Jason Segel brought something totally diverse and mind-boggling to our screens with the dramedy television series, Dispatches from Elsewhere. The show premiered in 2020 and surrounds the idea that we could find ourselves. Sounds vague right? Well, the series is actually based on a wild true story.
Built up of ten one-hour episodes, Dispatches of Elsewhere is described as an anthology series because each episode centers on a specific character, but the entire series essentially follows four people’s search for meaning. The AMC series takes place in Philadelphia, and follows four strangers who are brought together because they all feel as though something isn’t quite right but just can’t figure out what, and seek out what is missing from their lives by participating in a massive game which may be benign or could be a dangerous conspiracy.
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Overseeing and controlling the group is a mental guru named Octavio (Richard E. Grant), who is the head of the Jejune Institute and seems to be offering what each person is looking for. In the first episode, which actually seems joyful, Octavio introduces us to the episode’s protagonist, Peter. As an average working data collector, Peter begins to notice strange flyers with a phone number on them as he travels to work, and eventually decides to ring the number. On the other end of the phone is the Jejune Institute, who are incredibly inviting. Before he knows it, Peter is sucked into the Institute’s mission of finding a woman named Clara.
The Inspiration Behind Dispatches from Elsewhere
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The series is actually pretty indescribable, but the effort has been made by The Guardian as Twin Peaks meets Alice in Wonderland. Even Richard E. Grant doesn’t quite know how to desribe it:
“To describe it… if you don’t know how to. I certainly don’t know how to! Oh, god. It’s an anthology series. And there are four main characters who are overseen by a mental guru called Octavia, who I play. The four people at the centre of the show are on the search for the answers to life. And that’s the quest they go on. And nothing is what it seems.”
This wildly unique show is actually inspired by a bonkers true story about the fictional Jejune Institute, which was created by artist Jeff Hull. Participants took part in a game, which was an immersive experience that turned into a bit of a social experiment, and most of the participants that took part didn’t always know why.
The events between 2008 and 20011 were conveyed in a great documentary called The Institue. The documentary was directed by Spencer McCall, who edited videos for the massive performance art-turned-social-experiment, and told the story of the Jejune Institute through interviews with participants and the creators. It was actually the documentary that Jason Segel drew inspiration from and even decided to contact those who were involved in the original games and ask some questions.
Not long after, he was invited to partake in a series of challenges. Segel told the LA Times: “I had to walk into a bar and say a password, and then the bartender handed me this item that I needed to have.” Not long after taking part in the challenge, Segel was granted permission to write the show based on the events. The process of even being able to write the show is incredible and changes the entire perspective when watching it, a reason why Dispatches from Elsewhere is totally underrated.
Jason Segel’s Dispatches From Elsewhere is Like Nothing Else
The original events of the Jejune Institute can be described as something more familiar in today’s society - alternate reality gaming, where people partake in an interactive experience and solve puzzles and challenges. In the show, this is exactly what the four main characters are doing, yet the line between what is real and what is not can easily be blurred as they get caught up in the experience and are pushed to their limits, all in the search for that missing piece in their life.
From the opening scene of Dispatches from Elsewhere, we are completely hooked. As Richard E. Grant stares at us in silence for at least 30 seconds (but feels like hours), and then proceeds with “and now that I have your attention, I’ll begin,” the audience is instantly emerged into a completely different and quirky universe. Jason Segel created, stars in, writes, produces, and directs certain episodes of the series and does an incredible job, along with the great cast, including the inimitable Sally Field, a hilariously against-type Andre 3000 from Outkast, and a delightful performance from Eve Lindley in one of the most emotionally raw trans performances of recent years).
The eccentricity and oddness of the show makes it all the more intriguing and will even get the viewer thinking about their own life and what’s missing, questioning what is real, what matters, and what miracles we’re all missing by not paying attention. With quotes like “take a look around, there’s magic everywhere, once you learn how to see it," Dispatches From Eslewhere automatically plays with your head and confuses you; the more we are shown, the more we think it’s all a big trick. It has to be one of the most unique and strange series of the past few years, and without a doubt, the most underrated and clever.
