Clark Forrest (Jason Bateman) is the weatherman for St. Louis TV station WTGK. While covering the weather during a cyclone, his life is saved by Floyd Smernitch (David Harbour), an American Sign Language interpreter, and the two quickly become friends. Floyd even starts doing the on-air interpretations during the Channel 10 weather forecasts. However neither of these guys is happy in their current lives. Clark lives in the St. Louis suburb of Twyla with his wife (Wynn Everett) and two young daughters (Aizley Ford, Maddyn Kendall). They may look like the perfect family to the outside world, but the love in their relationship has started to wain. Floyd is divorced and remarried, but the intimacy with his new wife Carol Love (Linda Cardellini) has been stagnant for a while. Floyd has put on quite a bit of weight, has been diagnosed with Peyronie’s disease, and is struggling financially—Carol has even picked up some extra money umpiring for baseball games, a sport she knows nothing about. Floyd has also been struggling to connect with and get the approval of his step son, Richard (Arlan Ruf). All of this has really affected his confidence. Just imagine if he knew that Clark has started up an affair with his wife!
One day Clark comes across this new app called “DTF St Louis”, which helps married folks find hookups. He suggests they both create profiles, and maybe it’ll be a confidence booster for Floyd. However, eight weeks later, Clark’s body is found dead in a pool house three miles from his home, with some sexual material spread out by his body. Investigating the death are Detective Donoghue Homer (Richard Jenkins) from the county sheriff’s homicide department, and special crimes unit officer Jodie Plumb (Joy Sunday) from the Twyla police department. Their initial suspect is Clark, whose unique bicycle was found at the scene. But as they interview him about his unusual friendship with Floyd, his relationship with Floyd’s wife, and the events that transpired since they met, they’re not quite ready for his bizarre tale, and start to question whether Clark is actually responsible for the death.
DTF St Louis is a seven-episode limited series that originally aired on HBO/HBO Max. The opener sets up the premise, introducing the characters, and the fact that Floyd is dead. As Clark is interviewed by the police, the series explores the events that led up to this point, including the very unique friendship that forms between Clark and Floyd, and the odd sexual activities between Clark and Carol. The series comes from writer/director Steven Conrad (Patriot, Perpetual Grace, LTD, Ultra City Smiths), whose TV projects have always been a little offbeat, and this one is no different—there is so much gratuitous male nudity and an obsession with Indiana Jones-inspired porn and other odd fetishes. The nature of Clark and Floyd’s relationship is quite bizarre. Sometimes it feels like they are just good friends, while other times it feels almost bordering on sexual attraction. In either case, neither seems bothered or shocked to receive male attention from the DTF St Louis app—in fact, Clark sees this as a possible way to help Floyd get his confidence back. As the guys create their profiles and explore the app, this leads to two fun recurring guest stars, Peter Sarsgaard and Chris Perfetti (Abbott Elementary).
The series is darkly comedic, and quite bizarre and uncomfortable at times, but stars Jason Bateman and David Harbour play well off one another. And at the core is this seemingly-genuine friendship between these two guys, even if it does get a bit awkward and unusual at times. Both of these guys are lonely and want to feel desired again. Clark takes an interest in sign language, which he learns from Floyd, and if offers them this personal and intimate way to communicate. Clark also genuinely wants to see his friend happy and tries to manipulate situations to give Floyd a confidence boost, though events don’t quite play out as he expects. Both actors prove they are open to anything for laughs. Clark has some really over-the-top sex scenes. And for someone who has lost his confidence, Floyd also seems to have very little shame. Floyd is an overweight guy who’s often seen with his shirt off and gut hanging out, he starts taking a hip-hop dance class for children after his step-son refuses to go (and really enjoys it), and is constantly talking about his curved penis problem.
The two cops also make a fun mismatched kind of duo. Homer and Jodie come from two very different generations and backgrounds, and approach the case very differently. At first Homer is very “my way or the highway”, but over time starts to realize there is some merit to Jodie’s approach. Jodie is open minded and very sex positive, while Homer is older and stuck in his ways, and his idea of a kink is a sexy bra.
The series keeps you guessing about what actually happened, making various people look guilty for the potential crime. Did Clark kill Floyd because he discovered the affair, did Carol kill him in order to get some badly needed life insurance money, was someone else involved, or maybe the death was just an accident.
Overall, the series was a bit too long and bizarre for my taste, but I could see how others might really enjoy it, particularly avid Steven Conrad fans, who are used to his style of wackiness and humor. The cast is also great and play off one another well, no matter how odd or awkward the scenes get. The series tells a complete story. It was designed as a limited series, and I don’t foresee them trying to bring it back for a second season (I’m not sure how they would even do that story-wise), though I did enjoy the cop dynamic and would watch those two work another case.
Like several other HBO dramas, Warner Bros. has decided to only release DTF St Louis on DVD for physical media, despite the fact the the series streamed/aired in 4K and HD. We were sent the DVD release for review—the picture quality is generally clean and solid. While I got used to it quickly, it definitely lacks that extra level of clarity and detail that you get in the original 4K/HD presentation. The audio track is very good, providing clear dialogue, and making excellent use of the surround channel to provide an immersive experience.
The season’s 7 episodes are split across 2 discs, which reside on a swinging tray and right side of a standard-sized DVD case, which is placed inside a cardboard slipcover. The discs do not contain any bonus material.
What’s Included:
- Episodes: (5:53:35)
- All 7 episodes:
Disc 1 (3:21:50): “Cornhole”, “Snag It”, “The Go Getter”, “Missouri Mutual Life & Health Insurance Company”
Disc 2 (2:31:45): “Amphezyne”, “The Denny’s Plan”, “No One’s Normal. It Just Looks That Way from Across the Street” - 480i / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
- Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital
- Subtitles: English SDH
Extras:
-
This release does not contain any bonus material.
Final Thoughts:
DTF St. Louis may not be for everyone. It is a very odd and bizarre series, but pretty much par for the course for writer/director Steven Conrad. Stars David Harbour and Jason Bateman prove they are game for anything, and have great on-screen chemistry. The series may be slightly longer than it needed to be, but it does a nice job of building the mystery and keeping the audience guessing as to what happened until the details are finally revealed at the end. It also has a nice blend of humor and drama as it explores these characters. It’s a limited series that tells a complete story. The presentation is pretty solid overall, but lacks that extra dash of clarity an HD picture brings, and the discs do not contain any bonus material. I wish Warner Bros would give all HBO shows at least a Blu-ray release. That said, it’s worth a look for fans of the cast/creator.
