REVIEW: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency S2 Ep 5: Shapes and Colors

“Once upon a time, a boat in a field, a married couple gone missing, a gun that shoots air, and then, there’s a hidden house, a prophecy from another world. Surely these pieces don’t fit. Left unwatered, a plant will die, left unloved, a good child could go bad, left untended a dream could become a nightmare.”

The opening of this episode, courtesy of Wakti Wapnasi (Agam Darshi).

ARNOLD CARDENAS: “It’s destiny you came here today.”
DIRK GENTLY: “Shit.”

“Fate and Chance are not mutually exclusive. And alongside them exist Free Will.” So says Wakti Wapnasi and, in a slightly different way, Todd (Elijah Wood), from Episode 3, “You’re not a pawn, Dirk. It’s not like, predestined. Fate and Chance don’t cancel each other out…You can’t let the universe push you around.” They aren’t fully at the whim of the universe. There’s some room for self-determination. But Dirk (Samuel Barnett) tries to avoid the weird coincidences by trying to be a “normal detective.” So, he gathers the evidence file and lays out the evidence photos at a breakfast diner where he, Todd, and Deputy Tevetino (Izzie Steele) are served by Arnold Cardenas (Tony Amendola), the son of the Cardenes family who is triggered by the photos. At least the Universe seems to have a sense of humor.

Both Dirk and Bart (Fiona Dourif) are going through a kind of rebellion of what they embraced last season: their connection to the universe. Bart isn’t killing anyone and refuses to. Dirk is actively trying to avoid the coincidences that keep happening to and around him. Are they just the puppets of the Universe? Don’t they have some say about their lives? The answer, if Wakti Wapnasi is to be believed, is kind of. She can see the future, but it’s not all determined. It’s fuzzy because people don’t always make the choices you expect, especially where Free Will is concerned. Even the Mage (John Hannah) is wondering about himself after viewing the drawings on the wall of the Cardenas house. How would you feel if you realized you were just a character in someone else’s book, and that you were the bad guy who loses? John Hannah does a good job here convincing me of his confusion and sorrow upon learning this.

On the other hand, the rest of the gang seem to be using Dirk as a kind of coincidence tool to move the mystery along. I love that they just push him into a crowd to find Scott (Jared Ager-Foster) and he bumps right into him. I’m not sure Dirk particularly likes this. He already feels like a pawn of the Universe, and these coincidences cannot be helping.

And in Wendimore, Amanda (Hannah Marks) is having an existential awakening and figuring out how to use her superpowers now that she’s someplace where her hallucinations come true. She’s confused and overwhelmed by the powers she suddenly has. Unlike Dirk or Bart, she has a pretty good guide in Wakti Wapnasi.

(SIDE NOTE: If this world was created by a boy, where did this wise leader come from? The Boy must have had some philosophical influence from someone, or maybe just someone with four hands, a skin condition, and a mushroom-like head. And we meet some of the weird denizens of the forest. I love that they give Vogle (Osric Chao) pigtails and put flowers in his hair. I also love that their only weapons appear to be modified croquet mallets).

Farah (Jade Eshete) finally realizes that her judgmental father is dead and was always wrong about her. She’s a badass and always has been. Yay, Farah! I did wonder where she was getting her insecurities from. Now I know, and hopefully she can move on more confidently, especially now that she’s truly law enforcement. Sheriff Hobbs deputizing Farah was super sweet. It was Farah’s dream come true!

Poor Sheriff Hobbs is getting overwhelmed. Who wouldn’t by now? And I’m really sad about the end of this episode. Things are getting seriously dangerous for the gang.

Arnold is the boy whose height the Cardenas’ measured on the wall. He explains the drawings on the wall at the Cardenas house. The Mage (John Hannah) is the bad guy and gets defeated at all the battles. But something happened that caused Arnold to leave and change his name. He says he caused the electromagnetic pulse of in ‘67 and stopped the weirdness right when his parents died. He gets agitated at the mention of the scissors and blood and has a heart attack upon seeing Panto Trost (Christopher Russell), who he insists cannot exist. (Bart’s “I did nothing!” after that was pretty funny).

Susie Boreton (Amanda Walsh) de-glamorizes herself and walks with a cane, while Sheriff Hobbs (Tyler Labine) and Farah interview her. She then pushes them to suspect her son Scott, who I feel really sorry for. I mean, with those parents, it’s a surprise he’s not worse. Farah and Hobbs don’t buy it, but they don’t let on. They’re going to bring in Scott Boreton to get Susie to come in. What they’re going to do after that, I have no idea. But it doesn’t quite work out like that and that’s what “normal” detecting will get you. Take note, Dirk.

WILD SPECULATION:

Is there a reason why the cartoon guy who defeats the Mage is a blond guy with a crown? I’m guessing this is The Boy that is from the prophecy. So, who has blond hair in the group? Scott Boreton, maybe Dirk, definitely Mr. Priest (Alan Tyduk), which is going to be weird if he turns out to be The Boy.

NOTES:

The love and peace spell was pretty great, although it didn’t seem to affect Susie Boreton. Is she so far gone already? Or perhaps she’s not affected by her own spells? Such a shame, though, she looked like she needed some peace and love.

Todd and Dirk really are BFFs!

Todd and Farah fooled around about three weeks prior!

SOME LOVELY QUOTES:

“Did you just change?”
“No, Todd, it’s still me. Though my clothes are different.”

“You traded police property?”
“They were vintage. Smart, right?”
“Genius! Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because it’s literally a crime.”

“The boring book of mundane deduction you and I are co-authoring about being normal detectives, Todd.”

“I want to look at evidence and draw conclusions. Not rely on insane coincidences to shuffle me from catastrophe to catastrophe.”

“Logic. Deduction. Tracking down a suspect. Not just, duh, pip, cheerio, fabric of the universe, everything connecto. Duh.”
“Are you doing a sarcastic impression of yourself?”
“What I am saying is, we followed the holistic road today already, Todd, and it ended up with a man dead.”
“He’s not dead. They said he had a minor heart attack.”
“He’s very muchly more dead than he was when he woke up this morning. He’s like 5 out of 8 dead-ish.”
“Are you giving up on him? I thought you thought he was The Boy.”
“I thought I thought he could have been A The Boy, but certainly not The The Boy, considering that he was an old man, or did you not notice?” (The last 5 sentences reminded me of Douglas Adams).

“I use my thing.”
“Your badge.”
“Right…”
“You and Dirk use his, thing.”
“His innate connection to the fabric of reality.”

“This music sounds like robots being tortured by monkeys.” (I don’t think the music sounded that bad. DJ Applesauce seems like he knows what he’s doing. Did anyone notice that the Santi Santiga have eyes that look like goggles like DJ Applesauce? What’s up with that?).