Is Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat worth your time on Prime Video? Find out in our Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat review!
Jury Duty was a breakout hit for Prime Video (Amazon Freevee at the time), but it seemed an impossible mission to duplicate. Much to everyone’s surprise, not only did they find a way to duplicate the process, but in some ways, they topped it as well.
Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat follows Anthony Norman as he begins work at a hot sauce company (Rockin’ Grandma’s) that is preparing for its annual company retreat. What Anthony doesn’t know is that the company isn’t real and all of his “co-workers” are actors. He is brought on to assist Kevin (Ryan Perez) in coordinating the event, which will also serve as founder/CEO Doug’s (Jerry Hauck) final company retreat as he hands the company over to his son, Dougie (Alex Bonifer).
Also attending are Amy (Emily Pendergast), a customer relations specialist, receptionist PJ (Marc-Sully Saint-Fleur) who dreams of becoming a snack influencer, Kate (Erica Hernandez) from sales, warehouse manager Jimmy (Jim Woods) who is in addiction recovery, Jackie (LaNisa Frederick) from distribution and logistics, Helen (Stephanie Hodge) from accounting, “Other” Anthony (Rob Lathan) the sourcing manager, Steve (Warren Burke) from sales, and web designer Claire (Rachel Kaly). The event takes place at Oak Canyon Ranch, bringing Marjorie (Blair Beeken), the ranch’s events coordinator, into the fold.
Before I go any further, I just have to call out this entire cast. Their performances are all top-notch, but in particular, Dougie and PJ keep you coming back for more.
As to Anthony, the mark this time around, I’m happy to say that he never feels as though the show is picking on him or making him the butt of the jokes. As with the first season, it almost feels as if he is being celebrated for being such a good person. Despite the insanity happening around him, Anthony is always keen to help everyone with their problems, to dig in and try to find a solution, and if it means he looks a bit of a fool, so be it.
The two big strokes of genius this season were the location and Marjorie. The location is so much bigger than the courthouse from season one, and it gave them a lot more chances to play around with ideas. And Marjorie, as an “outsider,” acts as a confidante to Anthony at times, allowing him to vent some of his frustrations with the chaos around him. Giving him that release valve was probably one of the sanest ideas of the season.
Can they pull this show off a third time? Who knows, but I will anxiously await the episodes if they attempt it.
Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat will premiere on March 20 on Prime Video with three episodes, and then debut weekly on Fridays from there on out.
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars
Prime Video provided The Nerdy with all eight episodes of Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat for the purposes of this review. We watched all eight episodes to the conclusion before beginning this review.
