Without Chris O’Dowd’s endearing portrayal of a consistently baffled Irishman working his socks off, “The Big Door Prize” (an Apple TV+ series debuting on April 24th) simply wouldn’t hold up. Putting every ounce of his energy to full use, O’Dowd just about manages to make this less-than-successful series watchable. It is indeed telling of Apple’s lavish spending that it has decided to back a second season after the first’s rather understated reception.
The storyline of “The Big Door Prize” is essentially a gentler, dystopia-free version of “Black Mirror”, set in a quaint town in the US state of Georgia. O’Dowd plays the role of Dusty Hubbard (indeed), a common local teacher who, for some mysterious reason, has journeyed from Roscommon to the American South.
Enjoying a laid-back lifestyle with his spouse Cass (Gabrielle Dennis) and their offspring Trina (Djouliet Amara), Dusty’s life flips on its head when a machine called “Morpho” magically appears in their community store. This ATM-like apparatus claims to unlock a person’s “true potential”, which is the series’ foremost flaw. Truly, who among us, let’s say voting-eligible adults, is genuinely concerned about their “potential”? Would we, without clear hesitation, wreck our tranquil lives to follow an ambiguous promise of a better yet demanding future? That could require waking up at dawn and rushing through breakfast, absolutely not!
However, this is the exact match-lit mayhem that Dusty and Cass willingly throw their homely nest into. They take this leap of faith after Dusty discovers he is apparently destined to become a “whistler” (pardon?) and Cass is apparently meant to ascend to “royalty”. As the story in season two unfolds, the couple decide to undergo a trial separation in order to explore new horizons – a decision that should logically upset one or both, but instead they perceive it as a thrilling endeavour.
One would naturally turn to actor Chris O’Dowd for a role depicting an ‘Irishman puzzled by life’, such an apt portrayal elicited by Charlie Brooker in his series, Black Mirror. However, when reviewing The Big Door Prize, it becomes apparent that it struggles to strike a balance between sentimentality and hilarity, particularly when characters make dramatic decisions based on the advice of a machine, eerily reminiscent of a Centra outlet based in Georgia.
The narrative moves along at a snail’s pace, introducing narrative elements such as a device (Morpho) that prompts Deerfield’s inhabitants to prepare for another phase of their journey, featuring strange occurrences like blue dots appearing on their skin. The reaction, however, is far from horror as one would expect – instead, they find it charming.
The profound incongruity in The Big Door Prize lies in the fact that while being a comedy-drama based on the theme of untapped potential, the series itself suffers from not fully realising its own potential. Chris O’Dowd’s performance is invitingly dishevelled, and his authentic Irish accent is a breath of fresh air – something that many actors have struggled to emulate without sounding contrived.
The show presents a lofty Philip K Dick-inspired idea – a mechanism showing the glorious alternate life we’ve been missing. Alas, the series fails to critically engage with this thought-provoking concept, often veering from tedium to sentimental mushiness. It remains a disappointment for Apple TV+ users and an even bigger let-down for O’Dowd, a gifted comic actor deserving of a lot more than playing in this uninspiring series.