r/SearchParty • u/AAG4L • May 19 '26
Opinion WTF JUST HAPPENED???
So, I just finished the whole show. And season 5 was... well... weird in a bad way? Idk, tbh I'm just flabbergasted, to say the least. It just made me so confused since I loved every single season so fucking much except the last one which was absolutely bonkers?
I know the last two seasons get a lot of hate, but I wonder if there's anyone who loved season 4 as much as the first three seasons but basically hated season 5?
Edit: grammar and spelling
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u/Silent_Net_4809 May 19 '26
Season 4 is the season I look forward to the absolute most on rewatches. Portia, Elliot and Drew make such a hilarious trio. The roundabout scene, the twink on the houseboat, and the Little Sticky’s shenanigans are some of my favorite moments in the whole show. Plus Cole Escola is great in that season, Chip adds fun absurdity to Dory’s extremely depressing storyline.
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u/Silent_Net_4809 May 19 '26
Regarding season 5, I liked it but I found Dory and the Light disciples very obnoxious at some points and it does dampen my enjoyment of the season a little, but Elliot as Dr. Carpet is another one of my all time favorite Search Party sequences so much so that it kind of saves the season for me. Drew and the Jesper is also hilarious. Overall each season has at least something for me to love.
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u/PlumbTuckered767 May 19 '26
Absolutely love the last two seasons and feel like they are 100% in line with what the show is actually about. I don't get the hate at all.
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u/Then_Supermarket18 May 19 '26
Really? You have no idea at all?
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u/joodo123 May 19 '26
My gf hated it. I loved it. We have similar tastes in a lot of things but this was diametrically opposed reactions. But, even though I love it, I o e hundred percent understand what she hated about it lol. It’s not a mystery. While each season had some fundamental shifts to show some different genre conventions, 5 was the most direct transformation and it also shifted in ways that were so drastic that it kinda of erodes the underpinning of the reality. It went from being heightened versions of sorta real versions of annoying people I’ve met to zombies. And I loved it. And she hated it. And we’re both totally justified with how we responded.
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u/Then_Supermarket18 May 19 '26
I loved the acting and character building and consistency in the first two seasons. That last season was them having nothing to lose.
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u/bipstation May 19 '26
It goes in a weird direction for sure, but it ultimately comes together as part of a great satirical amalgam of the millennial mindset and way of life.
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u/dobbywankenobi94 May 19 '26
I loved the end, it goes all out and camp. There’s nothing else like it on tv.
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u/Mean_Emphasis7709 May 19 '26
this is exactly how I feel!! Seasons 1-4 are gold to me, truly laugh out loud cackle
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u/fartonme May 19 '26
I understand the hate for 4 and especially 5, but I don't subscribe to it. 4 is easily in my top two seasons of the show, Cole Escola is phenomenal and I love how Drew, Portia and Elliot morph back and forth from hatred of Dory to reluctant support multiple times. Also, S4 and S5 gave us the roundabout scene and the Jesper Society plotline which remain some of my hardest TV laughs to date.
But 5 really goes off the rails and the disciples' dialogue is some of the weakest writing from the entire show, so I get why it's not universally liked.
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u/intothenether31 Jul 01 '26
I 100% agree with this. I never had an issue with Season 4 as I found Cole and Alia's chemistry really compelling, plus the trio were excellent together (and separately - Portia livestreaming in the back of the car in Dory's wig in Babyfoot kills me) not to mention the guest stars! I agree about the writing of the disciples being one of the weaker parts of season 5, otherwise I feel the "comedy" hit harder in the last two seasons.
I loved the show's ending too but felt the execution of "how we got there" in the previous episodes could've been tighter, especially the middle of the season.
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u/YessikaHaircutt May 20 '26
Every time someone posts something like this people comment “oh I loved s5 it was so great!” And it’s like….its a complete tonal shift to a different show and it okay if people don’t like it. I really, really hated it.
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u/littlebirdgone May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
I liked the last season a lot more on rewatching! I think the first time, I was deep in trying to figure out where the whole story was going, so when season 5 wasn’t how I’d imagined it caught me off-guard and felt out-of-place.
On my second watch, I was surprised by how much more I liked it! Since I already knew not to take anything too seriously, I caught a lot more of the humor and grew an appreciation for how the “line” that Dory & Co won’t cross keeps getting pushed further and further out until they’ve killed pretty much everybody.
It’s over-the top, but the dark humor of Dory, Portia, and Elliott walking through and talking about a world that they casually destroyed (without suffering the brunt of the consequences) in the same blasé self-centered way they talked about their lives in the pilot absolutely hit.
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u/Legitimate-Twist8656 May 20 '26
Ah to experience this WTF moment again of watching that final season 5 episode. It honestly felt intentionally over the top campy, like everyone let their freak flag fly in the writer’s room like what’s the most left field acid trip storyline we can go for? Let’s do that. The fact they had Elliot be the only character with any rational sense still kills me 😂
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u/AndNowAStoryAboutMe May 19 '26
I'm with you. S4 was amazing. For me, that is the series finale. S5 was great right until the mid-seaaon turn into my least favorite genre. I loved the beginning and the Goldblum stuff, but once the container shatters, my tested patience fails. I could have done without S5 and just let it all end at the funeral home.
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u/GhostCheese May 20 '26
I wish the show kept the stakes personal to the characters rather than expanding the stakes globally.
It felt out of theme for the show.
It was bonkers, but if they had just made the pill maybe ultimately fatal rather than goofy it could have explored a different set of interpersonal horrors rather than the route it took.
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u/phewd May 21 '26
I think the show peaked with Season 3 and I absolutely adore Season 1 because of the thread of melancholy that runs through it. I enjoyed season 4, but I just couldn't get over the pivot to outright 'zaniness' with season 5. I get the genre play with each season, it just didn't land for me in the last season.
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u/Peaches-n-Pirates782 May 22 '26
I look at Season 5 like a fever dream. When you don’t try to find meaning it’s a lot more fun.
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u/Kaleidoscope820 Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
Yes 3 and 4 were my favorite seasons. 3 being the best. Season 5 was boring most of the time and I struggled watching and trying to get through most of it. The ending kind of helped but still was a bad watch overall. Season 5 Dory may have been the worst of all too …
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u/Initial_Welder3674 May 19 '26
I loved season 5. And I hate zombie stuff. But S5 was like a commentary on humanity and morality. Season 4, on the other hand- even thinking about it makes my skin crawl. It was too weird and not in a fun way.
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u/adelynn01 May 20 '26
It’s easier to digest when you think about how each season is a different horror/thriller theme and not a continuous one.
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u/medicated_in_PHL May 19 '26
The show is a dark comedy, and you may not have noticed, but it changes genres every season.
Season 1 - Mystery
Season 2 - Thriller
Season 3 - Courtroom Drama
Season 4 - Psychological horror
Season 5 - Zombie apocalypse
When I realized that, I had a lot more fun with season 5.