Dirk (Stephen Mangan) operates what he calls a "Holistic Detective Agency." While this might sound like some strange new-age shenanigans, it is an extrapolation of quantum mechanics that he has taken out of the subatomic level and applied to a human social level. His technique is based on the "interconnectedness of all things" and, if you pay attention, how apparently separate events and situations are actually joined together in unexpected ways.
For instance, what could Dirk’s case involving a lost cat have to do with a missing genius or some old college friends of his? How could the events that lead to him investigating a programmer that thinks the U.S. government is out to get him possibly be connected to a man whose horoscopes are coming true. Or how about a missing robot, a foreign exchange student and the reason Dirk was expelled from University many years ago. There is even one where all of Dirk’s former clients are dropping dead. Is this somehow related to his inability to pay his bills?
The pilot episode is based on the first book, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. Here, the struggling detective picks up a case to find a missing cat, but soon realizes that his client’s neighbors are two people he knew at University, Richard MacDuff (Darren Boyd, Holy Flying Circus, Imagine Me & You) and Janice (Lisa Jackson). Not believing in coincidences, Dirk stays in contact with MacDuff and Janice and soon learns of their unexpected connection to a missing scientist. As he stumbles from event to event, he eventually comes up with what appears to be a rather convoluted explanation that solves both the man’s and the cat’s disappearance. While it is a laughable solution, his companions are forced to accept it as the only real option, especially when the person who committed the crimes confesses.
After this case, MacDuff decides to throw in with Dirk and become his partner, though their exact roles are the subject of a running gag throughout the four-episode series. MacDuff starts to learn more of Dirk’s unusual investigative tactics when Dirk looks into the death of a soon-to-be client, a software developer that is convinced the Pentagon is after him. Of course, with the man’s death, Dirk starts to wonder if he was onto something after all. What is strange is when a case involving a cheating husband shows up and that leads to yet another case. While apparently disconnected, Dirk works all the angles and once again comes to a conclusion based on all of the events that happen soon after taking on the case.
The third case in this series starts with Dirk being hired by his former college professor as a security consultant. The science department has a wide range of projects it is working on, everything from human-like robots to a fully realized artificial intelligence and an extensive, though somewhat buggy, security system that identifies people based on computer chips embedded under the skin. Dirk and MacDuff’s job is to make sure everything is safe and secure as one of these projects, the robot named after Dirk’s professor’s late daughter, nears completion. Needless to say, the robot goes missing and Dirk feels the need to prove to his former teacher that his trust was deserved. Of course, in the Dirk Gently manner, nothing is very straightforward. The question is, can Dirk use his techniques on a matter that is so close to his own history without letting his feelings get in the way, especially when someone ends up dead.
The final episode, the one starting off with Dirk’s former clients dying, is a pretty hectic story with strangeness hitting Dirk and MacDuff from many angles. Not only is Dirk the only connection to the deaths, but it seems MacDuff is getting annoyed by Dirk’s lack of professionalism and the long string of unpaid bills that follows him. As the Holistic Detective Agency faces bankruptcy and eviction, MacDuff doesn’t know what to do with his partner. The detectives have two final cases, the one involving their former clients, and a new one focusing on a woman who is being stalked. Oddly enough, Dirk isn’t quite as worried about the former case. In fact, he solves that particular case rather quickly, but what he doesn’t know is how will it help him solve the murder case.
I enjoyed the show, even if it was short. The first episode really captured the original book and I think Mangan and Boyd captured the two central characters really well. While the plots of the three other episodes didn’t feel quite as quirky as the original, they still felt like viable Dirk Gently cases. If you’ve read the Dirk Gently books, or if you are a fan of Douglas Adams’ works in general, then you should check out this show, though I don’t think there is quite enough content here to buy the DVD.
