Dirk Gently S1E5 Recap and Review: Very Erectus

Well one of my theories is now debunked. How very appropriate the title of this episode considering Sergeant Hugo Friedkin (Dustin Milligan) said it while talking with Wilson (Fiona Vroom).  More on that later. After this episode, my mind has all kinds of theories. Let’s break this “Very Erectus” episode down shall we? I’ll start Ken (Mpho Koaho) and Bart (Fiona Dourif) because I missed them last week.

Ken and Bart

The pair arrive in Seattle driving an ambulance.  Ken is dressed as a paramedic while Bart has a fireman’s coat on over a dress.  The vehicle ran out of gas in front of a bus stop.  Bart wants to wait until something happens since Dirk Gently isn’t in the immediate area.  Ken convinces Bart to eat at a Chinese restaurant close by.  Bart had never had Chinese food before!  Ken asked if Bart had any money on her and she produced $17,000 dollars in cash! At last my wish has been granted! Ken finds a hotel where they both FINALLY take a shower.  Bart gets antsy because she doesn’t want to miss the opportunity of killing someone she’s meant to kill.  She walks out in a robe with Ken trying to convince her to stay in the room.  There is a guy across the street that she needs to kill.  Fortunately, the man gets hit by a car while trying to cross the street.  It’s also a good thing that enough people are distracted that they don’t notice that Ken is dressed like a paramedic. Bart will hurt him bad if he tries to interfere again.

Project Incubus

Amanda (Hannah Marks) gets picked up by the Rowdy 3 for a joy ride busting up random stuff like a county transit worker’s car. Amanda even gets in on the action.  We get introduced to each member of the group and find out that they are vampires.  Martin (Michael Eklund) the leader, along with Vogle (Osric Chau), Gripps (Viv Leacock), and Cross (Zak Santiago) seem to welcome her into the fold.  Martin explains that instead of sucking up blood, they feed off people’s psychic energy.  When Amanda starts having another mental attack, Cross tells her that she doesn’t have to worry about her illness anymore as he sucks that energy out of her.  So she’s cured now right?

Since Colonel Scot Riggins (Miguel Sandoval) and Sergeant Hugo Friedkin (Dustin Milligan) failed to get Dirk (Samuel Barnett) their next attempt will be the Rowdy 3 aka Project Incubus. Riggins doesn’t want Friedkin to engage unless he gives the order.  When the confrontation happens, Friedkin doesn’t follow orders, in fact he makes the situation worse when he uses Amanda as a hostage.  The Rowdy 3 get away while Amanda bites Friedkin and runs away.  The idiot almost shoots her but Riggins stop him.

Wilson meets with Friedkin to discuss his report.  She wants him to act more aggressive because Riggins is too close to the project.  Friedkin seems happy to take that order.  That’s not good!

Detectives and Goons

Rimmer throws away Lux’s items except for the fur coat.  He almost kills Rapunzel/Lydia Spring but changes his mind. He wants his dog back before he does the deed.  Farah (Jade Eshete) eavesdrops on Detectives Estevez (Neil Brown Jr) and Zimmerfield’s (Richard Schiff) conversations going in and out of places, including the police station.  The detectives, after leaving Patrick Spring’s lawyer’s office, go to the Zoo where Rimmer worked. They then hear about the condemned animal transfer unit Rimmer oversaw.  According to the co-worker, Rimmer was a real jerk.  Estevez and Zimmerfield bring their suspicions to their boss, who says they don’t have enough evidence to get a warrant so should leave it alone.

The detectives go to the condemned building anyway to check it out.  Farah observes with her sniper scope on the hill.  Zimmerfield and Estevez get inside to find several bodies in a room.  As Estevez is trying to get a signal to call forensics, Zimmerfield gets hit in the chest with that gosh darn crossbow arrow.  The goons are on the roof shooting and carrying on.  Farah watches in shock but also sees Rimmer drive away with Lydia in the back barking.  Estevez gets Zimmerfield to the driver’s side of the car and fires back on the goons. One of them sneaks up on him but Farah shoots him right before he kills Estevez.  Farah dips before the goons can find her.  Estevez drives away with Zimmerfield in the back bleeding out.  He stops so he can try to stop the bleeding to no avail. Zimmerfield dies.  His last words were to save Lydia Spring.  Estevez cries in anguish.

Feline Shark

Dirk and Todd (Elijah Wood) go on a road trip to find whatever Patrick Spring wanted them to find.  Dirk thinks that whatever it is will be buried.  They stop at a restaurant where Todd tries to get Dirk to admit that he’s psychic. Dirk denies it and just wants Todd to except the way things are.  Dirk walks away but when Todd goes after him his shirt gets messed up.  Dirk trades the corvette for a jeep because where they are going is rough terrain.  He also gets Todd a shirt from the gift shop.  The shirt is eerily the same one Todd saw that fateful day on his doppelganger.  As the boys are leaving the restaurant we see two of Rimmer’s goons follow them, one of them being that fake medical examiner.  They reach their first location and start digging at random spots.  Night falls and Todd almost gives up but Dirk in his roundabout way convinces Todd the next dig will hit something.  It does! They find a box with a part of a device to it.  The next day they go to several more places digging up several pieces. Put together the different pieces creates a small machine.

