Link to the audio version of this post is HERE
The Jury Duty crew is back at it again with Company Retreat
Meet Anthony Norman. He’s just started a new job at a small hot sauce company as a temp. Hired on to assist the HR director in his duties during the company’s annual retreat. The company, Rockin’ Grandma’s Hot Sauce, is a small family-owned business on the verge of a generational transition as the founder and CEO is preparing to retire and hand the company off to his son, Dougie Jr. You probably haven’t heard of Rockin’ Grandma’s Hot Sauce and if you look up Anthony Norman on IMDB, you won’t find a very long filmography. Because Rockin’ Grandma’s doesn’t exist. And Anthony Norman doesn’t exist either. He’s a ghost. Kidding, of course; he’s a regular guy, not an actor; unlike everyone he will interact with over the course of this company retreat.
When Prime Video’s Jury Duty rolled around in 2023, I was skeptical. It seemed like a setup for the kind of cruel joke at someone’s expense who, when put into a situation where they’re at a complete disadvantage, is made to look silly. But that ended up not at all what happened in that show. And now, in Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat, the team has managed to take what I thought was a singularly magical season of television, change it completely, and yet deliver that magic once again. Let’s get into it.
Trustfalls with coworkers, I can’t imagine anything I’d be worse at doing
Jury Duty and subsequently Company Retreat are basically a marriage of a prank show, an improv show, and one of those shows they used to do where they put people in extreme public situations then stop them and shame them for not intervening. Which I get why they did that, but at the same time, you’re going up to a random person and asking them why they didn’t step into a situation with no regard for where they are in that particular moment. Seemed like an odd lack of empathy in the shaming of people for lacking empathy. For the most part, walking people into orchestrated scenarios in which everyone has more knowledge of what that person is getting into than they do leads to someone being made into a fool, especially when TV cameras are involved. So I was a little worried that this show would be serving up laughs at the expense of its patsy who has no clue that they’re in The Truman Show.
Like father, like son. Same height, same hair, same everything really. Hard to believe they’re just actors
But I am very glad to report that is not the case. Pretty much everything I’m going to say in this paragraph applies to both seasons. The goal here isn’t to humiliate anyone, least of all Anthony. I’ve seen some articles online describe him as a “prank victim” and I think that’s profoundly missing the point. In the show’s scripts, he’s named simply as “Hero”. He’s put in ridiculous situations, one after another but he’s never made to be the butt of the joke. And when all is said and done, if everything goes to plan and Anthony is the kind of person the showrunners think he is, then he really will have been heroic. Does that sound like a victim to you? Because it doesn’t to me. The show is about his reactions and his approach to people. The patience and genuineness of Anthony (and Ronald Gladden in Jury Duty) is what makes Company Retreat such a delight.
Poirot gathers the suspects in the parlor to reveal who farted and why
The cast here is excellent. Compared to this season, Jury Duty was a star-studded affair, with Sonic’s Dad Cyclops and Sewage Joe being regulars (and Mekki Leeper, who went on to star in St. Denis Medical) There isn’t a name among them that you’d know (although I did recognize a face or two among the guest actors), but they were tasked with convincingly playing a group of coworkers from a small family business who have known each other for up to 20 years. And they didn’t put a foot wrong; if it weren’t at the top of every episode that they were all actors, I could see someone forgetting the premise of the show because they were so real. Of course the situations they get into are quite fantastical, but if one or two of those things happened on a real company retreat, you wouldn’t be surprised. Not after the company picnics I’ve been to. They play roles, and they play them very well. The retiring CEO and founder, ready to pass the torch. The prodigal son and heir apparent. The hard-working and overlooked woman who probably should be the one who takes over when Doug Sr. retires. The veteran who has been there from the start and is near the end of her own career. The receptionist who has one very specific obsession. The overeager reformed walking HR violation determined to prove he’s not that guy anymore. And so on. Yes, in a way they’re stock characters, but they’re those stock characters for a reason. I saw several of my old coworkers in these actors. They’re more than realistic enough. But as fantastic as they were, the show isn’t about them. It’s about Anthony. All the great acting, the hidden crew, the visible crew (some cameras are known to Anthony as part of a fake documentary being made about Rockin’ Grandma’s), the weaving of storylines where you only hope your protagonist does what you want all amount to nothing if Anthony isn’t the kind of person that he is.
