Dirk Gently - Episode 3

This review can also be found on Step2TV.

A number of Dirk’s former clients have been found dead, expertly murdered seemingly at random, and the only common thread linking them is the holistic detective himself. In Dirk Gently’s third and final episode of the series, Dirk suspects that a former foe may be attempting to frame him for the murders, but the reality is closer to home than he had first anticipated...

Embroiled in a cold war with his cleaning lady and hired to catch the stalker of the woman he himself has been stalking, all the while dashing across rooftops to evade DI Gilks and the rest of the constabulary, Dirk Gently doesn’t exactly pervade great moral integrity. His home is a mess, his financial situation is even worse, and his previous clients are slowly being picked off one by one; but Dirk is more interested in courting his latest client/stalkee, and finding himself a new cleaning lady. However, the fundamental interconnectedness of all things invariably links the seemingly tangential to the more prominent...

Scripted by Jamie Mathieson (Being Human: Educating Creature, Type 4, The Graveyard Shift), the third episode was comprised of equal parts detective drama and gentle comedy, creating the perfect balance and tone for Dirk Gently. The crux of the narrative revolves around Dirk’s personality; he’s feckless, lazy and profoundly cheap, and it’s this that ultimately—albeit tangentially—is both his undoing and his saving grace.

Once again, Stephen Mangan is utterly sublime as Dirk. His timing, delivery and expression feel quintessentially Gently-esque, and despite Dirk’s apparent egotism and fundamentally self-serving nature, he still manages to come off as a vaguely decent human being—if a bit eccentric. Mangan’s approach to Dirk’s eccentricities and quirks makes him a continuous pleasure to watch, which combined with his chemistry with co-star Darren Boyd, provides one of the show’s greatest strengths.

In the role of MacDuff, Darren Boyd just goes from strength to strength throughout this series. After MacDuff admitted in last week’s episode that he believes Dirk might actually be brilliant after all, he finds that his patience with the unscrupulous and self-absorbed detective is pushed to its limits in this episode. Boyd’s performance elevated MacDuff above the status of the everyman, whilst maintaining the character’s inherent audience relatability, as he proves to be both a competent and necessary equal to Dirk. MacDuff continues to be Gently’s only grounding influence, and of much more importance to Dirk than he realises. Capturing a superb dynamic for the duo, Mangan and Boyd expertly riff off of each other’s performance; they really are absolutely perfect in the roles of Dirk and MacDuff.

Overall, although this series may not be as intensely intricate or Science Fiction-y as Douglas Adams’ books, the past three episodes have done Dirk Gently justice and make a fine addition to the holistic detective’s legacy. The series has been fantastically enjoyable, and has literally been the only thing I’ve watched on television this past month. Hopefully we can expect to see this excellent show commissioned for a second series.

If you missed Dirk Gently’s series finale, I hope it was because you had much more pressing matters to take care of, like you’re on the run from the police or your cleaning lady has been trying to kill you. If this is the case, you can watch the last episode on BBC iPlayer here, and should probably re-evaluate your life!

Dirk Gently - Episode 2

This review can also be found on Step2TV.

Years after he was expelled from University, Dirk returns to his old campus with a great sense of achievement. But something unusual is afoot in the halls of St. Cedd’s, and Dirk’s old tutor has been hiding something...

Ostensibly working as a holisitic security consultant for his former mentor, Professor Jericho, Dirk triumphantly returns to St. Cedd’s College (the residence of the time travelling Professor Chronotis in the first Dirk Gently book and in Douglas Adams’ unaired Doctor Who serial, Shada). Startling new advances in artificial intelligence have been made at the University, but despite the technological wonders now adorning the hallowed halls of St. Cedd’s, Dirk is far more interested in learning why he was expelled from the University several years previously. Having briefly neglected his duties as security consultant, Dirk suddenly finds himself embroiled in the case of a missing robot and the murder of Professor Jericho - for which Dirk is the police’s prime suspect.

Written by Matt Jones (Doctor Who: The Impossible Planet, The Satan Pit), the second episode of Dirk Gently felt like it had a more substantial plot than the first. With a more engaging mystery at it’s core and less tangentially linked elements, episode two showed the hapless detective as having a degree of competence (if still rather lackadaisical), as well as revealing a softer side to his otherwise self-serving personality - especially when it comes to an artificial intelligence with a penchant for chips, and salt and vinegar crisps. Although not as overtly silly as episode one, there was still plenty of humour in this episode, juxtaposed with the more dramatic elements that built up the mystery in St. Cedd’s.

