I’ll admit it: I had my problems with Jury Duty: Company Retreat. Unlike Ronald Gladden’s jury proceedings in the original Prime Video comedy series, our new unsuspecting contestant didn’t hold any real agency in this story. Anthony Norman is simply a temp worker for Rockin’ Grandma’s Hot Sauce company. He’s mostly trying to keep his job by agreeing with whatever someone in power told him—or just staying silent entirely. But in the finale, Jury Duty season 2 finally created a scenario where Anthony could go all in.
After the company’s fake CEO failson Dougie Jr. (Alex Bonifer) ruins a presentation for a new hot sauce flavor, Anthony and the other Rockin’ Grandma’s employees race off to stop Doug Womack Sr. (Jerry Hauck) from selling the company to an evil corporation that’s planning to gut the entire family operation. Pre-planned situations—like Dougie trekking through muddy water and losing his shoe—prevent him from reaching the goal. So, Anthony must run in and stop the sale by himself. It’s Anthony’s first real chance to prove that he’s fully invested in this farce.
In a rare scene of pure, wholesome heroics that tie the entire season together, he bolts in and grabs the pen out of Doug Sr.’s hand. With full sincerity in his words, he tells his boss that he’s interrupting the meeting because he’s “looking out for the people that have looked out for me.”
Mind you, Jury Duty: Company Retreat is also a comedy. So, when Anthony follows up his declaration to save the company within the show’s conceived world-building, it’s impossible not to laugh during this (arguably) brave moment. “They’re gonna sell the Monzano Pepper Farm and make it a residential area,” Anthony says, deadly serious. Of course, neither the greedy corporation nor the Monzano Pepper Farm exist. But when the prospective buyer asks Doug Sr. if he’s “really gonna listen to the temp?” Anthony repeats the line to Doug Sr.’s face and directly challenges him to do the right thing. “I leave in two days,” he says. “I have no dog in this fight. I care about ya’ll.”
Just as Jury Duty designed it, Anthony steps up and saves the day.
The finale—just like last season—is the best episode of the series. It’s not only the moment when Anthony finds out that none of this was real, but we’re also treated to the crew’s grand reveal about how they pulled it off. “I’ve been saying this whole time: ‘I feel like I’m living in a TV show,’” Anthony says, shocked. Even when he finds out that everyone is an actor, he still doesn’t believe it. “Even Marjorie?” he asks. Yes, Marjorie too. “And this isn’t your dad?” he asks Bonifer. Sorry Anthony, no.
Still, the best part of the finale is in episode 9—which, I believe, was a secret additional drop that Prime Video had not announced prior. The episode documents Anthony’s meeting with the only person who can understand what he just went through: Ronald Gladden, the mark from season 1.
“Just accepting that nothing was real would hit me in waves,” Gladden says.
These two gullible galoots are about to be tricked again, of course. Jury Duty reveals that the diner they’re meeting in is filled with actors and cameras. It’s a cute, though unnecessary, second prank. But to my surprise, the pair even go on to impress me past the point when James Marsden finally shows up to congratulate them.
In an honest conversation about the show, Ronald and Anthony both admit that they still feel immense modesty about their experiences. Though they were told that they’re good, heroic people at the end of their time on the show, they still contribute anything Jury Duty says about the last remaining goodness of humanity to the masterminds behind the cameras. “I didn’t want to take any credit,” Anthony says. Ronald replies, “I just had the luxury of being myself.”
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