ICYMI: D&D Web Series The Party Is a Delightful Tabletop Romp
Photo Courtesy of YouTube
Editor’s Note: Welcome to ICYMI! With so much TV constantly premiering, we’re highlighting some of the best shows you may have missed in the deluge of content from throughout the year. Join the Paste writers as we celebrate our underrated faves, the blink-and-you-missed-it series, and the perfect binges you need to make sure you see.
It’s been too damn long since I’ve watched a good, old-fashioned web series. In a way, it feels like the web series is a dying art, one that has all but gone extinct with the rise of streaming and the onslaught of Peak TV. Shows like The Guild and Carmilla were born out of a need to fill a gap (whether it be through nerd-focused storytelling or admirable displays of queer representation), areas that, at least for the past five years, have been filled through the seemingly endless field of originals across a wide variety of streaming services. But over the weekend, I sat down with a series that my YouTube algorithm had been suggesting to me for weeks, and I’ve never been more glad to have finally listened. The Party, a seven-episode, D&D narrative web series, is a true gem worth seeking out.
The series, which comes from co-creators Margaret Borchert and Geneva Willis alongside writer-EP Tori Chancellor, follows a high-strung grad student, Viola (April Yanko), as she worms her way into her roommate’s Dungeons & Dragons game in an effort to do research for her communications master’s thesis. The Party themselves—composed of the dungeon master DM (Nabila Hossain), doormat druid Thistle (Leah Jarvik), mysterious rogue Ecstasy (Jewell Karinen), self-centered warlock Yorik (Zach Kumaishi), and good-guy paladin Jean (Grayson Niles)—are skeptical at first, but when Viola offers up a Shakespearean twist they can’t refuse, she’s welcomed into their merry band of misfits, both in-game and in real life. As the group navigates how their personal drama affects the game (and the way the game affects their personal drama), they discover that the real adventure was the friends they made along the way.
The Party, in its short, 80-minute runtime, employs the kind of witty and quick writing akin to classics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with each line coming loaded with necessary information for expounding upon the characters, the relationships, the world, and the overall stakes—all while still managing to be natural and funny thanks to this extremely charming cast. Even down to the minute details of its set design, this series instantly creates a distinct atmosphere that aids in elevating its characters and story. From a The Bold Type poster hanging in Viola’s room (which is so ridiculously, hilariously in-character that I had to pause for a beat when it showed up during an Episode 3 montage) to the fantastical tavern of the Party’s in-game world, The Party is confident in its identity and unique in its execution, all to its fullest potential.