First Impressions: Duster (Max)

Duster “Baltimore Changes Everything”
Created and written by J.J. Abrams and LeToya Morgan
Directed by Steph Green
Airs Sundays at 9pm ET on Max

J.J. Abrams’ $250 million dollar Warner Media in 2019 didn’t exactly revolutionize the TV world; in that time, the most notable projects from the partnership have included Lovecraft Country, Presumed Innocent, and Batman: Caped Crusader – all projects Abrams has featured on as an executive producer, but not in a creative capacity. In fact, his last actual writer or creator credits came from 2010’s Undercovers, which lasted five episodes on NBC before its unceremonious cancelation (with two episodes that only aired in Australia, to add insult to injury).

Duster, the only of his three initially announced TV projects from that 2019 to make it to air (the others, Overlook and Justice League Dark, never went into production), finally made its debut with “Baltimore Changes Everything” – and though it certainly has elements of Alias and even Joy Ride (the 2001 Paul Walker film Abrams co-wrote with Clay Tarver), is really the first time since LOST where it feels like Abrams has a fresh take to offer.

Co-created and written alongside LaToya Morgan, Duster benefits from not being a massive franchise, like his most recent creative film endeavors (his most recent being the absolute dogshit Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, lest we forget). Set in 1972, Duster splits its attention between getaway driver Jim Ellis (the eternally charming Josh Holloway, in his best role since Sawyer on LOST) and upstart, unwelcome new FBI agent Nina Hayes (a phenomenal Rachel Hilson), as their destinies intertwine in 1972 Phoenix when Hayes picks up a long-gestating investigation into Ellis’s employer Ezra Saxton (a rather pleasantly muted Keith David).

Ellis is exactly the kind of character Holloway was born to embody; a man a bit too cool for his age, whose love of women and speed (not the drug) have long dulled any sense of responsibility or courage he might’ve felt. He takes care of his ‘friend’ Izzy (Camille Guaty) and her daughter Luna, drives for criminal kingpin Ezra (his father’s best friend and Vietnam War buddy), and lives his life without a care; that is, until Nina shows up and starts to poke around in his affairs, triggering a crisis of identity that catalyzes the central tensions of the first season to follow.

Ellis’s introduction, as one might expect from a series heavily homaging 1970’s action cinema and TV, is one of suave machismo and a dogged ruggedness, Holloway’s ability to convey youth and age in a smile capturing the essence of Jim Ellis with a welcome elegance. Nina’s introduction is a bit more heavy-handed – especially when we meet the dickhead, racist and sexist senior agent in Nina’s office, who constantly talks down to her and Awan (Asivak Koostachin), her Indigenous partner – but Hilson’s performance is equally effective in establishing Nina, her awkward intensity and relentless individualism making for a solid narrative counterpart to Ellis’s more kinetic, dramatic story beats.

Though nothing about Duster tries to reinvent the genre it clearly places itself within, what’s thankfully absent from “Baltimore Changes Everything” is some of the narrative bullshit Abrams has spent the last two decades injecting into his projects. There’s certainly a restraint one can feel in the pilot’s writing, and while nobody can be sure Morgan’s presence (whose work include the underrated Into the Badlands, Shameless, Parenthood, and The Walking Dead) can be attributed to that, there’s certainly a more collaborative effort to the writing than typically felt with Abrams-centric projects.

“Baltimore Changes Everything” does have a lean script – but it also tries its hand at a lot of different identities, from action thriller to crime drama, to lighter touches of deeper stories about intergenerational bonds and reflections on the various boys’ clubs Nina has to push headfirst through. There’s also a scene where Ellis manually pumps a heart inside someone’s chest during an illicit open-heart replacement surgery, a moment so ridiculous and isolated it feels out of tone with the rest of the series (though it probably wouldn’t hurt if it continued to lean into its more ludicrous moments, if only for some added tone).

Most of these are not offered subtly, and there are certainly occasions where the first episode drags as it reiterates its observations on fatherhood or the FBI’s power structures – but as the episode begins to reveal its larger narrative ambitions, its personality and delivery begin to fall into place in a way that could make for a really fun television series (honestly, I don’t think it would hurt Duster to lean into its goofier elements even further in future episodes; we don’t need to reach the quirk levels of something like Poker Face, but there’s definitely a chance for Duster to use its heavy setting of murder-y drug enterprises and the FBI investigating them to illuminate some of the lighter, more playful bits that occasionally bubble to the surface in its first hour.

At the very least, Duster offers Holloway and Hilson both opportunities to embody characters they’re clearly perfect to play; if Duster can develop their dynamic a bit more as it continues to fill in the world around its players on both side of the law, there’s a real chance for Duster to distinguish itself amongst a rather unimpressive current slate of kinetic action series. Most, if not all, of the pieces are certainly there, what remains to be seen is if it can remain consistent in how it arranges those parts – and not get its eyes too wide as it begins to dig into the building conspiracy at the heart of its story.

Even if it doesn’t fully realize its potential, Duster‘s pilot promises a season featuring a pair of charismatic main characters, and some great scoring and costume design to back up its vintage car chasin’ and prototypical character dramatics. At best, Duster could quickly become one of the great new action dramas of recent vintage – time will tell if it can capitalize on the potential seen in “Baltimore Changes Everything” and be the lean, mean series of my dreams, but the confidence and quality of its initial delivery is certainly encouraging.

Grade: B