Dirk Gently: Rogue Wall Enthusiasts Recap

Synopsis of 1×03: Things start to come together for Dirk and Todd. Amanda makes herself useful, and Farah finds a secret room. Ken and Curlish keep heading toward Dirk, and they have the universe on their side. 

First, the Supreme Being: remember Lux Du’Jour from last week? The aging rockstar who disappeared 15 years ago? Well, turns out he’s part of the supernatural group that has it out for the Spring family. In fact, 15 years ago, Lux was quite unwillingly “re-designated” to a different body. So bye-bye rockstar and hello Gordon Rivers.

Gordon is the guy we know: glasses, slovenly, super annoying voice. He’s the one who kidnapped Lydia. Except Lydia wasn’t kidnapped. She went to Gordon’s house, the one that Dirk eventually burns down. She went with a letter and some questions. Something about Zachary Webb, her grandfather, and her murdered mother. And she willingly walks into Gordon’s house, later to be presumably “re-designated” to Felicia the corgi.  

Second, Farah. Farah’s father was chief of security for the Spring Family. Farah grew up in and around the Spring estate. When Lydia’s mother was murdered, Farah’s father lost faith in himself, which left Farah emotionally floundering as well. Patrick gave Farah a job as security for him, thus giving her life purpose once more. This would also explain why she knows the difference between a military grade gun and the pistol Dorian had. She’s almost better at connecting the dots than Dirk is! 

Third, the military men. I totally missed that the general from last week’s briefing was the same military guy from the black van. His name is actually Colonel Riggins.  Turns out that’s he’s the head of Operation Black Wing. Their purpose is to seek out individuals with supernatural abilities.

Dirk used to work for them under the code name Flood on something called Project Icarus. Now the is job is to collect all the supernatural people who got released years before. If Riggins doesn’t complete the mission, Operation Black Wing will be shut down and those people will probably be murdered.

Back on track? Great! This week we see Farah and Dirk teaming up as a detective team. They go from the room where Farah was held captive, to the house that Dirk burned down, to the Spring estate. Farah gives Dirk a little history of the house and the grounds. Originally built for an inventor named Zachary Webb, it was bought by Patrick just before his wife died. Patrick loved animals and kept exotic animals on the property.

At the Spring house, Patrick’s lawyer gives Farah something left for her. But his instructions were to only give it to her if she was in the presence of Dirk Gently. Luckily, Dirk’s right there! Farah has received an envelope that reads 3?1! Dirk takes this to mean 3 questions, 1 answer. And after some coaxing, Farah is finally willing to open the envelope.

Inside is a map that leads them to a fake wall and a hidden door. You could maybe call it  a Rogue Wall (see what I did there?). Behind the wall is a room that was built into the house. Zackary Webb, the original owner, must have had it installed. There’s some sort of ancient steam-punk machine in the room. Dirk, using his new magic light bulb that lights up at his touch, find a handwritten note that reads “It started here. It ends here. Save her.” Dirk guesses the “her” is Lydia. They keep searching. 

Let’s catch up with the rest of the gang. Once, Dirk and Farah leave Todd, he goes straight to the cops, Estevez and Eyebrows. I mean Zimmerfield. He tells them about the bridge. Of course they’re suspicious. Not even 10 mins before Todd arrived, the mysterious corgi, the one Todd dropped off the bridge last week,  arrived at the police station. They lean into Todd, and even bring up an old police file from when he reported his band’s equipment stolen. Of course, it wasn’t stolen. Todd traded it to pay for medicine for Amanda.

Amanda is having her own adventures. She goes grocery shopping, by herself, with the Rowdy 3 right behind her. Which comforts her more than scares her. She almost makes it through the store without a problem. Until she sees her hand in flames. She calls Todd for help, then collapses into a delusion that she’s consumed by fire.

When this attracts the attention of camera phone-wielding millennial, the Rowdy 3 come to her aid. They fight off the guys with the phones, drink some of her life force (I think that’s what’s happening) and take her back to her apartment unscathed. By the time Todd gets there, she’s fine. And she has questions for Dirk, presumably about the Rowdy 3. Todd, in his infinities wisdom, suggests she come live with him.

And as the universe would have it, Dirk and Farah are already inside Todd’s apartment, staring at something. With Amanda’s help, they realize it’s a map of utilities and electrical wires. Todd’s building, the building, they are all standing in, sits at the dead center of the map.

Todd is freaked out, and leaves the apartment. Not for the first time, Dirk goes out to bring Todd back into the fold. That’s when Todd reveals that the neighborhood they are in is called Springsborough. As in, Patrick Spring. A coincidence? Dirk thinks not.

Dirk has another confrontation on the way to his car. The Colonel is there, asking for Dirk’s help. He even calls Dirk “Flood.” I’m guessing that’s a former code name. Samuel Barnett was wonderful in this scene. Dirk pleads for his freedom and talks about having friends and solving mysteries. 

Let’s close with an update from Ken and Bart Curlish. While having a Backstreet Boys “As Long As You Love Me” sing-a-long in the car, they are attacked by a biker gang. They wake up to find themselves stripped to their underwear and duct-taped to a small patch of chain link fence. That fence, which is only about 3 feet wide, sits in the middle of nowhere.

One could call it another “Rogue Wall.” Ken is freaking out, but Bart is less concerned. She knows she’ll get out just fine. Ken will probably die in the process and she tells him so. “But I think I’ll miss you,” she says. When the bikers do come back, she kills them all. And somehow, Ken survives. Which means he’s supposed to be here. He’s supposed to help Bart Curlish. He has a purpose now and it involves finding Dirk Gently.

There’s only one question I have left after this week: did Todd ever cash in his lottery ticket?