Duster

For now, what this premiere has is vibes—whether that’s slow-mo hallway struts, a mob contract literally signed in blood, or Jim’s classic Sawyer-esque nickname for Nina (“Baltimore.”) Duster isn’t great TV (at least not yet), but it is fun TV.

In an era where prestige TV often confuses self-seriousness with depth, “Duster” is a reminder that you can still tell smart, satisfying stories with flair, fun and feeling.

Although Duster occasionally steps out of its narrative wheelhouse, expanding its mysterious plot with some unnecessary characters that can only be paid off in a potential season 2, it really works when it keeps both eyes on the road. Jim and Nina are clever, engaging, and classically designed with loads of widespread appeal.

Duster knows exactly what it mainly is, which is a terrific vehicle for Josh Holloway. Rachel Hilson’s chemistry with Holloway is also a win, and sets up a wily criminals-and-cops yarn that delights in period references and music cues and exalts in the kind of car-as-character hero shots that defined a previous TV age.

Even as the series depicts period-accurate racism directed at Nina and her Native American colleague, Awan (Asivak Koostachin, a standout for his character’s cheerfully innocent disposition), “Duster” isn’t a super-serious show. It’s as playfully madcap as Holloway’s character.

It works. I like the show as a fun, souped-up ride-along (the title refers to the iconic Plymouth Duster the antihero drives), and enjoyed Josh Holloway and Rachel Hilson in the lead roles. The logic of the crime story got away from me a little bit, but it’s hardly essential when the other ingredients include fast cars, faster quips and a lot of acting tough.

Josh Holloway has always seemed tailor-made for superstardom, and fifteen years after the conclusion of his breakout run on Lost, J.J. Abrams gives him the stylish vehicle he deserves with Duster.

This is a fun throwback and a return to form for J.J. Abrams.

Not all of it works (the car chases, which tend to take place on empty streets, aren’t all that memorable) and Season 1 never kicks into fourth gear (it’s fun, but it’s not “Cassian stealing a TIE fighter” fun), but “Duster” gets so many of the little things right, it’s easy to set your quibbles aside and just enjoy the ride.

It's a show that could have benefitted from a 22-episode first season, a rarity in 2025. Then again, if the worst thing that can be said about Duster is that it leaves the audience wanting more, that's not exactly a bad thing.

Though not devoid of genuine feeling, it’s best experienced as a collection of attitudes and energies, noises and colors. Don’t take it any more seriously than it takes itself.

“Duster” is a mostly straightforward crime thriller, even if it frustratingly veers into conspiracy territory in its later episodes.

The affection that Abrams and Morgan have for this stuff is palpable, and the style they and collaborators like director Steph Green bring to it skillfully executed. The familiarity becomes a feature rather than a bug.

Though it’s as weightless in impact as a Hot Wheels hot rod, the eight-episode action series is a perfectly enjoyable showcase for Lost alum Josh Holloway‘s effortless swagger and Cheshire cat charisma as carefree mob-family driver Jim Ellis.

These eight episodes don’t have much substance or meaning but Duster is like an R-rated Hot Wheels series and an entertaining star vehicle, so to speak, for Josh Holloway, Rachel Hilson and especially Keith David.

Mr. Holloway, best known for playing the character Sawyer in “Lost,” is so good-looking all he has to do is strut, and he does a lot of that, though much of it seems to be in pursuit of making the point (that he’s so good-looking, etc., etc.). He does a bit less acting than Ms. Hilson does as Nina, whose crusade against Saxton is the engine of the storyline and whose partnership with Navajo agent Awan (Asivak Koostachin) is endearing.

It’s so fun—and Holloway is such a blast in it—that the show falters a bit when it tries to get serious.

Held together by colorful ’70s stylings, Duster lives and dies on the charisma of its cast – and so it thrives whenever Josh Holloway and Keith David are at the wheel of its weekly misadventures.

It makes for a breezy and tart eight-episode romp even though it encounters a few pacing bumps along the road for both Morgan and executive producer J.J. Abrams.

What begins as a thrilling journey of an FBI agent determined to make a name for herself becomes an uneven adventure that can’t quite stay the course.

It’s undeniably fun for large stretches of its eight-episode first season, and it’s not actually Holloway who ends up stealing the project. Still, it’s also one of those programs that, sorry, spins its wheels more often than it should, and one that seems almost afraid to embrace its darker influences, choosing instead to push its messages of equality instead of embedding them more subtly into the narrative.

It’s fast, fun, action-packed, and fully sells the intended vibe, with all the warm connotations its 1970s setting promises. If only the rest of the show lived up to those credits.