History Series / DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency

** Lux Dujour and the Men of the Machine are the primary threat in season 1.

* BuffySpeak: "Thing" gets used a lot by multiple characters, as shown [[https://holistic-grace.tumblr.com/post/157113625728/toddbrotzmans-dghda-no-one-knowing-what-the here]].

* CallBack:
** Midway through season two, Todd and Dirk reminisce about their previous adventure in season one. "Remember when [[spoiler:we went back in time]]?"
** When Hugo is yelling at Mr. Priest, "Do not take the shot! Do not take the shot!", he briefly gets a funny look on his face. He's obviously recalling his introduction in season one, when he himself was told "Do not take the shot," and he took the shot.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: The city/county of Bergsberg, which means "Mountain Mountain" in German.

** [[spoiler:At the end of season two, they gain a sixth member, The Beast, who will most likely fit the TeamPet slot.]]

* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: The natives of the fantasy dimension introduced in season 2 wield weapons which, although sword-like in size, are basically ''giant scissors''. One warrior wields a giant ballpeen hammer.

* LeftHanging: Season 2 (and the series as a whole, if it doesn't end up getting UnCancelled) ends without addressing the inciting incident of the whole story arc: [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse where did the boat come from?]]

** [[spoiler:Scott Riggins calls Dirk Slavd; in the books, Svlad Cjelli is Dirk's real name.]]

* PetTheDog: After menacingly following Amanda in the second and third episode, [[spoiler:the Rowdy Three step in when Amanda has a freakout after purchasing groceries. They beat up some teenagers trying to record Amanda and do something strange to her mind, but ultimately Amanda wakes up in her own garage unharmed with her groceries right next to her. From that point on, it becomes clear that they're not villains]].

** It's basically one of Bart's powers. If you're someone that she's meant to kill then you can't harm her. Best illustrated in Wendimoor where she just walks nonchantly through the hail of bullets that the mooks she's meant to kill there are firing at her. None even graze her.

* RelationshipUpgrade: Todd and Farah, between the first and second seasons, confirmed when Farah recalls that time she and Todd made out in episode five.

* DarkReprise: The song "First Things First" by Neon Trees is featured twice in the first series. At first it seems to refer to the characters finally seeing the benefits of their hard work, but at the end of the finale it shows up to highlight a moment of LaserGuidedKarma when [[spoiler:Todd finally experiences the terrible symptoms of the disease he once pretended to have.]]

* DumbMuscle: Hugo Friedkin doesn't even bother to read the mission briefings and files he is handed (it is strongly implied that he simply NeverLearnedToRead), has little-to-no attention span or patience, and just wants to shoot all of the subjects. This is a bit deconstructed in the second season when he's left in charge of Project Blackwing and is seriously stressed about having absolutely no idea what to do.

* NonIndicativeName: The Rowdy Three. There are four of them upon their first introduction and six by the time the series ends. They are quite rowdy, though.

* NeverLiveItDown: [[invoked]] A RunningGag in the show has Rimmer asking Dirk and Todd why they burnt his house down. They never have an answer because they did it accidentally and they didn't know they were involved with it.

** [[spoiler:Hugo]] is a more straight-forward example, but it doesn't become fully obvious until the first season finale.

* FBIGoodCIAEvil: Downplayed. The Blackwing agents have some redeeming qualities but are ultimately involved in shady, unethical operations. The two FBI agents from the beginning of the show are relatively brave and honest men going after a drug dealer (although one is an adulterer who cruelly breaks up with his mistress and both are slightly condescending to the local police). [[spoiler: This gets further shaken up when one of them is captured by the Men Of The Machine, who BodySwap into him and use his body to go around committing crimes and furthering their cause, while putting his original soul inside a mouse which is apparently eaten by Lydia/Rapunzel]].

* AllThereInTheManual: In between seasons 1 and 2 is a Dirk Gently comic series following the exploits of an alternate counterpart of Dirk. Said exploits explain some background of the first season and foreshadow plot elements of the second season.

** Dirk mentions being on cases involving a couch and an encounter with Thor, both references to events in the books by Douglas Adams.

* CIAEvilFBIGood: The FBI were portrayed as a part of the good guys (even if the pair of agents shown are a bit dickish) [[spoiler: before they got killed. The CIA serves as the Greater Scope Villain in season 1.]]

* CIAEvilFBIGood: The FBI were portrayed as a part of the good guys [[spoiler: before they got killed. The CIA serves as the Greater Scope Villain in season 1.]]

* BareYourMidriff: Lydia Spring.

