Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Information

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is a BBC America comic science fiction detective television series, taking place after the Douglas Adams novel series of the same name. Created and primarily written by Max Landis, it stars Samuel Barnett as the detective Dirk Gently and Elijah Wood as his reluctant sidekick Todd. A trailer for the series debuted at San Diego Comic Con 2016.

The series is a co-production between BBC America and Netflix, with episodes commencing airing on BBC America in the United States on October 22, 2016, and all episodes available to stream on Netflix worldwide outside of the United States on December 11, 2016. The first season was filmed almost entirely in Vancouver, British Columbia.

On November 21, 2016, BBC America renewed the series for a 10-episode second season set to premiere in 2017. It was announced that the second season would begin airing on 14 October 2017.

Premise

The pilot episode introduces the bellboy Todd Brotzman (Elijah Wood), as he encounters the slain body of millionaire Patrick Spring, and meets the eccentric Dirk Gently (Samuel Barnett), introducing himself as a "holistic detective" investigating the murder.

The first season follows the odd pairing, with Todd serving as Dirk's reluctant sidekick, as they get to know each other while digging into the Spring murder investigation. As the story evolves during the season, it grows to include the disappearance of Spring's daughter Lydia, the secrets of the Spring family, hidden government operations, and a "holistic assassin" looking to kill Dirk.

Cast

• Samuel Barnett as Dirk Gently, an eccentric "holistic" detective, who understands everything in the universe to be interconnected. He does not solve cases by conventional means, but rather by following fate. It is revealed that he was part of a government organization studying people with 'special' abilities, as he is mildly psychic. He carries himself as excitable and optimistic, as a mask over his own loneliness and insecurity.
• Elijah Wood as Todd Brotzman, Dirk's reluctant sidekick/assistant. A bellhop who spends all of his money to help his sister Amanda afford her Pararibulitis treatment, a disease which he was previously cured of. It is later revealed he lied about ever having it, and lived a pattern of deceit and theft, and now has attempted to reverse his guilt by taking care of his sister.
• Hannah Marks as Amanda Brotzman, Todd's sister who suffers from the fictional illness, Pararibulitis, which is hereditary and causes her to suffer vivid and painful hallucinations. Amanda later joins the Rowdy 3, who help her manage her hallucinations.
• Jade Eshete as Farah Black, an efficient and tough security officer with OCD. After her millionaire boss is killed and his daughter kidnapped, Farah is determined to solve the case alongside Dirk and Todd. She makes every attempt to keep the group safe, even if she herself isn"?t so sure she"?s capable of doing so.
• Fiona Dourif as Bart Curlish, a "holistic" assassin who feels that the universe leads her to people she has to kill. She claims that the universe won't allow her to die. She feels that she must kill Dirk, despite not knowing who he is. She and Dirk are intended to be as mirrors of each other, even though they have never met, either saying or hearing similar lines of dialogue in their respective lives. Despite her grisly life and jaded views of death, Bart is in many ways innocent and childlike.
• Mpho Koaho as Ken, an electrician whom Bart kidnaps and forces to travel with her. While most of his recent work has been criminal in nature, he admits it is just due to his desperation for a paycheck, and is afraid of any excitement.
• Michael Eklund as Martin, the leader of an anarchist group called the Rowdy 3. Notably, the Rowdy 3 is composed of four people, and later five, and are some of the people studied by the government organization tracking Dirk. They were originally classified as vampires, as they live by eating people's emotional energy.
• Dustin Milligan as Sgt. Hugo Friedkin, a dimwitted government agent tracking Dirk.
• Osric Chau as Vogel (season 2; recurring season 1), the youngest member of the Rowdy 3.

Recurring

• Neil Brown Jr. as Det. Estevez, a missing persons detective, and Zimmerfield's partner.
• Aaron Douglas as Gordon Rimmer, a desperate man obsessed with gaining power, prolonging his life, and retrieving his dog.
• Viv Leacock as Gripps, a member of the Rowdy 3.
• Zak Santiago as Cross, a member of the Rowdy 3.
• David Lewis as Agent Weedle, an FBI agent at odds with detectives Estevez and Zimmerfield
• Miguel Sandoval as Col. Scott Riggins, a government agent and Sgt. Friedkin's commanding officer.
• Richard Schiff as Det. Zimmerfield, a missing persons detective, and Estevez's partner.
• Michael Adamthwaite as Zed, a key member of the Men of the Machine.
• Christian Bako as Ed, a key member of the Men of the Machine.
• Alison Thornton as Lydia Spring, a missing heiress and daughter of the murdered Patrick Spring.
• Alan Tudyk as Mr. Priest, a ruthless, dangerous, and violent bounty hunter working for Blackwing (season 2).
• John Hannah as The Mage, a powerful wizard who takes great pleasure in doing evil and is seeking to conquer a world not his own (season 2).
• Tyler Labine as Sherlock Hobbs, an under-stimulated, but overly enthusiastic small town sheriff who is eager to help Dirk and crew solve a new mystery. This season reunites Labine and Tudyk who co-starred in the cult film phenomenon Tucker and Dale vs Evil (Season 2).
• Amanda Walsh as Suzie Boreton, an unassuming, insecure, depressed soccer mom (season 2).
• Aleks Paunovic as Wygar Oak, a dominating enforcer for the Dengdamor royal family (season 2).
• Mackenzie Gray as Lux Dujour, a disappeared rock star.

