Freevee’s Jury Duty should not have worked, but it remains one of the biggest payoffs in recent television memory.
Director Jake Szymanki’s comedy series follows Ronald Gladden, a solar contractor summoned to serve as a jury member, but Gladden doesn’t know that everyone else around him–the other jury members, the judge, and the bailiff–are all actors. The case itself isn’t even real. James Marsden (Emmy consideration, please and thank you!) plays himself, and the judge orders the jury to be sequestered when paparazzi (also fake) “threatens” to make a mockery of the details of the case. Again, this shouldn’t have worked, but it’s absolutely glorious. Szymanski should receive a nomination for direction just for pulling this off.
Under Szymanski’s direction, Jury Duty never makes Gladden the butt of the joke nor does anyone make fun of him. He is never a pawn, and the director discusses how they found the right person to send a summons to. Late in the season, Gladden, who has been selected as foreman of the jury, controls the deliberations so well that it surprised Szymanski and his team. About halfway through filming, Szymanski knew that this wasn’t going to be a show about tricking someone as much as it was about the importance of building relationships and kindness. Szymanski assembled a troupe of actors so willing to throw themselves into this story that Jury Duty has a Christopher Guest-level of commitment.
Not only did Szymanski and his team pull off an impressive feat of improvisation, he also the the impossible. He made us excited to get a jury summons in the mail.
Jury Duty is streaming on Prime Video.
