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Yapping about movies, tv shows, reality tv, pop culture moments, and anything else that I can't get off my mind.
Next Episode Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat out 4/22/25!
Hello, and welcome to the I Have to Say Podcast.
In case you missed it, I posted another Reality TV Chat at www.ihavetosay.blog talking about some of the reality tv shows I’ve been watching since our last update.
I’m going back and forth about if I should make those a blog post or also have a podcast episode alongside it…so if you have an opinion, please let me know! But the last two that I have done have been blog posts.
If you listened the week before last week, I wasn’t sure what we were going to talk about today. I threw out Pretty Lethal on Amazon Prime but I really don’t have a lot to say about that movie. It’s campy, unserious, and violent. It wasn’t my favorite movie ever, but it wasn’t horrible either. I was amused and entertained, although some parts of it did feel like jumping the sharky.
But after the movie was over, I was scrolling on Prime and Jury Duty presents Company Retreat popped up. I’d been seeing people talk about it and I’d been putting it off for weeks.
And today, I have to say, I was sleeping on Company Retreat!
I can admit when I’m wrong and I was wrong to put off that show for so long. It made me laugh out loud and it caught me by surprise, because I wasn’t that big of a fan of Jury Duty when that first came out…I didn’t originally finish it when it was airing, but after watching Company Retreat, I did run it back.
But Company Retreat hooked me from the first episode. It was really funny and a joy to watch and I’d love to talk about it. And I’ll be referencing Jury Duty here and there too.
So thank you for joining me. Thank you for being here. And let’s get started.
Overall Storyline
Company Retreat is a part of the “Jury Duty” series where someone is put into a situation where everyone around the hero is an actor playing a character and the hero gets put into different situations that are relevant to whatever the overarching setting is.
In the first season, the lead believes he is a juror showing up for jury duty.
In this season, Anthony believes he was hired to be a temporary assistant to the HR department while the company takes their annual company retreat.
At this retreat, we learn that Doug plans to retire and pass the company down to his son Dougie.
There are eight total episodes and each episode is around half an hour.
Producers of Company Retreat told Anthony they would be filming for a documentary to explain some of the cameras and interviews going on, and then when we’re watching it, they start out at a location for the office, which we only spend a little time at as a viewer, before we head to the grounds for the retreat, and there’s a stop at a restaurant for dinner as well.
Episode Previews
Let me give a quick episode breakdown.
Episode 1 appropriately sets the scene for what we’re going to get from this show. It gives The Office vibes, and we learn right away that the company is fake and everyone is acting, except for Anthony. Though I do think it’s worth noting that they don’t actually verbalize it out loud. You have to be paying attention when you first start the show because it tells you through words written on a black screen. So if you don’t know what the show is about and you don’t see that, you can totally believe the show is real.
In the first episode, we make it to location for the retreat, and have our first awkward incident happen, along with a bit that follows us throughout the series.
In this episode, we see Anthony’s commitment to his job and the position. He’s indirectly given the choice of staying and going and he stays, even though it’d be completely understandable if he left.
If I could describe the first episode in one word, it would be unreal.
Episode 2 is a continuation of the bits that happened in the first season. In this episode, we also get to know Anthony more.
We see his sense of humor, while he jokes with the realtor that came back looking for his…”relaxation device.”
We see his ability to put up with ridiculousness, while also keeping it real, when one of his coworkers shows off pictures of himself.
If I could use one word to describe episode 2, it would be silly. Chipgate was just silly, in a good way, because an entire episode catered around blue ranch doritos? Iconic. Anthony needs to go lock in a sponsorship immediately.
Episode 3 is the sexual harassment episode and was the center of the story being told, in my opinion. It pushed the rest of the season forward, and gave us one of my favorite inside jokes told throughout the series. The incident that happens with Dougie just was so comically not well thought out that it’s funny to watch on tv, but if it happened in real life…I would’ve been too stunned to speak. ‘Cause I don’t know how that could happen on accident.
