“Have you noticed an acceleration of strangeness in your life as of late? Perhaps a series of intense or extraordinary events, which, as of now, seem unconnected, with the exception of each being separately bizarre?”
If the answer is yes, expect the politely ill-mannered detective Dirk Gently (Samuel Barnett) to climb through your window and to declare you his assistant and thereby irrevocably turn your life inside out and upside down.
Weird, wacky and wonderful, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency will throw you right into the ordered chaos of the universe. Based on the books of the same name by Douglas Adams, the series revolves not around Dirk Gently – though it seems the universe might – but on Todd Brotzman (Elijah Wood), a bellboy with no apparent pull to the universe and yet finds himself constantly at the centre of crime scenes, and the epicentre of weirdness; time machines, body-swapping, shark bites on the ceiling, the universe’s assassin, a bodyguard, a black ops partnership and weird tattooed violent monks? And this is just season one, which also features a girl who hallucinates pain, and a bunch of energy-sucking vampires – that bring more than enough fun to have their own show.
If this all sounds too much, it isn’t, the episodes somehow fitting together to make cosmic sense. For in truth everything effectively loops back to a fundamental interconnectedness of all things aka “holistic” and for this very reason detective Dirk Gently doesn’t need to “detect” in order to solve his cases and fix the riddles, but instead to see the patterns and points that intersect, though many of these seem keen on killing Dirk and his now accomplice Todd.
This comedic duo make a great partnership. In fact all the team-ups in season one are dark and hilarious in opposition, with Dirk being sweetly kind, incompetent-and-yet-smart, while Todd is argumentative, selfish and is hiding one hell of a lie that will turn both his life and his sister’s on their heads. But if everything is connected, then so too is Todd’s sister, Amanda (Hannah Marks), who finds herself pleasingly pulled into the world of the cosmically charged, and taking a much larger and more central role in season two. Suffering from pararibulitis – a nerve disease that causes painful hallucinations that feel very, very real, she comes to find comfort in her partnership to the ‘Rowdy 3,’ who literally feed off the energy of those holistically entwined. From their initial meeting there’s a real chemistry between the leader of the Rowdy 3 (who are actually four), and Amanda, but it’s never explored and sadly its dropped in season two. Much like another romance between the courageous Farah Black (Jade Eshete) and Todd, who are an odd pairing that fall close to playing out a constant damsel-in-distress scenario; with Todd needing reassurance and rescue at least once a day. Farah’s character however is stronger alone and provides a much needed and grounded individual to the series, being as sane as they come, whilst providing a cool voice between the other two whiny and neurotic leads of Todd and Dirk – their BFF love taking a more central stage.
If there’s a holistic detective then it makes sense the series also has his parallel opposite, which of course is…an assassin?! Or at least in this balance of cause and effect it does. Bart the assassin is rough in appearance, husky voiced, and treats blood like it’s a splash of makeup to be left on the face. Happily killing whoever she feels the universe tells her to murder (pretty much everyone she meets) – and it’s apparent she’s right; her victims always turning out to be the bad guys. As interesting a character as Dirk, if not more so, Bart is certain be a fan favourite thanks to the brilliant acting of Fiona Dourif. And when partnered by erm…cosmic forces to the likeable computer/electric whiz Ken (Mpho Koaho), they form another inseparable pairing. Although the changes in season two really put a spin on things – and certainly opens up a lot more avenues, causing you to wonder if coincidence can ever really be just that?
The second season sky-rockets the strangeness of the first, pushing it beyond magic realism to a whole new world, and sadly it’s not as good. However, the expansion into the military operation Blackwing and their interest in “holistic” characters has the potential for brilliance. But in being run by an idiot for most of season two, they never pose a threat to our holistic characters, though I believe this was a deliberate decision by the writers so as to have an unexpected and greater reveal of season three’s foe, along with his inspiring henchman: Mr. Priest (Alan Tudyk), who comes complete with a massive scar and superbly evil accent (Southern American drawl, of course). Unfortunately though a third season wasn’t picked up, but at least season one and two do a fantastic job of resolving its detective cases, even if the greater mystery – of the collective connectivity of cosmically charged people (repeat that five times) – is far from answered.
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency gives you what no other tv show can – a super-soft upper-crust English accent that’s the best I’ve heard in years (thanks Dirk), and characters full of characterful behaviour, almost like they were given too much sugar and are now bouncing of the walls in a variety of directions. Oh well, you might as well sit back and enjoy the zaniness of it all.
Creator: Max Landis
Other notable works:
- Right 2015
- Chronicle 2012
Based on Douglas Adams Dirk Gently saga collection.
