One way or the other, J.J. Abrams returned… to the small display, that’s. After a strong decade within the blockbuster realm and stints within the Star Trek and Star Wars universes, Abrams has discovered his method again to the medium that made him a family title and created his first scripted sequence since 2010’s short-lived Undercovers. His new present, Duster, doesn’t share a lot in widespread with the mystery-box delights of Misplaced or the underrated Fringe, nevertheless it’s a massively pleasant homage to the ‘70s crime dramas he grew up watching.
However Duster does share one massive factor in widespread with Misplaced, because it sees Abrams reuniting with James “Sawyer” Ford himself, Josh Holloway. Even over a decade away, Abrams nonetheless is aware of find out how to get the perfect out of the actor, as Holloway provides an effortlessly charismatic lead efficiency, completely mixing attraction and charisma with ethical ambiguity. As Jim Ellis, a getaway driver for crime lord Ezra Saxton (Keith David), it’s a job tailored for Josh Holloway, and he greater than delivers. Nonetheless, over the past couple of weeks, eagle-eyed viewers might have caught one other refined shoutout to Abrams’ first collaboration with Holloway.
Duster
- Launch Date
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Might 14, 2025
- Community
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Max
- Administrators
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Steph Inexperienced
‘Duster’ Tells Us To Comply with the Numbers
In Duster’s third episode, “You’re No Good”, FBI agent Nina Hayes (Rachel Hilson) is determined for a lead on Ezra Saxton, believing that he secretly organized the loss of life of Jim Ellis’s brother, Joseph. Realizing that she might use agency proof to show Ellis into an informant, she visits Leland Breen, the now-hospitalized FBI agent who beforehand investigated Saxon and particularly Joseph’s loss of life.
In disguise as a nurse, Nina infiltrates the psychological establishment and finds Breen, although he shortly proves violent and holds a knife to her throat. After she manages to speak him down and calls for data on Saxton, Breen briefly turns into lucid and tells Nina to “observe the numbers,” although she has no concept what he means by this.
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Breen’s phrases are clearly meant to foreshadow a possible cover-up over Joseph’s loss of life (which the FBI may be complicit in), however they’re additionally a intelligent callback to Misplaced. The numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42 performed a job in one of many sequence’ core mysteries. Fan-favorite character Hurley used them as a profitable lottery ticket and later grew to become satisfied they have been cursed after struggling a string of unhealthy luck.
The numbers saved showing all through the remainder of the present, most notably within the second season, after they have been used as a pc code at a scientific analysis station’s laptop, repeatedly entered to forestall a surge of electromagnetic power. Moreover, within the last season, every quantity was revealed to correspond to a selected fundamental character, all of whom have been being thought of as candidates to exchange the Island’s protector, Jacob.
What Do the Numbers Imply in ‘Duster’?
However even whereas this shoutout is a enjoyable Easter egg, it’s additionally a key trace on the path we’ll see the remainder of Duster’s first season go. As beforehand talked about, Nina suspects that the circumstances relating to Joseph Ellis’s loss of life are extra difficult than she first thought and that the FBI was seemingly concerned in a cover-up. Breen’s phrases appear to vindicate her suspicions, as does his sudden loss of life within the latest episode.
This week noticed Nina and her accomplice Awan understand what Breen meant by “observe the numbers,” discovering that his case recordsdata on Saxton spell out a sequence when positioned in a selected order. That sequence provides them coordinates to an deserted automobile on a Navajo reservation, and within the trunk, they discover an previous videotape. On the tape, Breen provides a warning: “Expose Xavier and his community. Till then, belief nobody.”
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It’s Duster’s clearest trace but of a bigger conspiracy, and proof that the highway forward might be bumpy for Nina, as a few of her fellow cohorts on the FBI are virtually actually concerned. And whereas we’re given no hints about who “Xavier” is or any details about his community, this improvement provides much-needed ahead momentum to the present. We now have a transparent path ahead for Nina, which might additionally assist her study extra concerning the loss of life of her father at Saxton’s arms. Moreover, it provides one other wrinkle to Jim Ellis’s arc, as FBI involvement in his brother’s homicide means he’d be much less more likely to belief Nina, even when Saxton was essentially the most accountable social gathering.
However no matter the place issues go, it’s virtually actually Duster’s most enjoyable story improvement but, and it appears like a throwback to J.J. Abrams’ early mystery-box storytelling, which was designed to ask questions and viewer hypothesis. And on high of all of that, it was a shocking however completely welcome shoutout to Misplaced, because it was an Easter egg that felt intelligent with out being too cute about it. 4 episodes in, Duster is proving to be an old-school vibes-driven crime present in one of the best ways potential, and we will’t wait to see the place it goes.
Duster is streaming on Max, with new episodes each Thursday.