Episodes

Season 1

Bellboy Todd Brotzman, while tasked to check in on the hotel's penthouse suite, is disturbed when he seems himself talking to an unknown person in one of the hotel's floors. When he reaches the penthouse, he is shocked to discover that its guest, the wealthy Patrick Spring, and other men have been brutally murdered seemingly by a large animal. Todd becomes a person of interest in the investigation when he is further met by Dirk Gently, who forcing injects himself in Todd's life. Dirk claims to be a "holistic detective" and that he was hired by Patrick to investigate his murder, and drags Todd into being his assistant in his investigation. Along the way, they are joined by Farah Black, Patrick's bodyguard who had been held captive during Patrick's murder while trying to find Patrick's missing daughter, Lydia.

Their investigation revolves around a machine created by 19th century inventor Zachariah Webb. Zachariah's invention generated near infinite energy, allows the souls of two bodies to be swapped, and even travel through time. However, one of Zachariah's tests resulted in the machine falling forward in time to the 1960s, where it was found by a group of hippies. Initially using the soul-swapping to create trans-extensional experiences with zoo animals, the hippies starting using the machine to transfer souls with influential people, gaining wealth and power and become the cult "Men of the Machine". In the present, this cult is led by Gordon Rimmer. In the days prior to Patrick's murder, Lydia Spring had figured out a connection between her family and Gordon and accosted him about it, but instead he abducted her, swapped her soul with that of a corgi, and planned to use Lydia to coerce Patrick into swapping souls.

Through clues left by Edgar Spring, Patrick's father, Dirk and Todd find the machine, and use it to travel in time just before Patrick's murder, hoping to stop Gordon. However, their arrival at the penthouse is joined by a figure in clockwork armor, disrupting the meeting. A cat, whose soul had been transferred with a shark, gets loose, and the shark's soul psycho-kinetically attacks everyone present, killing Patrick and some of Gordon's cult. As Dirk, Todd, and the armored figure flee the hotel, Todd recognizes the conversation he had seen himself in previously. Later they encounter an earlier version of Dirk, and the older version provides his younger self with cryptic clues to help solve the case later. Outside, the armored figure reveals himself as Edgar Spring - but in actuality is Zachariah and Patrick. With a version of the time machine sent back to him in the 19th century by Dirk and Todd, he traveled forward in time to recover his initial machine from the Men of the Machine by 2001, and buried it, leaving the clues behind for Dirk and Todd to find. Now aware that he will be killed in the future and of Lydia's plight, Edgar returns to 2001 and sets up events so that he can assure Dirk will take Patrick's case and that they will complete all the necessary events to close the time loop and save Lydia.

With help of Farah, Todd's sister Amanda, Bart Curlish, an "holistic assassin" who believes she must kill Dirk and her companion Ken, and the "Rowdy 3", a band of four violent punks that feed off psychic energy, Dirk and Todd are able to stop Gordon and the Men of the Machine from using Zachariah's device further, leading to their deaths, while returning Lydia to her body before the machine is destroyed. Dirk sets up his "Holistic Detective Agency" with Todd and Farah. As the last episode closes, government agents working for the secret Blackwing project, of which Dirk and several others were a part of, converge on and capture Dirk, Farah, Bart and Ken, and are attempting to capture the Rowdy 3.

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|ShortSummary=A violent murder occurs at the hotel where Todd works, with unusual characters - including Dirk Gently - intruding on his hitherto mundane life.

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|ShortSummary=Todd reluctantly works with Dirk, tries to rescue a kidnapped woman who thinks she's a dog, but only gets the actual dog.  A plan to exchange the dog for the woman goes awry.

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|ShortSummary=While digging into Spring's past, Farah and Dirk find their first big clue; Todd learns he has no safe harbor; Amanda deals with a presence.

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|ShortSummary=Dirk and Todd venture into Patrick's deathmaze and get a shock. Meanwhile, Weedle shares some unfortunate truths with Farah, and Gordon visits Lux's old flame.

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|ShortSummary=As Dirk and Todd embark on a hunt for Patrick Spring"?s dark enigmas, Todd reveals a deep-seated secret of his own. Detectives Estevez and Zimmerfield take big risks as they inch closer to the truth of their missing person"?s investigation, and Amanda finally confronts the looming specter of the Rowdy 3. }}

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|ShortSummary=Todd tries to confess to Amanda all of his lies from the past 10 years. Dirk and Farah are ambushed by Bart and Ken on their way to secure Dr. Webb's invention at the Spring Mansion.

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|ShortSummary=Flung backwards through time, Dirk and Todd make a horrifying discovery about the nature of their case, and find themselves with a unique opportunity: solve their case before it even starts. 

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|ShortSummary=As dark forces converge, Dirk, Todd, Farah, and Detective Estevez are forced into a final battle: save Lydia Spring, face certain death, or both.

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Reception

The first season has a 72% approval rating based on 25 critics on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. The site's consensus reads "Odd and ambitious, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency sometimes overdoses on pure weirdness but offers absurdist rewards to those who stick with it." On Metacritic, the first season has a score of 62 out of 100 based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".