Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Episode 1.3 “Rogue Wall Enthusiasts”
Created by Max Landis
Written by Max Landis
Directed by Michael Patrick Jann
Starring Samuel Barnett, Elijah Wood, Hannah Marks, Fiona Dourif, Jade Eshete, Mpho Koaho, Dustin Milligan, Miguel Sandoval, Neil Brown, Jr., Richard Schiff, Aaron Douglas, Alison Thornton
BBC America
Air date: Saturday, November 5, 2016

SPOILERS for Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency…

After the craziness that was Episode 1 of BBC America’s new series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency from writer/creator Max Landis, Episode 2 gave us some semblance of order — but not too much, though. Holistic detective Dirk Gently (Samuel Barnett) and his reluctant assistant Todd (Elijah Wood) are trying to solve the murder case of millionaire Patrick Spring, who hired Dirk six week’s prior to his death, and are doing so while being watched by the FBI, CIA, and missing persons detectives. The duo discovered that weirdo Gordon Rimmer (Aaron Douglas) has been holding Spring’s daughter Lydia captive, and is in with a group of strange, bald tattooed men who kidnapped Lydia’s bodyguard Farah (Jade Eshete). We don’t know how or why yet, but for some reason Gordon and his crew are doing some kind of human/animal swaps, where Gordon’s corgi Rapunzel actually has the spirit of Lydia in her. Meanwhile, Todd’s ill sister Amanda (Hannah Marks) is being stalked by a group of crazed energy-sucking vampires known as the Rowdy 3, while a holistic assassin named Bartine (Fiona Dourif), with her own reluctant assistant Ken Mpho Koaho) — a hacker hired to do a job for the bald men — is out to kill Dirk. By the end of Episode 2, Dirk and Todd rescue Farah, who it turns out knows Dirk, a fact that infuriates Todd.

Here’s a recap of what happened this week on Episode 1.3 “Rogue Wall Enthusiasts”…

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Episode 1.2 “Lost & Found”
Created by Max Landis
Written by Max Landis
Directed by Dean Parisot
Starring Samuel Barnett, Elijah Wood, Hannah Marks, Fiona Dourif, Jade Eshete, Mpho Koaho, Dustin Milligan, Miguel Sandoval, Neil Brown, Jr., Richard Schiff, Aaron Douglas, Alison Thornton
BBC America
Air date: Saturday, October 29, 2016

SPOILERS for Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency…

Last week’s series premiere of BBC America’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency television series, based on the Douglas Adams books, left a lot of people scratching their heads. There was a lot to digest, and after four-plus viewings, I feel like I finally figured out the “fundamental interconnectedness” of what was presented, even though I wasn’t always sure why these things were connected. I wrote a detailed recap of Episode 1.1, but briefly, here’s the situation…

Dirk Gently (Samuel Barnett) is a holistic detective who was hired by millionaire Patrick Spring to investigate his death six weeks before his murder; at the same time, the millionaire’s daughter, Lydia (Alison Thornton), has gone missing. To help with the case, Dirk enlisted Todd (Elijah Wood) to be his assistant, even though Todd doesn’t know him, nor does he want to. Todd is a downtrodden fellow who’s gone broke paying for medication for his ill sister Amanda (Hannah Marks). His life was relatively boring until the day he arrived to his bellhop job at the Perriman Grand Hotel to discover the body of Patrick Spring in the Penthouse suite. His manager then fired him for being the unlucky employee to find the body; a crazy group of psychic vampires called the Rowdy 3 trashed his apartment; his irate landlord tried to shot him, but accidentally killed himself; the police, FBI, and CIA all had eyes on him; he’s rescued a corgi and returned it to its owner Gordon (Aaron Douglas), who’s the one who’s holding Lydia; and unbeknownst to him, Lydia’s bodyguard Farah (Jade Eshete) is being held captive in the apartment above him, while several bald men with head tattoos are looking for a black kitten that was in the Penthouse suite. Also, unbeknownst to Dirk and Todd, there’s a self-described holistic assassin named Bartine (Fiona Dourif) out to kill Dirk, and she’s kidnapped an reluctant assistant of her own, a hacker named Ken (Mpho Koaho), who was doing a side job for the tattooed bald men. By the episode’s end, we saw that the LOTTO ticket that Todd found outside the Penthouse suite that morning has the $10,000 winning numbers.

The Returned
Season 1 Episode 10: “Peter”
Directed by Deran Sarafian
Written by Raelle Tucker
Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kevin Alejandro, India Ennenga, Sandrine Holt, Mark Pellegrino, Mat Vairo, Tandi Wright, Michelle Forbes, Leah Gibson, Aaron Douglas, Dylan Kingwell, Sophie Lowe, Agnes Bruckner, Jeremy Sisto
A&E
Air Date: Monday, May 11th, 2015, 10pm

Last week on The Returned, we saw how Helen (Michelle Forbes) died. And our feelings about her insanity were justified when we saw she was in an asylum BEFORE she died.

Peter (Jeremy Sisto) confesses at the memorial that the reason the others shouldn’t ostracize Camille (India Ennenga), because he too, died and came back.

The Returned
Season 1 Episode 9: “Helen”
Directed by Deran Sarafian
Written by Graham Roland
Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kevin Alejandro, India Ennenga, Sandrine Holt, Mark Pellegrino, Mat Vairo, Tandi Wright, Michelle Forbes, Leah Gibson, Aaron Douglas, Dylan Kingwell, Sophie Lowe, Agnes Bruckner, Jeremy Sisto
A&E
Air Date: Monday, May 4th, 2015, 10pm

A recap of last week’s episode of The Returned, before we start our review.

The focus was “Claire” as we got more of her backstory. After all these weeks of thinking Jack (Mark Pellegrino) was the bad spouse, we found out that Claire (Tandi Wright) and Peter (Jeremy Sisto) had been together a year before Camille’s (India Ennenga) death. Lena (Sophie Lowe) comes home and only tells Tony’s (Aaron Douglas) part in her disappearance. He confesses, and is immediately doomed. Julie (Sandrine Holt) brought Victor (Dylan Kingwell) with her to the station. Victor thinks that Tony hurt her, so he makes Tony hallucinate his mother. Tony smashes his own head against the table until he dies. The twins reconcile and Lena’s wound is healing. Rowan (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) stretches the events to make it look like Simon (Mat Vairo) was extra dangerous (maybe he was, who knows), so Tommy (Kevin Alejandro) wouldn’t get in trouble for killing him. We know that’s not going to happen anyway because…

Simon kicked himself out of his morgue drawer, resurrected!

The Returned
Season 1 Episode 8: “Claire”
Directed by Stephen Williams
Written by Raelle Tucker
Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kevin Alejandro, India Ennenga, Sandrine Holt, Mark Pellegrino, Mat Vairo, Tandi Wright, Michelle Forbes, Leah Gibson, Aaron Douglas, Dylan Kingwell, Sophie Lowe, Agnes Bruckner, Jeremy Sisto
A&E
Air Date: Monday, April 27th, 2015, 10pm

Let’s recap The Returned 1.7 “Rowan,” before talking about this week’s episode.

We learned more about Rowan (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) last week. We now understand why she didn’t freak out when she saw Simon (Mat Vairo). She had visions of him before. At that point she couldn’t take it, and took a bunch of pills to end it all. Tommy (Kevin Alejandro) found her in time. Simon approached Chloe in the park with a message for her mother – he’s coming for them tonight. Rowan made her choice. When Simon showed, she told him to get away. He kept coming towards her, and Tommy shot him. I don’t think he was threatening at all, just pleading. She thinks he chose to die years ago.