If Episode 1 blew the dust off, Duster Season 1 Episode 2 stomps on the gas pedal with blue suede shoes, bowling alley brawls, and a dirty cop named Groomes who just won’t die.
Duster continues to be a glorious mess of vintage action movie chaos — unserious in all the right ways and unapologetically rooted in ’70s pulp.
Josh Holloway is still an absolute dreamboat in patchwork leather, and his world is as slick and dangerous as the soles on his brand-new Elvis collectibles. Nothing about this show asks to be taken seriously — and that’s precisely what makes it so damn watchable.
A Jim Ellis Two-Step: Between a Rock and a Bloodstain
We open with Jim in the desert, trying to bury a body — the shovel breaks, a car pulls up. It’s just another Wednesday in Arizona.
Fifteen hours earlier, Jim was in bed with a beautiful woman and headed to the gas station, where things took a sharp turn into “holy crap” territory.
Enter Sergeant Groomes — Donal Logue like you’ve never seen him, unrecognizable and threatening to blackmail Jim over his cozy chat with the feds. He claims to hear God, but he’s definitely working for the other guy.
Jim’s problems don’t end there. Saxton wants to hand out cash bonuses like it’s Christmas morning, which is rarely a good sign.
And now, Jim’s tangled in a triple-contract crisis: one with the feds, one with Saxton, and one with Mad Raoul — sealed in blood, of course. These aren’t just metaphors. Jim has literally signed away his future multiple times this week alone. Good luck, buddy.
Nina Hayes: FBI Rookie, Bulldozer, Hammer
Nina is still the soul of this show’s resistance. She doesn’t flinch from corrupt cops or racist landladies. She’s got blunt force ambition and a growing team in Awan, who’s now fully in her corner.
Their partnership is clicking, and their confidence is contagious. Nina’s still haunted by her father’s murder, still driven by guilt, and still barreling toward danger like she’s got something to prove, which she absolutely does.
A highlight? Nina’s takedown of Groomes in the diner. She doesn’t blink when he tries to psych her out with scripture and smarm. She wants answers about Joey’s death. And she gets them — sort of.
We’re slowly piecing together just how wide Saxton’s reach really is. The van explosion from Joey’s last job wasn’t an accident. Leland Breen, the previous agent on the case, was coerced into writing a false report, then conveniently shuffled into a mental institution.
When Nina visits Breen’s wife, played by actual Adrienne Barbeau, which offers an unexpected meta delight and a reminder that Duster knows exactly what kind of time-traveling TV nerds are watching.
Sunglasses: The Man, The Myth, The Bowling Alley
Every great crime story needs an eccentric informant, and this episode’s comes in the form of “Sunglasses,” a blind man who’s not actually blind and lives like a retro Bond villain in a bowling alley. He’s got dirt on Groomes, and Jim needs that dirt badly.
In exchange, Sunglasses wants either cash or something better. Jim offers Elvis’s blue suede shoes. And he delivers with style.
A trip to Palm Springs leads to some excellent costuming, clever callbacks, and another Adrienne Barbeau sighting (this time, the fictional version auditioning for Maude). It’s kitschy, chaotic, and perfect.
But the trade goes south. Groomes ends up with a bullet in him (or maybe three), Charlie — Sunglasses’ best friend — is killed, and Sunglasses wants revenge.
What starts as a favor spirals into an unhinged bowling alley brawl, ending with a bowling pin machine chopping Sunglasses’ head clean off. It’s gruesome, over-the-top, and deeply in tune with the show’s mission: lean into the chaos and let it roll.
Fathers, Sons, and Broken Shovels
For all its action-movie flash, Duster is carefully threading emotional depth through its family dynamics.
Jim’s complicated relationship with his father, Wade (Corbin Bernsen is nailing the part), is front and center. Wade knows he failed Joey and is determined not to fail Jim, too. When he shows up in the desert after the bowling alley massacre, it’s not just to drop off a shovel. It’s to say, “I’m still here.”
That means something because Jim is haunted. He’s haunted by Joey, Izzy’s quiet illness, and Luna’s questions about a father she never met.
Loyalty, for Jim, has always been shaky ground — and now, as he realizes Saxton might be the man who got Joey killed, that ground is starting to crack wide open.
Final Thoughts
Episode 2 is unhinged in the best way. It’s wild, weird, and full of ’70s bravado yet never forgets the weight that drives its characters.
Holloway continues to be magnetic. Rachel Hilson’s Nina brings heart and heat. And the supporting cast — especially Patrick Warburton’s Sunglasses — is the kind of oddball brilliance this show thrives on.
And let’s talk about that music. From Free’s All Right Now to Gene McDaniels’ Angels in the Sky and even a perfectly timed Teddy Bear during a bowling alley beatdown, the soundtrack is so on-point it feels like a character all its own.
These aren’t just needle drops — they’re mood-setting, character-driving cues that wrap the whole show in vintage swagger.
Is it prestige TV? God, no. But it’s got panache. And we’d rather take one Duster over three moody prestige dramas that forget to entertain.
But what about you?
- Was Sunglasses worth the three grand and the shoes?
- Is Jim in over his head, or exactly the kind of guy who can pull off this triple-cross game?
- Do you think Saxton really saw Jim as a surrogate son — or just another pawn with a steering wheel?
- And is Nina’s hammer approach going to pay off, or get her reassigned… or worse?
Tell us what you think below, and share this with your friends! We keep doing this because you keep reading — and we’re grateful every dusty, chaotic mile of the way.
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The post Duster Season 1 Episode 2 Review: Secrets, Suede, and the Saint of Slippery Lanes appeared first on TV Fanatic.
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