Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat TV Review: A real person gets stuck in a reality show version of The Office

Plot: Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat is a comedy series that captures a corporate offsite event at a family-owned hot sauce company from the perspective of Anthony, a recently hired temporary worker. Unbeknownst to Anthony, the entire experience is staged: every colleague around him is performing a role, and each moment — whether in conference rooms or during downtime — has been meticulously orchestrated. As the founder prepares to step down, the getaway becomes a clash between big corporate ambitions and small-business values, with the company’s control hanging in the balance.

Review: Who would have thought that a hoax would be as much fun as the real thing? While networks have tried reality shows that use fakery and tricks, going back to FOX’s Joe Millionaire, and even prank shows like Candid Camera, 2023’s Prime Video series Jury Duty took things to a new level. Structured as a criminal trial, everyone other than the central character in the show were actors. Star Ronald Gladden experienced the bizarre, surreal events, including movie star James Marsden as a fictionalized version of himself, as if they were really happening, which only added to the hilarity of seeing him try to keep it together. Featuring familiar faces like Kirk Fox and Lisa Gilroy, the series was a huge success, garnering multiple awards and nominations at the Emmys and Golden Globes. With the twist revealed, how could the series return for a second season? The answer is to change the venue, setting, and circumstances entirely, while keeping the central twist that everyone is in on the hoax except for one person. Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat delivers the same kind of humor as the original series, but with a style closer to sitcoms like The Office, resulting in a very funny continuation of the winning formula.

The eight-episode second season of Jury Duty takes place at a small company called Rockin’ Grandma’s Hot Sauce, run by Doug (Jerry Hauck), who is retiring and handing the reins of CEO over to his business school-dropout son, Dougie Jr (Alex Bonifer). As head of HR, Kevin Gomez (Ryan Perez) is preparing for the annual company retreat and hires a temporary worker, Anthony, to serve as his assistant. Anthony is open and excited to work at the company and is not put off by the documentary crew filming the events. In this day and age of everything being recorded, suspicions seem relatively low among the young employee who is there to work, regardless of the strange things happening around him. As Anthony joins Kevin for the week-long retreat, things quickly go sideways as HR violations, faux pas, office romances, and more come together as the Rockin’ Grandma employees put on a great show of seeming like a real company.

Company Retreat uses the remote setting of the title event to create sitcom situations, but in a realistic environment. Anyone who has worked in a professional setting understands that there are people you connect with and people you are forced to tolerate. There are bosses who are nice to work for and others who are the bane of your existence. NBC’s The Office figured out these dynamics and mined them for comedy, and Company Retreat does the same thing. While everyone in the first season played strangers pulled together for jury duty, the cast of season two has to convincingly play long-time coworkers while also convincing Anthony that they are not actors. Through the season, Anthony plays along and even adds a major amount to the narrative that would not have worked with anyone else. Because Anthony is game, the season works so much better, and the cohesive ensemble made me forget multiple times that this is not a real company, even when things get way stranger than you would think they could, including plot twists, cameos, and a satisfying pair of final episodes.

Moving from three rooms in a courthouse to an expansive set that includes multiple buildings, locations, and a vast outdoor area makes Company Retreat logistically impressive compared to its predecessor. It also helps that the cast has some talented actors who you may recognize from other shows. No one is nearly as recognizable as James Marsden was in the first season, but the authenticity everyone brings makes this feel like a believable workplace. With scripts in place outlining where the writers wanted the series to go, they had to adapt along the way when either Anthony did not do what they expected or the story’s natural evolution demanded it. Factoring in a potential merger between Rockin’ Grandmas and another company or characters, every episode of this season builds on what came before it and presents like a fully scripted series, but one where you cannot expect the central figure to do what you expect. Had I not known the conceit behind this series, I would have enjoyed it just as much as a sitcom. In fact, it works better as a successor to The Office than the spin-off series, The Paper.

Created by The Office writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupinsky, Company Retreat follows the formula of the NBC sitcom the pair wrote fifteen episodes of, including the fan favorite “Michael Scott Paper Company”. Eisenberg and Stupinsky used their experience to craft the concept of Jury Duty, but the team that developed season two really invested in making it feel authentic by drawing on what fans loved about Dunder-Mifflin’s cast of characters while also making Company Retreat feel realistic. Jake Szymanski (Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates) directed the entire first season and returns to oversee all eight episodes of the sophomore run. The illusion of the series is maintained throughout, letting the viewer feel as if the truth could drop at any moment and reveal to Anthony that he is actually inside a television show. Because they keep it moving all season naturally, once the truth is revealed, it is incredibly funny to watch and surprisingly heartfelt. I won’t spoil how this season ends, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I did the first time around.

Jury Duty won over audiences by being incredibly funny and twisting the idea of a sitcom by using the tools and techniques of reality television. Company Retreat doubles down by taking the strongest elements of one of the most influential sitcoms of all time and melding it with the formula of Jury Duty. Company Retreat is one of the funniest shows so far this year, and it works way better than I was expecting. The entire cast does a fantastic job of being believable as coworkers, friends, and adversaries, and audiences will connect with each of them. Watch every episode of this season, and you will enjoy yourself with the last pair of episodes better than the entire first season on their own.

Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat premieres on March 20th on Prime Video.