By Max Carr
Amazon Prime’s groundbreaking reality TV experiment “Jury Duty” returned this spring with “Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat”. The new season follows the same premise: everyone is an actor, except one unsuspecting individual, who is thrust into a wild, scripted scenario that they believe is real. This time around, instead of a courtroom, the setting is a high-stakes company retreat, where employees prepare for their family-owned hot sauce company, “Rockin Gradnmas” to be sold to an investment banking firm.
The star of this season is twenty-five-year-old Anthony Norman, an unsuspecting temp with a heart of gold tasked with joining the company on their annual retreat. Over the course of the season, Anthony bonds with his fellow employees over a course of ridiculous seminars, family drama, and hilarious interactions with his peers. One of the highlights of the season is a talent show, where the actors perform unique and bizarre talents, including a flute solo and a rap. The investment banking firm tries to win by bringing in international superstar SIA to perform, and although she ends up winning(obviously), the head of HR, Kevin, steals the show with an awkward and heartfelt rendition of “Creep” by Radiohead. This is made even funnier by the fact that earlier in the season he proposed, and was rejected by his coworker, whom he never even dated, and sings the entire song staring at her.
The chemistry and camaraderie these fictional characters manage to build with the real Anthony over the course of a few weeks is astounding. At many times, I found myself forgetting these were actors, as they do such a brilliant job portraying these characters that the lines between fiction and reality are blurred. Where Jury Duty excels is in subverting the traditional reality television formula. It aims not to feature heightened dramatic situations and out-of-this-world caricatures of real people, but to shine a light on the genuine qualities of a real person exemplifying the best humanity has to offer. I am astonished that out of 10,000 applicants, they were able to choose one whose character perfectly lent itself to the season’s dramatic arc. The level of technical proficiency, writing, and social experiment pulled off in this season is nothing short of miraculous. It is so good it is almost unbelievable, leading some viewers to question if the main character was in on it all along.
The entire season crescendos into a thrilling climax in the penultimate episode. As the CEO, Doug prepares to sell his company, Anthony learns that the firm plans to sell the family farm and fire all the current employees. In a race against the clock, he sprints down a mountain and bursts into the board room just as the deal is about to be signed, and desperately convinces Doug not to sell. He displays a level of empathy and heart, fighting for a cause that he has no personal stake in to protect people he has known for less than a week. After saving the company, the showrunners reveal to an astonished Anthony that he is the only one who is not an actor, and everything he has been through in the past week has been scripted. He is given a cash prize and meets the cast and crew.
Company Retreat manages to take the groundwork set by season one and make it look like a test run in comparison. It is funnier, and the characters truly shine and highlight an ordinary hero who had no idea it was all fake. With such a promising premise, I can’t wait to see what situation the creators cook up next.
Score: 9/10
