NOT-SO-FANTASTIC 4
‘Search’ quartet find new take on how life’s no ‘Party’ in finale
The foursome of “Search Party” probably aren’t getting a happy ending, but they might not deserve one, either.
In its final season, the HBO cult favorite about four friends who were initially drawn together in the search for a missing acquaintance, has pivoted wildly once again. As with each new year, it feels like a new show: the first was a murder mystery, the second a psychological thriller, the third a legal drama, the fourth a hostage horror.
The fifth, premiering Friday, is something a little wilder: part examination of capitalism, part takedown of influencers, part study of a broken society.
But at its core are the flawed friends — Dory Sief (Alia Shawkat), Drew Gardner (John Reynolds), Portia Davenport (Meredith Hagner) and Elliott Goss (John Early) — who just keep coming back to each other.
“You have certain friends in your early 20s and you hope that you grow and trust yourself enough to be like, ‘I can make new friends who are healthy for me and actually see me at my best,’” Shawkat, 32, told the Daily News. “But you fall into these patterns with people where it feels comforting to be treated like s--t.”
By the time the fifth season rolls around, it’s impossible to tell whether the core four, Dory in particular, are hurting each other on purpose. They’re not good for each other, certainly, but they can’t or won’t break free.
Hagner called it trauma bonding, that feeling that these are the only people who can understand what you’ve been through or, in their cases, what they’ve done.
“When you’ve been through it with someone, when you’ve shared a really difficult experience with a person and no one else can relate to it, you’re forever linked to them. We have to find ways for each individual character to be addicted to Dory in their own way,” showrunner Charles Rogers told The News.
“For Drew, that’s romantically. For
Portia, that’s someone who’s whole. For Elliot, that’s because Elliot just sort of exists on his own narcissistic island.”
Dory knows that too, now. She knows they’ll come back, no matter what she does. They’ve survived murder, kidnapping, Elliott’s hard-right turn as a political pundit and their 20s. Dory has even survived death and she’s come out of it enlightened, or at least what she thinks is enlightenment.
And “Search Party” goes bigger in its last season. Dory doesn’t just start an Instagram account, she starts a cult. They don’t just find an investor, they find an Elon Musk-type billionaire, played by Jeff Goldblum. And the world follows along, desperate for someone to break through the chaos and show them the way.
“As our institutions become more and more gutted, continue to crumble and fail us, we’re turning to influencers. Literally.
We’re turning to tech billionaires and influencers to be our moral compass,” Early, 33, told The News.
“That’s so dangerous and this season does a really good job of showing why that’s a really bad idea.”
Dangerous, the foursome quickly learns, is an understatement. But the power of Dory is that she stood up, recognized what people wanted and promised she could provide.
Shawkat compared Dory’s growth to Keith Raniere, the founder of the NXIVM sex cult in upstate New York that promised personal and professional development. It’s ego, she said, that takes one person’s self-realization and convinces them that they can change the world.
Dory does, in a way, change the world, just not how she planned.
For “Search Party’s” final season, a happy ending isn’t the gorgeous apartment or a great job or even falling in love. It’s finding peace.
“In your 20s, you think life is going to be this constant search and there will be a solution,” Early told The News. “And then when you get older, you realize there are no answers and that’s OK.”