Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (2016) - General Discussion

[blueray]

21 hours ago, snowwhyte said:

Both season are on Netflix at the moment.

They are only on DVD only. Hulu has season 1, but not season 2.  Maybe it'll get it.

[Snorfbat]

I am so loving the actress who plays The Beast. Her nonsense speech is perfectly understandable nonsense speech and her crazy expressions are so crazy and expressive.

[supposebly]

On 1/7/2018 at 10:09 AM, Mabinogia said:

Any of the people who were working under Landis could do it.

Just finished season 2 and loved it! I usually have very little patience or tolerance for "quirky" but this show manages to keep me because I love the characters. They have so much more going on than their quirkiness. Now, after I come here to read about other's reactions, I hear about Landis. I'm starting to feel I have to check things before I watching anything these day. Not, that that's a bad thing but I don't usually want to know about writers'/showrunners'/producers'/actor's lives. So, damn, now I don't feel so good about wanting to rewatch season 1.

Anyway, as to the question whether this show would be ok with another showrunner, I checked out Landis' other stuff and I have seen exactly two other things. Bright which was clunky, boring, and outright terrible. And American Ultra. I don't really know why I even watched that one. It wasn't terrible but also not very engaging other than for Kristen Stewart, who I had seen before in Snow White and I thought was so much better than her reputation.

So, I'm not sure why this one works for me but I know why previous Douglas Adam's adaptations didn't. Too much quirk, slavish retelling of plot, not enough character. I still haven't forgiven Martin Freeman for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That movie was terrible.

Maybe another showrunner might be ok. Landis has full writer credits for 9 episodes in total, so that's not so bad.  If one of the current writers could take over. Possibly.

In general, I'm rather left with two good seasons of a show instead of another where the tone is missing and I watch with disappointment because I liked the previous seasons. And I do think quite a few developments didn't make much sense. Ken's development, for example. While I can fanwank it around the confinement in the taxi, I also think that's not where his character was headed based on season 1, especially with respect to this relationship with Bart. He seems like an opportunist but I don't really seem him wanting to lock up Bart while letting Dirk or Mona go open a Detective Agency. He does seem to understand these people's role in the universe, so it all makes very little sense to me.

I do appreciate that for once, I actually liked a character Tyler Labine plays. For once, he added something else to the bumbling, crass idiot that he seems to get hired for a lot. I don't know if that's down to writing or direction. I tend to think the latter in this case.

[Mabinogia]

1 minute ago, supposebly said:

So, I'm not sure why this one works for me but I know why previous Douglas Adam's adaptations didn't.

I credit the actors for a lot of the likability of this show. They all really bought into this world and the quirkiness of it. I think the set designers did an amazing job with Windimore. I think that if everyone but Landis came back we would get the same quality show we've been getting. But at this point I just don't see it happening.

I will rewatch Season 1 many times because the show is so much more than landis and I fully support everyone else involved. I will say that I thought the girl who played Lydia Spring's amazing dog imitation. Seriously, that girl was sooooo good in a part that had very little to do but cock her head a lot. She exemplifies what I mean about the actors. They really gave it their all in this crazy, insane world. 

I will skim through season 2 because while the fantasy world was beautiful and I liked the two cops I didn't care for the plotline at all and it was way more mindlessly violent than I like. which is funny to say when I realize one of my favorite characters is a mindless assassin. Hmmm

[Eva Marie]

The actors and the music design indeed make this show. I have long adopted the strategy of honouring the work of women in media run by sexist creeps because otherwise I would have nothing to watch and these awesome women wouldn't have a platform. So the news about Landis doesn't phase me or affect the enjoyment of this show in the least  - I have no positive expectations of men in Hollywood anymore. 

[femmefan1946]

Here's some slightly more specific information about the #MeToo allegations about Landis.

https://screenrant.com/max-landis-sexual-assault-harassment-allegations/

[Tippi Blevins]

I just watched season 2 on Hulu this weekend, if anyone still checks this topic

[Tippi Blevins]

Aw man I knew it was canceled but I'd forgotten it was canceled as I binged season 2 this weekend and now I'm bummed all over again. Oh well I'm gonna talk about it anyway.

I didn't entirely understand Ken's change. If he believed he had to do bad things to achieve a good end, he didn't seem very conflicted about. He had a cold, flat affect once he was in charge. I felt horrible for poor Bart. She exercised her free will and still ended up a killing machine, and she didn't even get her friend back.

I'm guessing the intention was to convey Dirk belongs somewhere in the rainbow fam, considering the pattern on his jacket in an episode specifically called Nice Jacket? Unless that title was referring to something else. But there were a couple other times during the season I remember thinking that's what they were going for.

At least we know both dogs are okay. I don't care if they're fictional dogs. I want all dogs to be okay.