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' is a BBC America science-fiction detective series based on the Douglas Adams novel series of the same name. Written by Creator/MaxLandis, it stars Samuel Barnett as the eponymous detective Dirk Gently and Creator/ElijahWood as his reluctant sidekick Todd. The series is a co-production between BBC America and Netflix, with episodes airing on BBC America in the United States on October 22, 2016, and all episodes being available to stream on Netflix worldwide outside of the United States. Both seasons are also available on DVD.

The show ran from 2016 to 2017, for a total of 18 episodes. However, there is a petition for a Season 3[[https://www.change.org/p/netflix-renew-dirk-gently-s-holistic-detective-agency-for-season-3-future-seasons]]

* AlphaBitch: It turns out that Susie Borten was one in high school, but a series of bad decisions have caused her to become a put-upon loser, and she now sees herself as a bullied underdog.

** Season 2 has The Mage, a powerful wizard who wants to conquer his home dimension, [[spoiler:but he becomes content and wants to cause suffering on Earth instead, leaving Suzie Boreton to be the main villain.]]

* {{Cliffhanger}}: After a subverted AndTheAdventureContinues ending (Ken continues to stick around with Bart, Dirk talks to Farah about making a detective agency with Todd joining, Amanda joining the Rowdy Three, Riggins telling Dirk that he was proud of him), it's revealed that [[spoiler:Hugo has put most of the pieces together, killing TheMole in the police station and shooting Estevez multiple times, attempting to round up the subjects of Riggin's research (including Dirk and the Rowdy Three), and it turns out Todd has developed pararibulitis for real. Given Estevez' death after all he went through it becomes something of a DownerEnding]]

** Susie's various snarky sweatshirts don't seem very in-character for such a downtrodden sadsack, but we eventually learn that she was an AlphaBitch before her life went to hell.

** The Rowdy Three consisting of four, then five, and later six members may be a reference to the Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series being referred to as an "increasingly inaccurate Hitchhiker's Trilogy."

*** [[spoiler:The stress toy from season 1 is really Mona Wilder the shapeshifter.]]
*** [[spoiler:There was a second "boy."]]

*** [[spoiler:Susie was a terrible person before her life went to hell]].

* BrokenWindowWarning: The Rowdy 3 introduce themselves to Amanda by tossing a brick through her window, with a note attached saying simply "Hello".

* AndIMustScream: A comparatively merciful example, as befitting Wendimoor's SugarBowl nature, but the Mage was originally destined to be trapped on a train eternally orbiting the sky. [[spoiler: When Suzie replaces him as Wendimoor's BigBad, she ends up with this fate instead.]]

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Francis Cardenas, the creator of Wendimoor, resurrects all of its murdered citizens after he returns to the land.]]

** Season 2 has The Mage, a powerful wizard who wants to conquer his home dimension, [[spoiler: but he becomes content and wants to cause suffering on Earth instead, leaving Suzie Boreton to be the main villain.]]

** In the second season finale, Lord Badevil has just impaled [[spoiler: Hugo]] and our heroes are cornered... until [[spoiler: BoomHeadshot and Ken enters the picture. Subverted, however. Turns out it's not BigDamnHeroes but rather MakeWayForNewVillains as Ken is now a bigger threat than Badevil was]].

** Season 2. [[spoiler: Wendimoor is at peace with Francis/Moloch returned to his throne; Hobbs and Tina are okay; Dirk, Todd, and Farah finally start the detective agency together; and the Rowdy 3 are off on a holistic road trip. But Ken is evil now, Bart is back in Blackwing, and there's still the underlying issue that the universe is somehow broken. Oh, and Hugo has apparently AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence, so make of that what you will.]]

* BloodStainedLetter: Zachariah Webb received a note [[spoiler: which has Dirk's blood on it.]]

* BolivianArmyCliffhanger: [[spoiler: The first season finale ends with the government hunting down the Project Blackwing subjects, with Hugo personally going after Dirk.]]

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Wendimoor is colourful and quirky and everything in it is childish and silly. That doesn't stop its inhabitants from being involved in a brutal, bloody family feud, FantasticRacism is rampant, and it's on the brink of being conquered by the EvilOverlord. [[spoiler: It wasn't supposed to be like that, but with its creator unable to maintain it, [[RealityEnsues it spiraled out of control over the course of the decades]] - resulting in, among other things, the HarmlessVillain actually ''winning'' all the battles he was meant to lose.]]

** [[spoiler: Zachariah Webb/Patrick Spring]] guns down dozens of cultists without breaking a sweat.
** The universe makes sure that Bart vs ''anyone'' is this, [[spoiler: except when she tries to kill Dirk, who she's supposed to protect.]]

* DarkReprise: The song "First Things First" by Neon Trees is featured twice in the first series. At first it seems to refer to the characters finally seeing the benefits of their hard work, but at the end of the finale it shows up to highlight a moment of LaserGuidedKarma when [[spoiler: Todd finally experiences the terrible symptoms of the disease he once pretended to have.]]

