in ‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’ (Photo by Bettina Strauss/BBCA)
Season one of BBC America’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency continues with episode four titled ‘Watkin,’ premiering on November 12, 2016. Episode three ended with Todd admitting that just maybe Dirk isn’t completely crazy and could possibly be onto something. We also learned in episode three that Todd’s sister, Amanda, wants to be involved in whatever it is Todd, Dirk, and Farah are up to. Plus, Bart’s reluctant passenger Ken has decided she’s a killer angel. Unfortunately, episode four concentrates on Todd and Dirk so killer angel Bart and her co-pilot are absent for the entire 60 minutes. Hopefully, we’ll get to catch up with the pair in episode five.
Episode four begins with FBI Agent Weedle (David Lewis), the agent who survived the attack on the bridge, being brought in to see Gordon (Aaron Douglas). He’s placed in a bizarre machine and winds up in the body of a mouse. The mouse is killed and the body of the agent is now inhabited by one of the bald cult member dudes.
Todd’s new roommate, his sister Amanda (Hannah Marks), munches on cereal and wonders why his apartment has been trashed. Down on the street, Dirk’s excited about something Farah’s done and wants Todd (Elijah Wood) to come check it out. Amanda doesn’t understand why Todd’s not excited to go hang out with a magic detective and hot chick, and Amanda begs to be a part of whatever is going on. Todd decides to go with Farah (Jade Eshete) and Dirk (Samuel Barnett), against his better judgment, thanks to Amanda’s prompting. (Amanda thinks her brother has the hots for Farah and suggests he wear his cool jacket.)
Back in 1978 Edgar Spring buried a power grid under Springsborough, but Farah never asked Patrick anything about his father so she’s just as in the dark as Todd and Dirk are about why Edgar felt it necessary to do that. Dirk and Farah think the power grid is actually the lost machine Gordon and his weird gang have been trying to find. As they’re trying to follow the map, the trio stop walking because Dirk thinks the machine is right in front of them in what looks like a brick electrical room with a fence around it. Dirk has a mini conversation with himself about climbing the fence but then he can’t actually get himself over it and needs Todd to push his bum.
Meanwhile at the police station, Agent Weedle who isn’t Agent Weedle anymore pays a visit to detectives Estevez (Neil Brown Jr) and Zimmerfield (Richard Schiff). He asks about Farah and is acting really bizarre, but they hand over the info they’ve collected anyway. Then Weedle lets slip they have the missing bodies from the morgue, which confuses the detectives because the FBI claimed they didn’t have them. Weedle wants to know if they’ve found Dirk, if they’ve arrested Todd, and if anyone has said anything about the Corgi. When the detectives want to know more about the Corgi, Weedle says he didn’t mention a Corgi…which he literally did two seconds earlier. Weedle insults the detectives and finally, Zimmerfield asks where his partner Nathan is and Weedle completely ignores the question. When he leaves, they figure out there’s something seriously wrong. Estevez lifts the lid off a box and the Corgi’s inside, sitting quietly and behaving herself. “There’s something weird about that dog,” says Zimmerfield.
Farah cuts the lock and opens the gate, all while Dirk is still clinging to the fence attempting to climb over it. The threesome study the little electrical building while Farah says this is all her fault because she wasn’t there to protect Patrick from being murdered. While Todd and Farah talk, on the other side of the little building Dirk figures out the crank he took from the Spring mansion fits in a hole in the wall. He screams and Farah and Todd come running, but although they hear him, they have no idea where he is. Dirk claims he’s fallen into a trap and it’s dangerous. He turned the crank, which he admits was a bad decision and shouldn’t have been done unsupervised. Todd sees the crank still in the hole on the wall, pulls it out, and also falls down into the trap. Farah can only shake her head.
Amanda’s a bit freaked out when FBI Agent Weedle knocks on Todd’s apartment door asking for Todd.
So, now we’re underground with Dirk and Todd, and Dirk’s holding his magic lightbulb. He thinks the dark corridor is a clue, and from above ground Farah tries to get them out of the trap. Her rescue attempt is interrupted when she gets a call from Amanda about the FBI agent at the door. Amanda geeks out over her brother being trapped in a secret passage – she’s living this investigation vicariously through Todd – and Farah tells her not to let the agent in. Farah’s spidey senses are tingling and she leaves Dirk and Todd to go help Amanda. Of course, Dirk is doing everything Todd tells him not to do, including heading down a dark passageway.
Gordon brings a woman a present at a bar. She tells him she’s not going to change the way she feels, and he says it’s the last present he’ll bring her.
FBI Agent Weedle tries the door, discovers it’s broken, and comes inside even though Amanda tells him not to.
