History Series / DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency

Has a [[Characters/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency Character Page]] that needs some attention.

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

** 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]].

* CIAEvilFBIGood: The FBI agents are portrayed as a part of the good guys, even if they are a little bit dickish [[spoiler: before they get killed. The CIA serves as the GreaterScopeVillain in season 1.]]

** Members of Blackwing sometimes address Dirk as "Slavd." In the books, Svlad Cjelli is Dirk's real name.

* 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.]]

* ShoutOut: A couple to ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' show up in the second season:
** The dream sequence where Farah and Todd rescue Dirk has Todd mentioning that they're going to meet up with Thor, who was a semi-regular background character in the latter half of the "Trilogy".
** In the second episode, Farrah said the car's odometer had only 42 miles on it. 42 is the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
** The Boretons' dog is named Agrajag, a character from ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything''.
** The phrase "Hoopy Frood" is a colloquialism in Wendimoor.
** Right before Dirk [[spoiler:is about to jump into a portal directly to Blackwing HQ]], he says one of the more famous quotes from the Guide: "Don't Panic."

* 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.]]

* DareToBeBadass: Dirk advises Todd that he needs to stop reacting and work towards bettering his life.

* HisNameReallyIsBarkeep: Discussed. In season two, Hugo realizes that his assistant is actually a lieutenant... Lt. Assistant.

* PrettyLittleHeadshots: Just about everybody who catches a bullet in the show takes it between the eyes, leaving a neat little hole and very little mess.

** Season 1. [[spoiler:The girl is safe, the time travel loop is closed and the machine will never be used again. But Friedkin has taken over Project Blackwing, Dirk and the Rowdy 3 are captured, and Todd is having a pararibulitus episode. Oh, and Todd and Farrah are wanted by the FBI.]]

* CIAEvilFBIGood: The FBI agents are portrayed as a part of the good guys, even if they are a little bit dickish [[spoiler: before they get killed. The CIA serves as the Greater Scope Villain in season 1.]]

* 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.]]

** 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.]]

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: At the end of season 1, Bart and Ken come face to face with Blackwing operatives, who have them surrounded on a road with soldiers, trucks, and a '''tank.''' The last we see is Bart picking up a rock. The next season, we learn that somehow, [[spoiler:she escaped.]]

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the novels, Dirk is described as short, overweight and dumpy, and one character even find him "hideously unattractive." In the show, played by Samuel Barnes, he's tall, slender and conventionally attractive.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Pararibulitus is a fictional disease.

* CorruptCop: Estevez thinks [[spoiler:his boss]] is in on the conspiracy and he is shown to be correct.

* During a breakdown, Hugo points his pistol at his temple. It's not clear if he's intentionally doing it because he's suicidal, or if he's too stupid or distracted to realize what he's doing.

* RunningGag: Dirk refers to any potential clues or plot points as "''things''." This causes him to make statements like, "This... is a ''thing!''" Todd joins in on the act, occasionally asking, "Is this a ''thing''?" They sometimes argue about whether something is or isn't "a ''thing''." In season two, Amanda even asks a person, "Are you... a ''thing''?"

* TheWisePrince: all four of the Trost and Dengdamor heirs (Panto, Silas, Farson and Litzbitz) are portrayed as being against having a pointless war, and generally more moral and intelligent than their respective surviving parents.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Yeah, Todd did steal from Dorian. But instead of evicting him and calling the police, Dorian trashes his car and then threatens him with a gun.

* EnterStageWindow: How Todd is introduced to Dirk, complete with a genuine & enthusiastic "Hi!" from the latter, while he's still halfway in. Cue Todd [[RealityEnsues freaking out over a complete stranger climbing into his apartment uninvited.]]

* GirlyRun: When Ken is being chased by Bart in the first episode, he demonstrates a decidedly unimpressive running style. It's made all the worse by the fact that Bart, who [[GenderBlenderName the name notwithstanding]] ''is'' [[DarkActionGirl a girl]], runs a lot more skillfully (and quickly catches up with him).

