To say the heroes of “Duster” are united of their antipathy for The Man could also be an oversimplification, however delivering easy pleasures additionally simply occurs to be what “Duster” does greatest.
FBI Agent Nina Hayes (Rachel Hilson) is an excellent detective who enjoys being an excellent detective. In a special time and place, the Philadelphia native and recent graduate from Quantico might have been fast-tracked towards operating her personal division, however when it’s 1972 and also you’re a Black girl in the USA, the largest hurdle to any new investigation will all the time be the identical double-whammy of in-house discrimination.
Regardless of her apparent capabilities, Hayes is hemmed in time and time once more by her white, belittling bosses. She has to battle tooth-and-nail to get an open project nobody else desires. As soon as she will get it, she has to beat arbitrary deadlines, outwit adversarial should-be-allies, and surpass deliberately insurmountable requirements. What retains her from burning down Arizona’s bureau and everybody in it’s barely skilled (she believes in justice) however largely private: The case she needed to claw away from detached brokers includes her father, her childhood, and the person who stole them each.
So she places up with The Man with a view to get what she desires.
Getaway driver extraordinaire Jim Ellis (Josh Holloway) is an excellent wheelman who enjoys being an excellent wheelman. Since he’s been legally allowed to drive, Ellis has labored for a person the FBI refers to as “the Southwest Al Capone” — actual identify: Ezra Saxton (Keith motherfuckin’ David) — and his expertise with vehicles shines via each time he ditches a pesky tail or shares his vehicular experience.
As a beautiful white man with lengthy blonde locks, an eight-pack of abs saved underneath his cinder-block shoulders, and a large smile that’s nonetheless slim sufficient to appear unassuming (whereas nonetheless hinting at his inside lawbreaker), Ellis might not look the a part of somebody who feels picked on. His attraction is simple, however to his boss — and the remainder of the crime world he runs with — so is his ceiling. Ellis could also be the perfect driver within the enterprise, however he’s nonetheless only a driver. When he roars down the freeway in his pink Plymouth Duster, that’s all anybody sees: the automotive and, possibly, the person. Ellis desires to be extra, do extra, and as a lot as he’s come to respect Saxton like a father, there’s a little bit of infantile resentment combined in, too, for being handled just like the second-best son.
Which he was inside his circle of relatives, till a number of years in the past, when his brother died. The not too long ago departed Joe was anticipated to observe within the footsteps of the Ellis brothers’ precise father, Wade (Corbin Bernsen), a retired crook-of-all-trades who additionally labored for Saxton. Initially dominated an accident, Joe’s demise is what drives Jim into the ready arms of Agent Hayes. She wants an informant to get filth on Saxton, and when she reveals sufficient proof to implicate Jim’s boss in his brother’s demise, he reluctantly agrees to assist them each unravel issues.
So he, too, places up with The Man with a view to get what he desires.
From there, “Duster” coasts via an amiable and environment friendly first season. As Ellis and Hayes disguise their pseudo-partnership, their shared mission sends them down distinct paths. Ellis will get into minor tussles and facet hustles with peculiar characters with names like The Blade and Sun shades (the latter of whom is performed by a pitch-perfect Patrick Warburton as an Elvis-worshipping mobster who works out of a bowling alley named Nice Bowls of Hearth). His anxieties manifest as an imaginary Street Runner-inspired “Looney Tunes” cartoon, but he’s not dreaming when he results in the identical sterile resort room as Howard Hughes. There’s a shootout right here and a bar battle there, all of that are punctuated by a speedy drive to or from the scenes of the crimes.
Ellis, in different phrases, is a whole lot of enjoyable. His job takes him out of the workplace onto life’s open highway, whereas Hayes is usually caught maneuvering a bureaucratic minefield. From the beginning, she’s warned concerning the pink tape and paperwork that wants sorting to catch Saxton, and early episodes see her monitoring down “lacking” stories inside an indecipherable submitting system whereas bonding along with her de facto associate, Awan Bitsui (Asivak Koostachin), a chatty, nerdy, half-Navajo agent who additionally hates The Man (and whose Superman pockets is given extra consideration than his backstory, in what I can solely see as a stunning extension of Warner Bros. Discovery’s synergistic advertising push for James Gunn’s “Superman” film, in theaters July 11).
It’s a testomony to the stylish and sharp Hilson, in addition to Abrams and Morgan’s taut but breezy scripts, that Hayes’ plot-lines don’t really feel like a drag subsequent to Ellis’ extra adventurous outings. “Duster” places enjoyable first in crafting its homage-heavy throwback to the period’s roaring muscle-car motion pictures and action-comedies generally. Characters watch scenes from “Bullitt” in awestruck surprise and bluntly evaluate Hayes’ kick-ass cop to Pam Grier. The soundtrack is constructed from extensively recognizable basic rock songs, and the opening title sequence (with a theme written by Abrams himself) is a snazzy tone-setter clearly impressed by Sizzling Wheels.
“Duster” matches Max‘s current pivot in authentic programming to a mannequin I’ve been considering of as “broadcast however higher.” Like R. Scott Gemmill’s “The Pitt” earlier than it (and, arguably, Chuck Lorre’s “Bookie” earlier than that), “Duster” enlists a veteran TV producer (like Abrams, who launched his pre-“Star Wars” and “Trek” profession with “Felicity,” “Alias,” and “Misplaced”) to take a fan-favorite style (like a car-centric motion present) and switch it into strong, reliable, not-overly-ambitious tv. Regardless of its decrease episode rely (eight vs. “The Pitt’s” 15) and ample finances, “Duster” isn’t status TV — it’s not making an attempt to reinvent the wheel; it’s aiming to entertain, and each half is streamlined to do exactly that, from Holloway’s ’70s-crafted charisma to his shiny pink automotive and Hilson’s pissed-off efficiency to her killer wardrobe.
Not all of it really works (the automotive chases, which are inclined to happen on empty streets, aren’t all that memorable) and Season 1 by no means kicks into fourth gear (it’s enjoyable, but it surely’s not “Cassian stealing a TIE fighter” enjoyable), however “Duster” will get so lots of the little issues proper, it’s straightforward to set your quibbles apart and simply benefit from the trip. Understanding your drivers wish to stick it to The Man? That’s not “Duster” angling for status; that’s simply relatable.
Grade: B
“Duster” premieres Thursday, Could 15 on Max. New episodes will probably be launched weekly via the finale on July 3.