"In "Upstairses," Maia (Rachel Sennott), Tallulah (Odessa A'zion), and Charlie (Jordan Firstman) try to further their careers within the ranks of Los Angeles's influencer class at a random house party, but Alani is possessed with a singular focus on the event's absent host, Elijah Wood. She's a Lord of the Rings fanatic and has been obsessed with him ever since they shared some kind of love connection when he did a Q&A for her acting class at NYU."
"When Wood explains the concept of a memory palace to the two women, he prompts them with an example: "What's my business manager's son's name?" That's not information that either Maia or Alani should have, but the latter practically cries, "Shoot! I don't know!" The delivery is perfect: equal parts distraught and unaware, and altogether funny. Whitaker's heightened reaction is one piece of a whole that makes 'Upstaires' the show's most notable half-hour yet, a party-gone-wrong sitcom episode worthy of comparison to Girls's Bushwick rave."
"No one accidentally does crack in "Upstairses," but each of I Love LA's characters is forced into an uneasy, heightened emotional compromise. Perhaps what the episode proves is that I Love LA is at its best when it puts its characters up against the freaks and bizarros who populate the fictional version of the real city of Los Angeles, rather than in conflict with one another."
True Whitaker's Alani emerges as the secret weapon of 'Upstairses,' delivering doe-eyed desperation and tragic-comic moments. Maia (Rachel Sennott), Tallulah (Odessa A'zion), and Charlie (Jordan Firstman) attend a house party to advance their influencer careers while Alani obsessively pursues absent host Elijah Wood. Alani's Lord of the Rings fixation and her failed attempts to seduce Wood culminate in a memorable memory-palace exchange that showcases Whitaker's emotional range. The episode thrives on heightened, surreal confrontations with Los Angeles oddballs rather than interpersonal conflict. These external foils allow the show's unreality to lift and produce its funniest, most notable half-hour.
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