* 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]].

* MoodWhiplash:
** 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."]]
** The season 1 finale; just when it seems that all's well that ends well, [[spoiler:Hugo]] shows up and [[spoiler:shoots Estevez]].

* 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.]]

* NeverBringAKnifeToAGunfight: At the trade-off in episode 2, Todd mentions that Gordon has a gun. Dirk proudly produces a Swiss army knife and invokes the phrase.
--> '''Dirk:''' You know what they say about bringing a knife to a gunfight?\\
'''Todd:''' That it's... bad?\\
'''Dirk:''' ''[beat]'' [[OhCrap Oh bloody hell]], is that what that means?

* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Hugo Friedkin's dimwittedness and TriggerHappy attitude are played as a joke for the majority of the first season –- until [[spoiler:he replaces Riggins as the head of the Black Wing project, sends soldiers to capture all psychics (including Dirk, Bart, and the Rowdy Three), and shoots Estevez in cold blood]].

* PreMortemOneLiner: Bart gets a pretty succinct one [[spoiler:during her Big Damn Heroes moment in episode 8]]:
--> '''Mook:''' Who's that, Ed?\\
'''Bart:''' ''[beat]'' Yo. ''[shoots Ed]''

* TheWallsAreClosingIn: In Episode 4, Todd and Dirk are trapped in a room where walls of light bulbs start closing in. [[spoiler:They get out of it by placing their light bulb into an empty socket which turns into a doorknob.]]

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

* DunceCap: In "Little Guy, Black Hair," Farah and Todd are both made to wear these for their execution. They even have "DUNCE" written on them.

* HeroicBSOD:
** 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.]]

** Subverted. Gordon has Dirk, Todd and Webb's machine in his grasp. Dirk expects him to start a villainous MotiveRant outlining his end goals and explaining the answers to all their questions for them. [[NotSoDifferent Instead he freaks out and immediately begins grilling them about all the same questions they have and more.]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: Two jerks at the supermarket see Todd's sister freaking out and decide to film her and make fun of her instead of actually help. Cue a heavily-graffitied van pulling up, four thugs stepping out, trashing their car, smashing their phone, and roughing them up. That'll teach ya!

* 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.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** Todd is remorseful for his landlord's death, feeling that his actions ultimately led to it.
** He also [[spoiler:faked having pararibulitis when he was in college so his parents would give him money without him needing to work. And after he bled his parents dry (without realizing), Amanda started presenting ''real'' symptoms.]]

* 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 neatly packed beside her. From that point on, it becomes clear that they're not villains]].

* 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.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler:Zachariah Webb]] wages a stupendously glorious and catastrophic one against the Men of the Machine during the penultimate episode.

* 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.]]

* ShootTheTelevision: In "Little Guy, Black Hair," a cursed television has Suzie Borton's husband, Bob, in a trance. When Farah and Tina discover this, the Mage speaks to them through the television and then he and Suzie direct Bob to kill them. Farah shoots the television to pieces, ending the curse.

* SpeakInUnison: [[spoiler:Dirk and Bart when they meet face to face.]]

* YouMonster: Todd is not happy when he discovers that [[spoiler:Dirk actually met with Future-Dirk beforehand and told him "Three Questions, One Answer" and to seek out Todd, and that Dirk was hiding the truth about knowing time travel was involved.]]

* ActionGirl:
** Bart routinely kills entire groups of armed individuals without taking a scratch.
** Farah is somewhat less of a OneManArmy, but she's still highly trained in the use of a variety of weapons and tactics.

* AlphaBitch: It turns out that Suzie 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.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Farah has some unspecified mental health issues that prevented her from pursuing a career in law enforcement.

