"Rogue Wall Enthusiasts" is an episode of the series Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, the third episode of season 1.
Synopsis[]
Digging into Patrick Spring's past, Farah and Dirk discover the first really big clue into his murder. Todd goes to the police only to learn he has no safe harbor left and Amanda must deal with a looming presence in her life.
Plot[]
Intro: A series of television screens display a raging fire, Zimmerfield holding a pamphlet, Ken Adams and Bart Curlish putting on motorcycle jackets, a lemon behind smashed with a hammer, Scott Riggins putting on his cap, Dirk Gently reading an aged piece of paper, Todd Brotzman looking at him in annoyance and exiting the frame, Estevez holding Rapunzel, Hugo Friedkin saluting and accidentally slapping himself, Farah Black wiping her face and calming herself down, Amanda Brotzman, her face blue and hair auburn, being looked at on all sides by the Rowdy 3, Gordon Rimmer changing into Lux Dujour, Lydia Spring reading something before being dragged out of frame, a poster that says "Mexican Funeral" on it being torn in half, and water filling up the frame from the bottom to the top. They transition to only displaying the fire.
15 Years Ago
Rockstar Lux Dujour arrives at the home of Gordon Rimmer, where Rimmer is tied up and masked and his wife is dead. He greets two bald men standing guard as "brothers," and the woman waiting for him as "Rainey". She, in turn, addresses him as "Pollux". They argue about her perceived sense of superiority over the rest of their group, calling her "the Supreme Soul" despite stating that everyone in the group is just "energy" and therefore equal. She bluntly tells him that they have "found a new location for our temple" and he will be put in Rimmer's body, seeing as his identity is the "key." She states that it is what's best for the "cause," Dujour countering that "if you really cared about our great cause, you would've found Edgar Spring's other machine years ago." She tells Dujour that he has become addicted to his life and has him carried out by the men as he screams "you can't do this to me! I'm a rockstar!"
3 Days Ago
Lydia Spring arrives at Rimmer's door asking for answers, after having received a letter from him. She wants to know about the history of her family, her mother, and their connection to a "Zackariah Webb". Gordon promises to tell her what she wants to know, and she enters his house.
Present Day
Todd and Dirk watch as Farah examines the room she was held in and the bullet hole that saved her life before she tells them to take her to Rimmer's house. Todd and Farah watch the fire department tend to the smoldering remains, and Todd awkwardly tries and fails to flirt with her. She thanks him for saving her life on the bridge and Dirk approaches them. Farah takes his phone and calls Rimmer, He answers and she asks where Lydia is, only for him to ask "do you have the other machine?" He tells her that Patrick Spring had "something that we need" that he was going to hand over before he died, blaming his death on Farah. She demands he give her Lydia, and he tells her that he will see her soon and hangs up. They split up, Dirk going with Farah to Spring's home, Webb Manor, to get her guns. Before they go, he asks Todd if he is mad at him, and Todd admits he does not know, which Dirk takes as an acceptable answer. Farah notes that the bullet that saved her life was military and that Dorian Rothlighter fired an ordinary pistol, leaving her wondering how the military is involved.
Riggins tells Friedkin that they are going to make contact with a Blackwing subject, but Friedkin, having not read the briefing provided to him, does not know what Blackwing is. Riggins explains that in 1988, the CIA made him the head of the project, the purpose of which was to "collect individuals with sensory-perceptive abilities beyond the normal human scale." He gives up trying to explain it when Friedkin misinterprets the use of "scale" as Riggins talking about weight.
Bored while driving, Bart smacks Ken to get him to talk again, who has been silent since Bart killed the man who threatened them. She turns on the radio and Ken recognizes the song, leaving Bart mystified as to the concept of playing a song on the radio more than once. She asks him to sing along to the song and he does, amusing her, until a group of motorcyclists pull up from behind them and shoot out their car's tires.
Inspired by Dirk's insistence that her Pararibulitis should not keep her inside, Amanda walks to the grocery store and leaves a voicemail with Todd telling him what she is doing. The Rowdy 3's van follows her.
As Zimmerfield reads up on Webb Manor, Estevez enters with Rapunzel under his arm, who he says was sitting outside the police station and barking at cops. Before they can think on this, the front desk calls to let them know Todd has come to talk to them, and Zimmerfield tells Estevez to hide the dog.
As they approach Webb Manor, Farah gives Dirk a brief history of the place: it was built for inventor Zackariah Webb in the 1880s before he disappeared, being inhabited by squatters in the 1970s until Spring bought it back from the government in the mid-1990s, just before the death of his wife. Her ties to the family come from her father being head of security. They meet with Spring's lawyer, John Dollow, who seems visibily surprised when he learns Dirk's name.