I don’t think this is the kind of human furniture they were talking about in Succession
Anthony Norman is a 25 year old Nashville native who dreams about one day building something that he can hand down to his son, the way Doug Sr. is handing the reins over to Dougie Jr. That’s kind of all you know about him going in. He’s just a guy who needs a job and this temp listing came up. On his first day, Anthony is there for a coworker’s 40th birthday party and he sang full throated for her. I don’t even sing happy birthday like that for people I know and care about. The strength of this show is Anthony; he’s such a good guy. He makes friends with everyone instantly; yes, of course the point of this show is to stress test him socially, but the actors, while having a script, are meant to improv and play off Anthony. He could have been anything. He could have been cold, reserved, standoffish, mean (though unlikely they’d bring him on to the show in the first place if he were mean), but he never is. I spent last week praising the kindness of Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hats, but that’s fiction. Obviously, of course, it’s important to see things that like in fiction. That kind of openness and empathy. In an increasingly dark world where division is the default and hate is so readily encouraged, seeing this kindness in a real person in the real world, albeit someone chosen out of a huge pool of possibilities and surrounded by actors creating what is really only a simulacrum of the real world is moving. His actions are being guided or at the very least, gently nudged by an invisible hand, but every step of the way, Anthony had choice. And every time, and I say this with no exaggeration, he makes the choice to accept people, to help people, to be positive, and to encourage those around him.
Now that Happy Birthday is in the public domain, I think we should sing it more often. Why can’t you sing it on Thanksgiving? Paint “no rules” on the water tower!
Whenever someone embarrasses themselves in front of Anthony, he is the first to cheer them up or play it down. Thrust into a leadership role almost immediately, Anthony pivots and adapts and makes it his goal to ensure that everyone has a good time, feels comfortable, and bonds with him and each other. He doesn’t throw his hands up and say anything’s not his problem. He forms real connections with his new coworkers right away and maintains them in such a positive manner. In eight episodes, I cannot recall a single moment where he was even passive aggressive. Where he even rolled his eyes. I understand there’s editing, but this man doesn’t even have a dismissive or mean reaction to anything. I’m not that good of a person. On my best day, I couldn’t imagine being that good of a person. I don’t say mean things to people, at least I try not to, I’m human and fallible as anyone else. But they still pop into my head sometimes and my poker face is a little out of practice since the pandemic, so yeah, I roll my eyes or make a face sometimes. Anthony doesn’t. And he’s a real person. I can’t stress this enough because I can scarcely believe it myself. This is a person, a man who walks around everyday being that genuine and kind to people. He’s not a superhero. I’m almost certain he’s not Spider-Man, I didn’t see him stick to a single wall or ceiling. He’s not one out of a fantastic foursome. He’s never given me so much as an inkling that he does any avenging in his free time. He’s just some guy who was looking for a job. I didn’t know that people could be this kind. It’s one thing to write a character who is good, who is the embodiment of good ideals and an inclusive morality and can pull down a helicopter that’s taking off, but it’s a completely different thing to live it. To be fair, though, I didn’t see him interact with any helicopters, so I don’t know for sure that he can’t stop one from taking off.
After the first season left me both laughing so hard that my face hurt and moved to tears by the end of it, I thought it was lightning in a bottle. A feat that could never be replicated. Because there couldn’t be another person like Ronald. Statistically, what are the chances that there are two good people left in the world? This world? The one I’ve been living in? Pretty damn low when I look around and every time I aimlessly open Twitter to doomscroll, those chances feel slimmer and slimmer. But Company Retreat proves that Jury Duty wasn’t lighting in a bottle. It proves that Ronald Gladden isn’t the only good person in the world. And if Anthony Norman is that good, maybe there are others, as unlikely as that seems. This is a show that is joyful, kind, empathetic, and genuinely gave me hope for the world. I’m not dancing in the streets quite yet, but it raised the needle. So no, it’s not lightning in a bottle. This show is hope in a can. Well, not a can. A streaming platform owned by a billionaire who parties with Sydney Sweeney and has permeated every part of our lives with a company he once wanted to call Relentless before settling on Amazon. Look, I didn’t make the world. You get what you can get. But if we all acted a bit more like Anthony, maybe the thing we get could be a better world. Company Retreat is 8 half hour episodes with two bonus episodes and if you haven’t seen Jury Duty yet, that’s another 8 half hour episodes for you to enjoy as well. Both seasons stream on Prime Video.
An altogether joyous and life-affirming experience, Company Retreat is not to be missed