* EyeColourChange: [[spoiler: Entering "the backstage of reality" does this, giving you [[ExoticEyeDesigns enlarged irises with strange black symbols for pupils.]] Todd and Amanda get pale blue eyes, while Freidkin gets red.]]
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Ken becomes the leader of Operation Blackwing in Season Two]].

** [[spoiler: At the end of season two, they gain a sixth member, The Beast, who will most likely fit the TeamPet slot.]]

** [[spoiler: Amanda's brief visions of the future when the Rowdy Three ease her hallucinations the first time feature a lot of this, though the most notable and prominent is Hugo with blood on his hands saying "I'm just doing my job."]]

* FracturedFairyTale: [[spoiler: Wendimoor was originally a normal fairy-tale land where good prevailed and evil was defeated, but slowly became more and more violent as time went on thanks to its creator, Francis Cardenas, accidentally giving the evil Mage an army instead of a few soldiers, allowing him to easily win battles he was supposed to lose. Things only got worse when Francis had a stroke and unintentionally created portals between Wendimoor and Earth, which the Mage used. He introduced modern day weapons like guns to the fantasy land and used his Knights to further divide the two feuding families, which ultimately resulted in the massacre of most of the land's citizens. Wendimoor eventually reverts back to its original state when Francis returns and sets things right.]]

* GrandfatherParadox: [[spoiler:[[DiscussedTrope Briefly explained]] by Dirk to Lydia as to why they need to complete the {{Stable Time Loop}}.]]

** Of the Men of the Machine plot, [[spoiler: The Supreme Soul (Rainey), is the one who first found the machine and started the soul-swapping cult,]] even though Gordon Rimmer is the foe of Dirk and company.
** Of the series as a whole, it's Wilson, the well-dressed young woman whom Blackwing reports to, dismissed Riggins, put Hugo in charge of the program, and eventually [[spoiler: a post FaceHeelTurn Ken]]. And the main cast has never even met her.
* HappilyEverAfter: [[spoiler: Silas and Panto get their happy ending together after order is restored to Wendimoor. It makes sense, given they live in a fairy-tale.]]
* HaveWeMetYet: [[spoiler: Gordon Rimmer has been introduced to Dirk and Todd despite neither of the two having met him, because of time travel.]]

** Bart undergoes this after [[spoiler: she fails to kill Dirk Gently and is injured by Farah in the process, something that was previously established as being impossible.]]
** Estevez after [[spoiler: Zimmerfield's death.]]
** Dirk in season 2 after [[spoiler: mistakenly believing that “the boy” has been killed.]]

* ImmortalAssassin: Bart Curlish. No matter what situation she finds herself in, she manages to get out without a scratch and continue the hunt. [[spoiler: At least until she tries to kill someone she's supposed to protect]].

** [[spoiler: Played frighteningly straight with Hugo revealing his plans to round up the Project Blackwing subjects to a dying Estevez.]]

* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Dirk, [[spoiler: already dying from blood loss due to being hit by an arrow, gets shot with yet another arrow in the same shoulder. His reaction is just an exasperated "Really?" before dropping to the floor.]]
* MakeWayForTheNewVillains: [[spoiler: The first season ends with the government going after the Project Blackwing subjects, including Bart and the Rowdy Three.]]
* MassOhCrap: [[spoiler: The Kellum knights spray bullets towards Bart while she calmly walks towards them. And then she picks up a chainsaw, they start backing away quick.]]

** An actual heartwarming one in regards to the Rowdy Three. [[spoiler: Amanda is having an attack of her disease. Cue the Rowdy Three showing up in front of her garage. The audience thinks "oh boy," but they end up helping her. The kicker? When the leader tells Amanda that "she doesn't have to put up with that shit anymore."]]

* MyFutureSelfAndMe: [[spoiler: In the first episode, Todd sees his future self and thinks it's a vision. In the penultimate episode, Dirk meets his past self and tells him vague references to the events happening, setting the StableTimeLoop.]]

** [[spoiler: Scott Riggins calls Dirk Slavd; in the books, Svlad Cjelli is Dirk's real name.]]

** There are 42 [[spoiler: Blackwing projects.]]

** An innocuous enough phrase, but before jumping to [[spoiler:the portal into Blackwing HQ]], Dirk tells himself "Don't Panic," the same words printed on the front page of the ''Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', Douglas Adams' other famous book series.

