Duster, HBO Max’s latest episodic adventure, premiered on May 15th. Set in the 1970s Southwest, the show follows the life of a gusty getaway driver from a growing crime syndicate as it goes from awful to wildly, stupidly, dangerously awful. At least, that’s how IMDb describes the show. 

When the show first started marketing the show through teaser trailers, it immediately caught my attention for all the right reasons. It’s set in the 1970s and stars a muscle car as the lead character. 

It’s a nice throwback to the 1970s and 1980s era of television, where you had shows like: The Fall Guy, Knight Rider, The Dukes of Hazzard, Starsky and Hutch, Miami Vice, Magnum PI, Rockford Files, and The A-Team. All these TV shows gained a multi-generation audience thanks to the cars stealing the scene from their human co-stars. 

We haven’t seen a hero car in modern television in quite some time. The last one I can think of is Walter White’s Pontiac Aztek from Breaking Bad. So, a cherry red 1970 Plymouth Duster plastered on the poster and trailer thumbnail of a new TV show creates positive intrigue.

That depends. Do you like visuals of early 70s music and fashion, but can’t be bothered to watch TV shows filmed in the 70s? Duster is for you, delivering a rose-tinted, Instagram-filtered view of the 70s, complete with perfect fitted wardrobes and not a single cigarette in sight. It’s supposed to be set in 1972-1973, yet nobody is openly smoking in the show. 

It’s also set in Phoenix, Arizona, yet nobody is sweating. Damn your dry heat, it’s still hot.  

Do you like ethnic minority characters? That’s good because Duster has some playing lead roles. One of the main characters is rookie FBI agent Nina Hayes (Rachel Hilson), a double-hitter as being one of the first female FBI agents who also happens to be black. 

Historically, Aubrey Lewis and James Barrow became the first African American FBI agents in 1962. Moreover, the feds didn’t allow women to become agents until 1972. Bonus points to Duster for historic accuracy.

What bothers me is how they address the lack of political correctness of the time period. They sort of dance around it, making sure we, the audience, are fully explained that this type of stuff is “not cool” anymore. But here’s the thing: It wasn’t cool back then either. You watch shows like Kojack, All in the Family, and The Jeffersons, where they often addressed social issues with blunt language. 

It’s frustrating watching these characters take verbal abuse from the cliché straight-white-dude character instead of dishing out a witty comeback, like they would have in the 1970s. We already know the main characters are on the right, so let them be badasses instead of taking the bullying on the chin to show they are morally superior. 

This isn’t an afterschool special. It’s a crime thriller set in the 1970s, a time when everyone, much like today, was angry, exhausted, and frustrated. The 1970s were a lot like today. You had glam rock stars confusing straight men, economic turmoil with rapid inflation, conflict in the Middle East, unpopular wars, controversial presidents, and NASA was sending astronauts to the moon to play golf. 

Moreover, Hayes’s character is dead set on chasing after the mob boss in the show because her father worked for him in the past and was killed by him. So, her wanting this case is personal, but nobody at the FBI noticed this conflict of interest? Is the show saying nobody noticed because nobody bothered to look because she’s black? 

One would think a federal agent fresh out of the academy, breaking protocol by requesting an assignment on a criminal organization that may or may not have killed their father, would get a second glance. But nope, it’s just waved away in the first five minutes of the show as a staffing coincidence.  

So far, my second big issue with this show is Jim’s motivation for turning FBI informant. It is believed that Saxon had Jim’s younger brother killed during an operation gone bad. Yet, he can’t believe that it would be possible, going so far as to say he’s becoming an informant to prove Saxon didn’t kill his brother. 

That’s stupid. You’re saying the Driver, who has worked for this crime boss for well over a decade, has never helped move a body? Gotten blood on his hands or on the upholstery? Come on… 

One cannot judge a TV show based on its first episode because it spends most of the time setting up the universe and characters and introducing the conflict that kicks off the rest of the season. So, while I won’t say Duster is a great or bad show yet, I see one glaring issue that will hopefully change over the next few episodes. 

The show is called Duster because that’s what the lead character, Jim Ellis, the “best” getaway driver in the Southwest, drives. Fair enough. But from a technical standpoint, it doesn’t make sense for a getaway driver to use their personal vehicle for work. 

Especially if the car is brightly colored and has its name literally spelled out throughout the bodywork. I know cameras weren’t as plentiful in the 1970s as they are today, but witnesses and law officials can remember a red Plymouth Duster leaving a crime scene. 

Other TV shows, like Magnum PI, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Fall Guy, Miami Vice, and Starsky and Hutch, got away with using a less-than-subtle vehicle to mock traffic laws because they were doing so for the “right” reasons and working with law enforcement in some capacity. 

Duster is different because Jim Ellis isn’t an undercover cop or private detective standing up for the little guy and putting bad guys away. He’s a driver for the leader of Ezra Saxton’s (Keith David) crime synthetic.

He does crime. So why is he using his personal ride? 

The point of a good wheelman is that they can steal the right car for various crimes and drive anything, anywhere, at anytime. 

The only reason the FBI has leverage on Ellis is because he used the Duster to run illegal cargo for his mob boss, Saxon. Can Ellis not drive as well if it is not his own car? 

I’ll credit the show for paying attention to the car stunts and filming them like they did “back in the day” in 4K. The Plymouth Duster can be seen sliding, kicking up dirt, and smoking tires. In one short chase scene in episode one, the “bad guys” crash their car in a violent roll over. 

It reminded me of all the classic scenes from shows like CHIPS, where every traffic collision turned into a Cirque De Soleil of twisted metal with cars flying through the air and exploding on impact. 

If nothing else, this show is eye candy for spotting classic cars. 

The Plymouth Duster was never a varsity athlete during the muscle car craze of the early ’70s. It was the more affordable, second-stringer in the shadow of the Plymouth Cuda and Road Runner, the Dodge Challenger and Charger, and even the Chrysler 300. 

It was a Plymouth Valiant with two doors and a snazzy name slapped on the hood of a straight-six engine. Unless you splurged for the 340ci V8, putting down 275 hp and 340 pound-feet of torque.  

The point is the Plymouth Duster has never played the hero on TV or in film. It’s always played a supporting role for a lead character down on their luck. Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore drove a beater 1974 Duster in the film, and who could forget watching Al Bundy’s million-mile Dodge on Married with Children. 

I like seeing this car getting the chance to star as the anti-hero bad ass for once. 

Duster streams new episodes every Thursday on HBO Max, with its first season comprising eight episodes. This first episode left me with more questions than answers, as J.J. Abrams’ lazy “mystery box” style of writing tends to do by dangling clues in front of you to keep you moving forward to a lackluster climax where the characters explain everything instead of showing it through cinematic storytelling. 

Nevertheless, I’ll keep watching… for the cars.