Duster Season 1 Review

Duster premieres connected Max Thursday, May 15, with caller episodes streaming each Thursday done July 3.

It took much than 20 years, but we’re yet getting different TV amusement that capitalizes connected the dirtbag charm Josh Holloway brought to Lost. It makes consciousness that it would travel from 1 of that paradigm-shifting drama’s co-creators, JJ Abrams, who on with Walking Dead seasoned LaToya Morgan brings america Duster, the communicative of a charismatic mob operator teaming up with an FBI rookie to instrumentality down a almighty transgression brag successful 1970s Arizona. Duster isn’t Holloway’s amusement unsocial – it begins from the position of Nina Hayes (Rachel Hilson) arsenic she chases an highly idiosyncratic lawsuit wrong an bureau and a satellite that are peculiarly hostile to a young, Black, pistillate cause (in ways that turn little on-the-nose implicit the people of the season). But on with the hazy, sun-kissed “it’s the ’70s” glow of the ocular palette and the episodes’ self-contained storylines, Holloway is simply a large contributing origin to the much inviting elements of Duster. His drawling mode of speaking arsenic wheelman Jim Ellis, arsenic good arsenic his smooth-talking and womanizing, are each pleasing reminders of wherefore Holloway’s roguish castaway Jim “Sawyer” Ford was specified a instrumentality favorite.

The acquainted twinkle successful his oculus papers implicit Duster’s shortcomings: the tepid colors of its cinematography, the too-modern cadence of the dialog (most notably betwixt Nina’s colleagues). Like the gigantic collars Jim wears, the show feels comfy and earthy for Holloway. Just don’t spell looking for existent traces of his Lost quality down the instrumentality of Duster’s namesake Plymouth. While Jim associates with and gets into scrapes with assorted heels and scoundrels, he’s really overmuch softer adjacent than Lost’s sleazy con antheral with a bosom of gold. Jim is simply a perfectly bully and respectful dude who happens to beryllium driving for an atrocious man: The people of Nina’s investigation, Saxton Higgs (Keith David). Jim is inactive amusive to ticker though, arsenic the amusement builds a affluent tapestry of relationships that play disconnected of Holloway’s galore dimensions. The adversarial ones are the astir fun, particularly erstwhile they unit him to scramble for a solution to immoderate dilemma of the week whitethorn be.

Much of the entreaty of Duster is seeing Holloway moving wrong this play setting, bouncing disconnected of humanities figures arsenic good arsenic the struggles of the decade: a corrupt national brag is arsenic overmuch a cardinal fig successful play 1 arsenic President Richard Nixon. (Be connected the lookout for much off-the-wall real-life supporting characters similar Elvis Presley’s infamous manager Colonel Tom Parker and eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes.) This backdrop is built from immoderate winsome accumulation design, afloat of beauteous and large costumes – Nina’s successful particular. This extends to the soundtrack, too, afloat of recognizable songs by Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, The Hollies, and the aforementioned King of Rock ’n’ Roll. There’s a playfulness to Duster, starting with its delightful opening credits, a high-octane Hot Wheels fantasia whose funky taxable was composed by Abrams himself.

David’s show arsenic Saxton adds to this feeling. For each the speech astir Saxton being a volatile, cold-blooded maniac, David plays him with a joviality and paternal warmth that makes Jim’s religion successful him (and his misgivings astir betraying him) casual to understand, adjacent arsenic there’s capable country near for doubt. And that’s without mentioning that David is often hilarious successful the role. There are shades of his Community quality successful immoderate of Saxton’s frustrated gesticulations, and successful the incredulous transportation of lines similar “What the f**k was that? Some benignant of flower-power supplication s**t?”)

Duster could rather comfortably conscionable alternate betwixt this and Holloway strutting astir to the ace sounds of the ’70s portion helium flirts with each pistillate helium meets. But there’s a spot much going on, tying unneurotic one-off misadventures with an ongoing transgression communicative built connected potent household play and a chaotic conspiracy crippled which, of course, goes “all the mode to the top.” The lone escaped thread, unfortunately, is the different main one: Nina’s FBI storyline feels little engaging than the exploits of an in-over-his-head wheelman. It drags its feet by comparison, focusing connected a slow-burn enigma that doesn’t clasp up against seeing Jim wriggle his mode retired of a cascading bid of problems. Things wrapper up successful satisfying earlier the credits roll, but the consequences of each occurrence spill implicit into the next, pulling america on with them. There are nary afloat cleanable getaways successful Duster, whether it’s due to the fact that Jim has to marque originative usage of the fireworks that helium promised he’d springiness to his daughter, oregon due to the fact that immoderate dissatisfied, coked-up heavies unhappy with a woody person him successful their sights.

Season 1 is often consenting to get a spot silly: One acold unfastened recreates the celebrated freeze-frame ending of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, portion different turns into a Looney Tunes homage. This heightened code is Duster astatine its astir fun, but it tin sometimes oversteer, too. The last mates of episodes triple down connected the amazingly far-reaching conspiracy crippled successful ways that volition trial adjacent the steeliest suspension of disbelief. Abrams and Morgan get distant with a lot, however, acknowledgment to the utterly atomic charisma generators of David and Holloway. When the equilibrium is right, and 1 of these 2 (or both) are onscreen, Duster is alternatively hard to resist.

Which is not to accidental that Hilson is little of a gully than her co-stars. She’s not a atrocious histrion by immoderate agelong of the imagination, but she is stuck successful the portion of Duster with the worst dialogue. These scenes often crook implicit backward to admit that the ’70s wasn’t each wah-wah guitars and musculus cars – that the bias and bigotry that’s holding Nina backmost is prevalent and often encouraged (and hey, possibly that hasn’t gone distant successful 2025), and that the amusement wants desperately for america to spot that it knows this is simply a atrocious thing. Eventually it does find settings wherever it tin amusement these powerfulness dynamics astatine play without having characters breaking it down technically, and it’s amended for it. When Nina talks to Saxton’s daughter, Genesis (Sydney Elisabeth), she can’t talk plainly astir being a Fed, and truthful the speech doesn’t consciousness similar the constituent of the country being work aloud. It’s acold amended for a amusement specified arsenic this, erstwhile existent feelings struggle with the request for a hidden agenda.

This besides means that, successful the archetypal fractional of the season, Hilson isn’t afforded overmuch accidental to amusement disconnected her acting chops non-verbally. Unlike scenes wherever we get to spot Holloway respond to thing – similar looking utterly heartbroken astatine being unopen retired of his daughter’s beingness – Nina’s feelings aren’t reflected connected her look that often. She’s fixed a recurring mode of showing that she’s stressed – doing immoderate push-ups – but not overmuch interiority. Duster is amended erstwhile Nina is organically incorporated into scenes with some Saxton and Jim, alternatively than being siloed disconnected successful an probe crippled that feels similar it’s wholly without subtext.

As good arsenic mostly feeling similar a invited throwback to salt-of-the-earth primetime occupation solvers similar Jim Rockford, Duster feels similar a peek into a antithetic timeline wherever starring roles for Holloway were a dime a twelve – an overdue accidental to spot him transportation a bid connected the powerfulness of a one-liner and a smile. Whether it really does thing genuinely challenging passim this archetypal play is present and there; it’s conscionable large to spot the antheral who was Sawyer equilibrium the rugged exterior and brushed interior of an yet susceptible quality who makes a surviving disconnected of pugnacious acts. There’s capable present that it could proceed into a 2nd play – and adjacent successful its first, Abrams and Morgan get a batch of mileage retired of Josh Holloway, Keith David, and that agleam reddish car.