AFTER THE PARTY. wed&thur 9pm ch4 - TV PACE NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

After The Party is a tense drama full of accusations and high emotions.

Set in Wellington, New Zealand, the series follows a woman who lost everything when she accused her husband of a sex crime against her daughter’s teenage friend, and no one believed her.

It features Black Bird (www.whattowatch.com/watching-guides/black-bird-release-date-cast-plot-and-everything-we-know) star Robyn Malcolm as Penny Wilding, an outspoken science teacher, basketball coach and environmental campaigner. Lord of the Rings star Peter Mullan plays Penny’s accused ex-husband who returns to town leaving Penny to decide what’s more important, the truth or rebuilding her relationship with those around her.

Here’s everything you need to know about
After The Party
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Penny Wilding tells it like it is, whether that’s lecturing teenage boys on how porn will ruin their sex lives or waging a graffiti war on fishing boats.

But her attitude means she has few friends in the coastal town near Wellington, New Zealand.

Five years ago, however, Penny’s life was turned upside down when she accused her husband Phil of a sex crime and nobody believed her.

When Phil returns, Penny’s daughter pleads with her to forget the accusations and move on. But can she really let such injustice go unpunished?

Robyn Malcolm plays brutally honest teacher, mother and grandmother Penny Wilding.

Robyn says: "Penny did something based on what she believed, and it caused great damage and ruined a number of lives including her daughter’s.

Now, she feels she has to double down and be right, but righteous people can be dangerous and Penny is deeply fallible.

"It’s a simple story – did he do it, or didn't he do it, and is she right or is she wrong?

But the show exists in a morally grey area, we didn’t want to give simple answers. The rug gets pulled out from under you..."

I am not sure a s2 would work really. Only possibily a couple of episodes

I interpreted it as being that Phil did abuse Ollie it’s just Ollie didn’t see it that way - he was answering honestly that Phil was kind to him, got him into literature, etc. I think he thought Phil loved him, as Tom did.

Oh - could be , hadn’t thought of it like that

It won't be back for a second series tvtonight.com.au/2024/05/why-there-wont-be-a-second-season-of-after-the-party.html

There's a radio times article about it as well, but you have to register to read all of it and I couldn't be bothered! I presume it says similar things though.

I agree that it does what it needs to do and doesn't need a second series

I really liked this but one thing I didn't understand:

If everything with Ollie was indeed innocent, and Penny was genuinely blindsided by Tom's revelations, what if anything had led her to jump to that conclusion when seeing Phil and Ollie together?

There was some suspicion after the fact (organising boys' clubs etc), but we didn't see anything in her "pre-party" life that pointed to him being a paedophile, unless I missed something.

It just feels a bit "massive coincidence" that she jumped to the wrong conclusion with Ollie but it was true just with a different boy.

Didn't he have his hand on his face /cheek

It was the way he was looking at Ollie while lying next to him in/on the bed and touching his face. Don't forget all of them had been drinking a fair bit at the party which can alter perceptions either way too.They did that bit so well I thought because that quick glance could be seen as either fatherly and caring or creepy and predatory .

She found some children's boxers in her and Phil's room in her 'pre-party' life

Oh that's right and he tried that in and said he has been wearing them

It was the poetry book inscriptions

Ollie thought they were in love and had a special bond as did Tom

It wasn't innocent with Ollie he was in denial because he wanted Phil to still 'love' him

They were young impressionable boys, confused, wanted love, to feel special, felt shame and embarrassment all wrapped up in one. But the older they got it turned into more confusion as to whether it was right or wrong etc

Ollie was gay so added confusion to feelings I suppose

Tom just locked it away not wanting anyone to know after Pennys loudmouth stupid insensitive dealings of it all with poor Ollie and not considering his feelings with her relentless obsession with it all

Needed to be dealt with less openly in a small community

Hence shame and embarrassment and denial

The ending is just relief for us all that Walt wont be affected

Also that sadly Pete got away with it in everyone's eyes

Penny ends up the bad one sadly for her by mishandling it all but it's a frustrating position to be in

It covers all these angles very well

I thought it was all incredibly well written and acted. Penny was flawed in so many ways, which impacted on her being believed. And poor Ollie- didn't see what happened as abuse. It just demonstrates how hard it can be for people to recognise grooming, but also just how damaging that aspect of the abuse is. Despite not giving us all the answers, I don't think a second series would be good. It almost feels like we need to sit with the uncertainty of what happens next, and for it not to be all tied up nicely, because that doesn't fit with the reality of abuse.