Dirk leads the way with his magical lightbulb, which he’s named an ever-bulb because it uses electricity from his body, and they come across a door. Todd points out that this whole thing – the lightbulb, the underground rooms, etc – is weird and wants to know what Spring wants. Just then the door opens by itself. Lightbulbs covering the walls and ceiling turn on all around them, flooding the room with bright white light. The walls begin closing in on Dirk and Todd, and Todd thinks they’re going to be burned and crushed to death.
Todd starts breaking the lightbulbs, but that doesn’t work. Dirk still thinks they’re going to die but now Todd starts to believe this is all a test. Todd thinks they need to put the magic lightbulb in an empty socket, but that’s not the solution. Dirk then has the bright idea that it’s not a bulb, it’s a doorknob. They screw it in and barely escape the room, but now Dirk is the one who’s afraid of exploring dark corridors. Todd leads the way with the lightbulb.
Agent Weedle wants to know why Todd stole the Corgi, which prompts Amanda to ask if he’s high. He threatens her with arrest and that’s when Farah finally arrives. Weedle flashes his badge and Farah makes him step outside. Farah asks him a series of questions and then tells him his safety’s off and his holster’s on backward. She asks who he really is and he calls her unstable and panic-prone. Farah seems to have some sort of breakdown when confronted with her background and she gives Weedle back his gun.
Todd and Dirk come upon a dead end, and Dirk is being even less helpful than usual. Todd wants to touch things but Dirk tries to get him to slow down and think things through. Dirk finally apologizes for being difficult, and Todd reassures him they’ll be fine.
Back at Todd’s place, Weedle waits outside in his car while Farah protects Amanda in the apartment.
Todd stares at a golden rhino head on the door and tries to figure out how to open it. Dirk finds a plaque that reads “Here lies Pepe unless otherwise activated” under a stand with a large golden rhino horn. Dirk remembers Patrick’s pet rhino was named Pepe which means Patrick’s been down in this secret chamber. Patrick left the crank as a clue and now by Dirk placing his hand on the plaque, the door seems ready to open. Todd looks squarely in the rhino’s eyes and a holographic rhino with electricity zaps both Dirk and Todd. They fall to the floor, with patches of burning areas on their bodies. Dirk says Pepe on the door is some kind of “electrical ghost rhino” and then Todd has another bright idea – link arms and touch the rhino on the door at the same time as they touch the rhino’s horn. The electricity surges through them and the door opens!
Back at the bar, Gordon convinces the woman to open the bag. It’s a yak fur coat and the woman recognizes it as rock star Lux DuJour’s coat. Gordon promises to show her where Lux is if she goes with him.
The FBI agent leaves as the Rowdy 3 van pulls up outside. Amanda thinks they should call Dirk.
Todd and Dirk have come to what they believe is the final room in this secret underground chamber. There’s a machine there that Dirk believes was used by Edgar Spring to power Springsborough. As they look into the machine, bright colored symbols appear on the wall. Dirk touches the kitten then the shark and the dog followed by the girl. The symbols disappear and numbers take their place. He pushes 3 and then 1, and a map with a trail and Xs appear. Unfortunately, the map disappears before they get a good look after a series of little electrical explosions that throw Dirk and Todd into a panic.
Amanda and Farah smell fire and Farah sees a small trail of smoke emerging from the sidewalk area outside Todd’s apartment building. They rush downstairs and hear Todd and Dirk screaming behind a wall. Todd tells Farah to break through the wall and she shoots at it as the Rowdy 3 arrive. They break through the wall with a sledgehammer and pull Todd and Dirk to safety. Farah, Amanda, and Todd watch as they surround Dirk and suck something from him. They leave saying he was tasty. Todd screams, “Who are those guys?!”
Back in Todd’s apartment, the foursome go over the clues. Edward built the maze and the power node, but Patrick built the traps. Dirk and Todd tell Farah and Amanda there was another map but it only appeared briefly before the room started to blow. And Amanda, who wasn’t in that room with them, describes the map they saw. She’s had a vision of the map and heads back into the secret room, puts the crank in a clock, and the map is exposed again. She said it was a hunch and just then a message pops up that reads, “Save her Dirk and Todd.” Farah recognizes the map as a place four hours away and they decide they’ll leave in the morning.
Gordon takes the woman back to where Lux’s things are stored. Gordon shows her the machine that swaps bodies, telling her they kidnapped rich people and used them until they didn’t need them anymore. Retired people, athletes, actors, rock stars…they’ve been doing it for 50 years and Lux was one of them. Gordon then introduces her to his friends. He puts on the yak fur coat and tells the assembled gang the other machine is in their grasp. He doesn’t want what Lux wanted and he kills the woman by bashing her over the head with a guitar.