* AxCrazy:
** Bart Curlish seems to be ax crazy, thinking of herself as a "holistic assassin" and kills people because the universe wants her to. Ken tells her that it sounds an awful lot like a psychopathic murder spree. [[spoiler:As the first season plays out, however, it shows increasing proof that she is being guided by some higher power to kill those who need killing.]]
** [[spoiler:Hugo Friedkin]] is a more straight-forward example, but it doesn't become fully obvious until the first season finale.
** The Rowdy Three. They beat the crap out of anyone in their way (including ''police'') while screaming the most insane non-sequiturs.
** Mr. Priest in Season 2 is highly annoyed when sent on a mission that doesn't allow him to kill people. He almost immediately starts trying to kill people anyway.

* BareYourMidriff: Lydia Spring, and sometimes Amanda Brotzman.

* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Dirk spends the first season as a heedlessly optimistic CloudCuckoolander who keeps insisting to more skeptical characters like Todd that everything is connected and will all make sense in the end. The start of the second season sees him have a personal crisis that makes him lose all faith in himself and his methods, forcing Todd to constantly spout his own previous rhetoric at him to keep him from quitting entirely.
* BigBad:
** Gordon Rimmer and the Men of the Machine are the primary threat in season 1.
** Season 2 has The Mage, a powerful wizard who wants to conquer his home dimension, [[spoiler:but he becomes discontent and wants to cause suffering on Earth instead, leaving Suzie Boreton to be the main villain.]]

* BrainlessBeauty: Hugo Friedkin looks like a male model, but is thick as oatmeal.

* BulletDodgesYou: Bart describes her inability to be killed as bullets dodging her.

* CloneDegeneration: Gordon Rimmer points out that some sort of this happened with Gordon's drones. They technically aren't clones, but decades of body-swapping with animals for long periods of time seems to have seriously messed up their minds.
* CloudCuckooLander: Dirk Gently, along with nearly every other former Blackwing subject.
* CoincidenceMagnet:
** Dirk Gently, and pretty much everyone he associates with. His primary method of investigation is do what he want to until something unusual happens around him.
** Bart, being his ShadowArchetype, is also a case.

* DumbMuscle: Hugo Friedkin doesn't even bother to read the mission briefings and files he is handed, 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.

* FatBastard: Gordon Rimmer. At least his body's one.
* FiveTokenBand: The Rowdy Three have one white member, one black member, one Asian member, and one Latino member. They later end up getting a female member ([[spoiler:Amanda]]).

* GenderBlenderName: Bart is a woman. It's apparently short for "Bartine".

* GreaterScopeVillain:
** 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.

* IllGirl: Amanda, Todd's sister, suffers from "pararibulitis", an illness that causes frightening hallucinations and extreme pain. Todd had the same thing ([[spoiler:or so he claimed before Amanda contracted it]]), but his parents spent a fortune on medications for him, leading Amanda to suffer continuously since they are now broke.

* InspectorJavert: The two police detectives, Estevez and Zimmerfield, who believe Dirk and Todd have something to do with with Lydia's disappearance and search for any lead they can.

* IronicName: Sherlock Hobbs, the Bergsberg sheriff, is a pretty poor detective, though he is great at taking notes.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: The Rowdy Three might be ultraviolent anarchists, but they genuinely care about Amanda's well-being and will unload a van load of pain on anyone who tries to harm her.

* MotorMouth: One of Dirk's most noticeable traits is that he doesn't seem to be able to keep his mouth shut, much to Todd's (and nearly everyone else's) annoyance. In fact, Dirk enjoyed Sheriff Hobbs' interrogation, because he never interrupted Dirk.

* MyGreatestFailure: Farah sees Patrick Spring's death as this, since she was kidnapped while looking for Lydia before he was murdered.

* NonIndicativeName: The Rowdy Three. There are four of them upon their first introduction. In season two, only Amanda and Vogel are left free, but they still refer to themselves as the Rowdy Three. By the end of the series, there are six of them. They are always quite rowdy, though.

