“The Big Door Prize,” on Apple TV+, is set among humble, fragile people, and it cradles them with gentle care. But the show itself is full of moxie — not defiant but confident that yes, it can blend “Gilmore Girls” with “The Leftovers.” Quirk and ache, baby! Come and get it.
The show is set in the sweet small town of Deerfield, where everyone attends elaborate local festivals and enjoys the garish Italian restaurant where you can sit in a gondola. Then one day a fortunetelling machine called the Morpho appears in the general store, promising to reveal one’s true potential. In Season 1, the cards it spit out seemingly told characters what their true fate was: magician, royalty, or in the case of Chris O’Dowd’s repressed family man, “teacher/whistler.” In Season 2, the next level awaits. When the Deerfield denizens put their cards back into the machine’s slot, each sees a unique, personal 32-bit videogame on the screen, though one absorbs it more than plays it. For some, the interlude resolves their greatest regrets; for others, the action is too cryptic to understand at first glance.
“Door” uses plenty of tricks from mystery-box shows and from, of course, its own literal mystery box. Little overlapping connections abound, and throwaway objects become significant totems. Like lots of high-end shows, it has departure episodes that focus more on side characters — but because the show features such a broad cast, almost every episode has that feel. “Door” avoids many of the frustrating aspects of its various predecessors by only glancingly investigating the Morpho’s origins. The show’s central question is not “Where did this come from?” but “What should I do?”
Despite the woo-woo goings on, the folks here are not at much of an advantage. Being told exactly who they were didn’t liberate anyone per se, and living out one’s own little Greek myth is no great treat. Does being told you’re a liar make you more truthful? If a big ego is authentic, earned self-love and not just a cover for insecurity, might it be wonderful? If you regret one big life decision, does that mean you regret all the decisions that followed it?
All 10 episodes from Season 1 of “The Big Door Prize” are available along with the first four from Season 2, with new episodes arriving Wednesdays. Because they are each a blissful half-hour, they make for a superb binge.