The goons arrive shooting with the electric crossbow and a handgun at Dirk and Todd.  Todd tries to hide under the jeep but Dirk hides behind a big rock.  Dirk manages to get the kitten (yes Dirk brought the kitten with them). One of the goons yells that he has the shark! Whaaat?! Just when the guy with the crossbow is ready to fire again Dirk throws the cat into the air.  The shark essence, kind of like the rhino last week, flies through tearing into one goon and then the other, saving Todd’s life.  After that meal the shark goes back into the cat.  Well now we have an idea of what happened in the hotel room.

Dirk thanks Todd for bandaging his face with pink band-aids. He thinks he’s a good friend.  Todd confesses to Dirk that he’s a dick because he lied about having Pararibulits and used his parent’s money so he didn’t have to work.  By the time Amanda showed symptoms, their parents were broke.  He was never “cured” so he feels the need to confess about it.  Dirk, because of the life he’s had so far, still thinks Todd has been a good friend to him since he’s stuck around to help.  Determined, Todd will tell Amanda the truth after they save Lydia Spring.  Oh and they lost the kitten! Here’s hoping it’s back in the jeep.

Thoughts and Theories

Okay this episode was awesome and depressing at the same time!  Why did Zimmerfield have to die? Couldn’t he get injured instead like in the arm or something?  Brown Jr did a good job expressing his grief. I was hoping though that he would keep driving far enough where the goons couldn’t catch up with him.  I’m so glad that Farah was there to save Estevez.  I would have been even more devastated to have lost both detectives!  My guess is the captain is either one of the original group or he was recently body switched. He probably even warned Rimmer that they would come…. the bastard.  Now I feel like Estevez is going to end up like Agent Weedle.  He needs to compare notes with Dirk and crew quick!

Parallels were made between Bart and Dirk again this week with commenting on how Ken and Todd have stayed with them through the shenanigans so far.  For Ken though, would he really leave when Bart would probably hunt him down? Also she has 17 freaking thousand dollars in cash while the man has none! Ken did have a great line though when he mentioned we call pig meat pork because we feel guilty about eating it.  I’ll have to look up why we call some of the pig meat pork and even cow meat beef. Bart does need to take into consideration though that Ken could be with her to help her kill a little more cautiously.  Universe or not, he made a good point if she shot that guy in broad daylight in the city like that.

I loved the scenes between Amanda and the Rowdy 3!  It seems like they have taken Amanda under their wing like big brothers.  I think Amanda is now an honorary member of the group now.  Can they change their name to the Rowdy 5? While they are psychic energy vamps, why do they feel the need to destroy stuff? Is that like a side effect?

I liked the bonding moment between Todd and Dirk.  Wood and Barnett have great chemistry with each other.  Dang Todd was a total selfish prick to his parents!  He practically made his parents broke based on a lie.  He should go to hell for that alone.  Karma though bit him in the butt with him practically broke but then he won that lottery ticket, which he still has not cashed! What the hell?! Hey at least that lock finally got fixed.  Also, I would not blame Amanda one iota for getting real angry at Todd for his lies when he tells her.  Talk about privilege.  I wouldn’t have done that to my mother and sibling if I had one.  The thought would not have even formed because of the consequences.  At least it appears now that thanks to the Rowdy 3, she may be cured from the illness. That would be great!

That scene with the feline was hands down my favorite scene of the show so far! That cat should’ve been within eye sight after it saved their lives like that! Now Dirk and Todd have lost the murder weapon.  Praying it’s somewhere nearby in the Jeep that got overlooked. Can you imagine if a random person happened to find the kitten? They wouldn’t know what they had!  I hope we see the kitten again soon with the Dirk and gang.  Now the way Patrick Spring’s hotel room looked makes more sense, especially that bite mark on the wall.  My thinking is the shark comes out when there are traces of electrical current in the air and when the kitten feels threatened.  After that scene I wondered if my cats had another animal waiting to come out as electric energy.

I recall in an earlier episode that Rimmer was also looking for the cat.  He had to have known about the shark.  Could that also be why they are looking for that device?  The cat proves that more than one entity could reside in the same body.  Could that be the next level the group Rimmer belongs to wants to do?  To have an animal counterpart that resides in them that they can call upon when needed and keep their body at the same time?

Speaking of the device, I’m thinking it’s a mini-time machine.  When Todd flashed back to seeing his doppelganger wearing the same shirt and a fur coat I immediately thought that maybe Todd and Dirk go back in time to that moment.  The fact that the other Todd was wearing a fur coat could suggest that Rimmer switches bodies with Todd, which would be disastrous! But in looking back at that particular scene in episode 1 the “other” Todd mentioned a time machine and it looks like the person he was yelling at had a leather jacket similar to what Dirk has been wearing.  He was yelling at “Dirk” about lying to him this whole time and mentioned the time machine.  On a side note as I was fast forwarding to that scene I realized that the woman that Todd awkwardly sat on the bed for on his way up was Sammy and the guy that answered the door was Agent Nathan. See! It’s all connected!

Friedkin is a wild card! I wanted to slap both him and Wilson. I felt like Wilson totally set up Riggins by not providing him with the support that he needs to apprehend the project subjects, and that he would not be objective about the situation.  Giving Friedkin permission to potentially kill the subjects reminded me of Amanda’s vision of him with blood on his hands talking about he was just doing his job.  The question is whose blood is on his hands?  I hope it isn’t Amanda, because that would suck! I don’t want anyone but Rimmer and his goons to get seriously hurt right now.  I did find it cheeky the way the name of the episode was mentioned at the very end. That was clever Max Landis!

What did you think of the episode! Did you go through the gamut of emotions like I did? Sound off below in the comments!