Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency Season 2 Episode 10
Unsurprisingly, the season 2 finale of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency had the happy ending fans craved and expected. Season 1 did not set that precedent, but after the sheer magnitude of the death in the previous episode, it seemed a foregone conclusion that The Boy would set things right. But should his dismissive exile of Suzie have been quite so easy, and did Wendimoor’s unreal storybook resurrection diminish the overall victory? The cliffhanger ending and the revelations along the way were satisfying though not mind-blowing, but the stellar season overall leaves us hoping for a renewal announcement soon. Particularly enlightening was the peek behind the curtain of reality as Amanda removed herself and Todd from the pain of keeping the portal to Blackwing open. Having a visual for the interconnectedness of the universe was perfectly suited for a second season finale, and the splotchy eyeballs were a nice touch as well. A small but important mystery moving forward surrounds Friedkin’s appearance in this backstage area after being pushed, mortally wounded, into the portal by Ken, but just knowing this space is there (not to mention the Brotzman’s tongue-in-cheek “Drugs” declaration) lends a gravitas to the whole idea of Dirk and people like him. It’s especially important to get a grasp on the holistic beings because Dirk helps Friedkin (and by extension, viewers) understand that Blackwing was formed “to build a cage around the utterly uncontainable.” Friedkin’s existential crisis in realizing he might be the villain was a necessary pivot, not only for the character but also for the audience in realizing that Suzie is not the problem here. Blackwing caused the breakdown in Wendimoor when Project Moloch had a stroke, and although Friedkin himself isn’t the villain, Suzie’s over-the-top villainy has distracted us from Blackwing’s role in everything that has gone wrong. Sadly, Bart took the fall to allow everyone else to have their happy ending. Unfortunately for us, her chainsaw massacre will pass unobserved, but the idea that the aftermath would cause her to conclude that she’s “not even a person, just a weapon,” is perfectly understandable. One can’t help but wonder if The Boy sent her to Blackwing before showing her that he could fix everything, including bringing back her new friend Panto, or whether or not that would have made a difference. If there had to be a loose end to carry through to a future season, Bart was a good choice for it, despite her heartbreaking realization that the universe is telling her to kill Ken. The Boy himself is a deus ex machina in the extreme, but since he created Wendimoor in the first place as a kind of “deus” anyway, he gets a pass. It just seemed that after Todd reminded Suzie that she’s simply a downtrodden woman from Montana that the audience was robbed of any significant battle. With a wave of a hand, she’s back to her frumpy self, now a passenger for who knows how long on the flying train of Wendimoor. Not an entirely satisfying ending for such a great adversary. The swift recovery of Farah, Hobbs, and Tina was also fairly underwhelming, although obviously it’s wonderful that they’re okay. Farah stumbling a single step before collapsing was appropriately heart wrenching, and the “amboolents” that The Boy gave to Todd to come to their rescue was cute; however, ending with Hobbs talking about missing all the good stuff and Tina qualifying her adventures as being in the “top 11 crazies experiences” just wasn’t enough closure for these great new characters. The happy ending montage itself was too storybook in general. The Panto and Silas kiss, the reconciliation of the Trosts and Dengdamoors, and even Bob and Scott playing with the resurrected dog just felt watered down and way too pat an ending. So much was made of Wendimoor being a real place that we should care about, yet in the end all death and ill will was undone like a fairy tale. Happy but not really all that deep. It was the little details, though, that helped the ending feel more significant. For example, the subtle visual of Dirk’s old yellow jacket actually being Mona in disguise gives the holistic actress an added importance that makes us hope for an appearance in a future season. Adding the Beast to the Rowdy 3 (and even making her look more human) was a genius move as well, as was letting Todd keep the sonic gun and Amanda the apprentice’s wand.