Ah yes, of course. I'd forgotten that. Although I think a bit more foreshadowing / incidents would be necessary for her to leap to that conclusion.

But my feeling is a lot of this was intuition. Penny sensed something wasn't right. She'd found the small pants and he'd laughed it off, but the doubt was there. Grace had similar feelings when she interrupted him at the beach with the surfers. It was a gut feeling.

I don't! That scene in bed was obviously so inappropriate. And if you really think that could have been innocent, I suggest you do some safeguarding training.

Grace said to him - why would you behave like that with those boys with those accusations hanging over you!
She was right. If he had been wrongly accused you would expect him to be ultra careful of his interactions with other boys.

"Still can't get my head around Tom letting grace take Walt away with Phil knowing what he's capable of. It was obviously all very difficult for him to process but you'd think being a father and uncle to two young boys he would at least try to protect them."

I've just read this thread and am grateful for the insights thank you. I thought the series was really good and thought provoking.

In answer to the query that I've quoted above I agree that it did feel a bit odd that Tom hadn't done anything to try to prevent Phil abusing Walt or his own son.

But I think I remember there being a few references to Tom struggling to settle into being a new Dad. Not unusual for a new parent, but in the context of the last episode maybe he was beginning to struggle with his secret after becoming a Dad.

Also, I guess he had chosen to stay close to Grace and Walt- maybe he wanted to be able to keep an eye on Phil's interactions with Walt. He also reacted badly to learning they were planning to go to Scotland, and seemed to be struggling sexually in the brief clip later on- maybe he was beginning to worry.

I guess though, that the psychological damage created by Phil's abuse would be very complex hence Tom's complex ways of dealing / not dealing with it.

Other than sleeping with her best mate's husband I loved Penny. She was Definitely flawed, but show me someone who isn't.....

I loved how stunning she was with pretty much no makeup, hair doing whatever it wanted, seemingly random clothes, a limp, wrinkles etc..

I loved how she tackled so much on her own. As a recently divorced 50 something woman I found that empowering. Over the past year I've surprised myself by managing stuff that I previously would have run to EXH to help with- broken down car, dead crow in chimney, neighbours stressing about boundaries, tackling wild garden ready to sell house, painting house interior, DIY etc.. Of course some help is always appreciated but often I manage without.

I loved her focus on the environment, rejection of material stuff, and being awestruck at plankton.

She struck me as someone who, awful situation notwithstanding, had what it takes to grab life by the scruff of the neck and make the most of it.

It was sad for penny that she was left with wondering what was wrong with her as Phil had been her only love

I was annoyed that one of her many flaws had to be having enthusiastic sex with her friend's husband. It didn't ring true to me at all - I couldn't see the irresistable attraction there, I thought she would have been more convincing as a woman who doesn't need a man in her life at all. And if she had to do it - where was any sign of guilt? Nah. I'm annoyed that the script writer had to let that extra chink of weakness in, it seemed rather gratuitous to me. Gratuitous along with the life model nudity and a truly weird number of scenes of her in the shower.

I agree, it was not needed at all.

I can completely see how Penny could have the affair. She was lonely and he was the only person giving her support and attention. She was weak. It was awful to watch, I was cringing and hoped she'd come to her senses.

I think the show was so clever. In reality, After the Party everybody was fucked apart from Phil who waltzed back into their lives, all guns blazing. The arrogance of the man. He probably had been back in England grooming more boys at his private school then moved back before he was caught.

If only Tom has spoken out

Or Ollie's order brother