'Search Party': Portia Davenport's constant flip-flopping makes her the most annoying character of Season 3
Spoilers for 'Search Party' Season 3
Let's clarify that so far, we liked Meredith Hagner's Portia Davenport. An actress on the show, Portia is sweet and cute but also really gullible and takes to authority figures almost immediately. Hagner is a memorable casting as she plays Portia perfectly. When Dory Sief (Alia Shawkat) first brings up Chantal Witherbottom (Clare McNulty), Portia doesn't even remember her. It Dory's eagerness to find out the truth that swept her into the chaos.
To be fair to her, when all of this began in Season 1, Portia didn't even care enough about Chantal to go looking for her. It was only because of her best friend Dory that she even got involved in this situation. But to also be fair to Dory, she tried hard to keep Portia out of the room where Keith Powell (Ron Livingston) was killed. And she had almost succeeded till Portia stormed in and got herself involved. By the end of Season 2, Portia grows distant and resentful of her best friend and leaves her to take care of the April matter all by herself (which Dory does in the most Dory way).
In Season 3 when Dory and Drew Gardner (John Reynolds) are arrested for Keith's murder following an anonymous tip, Portia is worried restless that soon she will also be behind bars. It is then revealed that it was her faux pas that sent the two to jail. She confessed to Elijah (Jay Duplass), who then passed the information to his assistant, who eventually tipped the police.
'Search Party' is the kind of show that compels the viewers to root for its anti-hero. So as most of the viewers are keen to see Dory acquitted, Portia testifies as a witness. While her testimony is ruled out because Dory proves that she might have been trained by the prosecutor Polly (Michaela Watkins), it drives a wedge between them. Portia's betrayal is hardly surprising as she is the first to grow tense about Dory's increasing madness. On several occasions, she tells Dory that she is scared of what she is becoming.
It is only during Elliott Goss' (John Early) disastrously hilarious wedding that they reconcile after Portia is attacked by Dory's stalker. Following which she even arranges a duplicate suitcase to help Dory's case.
In the first half of the season, Portia might have played Judas but she comes around to the gang. Following the acquittal, Dory is kidnapped by her stalker. What happens next for the two will only be known in Season 4.
All episodes of Season 3 of 'Search Party' are currently streaming on HBO Max.
