Search Party dropped its first episode on November 21st, 2016. It soon became quite popular as more and more people tuned in to watch the American sitcom, created by Sarah Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers, and Michael Showalter. The series was nominated for a Gotham Independent Film Award, in 2017, for Breakthrough Series Long Form. Search Party is known for its whimsical characters and dark humor which leaves the viewers laughing till their stomachs hurt. The season 5 finale was no different, leaving its viewers wanting more. However, fans are a little confused as to what exactly happened in the season 5 finale. So, here we have Search Party Season 5 Ending Explained.
The show is primarily set in New York City and follows a group of friends who become involved in the search for a missing young woman and the events that result from their involvement. The series premiered on TBS and after being renewed for a third season it moved to Warner Media’s HBO Max.
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Plot
Search Party’s storyline revolves around the lives of New York City residents, Dory Sief, Drew Gardner, her passive boyfriend, Elliot Goss, a flamboyant show-off, Portia Davenport, a flighty actress, and Julian Marcus Dory’s ex-boyfriend and a journalist whose blunt nature puts him into conflict with others, and who serves as a contrast to the group. These characters are played by, Alia Shawkat, John Reynolds, John Early, Meredith Hagner, and Brandon Michael Hall respectively. The show begins with the disappearance of Dory’s college acquaintance Chantal Witherbottom. Dory then sets out to find her with Drew, Elliot, and Portia reluctantly helping her. Dory puts all her energy in the pursuit of Chantal as she believes her to be in danger, while her friends also deal with difficulties in their own lives.
The second season begins with Dory mistakenly believing Keith Powell, a private investigator, to be a threat to Chantal and as a result getting him killed. The group is affected in various ways as they attempt to cover up Keith’s death while struggling to return to their normal lives. The third season begins with them battling against the evidence suggesting that Dory and Drew caused Keith’s death, which Dory denies any involvement in, while the pair are being tried for murder. Dory’s sanity gradually deteriorates and the friends have their relationships tested, while a media circus circles around the trial.
The fourth season begins with a psychotic man named Chip Wreck, who is unhealthily obsessed with Dory and abducts her. He then attempts to manipulate her against her friends as they search for her. The fifth season begins with Dory being transformed into a cult leader. She and her friends attempt to achieve a transcendent state of enlightenment, while Dory is supported by a Big Tech Pharma Company and is flanked by a group of social media influencer disciples. The tech billionaires help her assemble a group of scientists to develop a pill known as “LYTE”. The pill is meant to be enlightenment in pill form and when the lead scientist Benny has a strange reaction to it he decides to take up the development.
Elliot and Marc reconcile and adopt a son named Aspen who reminds us of the demon child in The Omen, meanwhile, Chantal falls under the influence of conspiracy theorist Liquorice Montague. Portia becomes obsessed with Dory’s enlightenment and begins an affair with her, while Drew also falls back in love with her and the trio happily engages in polyamory.
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Search Party Season 5 Ending Explained
In the season finale, we are shown that the enlightenment pills basically cause the zombie apocalypse. The group decides to take the pills but they are unaware that Elliot changes their pills to placebos. All the influencers who took the pills transformed into flesh-eating zombies. As Drew and Dory are unaware that they took placebos, they distribute the pills to her followers. They are then saved by Chantal while trying to escape Brooklyn, which is now overrun by zombies. Both Chantal and Dory feel responsible for causing the destruction which proves that no one has learned anything. We are later shown a post-apocalyptic world, the group lives in one of the safe zones established by the government, and Drew and Dory are married.
It ends with Dory starting at a board of missing people just like she did when Chantal went missing. The season plays with a bunch of different topical genres like horror, cult documentaries, Q-Anon, and influencers. The group was led to strange and unusual places in every season, which dealt with different themes. The show evolved into a brilliant satire on so many topical issues because they were never afraid to take chances. It is believable that these characters could cause the literal end of the world considering how self-involved they are and how they fail to learn from their mistakes and grow as people. The show always kept us guessing.