Todd explains the events of the past couple days to the detectives, but they ignore him and instead reveal they have been investigating him, learning that he stole and sold his old band, Mexican Funeral's, equipment when they were in college, his family's history with Pararibulitis, and him stealing money from Dorian. Now more suspicious of him because he was in Rimmer's house the day it burnt down, they remind him not to leave town. Todd gets a panicked call from Amanda and leaves immediately, the detectives agreeing that he is absolutely guilty of something as he exits.
Amanda has a peaceful shopping trip and triumphantly tells the cashier she made it as she goes to check out, before suffering an attack where her hand catches fire and dropping her pills in a panic. Two men film her collapsing in the parking lot as the Rowdy 3's van pulls up, smashing the men's phone and car before standing over Amanda and inhaling her energy the same way they did Dirk. While they do, she has intense visions of her skin being blue and her hair auburn, Bart shooting at someone, a series of screens making a map, Dirk being struck by electricity, Todd removing a mask of his own face, a hammerhead shark, and Friedkin, covered in blood and surrounded by fire, insisting that "I'm just doing my job." She comes to in her garage, where the Rowdy 3 close the door and leave.
Ken and Bart have been stripped to their underwear and taped to a pole wrapped in a fence in the middle of a field. Ken futilely calls for help as Bart regains consciousness. He asks if she can use her abilities to get them free, and she retorts that he does not believe in them. She points out that for such a jittery man, he tends to hang around with violent types, and tries to calm him by saying that no matter what, all the men who attacked them are going to die, although he very well could die in the process and that she will miss him if he does. This predictably backfires, and he goes back to calling for help.
Dollow gives Farah an envelope from Spring labeled "3?1!", pointing out that Spring ordered it only to be opened if she was with Dirk. Farah, who was the one who found Dirk and connected him with Spring on the latter's orders, realizes Spring knew he was going to die. Dirk furthers her theory by stating Spring did not hire him to prevent his murder—he hired him to solve it. Dirk almost opens the letter until Farah, who he has not noticed is becoming increasingly distressed, takes it back from him. He and Dollow leave the room to give her a moment and she begins to break down, only for Dirk to immediately return, wanting to further the case. She tells him that her father became emotionally distant when he failed to protect Spring's wife, and Spring stepped in as a father figure for her. She begins to berate herself and Dirk lets her work it out before advising her to open the letter, explaining his acute sense of intuition to her. Inside is a crudely done map of the manor, which displays a circle that says "10:01" on it.
Todd (who has run most of the way) arrives at Amanda's, who asks if she can talk Dirk. She judges by his demeanor that he is not telling her something, and he deflects, requesting that she come stay with him.
Farah looks for the circle using the map before Dirk takes it, who has even less success than she does. She takes it back and realizes it is leading her to a wall in the laundry room, which she smashes open to find a clock embedded in the wall behind it. Dirk moves the clock to 10:01 and the wall opens, revealing a hidden laboratory built into the foundation of the house, indicating that it was always there and belonged to Webb. They find what appears to be a generator and a lightbulb that turns on when held at the base, as well as a note. They open it to see that it reads "IT STARTED HERE. IT ENDS HERE. PLEASE SAVE HER." and is written on a piece of Edgar Spring's stationary, who Farah identifies as Patrick Spring's father. She notes that it is Patrick Spring's handwriting. Dirk takes a crank from a table and realizes that "her" is Lydia and Spring planned everything, but wonders why he did not save himself if he knew. Farah, clearly impressed, admits that he is a good detective.
The bikers arrive and Ken begs Bart to do something, but she insists that "it doesn't work like that." The head biker is under the impression that they are hitmen who killed their leader (the man Bart killed in the woods) despite Ken insisting otherwise, and, annoyed with Ken's pleading, he throws a baseball at him. The ball misses and instead hits a pole topped with a large rock that is keeping the two propped up, knocking it loose and making it fall on one of the biker's heads, crushing his skull. Bart, now with a free hand, pulls a biker with a gun to her and causes him to accidentally shoot two of his gang members, before using him as a human shield to stop a shotgun blast. She kills the remaining bikers with a pistol but runs out of ammo before she can kill the leader. He throws a knife at her only for the hilt to hit her, and she picks it up and throws it directly into his chest, killing him. She frees Ken and they get dressed in the dead bikers' clothes. As she begins clearing out one of their bikes for them to take, Ken realizes that she knew what was going to happen and that all of what she says about the universe is real, making her some kind of "killer angel." He further realizes that "I'm with you for a reason. My life is happening for a reason." He concludes that they need to find Dirk, Bart correcting him that they need to kill him. They drive off, Bart in a sidecar.
Todd and Amanda return home to find Dirk and Farah studying blueprints they took from the lab, the latter intrigued and the former irritated. Amanda joins them in studying the blueprints, realizing it is a map of the area delineated by power lines and finding the Ridgely on it to give them a reference point. Todd walks out and Dirk follows him, stating that he is tired of explaining that they are meant to know each other. Todd sighs and explains that the neighborhood he lives in is called "Springsborough", which he believes could be connected to the Spring family. He admits that what Dirk says about the universe may be true and that he "knew that this was going to happen" and that "you really are what you say you are." Dirk asks for Todd's help and he thinks for a long moment.