In this episode we continue to see Anthony be as supportive as he can be. And we see that the roles and their dynamics as coworkers be further cemented.
If I could use one word to describe Episode 3, although I laughed a lot this episode, I was also damn near speechless.
Episode 4 is the Everest episode, with another ridiculous but funny seminar led by a man who said he got frostbite…down there…there were a lot of porcupine jokes this episode and a search for Dougie who felt attacked and down about what happened in the previous one.
In one word, I would describe episode 4 as uplifting, though Dougie is dramatic. So it’s a toss up between uplifting and dramatic.
A lot happens in Episode 5, with Truikas, who was originally introduced in the first episode, coming in to formally introduce themselves to the group. We get the Dougcathalon as well as an outing to a restaurant later in the episode. Different storylines go on that made this episode fun, while also beginning to build the stakes of the situation at hand.
In one word, I would describe episode 5 as amusing.
In Episode 6, we see a talent show put on by the different characters. This episode there was a playful line being drawn between Rockin’ Grandmas and Truikas, and we could see Anthony still feeling a type of way about Truikas being there and existing.
In one word, I would say Episode 6 is playful.
In Episode 7, we open the time capsule, looking at fake memories of the employees, but the episode eventually leads us to the moment before the reveal.
And In Episode 8, we get the reveal and some behind the scenes moments.
There’s so much going on in each episode, but it all tied together nicely and by the time it was over, I was really sad that it was over.
Though the show as a whole is a trip, some of my favorite moments include the porcupine running joke, seeing Anthony and the other cast trying and failing not to laugh throughout the series, the jokes about the Miami realtors, Anthony saying, “Oh shooters shoot” when Kevin wonders if Marjorie is single, and many more.
Production
The production of this show just blows my mind.
The amount of work and the amount of training to be able to pull something like this off, not even just in Company Retreat but also Jury Duty and whatever else will come next. There’s so many moving parts and though it’s scripted and comes across like a sitcom, you never really know what the “hero” is going to do or respond in the situation, which means there’s also a lot of improv going on. The cast has talked about having to hit certain beats, but the little details in it can change depending on who the hero is.
And this is kinda the benefit of it being a recorded show in a way…and I don’t know how factual it is but I’ve seen theories around what could happen if the hero doesn’t respond accordingly: if they don’t want to help, if they have an attitude, if they’re like, “No. I actually don’t want to do this.”
And some people believe, I don’t know if it’s confirmed, that throughout the different shows, there have been times where the "heroes," they weren’t doing what the show called for…like their personalities didn’t align with what the show was trying to do, so they replaced them with a new person. I don’t know if that’s true though. I didn’t fact check that, but that’s what I’ve seen floating around.
What I know for sure though is how methodical the writers and planners of this show are and how much thought and foresight they had to have to prepare the actors and to make the show entertaining.
In interviews and even in the reveal episodes, they’ve talked about how they had to have so many options for how to respond to the hero’s response in any given scenario and they walkthrough the entire thing to block out the scenes and be aware of where the camera is for some amount of time before. I think they said it took months of planning.
But the production value on Company Retreat and Jury Duty is actually insane and watching it, i just…I also have to give props to the actors that were there on screen because staying in character the whole time had to be tough and then you’re talking to someone knowing that this isn’t really real, unsure of how they’re going to respond when they figure it out, but still having to go along with these bits cause that’s what you’re there to do…
It’s just…um…it’s crazy to think about. But I also think everyone there was such an amazing actor, like, whoever casted them did a great job because, there’s so much unedited footage, but based on the final production, they were able to stay in character, even in the craziest of circumstances, and be true to their character for as long as they did. Being on this show has to be a really good resume builder. That’s intense: knowing you have to move the story along, responding in the moment with improv, then acting, staying in character. It’s a lot. I’m impressed honestly.
