Hauser is a star, and he’s having fun playing Grace’s obsessive ex. He looks hella dapper in the suit and hat, too. But he feels like a slightly more sophisticated version of last season’s Walt (Jamie Demetriou)—a hanger-on who doesn’t have much to contribute. To his credit, he figured out Edgar was running a crypto scheme and that someone could’ve slowly micro-dosed him. He’s contributed to the case more than anyone else (besides Aniq, Zoe, and Danner, of course). Still, to us, Travis just doesn’t have the guts, the method, or the gusto to commit such a horrible crime.

Alright, we’re in the top five. Now we’re getting somewhere. Vivian doesn’t have a direct rationale for committing homicide; we know that. Still, she’s got one of the most interesting backstories on The Afterparty so far. As a refresher, she had a torrid affair with her brother-in-law and chose not to run away with him for the sake of her children. Now she’s seemingly committed to her family. Of course, her emotions are upended when Ulysses (John Cho) reappears. How does that translate to killing her son-in-law, you ask? We’re not sure. But we haven’t yet seen an episode from her perspective, so there are definite gaps in the story about what Vivian was up to all night. We don’t know whose POV (or what genre) the finale will take, but let’s hope Vivian Wu gets another chance to shine, killer or not.

Sebastian (Jack Whitehall), Edgar’s childhood pal and business partner, doesn’t seem too shaken that someone he’s known for basically all his life is dead. He’s not even fake mourning. We learn that Edgar fired him before he was killed, and revenge is always an excellent motive. Sebastian works round-the-clock to make phone calls and cover his tracks. (He even pretends to be his dead BFF.) Episode five, which was from his POV, revealed that what he wanted more than anything was the baseball card that Edgar won off him. But that storyline feels kind of incomplete and empty.

The other catch is that Sebastian was trying to hook up with Edgar’s mom, Isabel (Elizabeth Perkins), for his personal gain. Maybe the two of them teamed up to get rid of the thorn in their sides? Now that would be a fun twist because Isabel, as you will see down the list, has plenty of reasons to off her son.

Ulysses is a bit of a random choice as Edgar’s murderer. He barely knew the guy, after all. On the contrary, he should be grateful that Edgar convinced him to attend the wedding. That way, he reunited with his long-lost love, Vivian, and the rest of his family. So we get it: Why the hell would Ulysses kill him? And why is he among our top three suspects?

Well, the fact that he’s such a wild card is exactly what makes him a great choice. We’ve only scratched the surface of his personality and backstory. Who knows what he’s been up to in his world travels and what skills he picked up along the way? If he really believed Grace was his daughter, maybe he was motivated to kill Edgar for reasons we’ll find out in the finale. It would also be fun if Vivian and Ulysses decided to get rid of Feng (Ken Jeong) so they could finally be together. (Can you tell we want The Afterparty to have two killers this time? It’s just more fun that way.) And instead, they accidentally killed Edgar.

Plus, Ulysses isn’t close enough to anyone. If he turned out to be a vicious slaughterer or something, it wouldn’t be as gutting. Vivian would be hurt by the news, sure, but she hasn’t been with Ulysses for years.

We were debating if Feng or Ulysses should be at number two, but Feng is the juicier choice. And Ken Jeong is boisterous enough with his performance to pull it off.

Feng’s emotions are deeply heightened on the night of the wedding: His nemesis of a brother is back, his daughter is getting married, he’s broke, his food truck might be gone forever, and he doesn’t necessarily approve of Aniq. To make matters worse, he’s hoping Edgar invests in his business, only for Edgar to detest the baobing. He’s basically lost all hope. If The Afterparty really wants to be risky, it would be fun for the big reveal to be someone’s parent committing the greatest sin. It’s more fun than the obvious BFF or bride or even sibling. Feng knows Grace would pay a huge price if her husband died. But desperation knows no bounds. Maybe he poisoned Edgar via the shaved ice he tried to force him to try? If his son-in-law dies, Grace inherits the money that could save his truck. Also, if this actually happens, it would provide emotional fodder for Zoe’s arc in a potential season three.

And before you come at us saying, “that’s a stretch,” wait ’till we get to our number-one pick.

We really, really want Isabel to be the culprit, and it’s not only because Elizabeth Perkins is making a meal out of her performance. (FYI, she’s acing the role of a wealthy widow both here and on Minx.)

Isabel has played the loving mom card for most of The Afterparty season two, slowly creating a menace in the house by blaming Grace whenever she gets the chance. Yet the penultimate episode finally reveals that her own son kind of hates her. She’s unable to deal with her husband’s death, and in turn, Edgar is unable to deal with her grief. So he takes matters into his own hands. By that, we mean that he mixes up her medication and sabotages her wedding speech to make it look like she’s losing her mind. We learn that she’s figured this truth out on his wedding night. Again, no motive is stronger than revenge, not even in a subversive or genre-bending comedy. And nothing would be more subversive than The Afterparty making a mom a killer. To us, she’s the most suspicious of the lot. Much like Ulysses, no one is too attached to her, so it wouldn’t be a devastating reveal like Feng or Vivian. Could it really happen, though? We’ll find out on September 6.