Dirk heads downstairs, invigorated, (implying that Todd said yes) only to be approached by Riggins, who addresses him as "Svlad" until a visibly distressed Dirk insists that it is not his name anymore. Friedkin attacks him until an enraged Riggins calls him off, before telling Dirk that Blackwing is under review which is the reason why they sprung him from questioning. He insists that going back is in Dirk's best interest, Dirk retorting that "you promised me something and you couldn't deliver." Riggins insists that Blackwing is not their enemy and Dirk is not a detective, not wanting him to get hurt, but Dirk insists that he is on a case and has friends now, telling Riggins to "go back to hiding in the shadows. It was the only thing you were ever good at." He storms out to his car and Friedkin asks if he should go after him, Riggins telling him to wait and that he will "try another angle." Friedkin states that "you'll get them, sir. All of them."
Rimmer talks to someone on the phone as he enters an Animal Transfer Unit building, the place littered with the bodies of bald, tattooed men. He tells whoever is on the other end to bring "him" and a mouse to the place as Lydia sits in the backseat of his car and barks. He gets in his car and hears a news report that a body has been found under the wreckage of his house, and that it has been identified as that of Dujour. He begins to pound the dashboard in frustration and Lydia begins to whine, Rimmer sighing and promising her it is not her fault as he pats her knee. She begins to lick hs hand.
Behind the scenes[]
- Bart Curlish's car crashes into a road sign at the 12min mark, which if taken as canon places the New Children of the Old God biker story episode in eastern Montana. It reads:
Jordan 42
Cohagen 84
Rock Springs 126
Miles City 168
Cast[]
- Samuel Barnett as Dirk Gently
- Elijah Wood as Todd Brotzman
- Hannah Marks as Amanda Brotzman
- Fiona Dourif as Bart Curlish
- Jade Eshete as Farah Black
- Mpho Koaho as Ken Adams
- Michael Eklund as Martin
- Dustin Milligan as Sgt. Hugo Friedkin
- Miguel Sandoval as Col. Scott Riggins
- Neil Brown, Jr. as Detective Estevez
- Richard Schiff as Detective Zimmerfield
- Aaron Douglas as Gordon Rimmer
- Osric Chau as Vogel
- Viv Leacock as Gripps
- Zak Santiago as Cross
- Alison Thornton as Lydia Spring
- Jay Brazeau as John Dollow
- Jessica Lowndes as Jake Rainey
- Mackenzie Gray as Lux Dujour
Crew[]
Notes[]
Deaths[]
- Gordon Rimmer's wife
- Gordon Rimmer
- Seven bikers
Holistic Connections[]
- The scene from 15 years ago explains most of Gordon's conversation in Lost & Found, including the mention of the Supreme Soul.
- Farah discovers that the CIA are connected to her rescue by analyzing the physical aspects of the bullet that entered the room she was being held in.
- Martin's interested in Amanda could be explained as the Rowdy 3 wanting to steal energy from her disease.
- The neighborhood that Todd lives in is named after the Spring family.
- Patrick Spring left a note for Dirk and Farah to save Lydia Spring, having already known that she would be kidnapped.
Other Notes[]
- Amanda asks Todd "don't you remember what it was like?" in reference to her pararibulitis
- After discovering the hidden room Farah says "Patrick Spring didn't build this, Zackariah Webb did".
- Inside the secret room they find a note written in Patrick's handwriting on a piece of paper that has "Edgar Spring" printed on the top
- Dirk picks up the lightbulb and the crank stating that they are very important.
- Friedkin aggressively states that he and Riggins must get all of the escaped subjects.
- Farah mentions that the Spring Estate originally belonged to inventor Zackariah Webb.
- Dirk seems to understand that "3?1!" means 3 questions 1 answer without any thought.
- Riggin's is worried that the CIA may harm the subjects of Project Blackwing if he doesn't acquire him.
Episode Name
- Prior to discovering the hidden room, Dirk wonders if Patrick Spring was a wall connoisseur and if the men who killed him were rogue wall enthusiasts.
Quotes[]
"It's a wall. Was there something about this wall that was special to him? Did he enjoy walls? Did he ever mention a love for walls? Because that could be a clue. Perhaps the person or people who killed Patrick Spring were rogue wall enthusiasts."
-Dirk on the secret passage way
"When they come back, either you're gonna die or I'm gonna kill all them. Or you're gonna die and then I'm gonna kill all them. Or I'm gonna kill some of them and you get killed and then I kill the rest. No matter what happens I want you to know that that's the way it's meant to be."
-Bart on how she can't be killed
References[]
External links[]
- "Rogue Wall Enthusiasts" at BBC America
- "Rogue Wall Enthusiasts" on IMDb