Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Review: First Two Episodes of Season 2

Source: Salon

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency might have gotten unfavorable "the book was better" comparisons, it might have gotten lost in the shuffle, or critics pain didn't like it, but this was one of my favorite shows last year. It was wonderfully bizarre, the characters were outlandish and well-cast (they strike me as inhabiting a universe where everyone’s just a little out of tune, like the types who pop up in TerryGilliam films) and the serialized plot built towards something. But this series is more anthology-like, so it’s really a more a question of whether lightning can strike twice than a continued interest.

Slogging into a serial drama like this can be a reminder that (at least for me), the early episodes can be like homework. You need to absorb the information of seeing and characters before you can properly enjoy those elements intermingling. With this show, we're not at the proverbial drop point in the roller coaster, but it’s getting close.

Dirk Gently desperately needs some forward progress. Like Dwight of The Office successfully demonstrated and Dina on Superstore is failing to do, there’s nothing particularly pleasant about watching an annoying character continue their irritating ways without gradually becoming aware of how annoying they are. We see Todd bending towards Dirk, but that doesn’t fully break the illusion that Dirk is getting any less useless. At the same time, Douglas Adams’ work is rooted in exposing the ridiculousness in our world (or, rather, a slightly off-center fantasical version of it) and Dirk solving crimes while doing godawful detective work is one of those oxymorons this kind of material thrives on. 

Elijah Wood’s screen persona is that of a blank slate a la Tobey MaGuire: His go-to acting move is reacting with wide-eyed wonder with a little more frustration laced in. Elijah Wood has two things characters in his situation ordinarily aren't saddled with: A hint of a stable relationship (with Farrah) and a definitive goal (searching for his sister). Both of these are positive developments. 

There's also Dustin Mulligan (Schitt's Creek) who was an airhead last season is now apparently running some top-secret prison torture operation to extract information out of Dirk Gentley. The other leftover is the holistic assassin Bart (Fiona Dourif) who sounds a lot like Jerry Lewis. There was a certain novelty to her in the first season but it's going to wear thin soon.

So far, it’s hard to tell what’s going on but this is a series that takes relishes in taking a while to connect the dots. I can barely remember anything plot-wise except the character work. The two stand-out characters that keep things interesting so far are an oddball police officer who somehow see things on the same bizarre spectrum of causality as Dirk; and Suzy, who is a submissive housewife and secretary to a white trash husband and corrupt boss that is suddenly on the grips of getting some superpowers.