* PayEvilUntoEvil: Bart's modus operandi. According to herself, she has never killed someone who didn't deserve it. As the show progresses, it increasingly suggests that she's telling the truth. [[spoiler: In fact, the one time she decides ''not'' to kill someone she was supposed to kill, that person turns out to not only be horrible but TheDragon.]]
* PetTheDog: After menacingly following Amanda in the second and third episode, [[spoiler: the Rowdy Three step in when Amanda has a freakout after purchasing groceries. They beat up some teenagers trying to record Amanda and do something strange to her mind, but ultimately Amanda wakes up in her own garage unharmed with her groceries right next to her. From that point on, it becomes clear that they're not villains]].

** The police are trying to do their jobs, and quickly see that that certain things cannot be a coincidence, but in a case with body swapping, psychics, and time travel, they find themselves in over their heads. [[spoiler: becomes {{Justified}} when we learn that the police chief is a member of the Men of the Machine and has been deliberately derailing their efforts.]]

* PreMortemOneLiner: Bart gets a pretty succinct one [[spoiler: during her Big Damn Heroes moment in episode 8]]:

* PreserveYourGays: [[spoiler: Panto and Silas are shot to death when the Kellum knights attack. However, they - along with everyone else in Wendimoor - are later resurrected by Francis Cardenas upon his return to the dimension, meaning they get their happy ending.]]

* ReasonYouSuckSpeech: Todd delivers a highly satisfying one to [[spoiler: Suzie]] in the second season finale, telling her that far from being the heroine of the story like she keeps insisting that she is, she's not even properly the ''villain'' - she's just some random psycho who keeps showing up and ruining things for others, and no one can figure out why she's doing it or what she's got to do with anything.

*** [[spoiler: The dog is Lydia Spring.]]
*** [[spoiler: Todd never had pararibulitis.]]
*** [[spoiler: Zachariah Webb is Patrick Spring.]]
*** [[spoiler: There's only one time machine, there just seems to be more than one because it's in different places chronologically.]]
*** [[spoiler: Before meeting Todd, Dirk encountered his future self, who told him to find Todd and gave him the hint of "Three questions, one answer"]]
*** Hilariously subverted when it turns out [[spoiler: [[BigBad Gordon Rimmer]] knows even ''less'' than Dirk and Todd do about the whole situation.]]

*** [[spoiler: The stress toy from season 1 is really Mona Wilder the shapeshifter.]]
*** [[spoiler: There was a second "boy."]]
*** [[spoiler: The Boy was Project Moloch, who was in Blackwing the whole time.]]
*** [[spoiler: Susie was a terrible person before her life went to hell]].

* SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler: Gordon murders a woman just to prove that he's left his days as Lux Du Jour behind and assert his dominance to his followers.]]

* StandardPoliceMotto: The Berberg Sheriff's Office's motto is "Protect and Serve," coincidentally just like the LAPD. For all we know, Sheriff Hobbs picked it out himself based on his own small reference pool.

** [[spoiler: Hugo ends up on the receiving end of this from Ken during season 2.]]

* ThoseTwoGuys: The missing persons department, the FBI agents, and the Blackwing project guys. Later {{Subverted}} when [[spoiler: one of the FBI agents is murdered and the other's body is used as TheMole for Gordon, Hugo is promoted to head of the mission to round up the subjects of Blackwing, and Zimmerfield is killed.]]

* TimeTravel: [[spoiler: A key plot point of season 1.]]

* TraumaCongaLine: Poor Lydia Spring...[[spoiler: She gets kidnapped, gets turned into a dog, watches her father get killed, lives on the streets for weeks, gets thrown off a bridge, and the list goes on. She seems none the worse for wear in the end, however -- although she is ''pissed''.]]

** “Find the boy” for Season 2.
** “Fate and chance are not mutually exclusive,” and variants thereof, in Season 2.

** Of the series as a whole, Wilson. Don't know who that is? It's the well-dressed young woman whom Blackwing reports to, dismissed Riggins, put Hugo in charge of the program, and eventually [[spoiler: a post FaceHeelTurn Ken]]. And the main cast has never even met her.

** An innocuous enough phrase, but before jumping to [[spoiler:the portal into Blackwing HQ]], Dirk tells himself "Don't Panic", the same words printed on the front page of the ''Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', Douglas Adams' other famous book series.

'''Dirk:''' ''[beat]'' [[OhCrap Oh bloody hell]], [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant is that what that means]]?

* PreMortemOneLiner: Bart gets a pretty succinct one [[spoiler: during her BigDamnHeroes moment in episode 8]]:

* ThreateningShark: [[spoiler:The murder weapon is a kitten with the soul of a hammerhead shark. [[ElementalEmbodiment Which it can project as a lightning shark.]]]]

* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: The natives of the fantasy dimension introduced in season 2 wield weapons which, although sword-like in size, are basically ''giant scissors''. One warrior wields a giant ballpoint hammer.