‘Dirk Gently’ finds holistic purpose in its Season 1 finale

Beneath the quirky and oftentimes confusing exterior of “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency,” the BBC America program established that it has enough heart and gumption to maintain a cohesive story throughout its first season.

In Saturday’s (Dec. 10) finale, titled “Two Sane Guys Doing Normal Things,” every last question gets answered as Lydia Spring (Alison Thornton) is transported back into her normal body. Yes, Todd (Elijah Wood) and Dirk (Samuel Barnett) — with the unexpected help of Bart (Fiona Dourif) and Ken (Mpho Koaho) — successfully send Zackariah Webb’s (Julian McMahon) machine back in time. And yes, Estevez (Neil Brown Jr.) comes to terms with the weird truth of the whole thing while helping Farah (Jade Eshete) take down Rimmer (Aaron Douglas) and his bald man posse.

But while all the loose ends are tied up, the real highlight of the season finale is a simple realization that amid all the chaos, “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” was really about a group of broken people coming together and finding their real purpose in life.

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Not only did we see each psychic from Project Blackwing find acceptance in some way (Bart’s bond with Ken was quite delightful to behold), we also watched as Farah came to the realization that she successfully followed through on Patrick Spring’s wishes — resulting in a hefty sum of money paid her way by Lydia herself. The many affirmations doled out to the crew, whether it’s Dirk’s rekindled partnership with Todd or Todd’s own personal growth from the outset of the series, succeeded at finally connecting the audience with these random heroes.

And that’s the most important thing to remember moving forward as it looks like the stakes will be even higher leading into Season 2. Just when we were getting used to Estevez’s bombastic ways, Sgt. Friedkin (Dustin Milligan) takes him out. Continuing the mission to kill any surviving members of Project Blackwing — or those aware of its existence — a real threat has been posed to every wacky psychic we’ve been introduced to throughout the show’s first eight episodes.

Dirk’s missing, the Rowdy 3 are facing off against the military, Bart and Ken find themselves at a heavily armed — seriously, is a tank necessary? — road block and Amanda (Hannah Marks) is running for her life. Oh, and if that’s not bad enough, it looks like that fake disease Todd made up isn’t as fake as he thought.

Now that their initial investigation is over with, it looks like Season 2 may be focusing solely on the hunt — for Dirk, for Amanda, for all these real important, life-threatening answers. We can’t wait.

“Dirk Genty’s Holistic Detective Agency” will return in 2017 to BBC America.

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