High Desert, Apple TV Plus — chaotic comedy about an addict-cum-detective

There is bliss — a Thanksgiving feast in the oven, football on the TV, the mellifluous tones of Sinatra filling the air — and then, just like that, there is carnage. Windows are smashed, doors broken down, money frantically hidden and kilos of drugs vainly poured down the sink as the Feds close in.

This frenzied opening scene nicely sets the tone for High Desert, the chaotic, California-set comedy series on Apple TV Plus. The eight-parter has a rickety rhythm, its humour offbeat and its plot almost too shaggy to synopsise. Broadly, it follows Peggy (Patricia Arquette), an addict and erstwhile dealer trying to get her life back on track by becoming a private investigator and cracking a case involving a stolen Picasso, a missing woman, a charlatan shaman (Rupert Friend), breast implants and a smut-spouting parrot. There is also a dead-mum doppelgänger, a charismatic convict ex (Matt Dillon) and a fugitive friend thrown in for good measure.

Peggy is a freewheeling, frazzled fiftysomething, the kind of person who needs to check in with others to confirm whether she’s alive or dead. Those who have seen The White Lotus might identify her as a spiritual sister to Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya — in both appearance and unstable aura. Her actual sister and brother, however, are much more severe and sensible. They’re unimpressed that Peggy’s plan to become financially independent hinges on working as an untrained, unlicensed, unpaid “associate” to a shabby detective (Brad Garrett). 

Arquette is convincing — and clearly having a blast — in her role as a warm-hearted, occasionally sharp-minded woman oscillating between self-assurance, self-sabotage and (sometimes LSD-provoked) delusion. But while there’s much to enjoy in her performance, the careering narrative and volatile lead character start to drain after a few episodes, and there’s some dissonance between the stream of gags and the moments played for pathos. At the risk of sounding like Peggy’s siblings, a little more stability wouldn’t go amiss in an otherwise refreshingly idiosyncratic show.

★★★☆☆

Episodes 1-3 on Apple TV Plus from May 17; new episodes released weekly

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