Dirk Gently Recap: Space Rabbit

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency returned this weekend, and things aren’t any less odd than they were last season.

We start with a fantasy sequence in the land of Wendimoor, where a conflict between two feuding families has led to a violent sword…erm…scissor fight between Panto Trost (Christopher Russell) and Dengamor family soldiers. Silas Dengamor (Lee Majdoub) arrives, and we soon learn that Silas and Panto are lovers at the heart of this conflict. Panto escapes to fulfill a prophecy; he must find Dirk Gently (Samuel Barnett).

Dirk Gently (Samuel Barnett) and Hugo Friedkin (Dustin Milligin). Photo by BBCAmerica/Katie Yu

Dirk, aka Project Icharus, has been undergoing testing by Project Blackwing, which Hugo Friedkin (Dustin Milligin) is ineptly overseeing. Dirk tries to convince Friedkin of the futility of the psychic tests on a holistic detective. Friedkin is as clueless as ever though.

Todd and Farah are on the run and headed to Bergsberg in search of Dirk. Todd is now a believer in the connectedness of all things, but Farah’s still skeptical. Elsewhere, Amanda is seeing strange visions while she and Vogel search for missing members of the Rowdy 3.

While Farah meets her brother and tries to explain the insane events of last season, Todd is approached by a gregarious local Sheriff. Talking to the Sheriff, Todd has an attack of pararibulitus. Farah bundles him into the car and they take off. But Todd has dropped his bottle of medication, and has sparked the curiosity of even this trusting sheriff.

Next we meet Suzie (Amanda Walsh), a miserable mom dealing with a teenage son’s temper tantrum. Soon she passes Todd, and then Bart, on the way to work, where she’s berated by an angry boss.

Suzie Boreton (Amanda Walsh). Photo by BBCAmerica/Ed Araquel

Following the incident with Sheriff Hobbs, Farah and Todd are hiding out in a hotel. Farah is freaking out, and Todd’s newfound faith in the interconnectedness of all things is not reassuring her.

Back at Blackwing, Friedkin questions the suckiness of his new assignment, before questioning Project Alpha, or as we know him, Ken, who is trapped in a taxi that has apparently been used as his prison. Ken is being held because they assume he must have some powers to survive traveling with Bart. In response to a rant by Friedkin about how much of a bummer his new job is, Ken tries make Friedkin understand that everything is connected. Elsewhere in the Blackwing facility, Dirk dreams of an ideal rescue by Todd and Farah, but wakes to find Blackwing agents instead.

Susie is at work in Bergsberg when a strange man in a white suit (John Hannah) comes in. After violently killing her boss, the man questions Suzie on an increase in strangeness in her life.

Farah and Todd have now gone to explore an abandoned house while Dirk chats with an unconscious fellow test subject, who is an old acquaintance. Dirk warns Friedkin that events are probably already in motion and that Friedkin is powerless to control fate.

Deputy Tina Tevito arrives at work high and drunk after another long day where nothing happened, to have the Sheriff tell her that now things are different, something has happened. Farah desperately tries to rein in Todd, who is frantically seeking signs in the universe.

Sherlock Hobbs (Tyler Labine) and Todd (Elijah Wood). Photo by BBCAmeria/Katie Yu

Susie is confronted by a group of men who have been sent to kill her with what appears to be a magic wand. However, the wand isn’t working. She is saved from death by other means when Bart appears and slices the men up. Bart is searching for Ken. As Bart rants at the universe, Susie picks up the magic wand. When she points it at Bart, she discovers that the wand works for her.

After several hours of rabbit hunting, Farah intervenes. She warns Todd of his reliance on fate and its ambivalence towards the individuals it affects. The conversation is cut off when a car suddenly falls out of a nearby tree.

As the episode ends, we see Mr. Mage arrive at the abandoned house, Susie is learning about her magic wand, and Amanda and Vogel are still on the road. A strange woman appears and tells Dirk that he must “Find the boy,” after which Dirk vanishes.

This recap does not do justice to the hilariously bizarre season premier and its host of new characters, so you should probably just go watch it and see for yourself. Episode 1 is streaming now on BBC America.