BBC America’s crazy (and entertaining) new genre-bending series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency spent the first two episodes introducing the key players. Episode three titled ‘Rogue Wall Enthusiasts’ and airing on November 5, 2016, starts to connect the dots between the main characters. The episode begins with a flashback to 15 years ago with a man identifying himself as one of the original souls. He’s angry with someone named Rainie at a murder scene. Rainie is actually known as the Supreme Soul and while a gorgeous young woman currently, he/she/it’s been in 50 bodies in the past 10 years.
The Supreme Soul lifts the hood off a man who’s been kidnapped and it’s Gordon (Aaron Douglas) who’s been selected to be the new vessel for their temple. Gordon’s body is the key and the original soul dude isn’t happy he’ll be leaving his current body to take over Gordon’s. He yells, “You can’t swap me out against my will into some fat piece of sh*t! I’m a rock star!” The Supreme Soul just smiles as two of the bald men take him away.
Fast-forward to three days ago and Lydia Spring (Alison Thornton) shows up at Gordon’s door. She wants to know about a man named Zachary Webb, what happened to her grandfather, and who killed her mother? Gordon knows about her mom and dad, and Lydia reluctantly enters his house.
Farah (Jade Eshete) revisits the apartment where she was held captive and then demands Dirk (Samuel Barnett) and Todd (Elijah Wood) take her to Gordon’s house. There, firefighters are wrapping things up as the house is completely gutted from the fire. Todd and Dirk hide behind the bush across the street until Farah reminds them no one knows they’re responsible for burning the house down. She also stumbles through a thank you for saving her on the bridge. Dirk says no one has any idea what’s going on with Patrick’s death, and Farah calls Gordon although Todd advises against it. She asks about the whereabouts of Lydia Spring and Gordon in turn asks for the ‘other machine’ that Patrick supposedly had in his possession. Farah doesn’t know what he’s talking about and Gordon says Lydia is gone. They argue and finally Farah tells him it’s his last chance to surrender Lydia. Gordon warns Farah he’ll see her real soon.
Farah needs to go back to the Spring estate to get all her things, and Todd’s just done with this whole investigation – again. Now it’s just Dirk and Farah, and she’s wondering why the bullet that killed the man holding her hostage in the apartment came from a military weapon.
Speaking of the military, it’s time to catch up with Colonel Scott Riggins (Miguel Sandoval) and Corporal Hugo Friedkin (Dustin Milligan). They’re going to make contact with a former Black Wing subject, but Friedkin has no idea what Black Wing is. Riggins explains Black Wing had one mission when it was created by the CIA decades ago: to seek out, codify, and collect individuals with sensory perceptive abilities beyond the normal human scale. Friedkin once again proves he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer when he thinks Riggins is talking about fat people on scales. Riggins is flabbergasted and gives up.
Ken (Mpho Koaho) and Bart (Fiona Dourif) continue their road trip/murder spree, which Bart thinks is fun. Bart turns on the radio and is totally awed by the fact Ken knows the song. Bart thinks radio stations only play a song once, total, and that whoever is singing is doing so live from someplace. She’s excited Ken knows the song and wants him to sing it, and when he does she can’t stop smiling and laughing. Just then a motorcycle gang shoots out the back window and Bart crashes the car.
Amanda (Hannah Marks) leaves a voice message for Todd, letting him know that because of Dirk she’s decided it’s okay to be outside. She’s walking to the store with the Rowdy 3 van just feet behind her. When she stops, it stops. However, instead of being freaked out, Amanda seems to like the situation.
At the police station, Detective Estevez (Neil Brown Jr) carries the Corgi into his partner’s office. Detective Zimmerfield (Richard Schiff) can’t believe it’s the same Corgi from the hotel tape, but Estevez is sure she’s the same one. Estevez found the Corgi outside the station barking at officers entering the building. Then Estevez reveals the Corgi lived at a house that burned down just yesterday. When the phone buzzes letting Zimmerfield know Todd’s there to see him, both detectives can’t believe Todd and the Corgi have arrived simultaneously at the station. Nope, not a coincidence. They decide to hide the dog while they meet with Todd.
At the Spring estate, Farah explains Patrick loved animals and used to keep exotic ones on the estate. She also says her father used to be head of Patrick’s security, and that the place has been around since the 1880s. It was built for an inventor named Zachariah Webb. Patrick bought it just before his wife died. They’re greeted by Patrick’s lawyer, John, who says he has something for Farah.
Todd tells Estevez and Zimmerfield he saw Lydia and she was acting odd. He also says there are weird, dangerous guys involved and he traded the Corgi for Farah Black. He believes all of this is connected. They confront him with a four-year-old police report his band filed reporting their equipment had been stolen. They know he stole the instruments and sold them without telling his bandmates. He says he was going through a rough time, and they already know that because they called his parents. They’re investigating him as a person of interest, and now they wonder why the house where he saw Lydia burned down yesterday. He’s now been seen at three crime scenes, plus they know he took his money back from his landlord.
Amanda makes it to the store and walks through the aisles, tentatively at first and then more confidently. Unfortunately, as she’s paying for her groceries she thinks her hand is on fire and screams.
Back at the police station, Todd gets a call from Amanda and she’s freaking out. She hangs up before she tells him where she is. The detectives say it’s okay for him to leave and once he’s gone, Estevez says he knows that kid is guilty of something.
