SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat Episode 2. It also contains discussion of sexual content.

One word describes Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat Episode 2: Doritos. If one wants to get more specific, it’s three words: Cool Ranch Doritos.

Episode 2 is called “Team Building,” which immediately sets the tone. Most audience members will have some story about a team-building exercise that was boring at best and terrible at worst. Company Retreat does an excellent job at skewering corporate culture in this episode. It’s “Seminar Day,” which is another word that will make anyone who’s ever worked in an office cringe. All of the guest actors who play the folks presenting the seminars are spot-on in how they say almost nothing of any importance, usually in the least engaging way possible. This provides a moment to appreciate the talents of the main cast—because viewers can’t help but look at the Rockin’ Grandma’s employees to see how they’re reacting. It’s not quite “falling asleep in the jury box” good, but it’s good stuff.

Leave it to Marjorie to spice things up. Blair Beeken’s character bluntly announces that “there’s been a robbery,” leading people to expect another giant set piece (after all, there were two of them in the first episode). What she actually means is that somebody walked off with an entire 48-count box of Cool Ranch Doritos from the kitchen. It’s totally irrelevant, but as Bob Belcher once said, “It’s the principle.”

In an effort to regain Marjorie’s trust, the gang decides to preemptively search everyone’s room to find the stolen chips. This is a very smart bit of scripting from the Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat team, since going into each person’s room provides an opportunity to let viewers see more about each individual character. Receptionist PJ Green (a charming Marc-Sully Saint-Fleur) has an entire suitcase devoted to his own snacks, because he wants to be a food influencer. Then there’s Jimmy (played by Jim A. Woods); Company Retreat really hammers the idea that Jimmy did some weird stuff before the show. It’s almost too much, except for that it explains why the time capsule is relevant: an incriminating picture of Jimmy—implied to be Nazi-related, because he says it’s “nothing German”—is among its contents.

This is, naturally, where the actual team-building occurs. Anthony leads his new colleagues during the search efforts, and thus he gets to know more about them and start to ingratiate himself with them. Of course this is vital to the success of Company Retreat as a TV show, but it’s also just key to the spirit of the project, too. The humor can be weird and crude, but it’s never been mean. There’s one moment in “Team Building” that’s on the borderline, and it’s also the most inappropriate joke. “Other Anthony” finds a sex toy that he mistakes as a Thermos, and later on, one of the Malibu realtors shows up to reclaim it. Except Anthony and Marjorie decide to have a little fun at his expense. It’s not very nice of them, but since the realtor is quite clearly a character there to be laughed at, the scene gets a pass. Plus, it’s another piece of the running joke about the debauchery of the previous retreat.

The opposite of that is the reveal of who has the Doritos. It turns out that Kevin stole them as part of his failed marriage proposal; he used them in his room to set up a romantic display for Amy, who loves Cool Ranch Doritos. Again, this is a moment that’s both awkward funny and kind of sad. It’s funny in the sense of this being the most surprising use of Doritos ever—yet as Amy’s reaction illustrates, it’s also sad that this is how much effort Kevin put into trying to win her over. But the Doritos mystery gets its resolution, and Company Retreat reminds viewers that there’s an emotional component to the story, not just a bunch of gags at Anthony’s expense.

“Team Building” makes Anthony Norman part of the Rockin’ Grandma’s Hot Sauce team; in fact, he’s quickly become a leader of the team. And it does so while effectively making fun of corporate team-building culture. This is an episode that’s comedically sound but also efficient in the plot, because Episode 3 is when all hell breaks loose.

Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat streams Fridays on Prime Video. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.