Watching the show I also can’t imagine what I would do in those situations, especially because the ridiculousness that happens on the show only escalates as it continues going on. And it starts off with a bang in both seasons with a juror pretending to be racist to get out of jury duty and the HR manager wanting to propose on the first episode.
Company Retreat vs. Jury Duty
For me, Company Retreat was easier to digest and I think it’s because of the close knit family dynamic that was portrayed on Company Retreat vs Jury Duty. The setting really matters because it sets the tone for what happens.
In Jury Duty, everyone is a stranger. The storyline revolves around strangers coming together to decide who is liable in a case that happens at a workplace whereas in Company Retreat you’re on a retreat between employees and the owner of a small business that makes hot sauce.
The vibes are just completely different and the temperaments of the leads are completely different, so it’s hard to do an apples to apples comparison between the shows. It’s more about preference.
I just think that Company Retreat is an easier sell to the hero because certain behaviors are normalized when you work with the same people for so long and you can chalk up certain personalities to be like “Oh, that’s just how Jimmy is. That’s how Dougie is. We’ve dealt with this for years,” so nothing seems shocking because everyone around you isn’t reacting, which can help eliminate any doubt that the hero has while they’re experiencing everything.
But as a viewer, the dynamics in Company Retreat also gave off heavy vibes of shows like The Office and Abbott Elementary in a way that Jury Duty didn’t for me. It’s not just the cutaway interviews or the way that things are being recorded, because that also happened in Jury Duty.
It’s just that Company Retreat felt a bit higher stakes watching it because of the situations that come up and what could happen as a result of the choices made whereas Jury Duty’s case feels a little bit less serious.
I also think Company Retreat had a more playful feel overall, even among the moments of conflict, whereas Jury Duty just felt like a huge prank everyone was pulling, even though the concepts are the same. It’s just…one of them I think had more potty humor, like low hanging fruit humor, whereas the other one was crazy people acting crazy, I say that in a positive way.
And, I don’t know if there were different writers on Company Retreat or if this is all just because of the situations they were in, but the tones of the shows feel different to me, and by no fault of the heroes casted. I don’t think it’s because of their personality difference. I think the environments were different which impacted how they acted. Like, Anthony was there to do the job for money, I would assume, and Ronald was there to do jury duty and I assume he thought it would be an in and out thing without so many setbacks and delays and isolation from his family and being stuck in that room and all that stuff. I think that impacts how they reacted to finding out everything.
I mean, we have Anthony saying that he had fun so many times in the season, and not even post season, while they’re filming he’s saying, “This is so much fun. I’m having a great time.” , where Ronald said he didn’t have the same experience during the reunion episode.
NOT faking it
Speaking of Anthony and Ronald, I’ve seen people say that they think that Anthony was faking it and then I’ve seen people saying Ronald was faking it and I have to disagree because I think knowing something is going on and then just like… being an actor the whole time are two different things, right?
And even if they were faking it, so what? What point are you trying to make by assuming they were both faking it?
That being said though, I don’t think either of them were faking it.
I think like any normal person, both of them probably had moments of doubt, wondering what was going on because day to day, life doesn’t have so many random things happening like that or so many coincidental setbacks Imagine going somewhere to do a job and then a random proposal happens that doesn’t end well and then a poorly executed hot sauce flavor rollout happens, and then the person goes off and pouts leading everyone to look for them.
And they’re all grown adults by the way. Like that’s not something that…*laughs* I don’t think that’s a normal experience.
And again, I know I keep saying it’s ridiculous but it’s just so wild that that is what happened on the show and I can only imagine what it’s like to experience that in real time. So of course, there were probably moments of doubt for both of them. Not to the extent of like, “I’m on a tv show,” but a feeling of like, “This can’t be real because this is so unhinged.”
And even though they have both acknowledged that they felt like they were on tv shows while they were filming, in the moment, they were just looking for reasons why it had to be real because your brain can’t comprehend that a lot of what is going on is fake and orchestrated for you. It’s easier to believe what’s going on is real than to buy into the doubt you’re experiencing.
