Review: Third Season Of ‘Party Down’ Is Catering To Old Fans (And Hoping For New Ones) [SPOILERS]
Party Down‘s third season could have been a stale tray of leftovers, but instead it’s as fresh as if it just came from the kitchen.
Starz just brought back the much-loved (but little-seen) sitcom, which was cancelled ten years ago, and almost the entire cast has returned, including Ken Marino, Adam Scott, Ryan Hansen, Megan Mullally, Jane Lynch and Martin Starr. (Lizzy Caplan is currently shooting another show, but her character Casey Klein gets a mention several times.)
The Party Down cater waiter crew reunite at to celebrate Kyle (Hansen) being cast in a superhero franchise movie. Kyle hired Ron Donald (Marino), and his crew, which still includes Roman (Starr), who’s even more bitter at his lot in life than he was ten years ago, unsurprisingly. Henry (Scott) attends as a guest, where he has to confess to his former co-workers that he gave up on acting and is now a high school teacher with a wife and a mortgage.
There’s a lot going on with the crew now: Ron wants to own his business outright, but due to his financial ineptitude, the only way he can do that is by partnering with the newly-rich Constance (Lynch), much to his disappointment. Roman is about to publish is hard sci-fi magnum opus, which he’s been working on longer than George RR Martin has been writing the latest Game of Thrones book. And Kyle is about to discover what cancel culture means, courtesy of a former friend and new nemesis.
Producers John Enbom, Dan Etheridge and Paul Rudd have added fresh blood to the cast, from Jennifer Gardner and James Marsden as a Hollywood power couple that the crew serves, to new cater waiters Tyrel Jackson Williams and Zoe Chao, so the dynamics between the characters won’t be rehashed. Roman still hates Kyle with a white hot passion though, so some things just never change.
The first episode is the only one available now (new episodes drop every Friday), but it has all the subtle wit and cringe-humor of the first two seasons, which are still available on Starz, if you want to catch up, and you should. Party Down leans into more subtle humor, requiring you to watch and listen to get all the jokes, but it isn’t above silly gags either. (If you’re squeamish, close your eyes when Garner’s character asks Ron what’s wrong with his hand.)
Each episode takes place at a different event, so look for a lot of fun celebrity guests, many playing themselves. (It’s yet to be seen if any of the third season episodes will top “Steve Guttenberg’s Birthday” from season two, though.)
Now is a great time to get back into Party Down, or to gorge on all of it for the very first time.