Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Bigby (Miranda Edwards), Amanda Brotzman (Hannah Marks), Litzibitz Trost (Anja Savcic), Farson Dengdamor (Ajay Friese) – Photo by Ed Araquel/Courtesy of BBC America.
Things are rapidly coming to a head on Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (BBC America, Saturdays, 9/8C) – last week we saw the arrival of the boat in Bergsberg and now we get to see something very special about The Boy. It’s not enough (for us) to put it all together, but it just might be Dirk.
Episode seven of Dirk Gently: Season Two – This Is Not Miami – opens with Hector Cardenas running from something in the sky; something that casts a very large shadow.
Roll credits: fade in on Dirk (Samuel Barnett) and Todd (Elijah Wood) arriving in Wendimoor.
Dirk collapses in a heap, believing that he has failed and is now in Wendimoor without The Boy – while Todd runs off to find his sister, Amanda (Hannah Marks).
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency -Todd Brotzman (Elijah Wood), Wygar Oak (Aleks Paunovic) – Photo by Ed Araquel/Courtesy of BBC America.
Amanda is trying to find a way to prevent a war between the Trosts and the Dengdemores and persuades Farson Dengdemore (Ajay Friese) to return home to prove he wasn’t kidnapped by the Trosts and help prevent the war – a war that would leave Wendimoor open to be conquered by The Mage’s armies.
Of course, as we saw last week, The Mage (John Hannah) is having his own crisis of faith and has decided to stay on Earth and take over there – which leads to Suzie Boreton (Amanda Walsh) decides she really wants to be queen of Wendimoor.
As has been a constant in the series through just over one-and-a-half seasons, plans are derailed (neither Todd nor Amanda finds themselves where they were headed – which is actually a Good Thing – as just one example).
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Lord Triangle Badevil (Christian Sloan) – Photo by Ed Araquel/Courtesy of BBC America.
In Dirk’s case, he finds himself tied, quite literally, to a woman of unusual pedigree – who calls him her new boyfriend. In her home inside a rundown relic of a castle. Which, of course, this being Dirk, leads to a clue…
There’s also a meeting between Panto’s sister, Litzibits Trost (Anja Savcic) and Silas Dengdemore (Lee Majdoub) that goes about as well as you might expect.
And behind the scenes, Lord Triangle Badevil (Christian Sloan) continues to make his presence felt.
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Suzie Boreton (Amanda Walsh), Wakti Wapnasi (Agam Darshi) – Photo by Ed Araquel/Courtesy of BBC America.
Writer Molly Nassbaum gives all the show’s principals plenty to work with – and us plenty to keep us off an even keel, while director Wayne Yip creates the proper tones for a world where ‘You’re a bobo fool’ is a seriously nasty insult.
We’re Not In Miami finds Dirk, Todd and Amanda saying ‘This is all my fault’ at various times – it’s only fitting that the constant guilt train stops are mirrored by the flying train we’ve seen before (though I’m pretty sure it’s not coincidental…).
It’s no coincidence, either, that the show’s handling of both the ‘real world’ and Wendimoor never feels false – though it’s never not weird.
Final Grade: A-