Amanda makes it outside the store but now she believes her body is fully engulfed in flames. Two guys start videoing her, but the Rowdy 3 burst from their van and beat the crap out of their car, smash their phone, and chase them away. The Rowdy 3 leader whistles for them to surround Amanda and they seem to suck something out of her – or maybe they’re also putting some kind of energy into her while a series of weird images flow through her brain. Whatever the case, Amanda comes to in her own garage with the bag of groceries next to her, delivered home safely by the Rowdy 3.
Ken and Bart are in the middle of a field, taped to a weird contraption made of a chain-link fence. Bart says what’s going to happen is that Ken will die and then she’ll kill all of the gang members. Or, maybe she’ll kill some of them, Ken will die, and then she’ll kill the rest. It’s not looking good for Ken, but whatever happens is the way it’s meant to be. No matter what, she won’t get hurt. But, she does think she’ll miss Ken.
The Spring lawyer has an envelope for Farah but what’s strange is that he wasn’t supposed to give it to her unless she was with Dirk Gently. She is, so she can have the envelope. Farah understands now Patrick knew he was going to die and that’s why she was sent to track down Dirk. And Dirk now understands he wasn’t supposed to prevent Patrick’s murder, he was meant to solve it. On the outside of the envelope is this: 3?1! Dirk translates that to mean three questions, one answer.
The lawyer suggests he and Dirk step out so Farah can open the envelope in privacy, but of course, Dirk hangs back so he can see what’s going on. Farah reveals she knew Patrick her whole life and then in three days everything went crazy. She’s upset and Dirk is absolutely not the right person to try and comfort her (he offers half-compliments and a gentle poke on the shoulder instead of a hug). She wants to leave but he says they have to wait, even though he doesn’t know anything; he just follows fate around and thinks they’re meant to be there right now. She opens the envelope and there’s a hand-drawn map of the house. Farah follows it as does Dirk although it takes him a few moments to grasp that it’s a map.
Todd races to Amanda’s and gives her a huge hug. She apologizes for scaring him and wonders why he’s totally out of breath. She wants to know where Dirk is because she has questions only he can answer. Todd says, “The amount of stuff he doesn’t know is stupefying.” Amanda doesn’t understand and wants to know what it is Todd isn’t telling her. And then Amanda admits she wasn’t fine leaving the house after all. He wants her to come stay at his place, promising it will be great.
Farah and Dirk follow the map all over the house and she’s confused. Dirk takes the map and tries on his own, but he’s even worse at following the drawing. Finally, Farah finds what it is she’s meant to find in the laundry room. She knocks a wall down, but not before Dirk misinterprets her attention to the wall as meaning they’re hunting ‘rogue wall enthusiasts.’ Farah exposed a door with a clock when she knocked the wall down, and Dirk sets the clock to match the map and the door opens.
They step into a room that was built by the original owner of the house. There’s a bizarre generator-type machine and they find a note on Patrick’s father’s stationery but written by Patrick. The note reads: “It started here. It ends here. Please save her.” Farah then finds a handle and Dirk thinks the “her” is Lydia, which means Patrick knew all this was going to happen. But the question remains, why didn’t Patrick save himself? Farah admits she thinks Dirk might just be a good detective.
Back to the middle of nowhere, the motorcycle gang returns and it appears they’re ready to kill Ken and Bart. They’re doing it because Bart killed Jake, the guy who fixed their car. The leader throws a baseball at Ken to shut him up, but it hits part of the structure, setting off a chain of events that ends with Bart killing everyone except the leader. He throws a large knife at Bart but it just bounces off without leaving a scratch. She picks it up and throws it back at him, landing in his chest and killing him. Ken’s unharmed.
Bart and Ken dress in the gang’s clothes and Ken decides Bart must be a killer angel and everything she said was real. He also decides he’s with her for a reason and they must find Dirk Gently.
Todd and Amanda finally make it home, and Dirk and Farah are already there. Todd has no idea why they’re in his place, but that discussion ends quickly and they move on to another clue they discovered in the Spring estate’s secret room. Amanda figures out it’s a map like the ones you see on city government websites that show you utilities. It’s an electrical grid with power lines and then it dawns on Amanda that the map includes the very building they’re in right now. Dirk’s excited, Amanda and Farah introduce themselves to each other, and Todd is once again exasperated about everything. Dirk is sick of discussing this and he points out the fact there’s a map with Todd’s building in the center of it. Todd, giving in reluctantly, says the building is in Springsborough – as in ‘Edgar Spring’s borough.’ Nope, not another coincidence. Now it’s Todd’s turn to say it’s all real and to finally agree to help Dirk with this case.
Dirk heads downstairs to get the magic lightbulb he found in the secret room and that’s when Colonel Scott Riggins says, “Hello Project Icarus.” Dirk can’t believe it and tells him to go away. Dirk tells Riggins to leave him alone and Friedkin tackles him, and then apologizes. Riggins says they need him to come in and Dirk reveals it’s been 16 years since the last time he was part of Black Wing. Riggins claims he’s not the enemy and he tells Dirk he’s not a detective. Dirk gets upset, says he is a detective, has friends, and is following clues. Dirk tells Riggins he doesn’t need him and that he should go back to hiding in the shadows. Riggins and Friedkin let him leave without detaining him.
- Season 1 Episode 1 “Horizons” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 2 “Lost and Found” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 4 “Watkin” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 5 “Very Erectus” Recap