There's also sooo many moments we didn’t see, especially in Anthony’s season because it had more recorded hours than Jury Duty, so there’s so many moments that they probably connected with the other members of the cast.
Anything that didn’t fit the storyline the producers or whoever else were trying to tell got cut out, and I truly believe that Anthony was really immersed into the world and got a chance to get to know a little bit about everyone. ‘Cause there was so much we didn’t see. In the commentary episodes, they talk about how there’s two characters that have a work husband/wife relationship, and that got cut out.
And I would be down to see a lot of what got cut out honestly, even if it’s just like boring seminars, ‘cause they said they had boring seminars too aside from the fun ones, or like…their game nights when they were playing Uno! I would like to see a lot more of those to be honest…but I think because they had moments of real connection outside of whatever they were putting him through, it got even harder to believe, “oh no. this is all fake.”
And even just that part of building the world, further proves how much planning and forethought went into everything that occurred and how adaptable the actors were to Anthony and to Ronald and their personalities.
And it further proves how much planning and forethought went into everything that occurred and how adaptable the actors were to Anthony and his personality.
Giving Anthony His Flowers
Luckily for the actors though, Anthony seems like a genuinely caring and thoughtful person. We see him give pep talks and be supportive of people he just met.
Yes, Anthony was an assistant doing a job for money, but Anthony has said in interviews he wanted to help and be the best assistant he could be, and what he did on the show, to me, went past what was required of him in a role and was more than him just trying to collect a check.
We can see that play out. I think he did what was asked of him without complaining (at least in the edit), potentially doing more than that by being a supportive person and listening ear to people who weren’t even his direct supervisors and he wasn’t afraid to take charge in a new environment.
I think he acclimated so well because he really did like and respect the people he was around and the company as a whole and accepted the different varieties of personalities. There’s so many times where he references that company as “we” and “us” even though he was only working for them temporarily.
Anthony also had really good advice. It stands out to me near the end when he’s telling Dougie that he has to be calm so he can think rationally. And the way that he pleaded with Doug at the end was emotional and really showed his character because he really didn’t gain anything for doing that.
Why This Show is So Successful
I think that Company Retreat and Jury Duty have become so successful because you really can’t help but wonder how the person is going to respond in any situation that is thrown at them.
The show would work as a sitcom as if Anthony or Ronald was an actor as well. Everyone played their roles really well and in the shows and the heroes complemented everyone perfectly.
It’s also interesting to see where the story will go, because I could not have guessed the things that happened, especially in Company Retreat, I could not have guessed that the things that happened were going to happen and even on rewatches, yes, I’ve rewatched it already, i’m still shocked at what they had these actors did and were doing.
I think it’s successful because these shows unsuspectingly test people’s morality. Viewers and posts I’ve seen have focused on the hook of the show, that one person is clueless that it’s all fake, but the other part of the show is seeing how people will respond when faced with difficult decisions and opposition, and when you’re in a position where you actually can turn a blind eye and in theory no one would know, except for the people with you but who are they gonna tell, you know?
Both Ronald and Anthony didn’t really have to fight for what was right or what they believed and they both embraced taking the lead, and did so anyway because it was the right thing to do. They cared about people outside of themselves and worked to make sure things turned out okay. And they practiced empathy with more than just their words.
In Jury Duty, he was facing a lot of opposition, and they were trying to get out of there, the vote had to be unanimous, he really could’ve just said f*** it, and thrown in the towel to get out of there earlier. And in Company Retreat, he didn’t have to do it at all. He didn’t really owe them anything.
And then you just can’t help but wonder what you would do if you saw that in real life. ‘Cause it’s so easy to say you would walk away or leave or know something is up, but it’s really not that simple, actually.
I said this earlier but even if they felt like something was up they both had obligations to be there, either as a juror or as an employee, especially because they were both put in charge to help support or lead what was going on.
