Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency Season 2 Review

Episode Guide

Space Rabbit
Fans of Wet Circles
Two Broken Fingers
The House Within A House
Shapes and Colors
Girl Power
This Is Not Miami
Little Guy, Black Hair
Trouble is Bad
Black Jacket

After its surprising success last year, the wacky, undefinable sci-fi flick returns for a second season. Picking up where it left off, Dirk Gently’s second season mixes fantasy and futuristic elements to impressive effect. The incredibly lovable characters from last year return with a handful of new characters and a brand new dimension-hopping plot line. If you were left longing for more of the same last year, Dirk Gently absolutely delivers. With 10 episodes to boot this time around, this season is a cohesive, well written slice of chaotic entertainment. Much like last year, the plot builds questions upon questions that border on confusing disarray until all is revealed and explained in a satisfying conclusion. After the news of Dirk Gently’s cancellation and consequently no third season in the foreseeable future, it feels bittersweet to give this charming show such high praise. Although the ending does leave a few unresolved plot points, there’s enough here to send Dirk Gently off on a high.

The story picks up where it left off last year and continues to escalate from there. Whilst captured and imprisoned, Dirk Gently (Samuel Barnett) is given a simple mission – find the boy – and unexpectedly stumbles upon Todd (Elijah Wood) and Farah (Jade Eshete) on their quest to track down Dirk whilst on the run from the police. With a new case to solve, a strange world called Wendimoor where Dirk Gently is regarded as a god somehow tied into everything and a plethora of weird and wonderful set pieces along the way, there’s no denying that season 2 ups the stakes and delivers one heck of a ride through its 10 episodes. Much like last year, there’s a great balance of humour, sci-fi and mystery; this time most of the humour comes in the form of the parodical fantasy world of Wendimoor. From the dialogue choices, characters names and the overall lore and feel of the world, Wendimoor plays host to many cliched fantasy tropes intentionally placed in the script to emphasise the alien nature of this world and for the most part, it works beautifully.

With such a complicated plot line and more than a handful of characters wrestling for screen time, the decision to increase the number of episodes to 10 is certainly a wise one and allows for a bit of extra time to flesh the new characters out whilst developing the relationships of the existing cast. There’s a real energy to the witty dialogue flowing through every scene and its great to see this so prominently displayed again through the episodes. New character Suzie Boreton (Amanda Walsh) is convincing in her role and John Hannah’s portrayal as the unhinged Mage that guides her into the world of magic is a worthy supporting act to this storyline. Of course, the focus remains squarely on Dirk Gently and his charismatic, chaotic scenes play host to some of the best lines of dialogue and set pieces in the season.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is such an odd medley of ideas, on paper it really shouldn’t work as well as it does. The humour is on point and genuinely funny, woven through the well written story with such proficiency that it gives even the darkest scenes in the show (and there are a few very violent ones) a touch of lightheartedness. The sci-fi and fantasy elements mesh together harmoniously and the 10 episodes never feel overlong or drag the story out unnecessarily. It’s a shame Dirk Gently hasn’t picked up higher ratings before its cancellation as there’s certainly potential here for an incredible array of adventures and cases for the characters to embark on but what’s on offer is well worth checking out.