The reintroduction of Helen Baxendale as Susan, MacDuff’s girlfriend, helped add another layer of characterisation to MacDuff, who until now seemed to just be Dirk’s unwilling accomplice. With Susan applying for a job in Cambridge, MacDuff finds himself in a quandry; to move to Cambridge and support his girlfriend’s career, or continue working with Dirk at the holistic detective agency, and it becomes clear just why he puts up with Dirk; at the end of the day, he suspects that the seemingly incompetent detective might actually be brilliant after all. And with Dirk solving this case largely on his own merit, rather than relying solely on chance and coincidence, MacDuff may very well be right!

The mantra of the fundamental interconnectedness of all things is ever present, solidifying Gently’s profound belief in chaos and quantum connectivity (along with a refutation of the validity of microscopic quantum connectivity applying to the macroscopic which, incidentally, takes me back to my college days...). However, the interconnectedness wasn’t as tenuously linked as in the first episode, and each element in the web was more logically linked to the others, so one could easily follow Dirk’s train of thought. Some of the elements were overly simplified, such as the seemingly universally adaptable robot, which can connect with both computer terminal and human brain - I have enough difficulty getting my computer to recognise my Android (by which I mean my phone), let alone interface with my neural pathways. But this is Dirk Gently - if you don’t permit yourself to suspend your disbelief and accept the fanciful fiction, it’s not the show for you!

Mangan and Boyd once again magnificently portray Gently and MacDuff. Mangan perfectly captures Dirk’s quirky nature and general unusualness, but this eposide also explored a more serious side to the character when he had felt he had let his mentor down, and his devastation when he learnt more about his expulsion from the University, ultimately leading him to a moment of altruism and self-sacrifice. Meanwhile, the revelation that MacDuff actually believes in Dirk’s abilities gave Boyd another layer of characterisation to bring to the otherwise exasperated MacDuff. They really have been superbly cast.

Lydia Wilson (Princess Susannah in Black Mirror: The National Anthem) played the part of the charming, if unusual and certainly unique, Jane, approaching the role with a brilliant sense of peculiarity and great comic timing. Also guest starring in the episode, Bill Paterson’s short-lived (literally) role as Professor Jericho excellently conveyed the essence of a man with a dark past and troubled by his comatose daughter. Along with the other stars (including Helen Baxendale as Susan Harmison, and the spectacularly named Sylvestra Le Touzel as Emelda Ransome), the entire cast provided consistently strong performances.

Overall, the second episode of Dirk Gently was an engaging, entertaining and all-round enjoyable experience. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode of the series, episode two felt like a stronger and more intriguing piece of television. I’m just disappointed that this series is only three episodes long.

If you missed episode two of Dirk Gently, what the hell's wrong with you?! 
Watch it on BBC iPlayer.

Dirk Gently - Episode 1

This review can also be found on Step2TV.

A paranoid conspiracy theorist found dead in his home, and a man who believes his horoscopes are coming true... To the untrained eye, these two cases appear to be entirely unconnected, but to the mind of Dirk Gently - Holistic Detective - they are fundamentally and intrinsically entwined in the interconnectedness of all things. A little over a year since the pilot aired, Dirk Gently returned to our screens in the first episode of a three part series.

Starring Stephen Mangan as the eponymous detective, Dirk Gently, and Darren Boyd as his assistant, Richard MacDuff, the series kicked off with a complexly tangled web of seemingly separate events, all linked by Gently’s holistic approach, his ability to discern the quantum relationships that bind the elements together, and his proficiency for making lucky guesses.

Having discovered the corpse of paranoid conspiracy theorist and former client, Mr Edwards, Dirk concludes that his client was right - he was being watched by the Pentagon, and had been assassinated. All because of his most recent work, the Reason software; a program that, rather than ordering and analysing all the data to come to the right conclusion, would allow someone to pre-determine the decision they wanted it to come to, and the program would construct an irrefutable set of logical sounding steps to link the premise with the conclusion and justify the unjustifiable. Intent on catching the killer, and paranoid that he and MacDuff are also being targetted by the CIA, Dirk leaves some subtle evidence to trick them into thinking he is now in possession of the prototype software.