And I think that also ties back to the production of these shows, because by design, you’re leading people to water and hoping that they’ll drink it and you never know if they will or won’t, and that’s kind of the appeal of the show.
The bystander effect says, the more people, the less obligation you’ll feel to speak up. But in a way, Ronald was put in charge and Anthony was the one who had to take over the thing, so they kind of eliminate that through the experiment that they set up.
I think they deserve the credit for stepping in and embracing taking charge because I don’t think that’s a common trait. You would hope a lot of people would do what they did, but I don’t know for sure if that’s true…and maybe it’s because my hope in humanity has died down with everything going on. But I think what they did was admirable and it’s something that should be celebrated until it becomes the norm ‘cause I don’t think it’s the norm yet.
I would be curious to see a season though where the people catch on. I know the whole schtick of the show is that they don’t know and they do the good thing anyway. I would be interested to see versions where people don’t perform as expected or when they catch on that is a tv show just for the meta of it I guess.
Not in the sense that they make the good decisions ‘cause they know it’s a tv show, but just to see how people would pivot if they [repeatedly insisted] “this kinda feels like a tv show, right?” Um, but I think the reason they don’t show any of that, assuming the theories they shift through multiple heroes until they find the right one, assuming that thought process is true, I’m guessing they cut that out because it’s not really what the goal of the show is.
I think the show is successful because it does kinda give you hope in people again- hope that people are good, hope that people will do the right thing, even when they don’t benefit from it, hope that people can care about the situations that they are in and give their all, even when they don’t want to and even when they get nothing out of it.
I think that’s why Anthony is such a standout person in this whole thing because he really didn’t have to do any of what he did. He really stopped an acquisition just to protect the employees because he cared about them and that’s literally heroic.
Is it wrong?
I think the show is also so successful because it is sort of a look into the human psyche if you want it to be.
Which has led to debates about if the show is unethical.
We can’t deny that it does something to your mind to learn that days of your life were all pre-determined in a way. It would freak me out to know that people were able to correctly anticipate or at least plan around how I was responding in any given situation. Like so much work goes into the show and it has to be a mindfuck to be recorded without knowing. I’m already an anxious person and that would make my paranoia worse.
There’s no saying how people are going to take it too. So I think another reason that Company Retreat was easier for me to digest than of Jury Duty is because Anthony genuinely seemed to be having fun while Ronald, although he did show up as the producers were hoping he would, he seemed over it and has said, not sure if it was jokingly or not, that he didn’t have as much fun as Anthony did. And I can kinda tell watching the show there were points where he was just over it.
And again, I think why Anthony had so much more fun than Ronald is because of the setups of the season. A company retreat is so more exciting and fun than jury duty…like…let’s be real about that.
So, I don’t know if this will be one of those shows I watch every season of, just because as much as I’ve loved Company Retreat, I do think there are ethical dilemmas here…
They do receive life changing money for being in this situation, but I don’t know…I didn’t like that they tricked them again when they met up for dinner ‘cause it felt unnecessarily cruel and…I just think the critiques of the show are valid. Like…even if you enjoy the show I think it’s okay to acknowledge that there are some lines here.
One thing that will keep me hooked on the show and watching season after season is if they hook up their heroes with therapists or psychiatrists that can genuinely help them navigate through the experience and sort through their feelings about it, that has no ulterior motives.
And I think it’s best to keep the setting more lighthearted than serious. Like if the next season was a family reunion, or a wedding event, or something like that, somewhere where people can have a good time aside from being pranked the whole time, I would be happy to tune in. That’s really all I ask.
Conclusion
That’s all I got for you today.
Next week I’ll be talking about movies I love to hate.
You can visit my blog www.ihavetosay.blog. I’m on instagram @ihavetosay with three ys like ihavetosayyy. I’m on threads at lyssa_posts_ and I hope you’ll subscribe.
Okay. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for being here. Bye bye.