Horizons

Horizons is the first episode of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

## Summary

A violent murder occurs at the hotel where Todd works, with unusual characters – including Dirk Gently – intruding on his hitherto mundane life.

## Plot

The episode opens with Dirk Gently answering a phone call with a mysterious voice asking him where he is and saying "It's time." Dirk sits up quickly and claims to be on his way already.

Cut to a city view out of a broken window. Slowly, the entire room is revealed to be a luxury hotel suite covered in blood, mangled bodies, charred walls, and broken furniture. A black kitten amid the carnage is picked up by someone whose identity is not revealed.

Meanwhile, Todd Brotzman is having a very bad day. He is woken by his landlord, Dorian, smashing his car to bits with a large hammer and demanding Todd pay his $600 rent, which Todd claims to have already paid. He then returns to his apartment only to discover that he has locked himself out and he has to climb in through the window. While getting ready for work, we are given a glimpse of a news story on the television discussing a missing millionaire's daughter, Lydia Spring.

On the bus on the way to work, Todd notices a corgi on the sidewalk.

At the Perryman Grand, the hotel where Todd works as a bellhop, he is asked by his boss to check on a room where a commotion was reported and also on the penthouse. Todd checks on the room to find a man storming out and a woman, only half-clothed, crying on the bed. He then makes his way to the penthouse, leaving a voicemail for his sister in the elevator saying that a visit over the weekend won't work out due to "unforseen circumstances." Unexpectedly, the elevator doors open on the 18th floor to reveal a man with a blood-spattered white fur coat, an American flag tank top, and a black eye screaming at another individual who is concealed behind a wall. The screaming man stops and turns to reveal himself as Todd. The two Todds stare dumbfounded at eachother and the elevator doors close.

Todd reaches the penthouse floor and the lights are flickering oddly. There is a lottery ticket on the floor with blood on it that Todd picks up. The penthouse door is cracked open and Todd opens it all the way and the horrified look on his face tells us that he is looking at the bloody mess we saw earlier.

The Missing Persons detectives, Estevez and Zimmerfield arrive to find the FBI already investigating the hotel suite. Among all the other weirdness, what stands out is that there are large bite marks on the ceiling. Video footage has been scrambled but a short clip of a man in a gorilla mask is able to be seen. The detectives interrogate Todd who is let go with a warning not to leave town. Todd is then promptly fired. On the bus ride home, he sees the corgi again.

He returns home to discover Dirk climbing through his apartment window. Todd attacks Dirk, who seems more offended at this choice of action more than anything else. He explains that he is a detective and that he will "live here now" but Todd throws him out.

As Todd winds down for the night, we see two agents, Sergeant Scott Riggins and Corporal Hugo Friedkin, spying on Todd from a parked van via binoculars and a sniper rifle, respectively. Friedkin misunderstands Riggins' order to hold fire and he takes a shot at Todd's head. The bullet ricochets and goes through Todd's ceiling to the floor above and kills a man in a red-lit room where Farah Black is gagged and handcuffed to a bed. Farah struggles to remove the duct tape over her mouth and then sets to work trying to set herself free from the handcuffs.

Todd has a phone conversation with his sister, Amanda Brotzman, and he tells her that he has changed his mind and will be coming to visit her. He tells her nothing of the day's events.

We are then introduced to Ken, a computer hacker working for a bald man with mysterious tattoos on his

head. As Ken is working, Bart Curlish arrives on the scene and brutally murders the bald man with a machete. She chases Ken until they are both too winded to run anymore and she declares that she is going to kill Ken, whom she believes to be Dirk Gently. A terrified Ken explains that he is not who she thinks he is.

Todd leaves his apartment to visit his sister and finds Dirk waiting outside for him with a car. Todd reluctantly accepts a ride to Amanda's house.