However, as seemingly random coincidences cross his path, Dirk ends up taking on two new cases, convinced that they will be in some way connected to the death of Mr Edwards. The first, investigating whether a woman’s husband is cheating on her. The second, helping aforementioned cheating husband determine why his horoscopes have inexplicably been coming true. As Dirk begins to put the pieces together, combined with coincidental but nonetheless vital encounters and “zen navigation” (“Find someone who looks like they know where they’re going and follow them. I rarely end up where I was intending to go, but I often end up somewhere that I needed to be.”), the tangled web of interconnected events surrounding Mr Edwards’ murder begins to unravel...

Throughout, Mangan is the very epitome of Dirk Gently, perfectly capturing the eccentricity and posturing egotism of the hapless detective. Coupled with Boyd’s brilliant portrayal as the exasperated and often sarcastic MacDuff, the two make for quite a double act - you couldn't ask for better casting. They’re like the comedy equivalent of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.

Although the episodes aren’t direct adaptations of Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently novels, the series’ writer and creator Howard Overman - the man behind Misfits - has included quite a few nods to the books. He's encapsulated the essence of Dirk Gently, the weird and wonderful world that was created in Adams’s mind, and even though I’m often sceptical when a writer decides to move the narrative away from the source material, Overman's fresh, new adventures make an excellent addition to the Gently legacy.

All in all, the first episode of Dirk Gently was thoroughly enjoyable and fantastically entertaining - I’m certainly looking forward to the rest of the series!

Save The Arctic

Last week, global oil and gas company, Shell, attempted to send one of the world’s oldest drillships - the Noble Discoverer - to commence oil drilling operations in the Arctic, one of Earth’s most pristine and fragile environments. Instead of seeing the disappearing ice caps as a dire warning of climate change, oil companies see this as an opportunity - previously inaccessible oil reserves are now easier to get to. As our fossil fuels are rapidly depleting, companies that rely heavily on them - such as Shell - are on the verge of collapse, and will probably do anything to drag out their inevitable demise until the bitter, oily end.

Shell’s actions are likely to signal the start of an oil rush in the Arctic, as every oil tycoon on the planet is going to be clamouring to get their hands on what little remains. But in an environment as fragile and also as treacherous as the Arctic, drilling for oil poses a significant environmental risk. Shell insists that in the case of an oil spill, they will be able to recover 90% of the spill; a stupidly optimistic figure to say the least! The Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico a few years back was only able to recover 17%, and that’s in conditions far less dangerous and complex than an Arctic oil spill would face.

For a start, the Arctic is one of the harshest climates on the planet, and an oil spill would be near on impossible to clean up on the ice. Furthermore, it would be far more difficult to drill relief wells in the event of a spill as the Arctic winter would cut suitable drilling conditions dramatically - an oil spill could rage unhindered beneath the ice for two years, causing immeasurable damage to the local ecology, let alone the knock on effect this would have on the global environment. Additionally, Shell has named only nine ships in their oil response plan; 6,000 ships were used to skim oil in the Deepwater Horizon incident. So 6,000 ships only recovered 17% of the oil spilt, but Shell estimates that 9 ships will be able to recover 90% in the event of an oil spill in conditions that will render clean-up operations near-on impossible. Call me insane, but I don’t share their confidence in their recovery plan,and would go so far as to say these are made up figures to justify the risks!

That’s why, just before the Noble Discoverer set sail for Alaska on the 24th February, a band of seven Greenpeace protesters - including Xena the Warrior Princess (aka actress Lucy Lawless) - boarded the ship and occupied the drill tower to stage a peaceful protest. Promoting their activism via Twitter and Greenpeace’s blog, the team were able to gather over 133,000 signatures in protest against Shell in under four days - after which the seven of them were arrested and charged with burglary (despite not actually stealing anything - aside from Shell’s pride, of course!). Their admirable stand to protect the environment in the face of certain legal action has continued to inspire environmental activists the world over, with now 200,000 signatures and counting.
You can read their daily blogs from over the four days on the drill tower here;
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and the final piece.
You can also join the campaign to help save the Arctic by visiting www.greenpeace.org/savethearctic

But the fight to save the Arctic is far from over...