* OneExtraMember: The Rowdy Three have four members, then five, then six.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Gordon usually has a nasal, sibilant manner of speaking, but when he's really getting dangerous, he adopts a deeper and more confident voice more akin to his Lux Dujour persona. Sometimes this is subverted when he suddenly breaks down again into a nasally whine.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The Rowdy Three seem to suck life force out of Dirk. They're also a rowdy group. [[spoiler:According to Riggins, they're Blackwing subjects under the title "Incubus", and they actually feed on ''psychic energy''. They also feed off of Amanda when she has attacks, which relieves her symptoms.]]
* 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.]]

* PsychoForHire: Priest, who is responsible for rounding up supernatural people for Project Blackwing and takes a perverse joy in attacking his targets. His manic expressions and mannerisms even during normal conversations reveal that he's pretty unhinged.

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Zimmerfield]] is killed in the fifth episode, demonstrating just how dangerous the Men of the Machine are.

* TheStarscream:
** Gordon Rimmer plans to take over Rainey's position as the Supreme Soul.
** At the end of season 1, [[spoiler:Hugo Friedkin usurps Colonel Riggins' command and has all Black Wing subjects arrested]].
** [[spoiler:Hugo ends up on the receiving end of this from Ken during season 2.]]

* ThemeNaming: All of Gordon's mooks have names that rhyme with 'Ed'.

* 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''.]]
* TwoAliasesOneCharacter: ''Three.'' [[spoiler:Zachariah Webb]], [[spoiler:Edgar Spring]] and [[spoiler:Patrick Spring]] are the same person.

* TheWallsAreClosingIn: In Episode 4, Todd and Dirk are trapped in a room where walls of light bulbs start start closing in. [[spoiler:They get out of it by placing their light bulb into an empty socket which turns into a doorknob.]]
* TheWatson:
** This is Todd's role in the story, though he denies it at first.
** Correspondingly, Ken is Bart's Watson.

* YouALLLookFamiliar: All of Gordon's drones share the same bald-headed, bug-eyed appearance and disjointed speech pattern unless their soul's inhabiting another's body, in which case the latter becomes an identifying VerbalTic.

Not to be confused with ''Series/DirkGently'', the other adaption of the Dirk Gently novels.

* {{Adorkable}}:
** Shades of this with both Dirk and Todd as well as Farah and Bart. Farah has some mental issues, and Bart is so hopelessly naive they're endearing in their own way.
** Lydia Spring-[[spoiler:as-Rapunzel]] is this, thanks to a spot-on dog impression by Alison Thornton.

** Mr. Priest in Season 2 definitely qualifies.

** Or anti-heroes in this case, with the Mage's knights about to attack the village of Bofuki Napoo in force, Amanda is able to [[spoiler:pull Martin, Cross and Gripps out of their prison just in time for the battle.]] And they are HUNGRY. Dirk, the Rowdy Three, and the Beast provide another example later in the season, arriving in the nick of time [[spoiler:to save Todd and Amanda from execution.]]

* RelationshipUpgrade: After some obvious mutual attraction in season one, Todd and Farah get into a relationship while running from the law the first and second seasons.

*** [[spoiler:There's only one time machine, there just seems to be more than one because it's in different places chronologically.]]

* ShoutOut: A couple to Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy show up in the second season:

** Right before Dirk [[spoiler:is about to jump into a portal directly to Blackwing HQ]], he says one of the more famous quotes from the Guide:
--> "Don't Panic."

* StandardPoliceMotto: The Bergsberg 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.

* YouMonster: Todd is not happy when he discovers that [[spoiler:that Dirk actually met with Future-Dirk beforehand and told him "Three Questions, One Answer" and to seek out Todd, and that Dirk was hiding the truth about knowing time travel was involved.]]

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Dirk, oh so very much. From being short, overweight, dumpy, and even "hideously unattractive" to one character in the novels, here he's reminiscent of Creator/MattSmith as The Doctor- in other words, tall, slim, and rather handsome, if quirky.