Zimmerfield and Estevez continue to investigate the hotel murder of Patrick Spring, the millionaire whose daughter Lydia is missing. It is discovered that some sort of massive electromagnetic pulse is what caused the power outage but the source is still unknown. It is revealed that Farah was Patrick's body guard. Fuzzy footage of a corgi running out of the hotel is found.

Dirk and Todd have a tense conversation in the car, as Dirk drives irresponsibly. Dirk explains that he is a holistic detective; one that does not look for clues but one who looks for the "interconnectedness" of all things. He claims to have been previously with the CIA.

Bart and Ken, whose hands are duct taped, stop at a gas station where there are several bloody bodies, supposedly killed by Bart. She explains to Ken that she is a holistic assassin and, very much in the same way Dirk explained to Todd, she says that she does not accept contracts but instead follows the flow of the universe and the "interconnectedness" of all things.

Dirk and Todd also stop at a gas station but leave quickly when Dirk hears a vehicle with loud thumping music approaching.

At Amanda's house, Todd and Amanda explain to Dirk that Amanda has pararibulitis, a genetic neurological disease that runs in their family . It causes the brain to misinterpret certain inputs and therefore cause vivid hallucinations that make everyday happenings turn very painful. Todd tells Dirk that this means "water on your hand could feel like fire, your shoe on your foot could feel like it was crushing you, and breathing could feel like drowning."

Meanwhile, a news story on the murder of Patrick and the disappearance of Lydia plays on the television in the background and we cut briefly to Riggins and Friedkin still spying from their van. Todd asks Amanda if she wants to "jam" and she accepts. He plays a guitar and she plays the drums but the jam session is cut short when Amanda hallucinates that he drum stick is a knife stuck in her hand. Dirk and Todd leave and Todd gives Amanda the last of his money. On the way home, he explains that he used to have pararibulitis but it went away and since his parents depleted all their funds on his treatment, he now supports Amanda with hers. Now that he is unemployed, however, this means that Todd is now completely broke.

Dirk and Todd return to Todd's apartment and the van with the loud thumping music pulls in front of the building. A terrified Dirk explains that they are the Rowdy 3 (even though there are 4 of them) and they proceed to violently make their way up to the apartment and completely destroy it, smashing everything in sight. Todd huddles in a corner with his guitar and looks on while the Rowdy 3 surround Dirk, who is lying on the floor, and begin to suck some sort of energy from him. They rowdies leave through the window, taking a framed picture of Amanda on their way out, and Todd takes in his destroyed apartment. Dorian suddenly bursts in with a handgun demanding rent and take a shot which ricochets and kills him immediately.

This leads to Todd and Dirk being taken to the police station for questioning. Estevez and Zimmerfield are suspicious as ever but as there is no hard evidence, they are let go.

At the hotel, Todd's previous boss is killed by two bald men with tattoos resembling those of the man Bart killed.

Todd tells Dirk to leave him alone while Dirk tries to persuade Todd to take control of his life. Todd explains that Dorian was so angry because Todd did in fact pay him rent but then snuck in and stole it back. He wants nothing to do with Dirk and storms away. On the bus, he sees the corgi out of the window again and asks the driver to stop the bus. He returns the dog to its owner, Gordon Rimmer, but notices a very strangely-behaved Lydia peering at him from within Rimmer's house.

The police discover video evidence of Todd breaking into Dorian's house.

Farah, who has managed to free herself from the handcuffs, tries to escape but is stopped by someone off-camera.

Bart continues her search for Dirk with Ken still hand-tied in the car beside her.

The Rowdy 3 are seem dancing among some burning mannequins and one of them, Martin, stares intensely at the photo of Amanda.

Dirk arrives at an apartment and unzips a duffel bag to reveal a gorilla mask and a black kitten.

Todd is walking by a convenience store when a MISSING flyer of Lydia breezes past him. He hears the winning lottery numbers about to be announced on the TV in the store. He takes out the bloody ticket in his pocket and listens in astonishment as the winning sequence is read. The numbers match those on his ticket and he stares in amazement realizing that he has just won $10,000.