Top 10 Shocking Moments on Search Party

There are several surprising hookups in the series, but Drew and Chantal were definitely one of the strangest. We learned in season one that she had a crush on Drew in school, which he was completely unaware of. So, when she confesses her attraction to him after they find her, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Drew is in a weird place right now. His girlfriend cheated on him and dragged him to Montreal where he ended up killing a man. It’s understandable that he’d want to forget about his ex. But with Chantal? Weird move, Drew. Their tryst is short-lived, though. Drew breaks up with Chantal after realizing he really doesn’t like her. And she does not take it well.

Even though there have been hints of a love fest between the four friends, it’s crazy that it actually happened. At the beginning of the fifth season, Drew and Portia get together, believing that no one else will want them. And when Dory pops back into their lives, they’re hesitant to reconnect. Portia is suddenly enamored with her, buying into this new enlightenment. Both being in love with Dory, Portia and Drew find themselves in a poly/throuple situation. Elliott desperately tries to be a part of it, too, eventually getting intimate with Dory himself. It’s a strange turn of events, especially when Portia becomes obsessed. She even poisons Dory to keep her close and under her constant care.

On his never-ending quest for attention, Elliott constantly brings up his brush with stage-four lymphoma as a teenager. But he’s not fooling Julian. After Elliott’s big charity launch party, Julian confronts Elliott about some discrepancies in his timeline. The next day, Julian’s article titled “The Millennial Who Cried Cancer” comes out, detailing this big lie. Elliott’s reputation is ruined, but he manages to take advantage of the controversy with a book deal. In season three, it’s revealed that Elliott’s real name is Eldad Tupper, and he’s hired actors to play his WASPy parents. How does he even keep up with all of the lies?

We knew this was bound to happen, but it still came as a shock when it actually went down. Dory is arrested at Mary’s election party at the end of season two, and Drew is brought into custody at the beginning of season three as he’s attempting to fly to China. Only someone with details of the crime could know what really happened. And Portia discovers it was her fault. After she blabs to her new director Elijah, he apparently tells his stagehand Meg. Portia confronts her at the theater, and Meg admits to calling in an anonymous tip. Had Portia not told these obviously untrustworthy people, maybe it wouldn’t have been traced back to them.

April overhears the gang yelling about Keith’s death. And honestly, how wouldn’t she hear them? She taunts them with cryptic messages, and eventually blackmails them. When Portia and Elliott follow a suspiciously cheery April, they discover that they’ve actually been stalking June, her twin sister. Dory reaches her breaking point when April declares that she’ll never let them forget that they killed someone. Realizing that April will always be a threat, Dory pushes her off the ferry. With so many dream sequences, we thought that maybe this was all in Dory’s head. But no, she really did that. Just add this to the list of Dory’s worst moments.

Though season 3 opens with a disturbing video of Dory clearly being kept somewhere, we don’t meet her captor until the end of the season. Chip infiltrates Elliott and Marc’s wedding as a waiter. He then knocks out Portia, tying her up and drenching her in honey for rats to attack. He does this as revenge for her testifying against his “best friend” Dory. Portia’s saved by her friends and walks away mostly unscathed, except for the honey stuck in her hair and obvious psychological trauma. But Chip returns in the season 3 finale to kidnap his real target — Dory. Season 4 sees him holding Dory captive in a basement under the deluded impression that they’re actually friends.

Season 5 is a wild ride from beginning to end. Dory essentially forms a cult, works with scientists to engineer enlightenment in pill form, and inadvertently ushers in the apocalypse. The manufactured jellybeans — yes, jellybeans — quickly turn people into zombies, a side effect that no one even considered a possibility. Could it be a dream? Was Dory still in the asylum and hallucinating this horrifying string of events? No. As unbelievable as it is, this was reality. In a show about missing people and amateur sleuthing, a zombie apocalypse was the last thing we expected to happen. And the fact that jellybeans caused it makes everything even more hilariously ridiculous.

“Search Party” is known for its disastrous misunderstandings, but the ones resulting in murder are always the most shocking. Keith follows Dory to Montreal and confronts her about their relationship. Thinking that he’s the person who killed Lorraine, Dory fights for her life, and in the process, ends up almost taking Keith’s. Drew comes to her rescue, delivering a fatal blow to Keith’s head. Elliot and Portia help bury the body and clean up, instantly making them culpable in the crime. And this was just the first time they killed someone.

In an attempt to clean up Chip’s mess, his aunt/mother (long story) pays two boys to douse the house in gasoline with Dory still inside. She presumably dies, and in the season 4 finale, we see her funeral. We cried along with Drew, Portia, and Elliot as they watched the video of her heartbreaking last words. But it wasn’t real! In the final moments of the episode, we see Dory wake up in an ambulance. Turns out she was only dead for 37 seconds, and in that time, she apparently saw everything. This brief demise gives Dory intense enlightenment, setting up the premise for the fifth and final season.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Dory Hooks Up with Keith, “The Riddle Within the Trash”
One of Dory’s Many Bad Decisions

Elliott Proposes to Marc, “Psychosis”
Pretty Shocking Considering Their Tumultuous Relationship

Elliott’s Breakdown, “Paranoia” & “Obsession”
Guilt & Paranoia Cause Elliott to Snap

Dr. Benny Jumps Out of the Window, “The Gospel of Judas”
When We Realized the “Pill” Was Dangerous

Bus Explosion (& Secret Escape), “Book of the Wars of the Lord”
We Didn’t Actually Think Everyone Died… but to Say This Was Unexpected Would Be an Understatement

Out of five seasons filled with shocking moments, the season one finale still reigns supreme. While Drew, Dory, and Elliott are busy panicking over a bloody crime scene, Portia returns from her date with Chantal in tow. That’s surprising on its own, but it gets better…or worse. After everything they went through, including murdering a man, Chantal drops the bombshell that she wasn’t in danger. The girl just needed time to clear her head and heal her heart, so she ran away to Montreal. And when Dory very seriously asks who she’s hiding from, Chantal replies with the series’ most iconic line: [ “Honestly? Myself.”]