{"id":1552854,"date":"2026-03-19T12:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T16:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/consequence.net\/?p=1552854"},"modified":"2026-03-19T12:07:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T16:07:32","slug":"jury-duty-corporate-retreat-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/03\/jury-duty-corporate-retreat-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Jury Duty Presents: Corporate Retreat Fails to Capture the First Season’s Magic: Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the first season of Jury Duty<\/i> premiered, the quasi-scripted\/quasi-reality series benefited greatly from the surprise factor. The new follow-up installment, Jury Duty: Corporate Retreat<\/i>, attempts to capture that same magic for Prime Video<\/a>. But without the novelty factor, the whole experience ends up feeling relatively pointless.<\/p>\n

Trying to exactly duplicate the original Jury Duty<\/i> would of course be near-impossible, so for this new season the producers came up with a very different setting and storyline into which to dunk this season’s “hero.” Enter the unknowing Anthony Norman, who gets hired as a temp worker, believing that he’ll be working a two-week gig for a small family business devoted to hot sauce.<\/p>\n

Much of Anthony’s job, he knows up front, will be taking place at the Rockin’ Grandma’s Hot Sauce company retreat, in an isolated camp located in the Santa Monica mountains. He’s also told that there will be a documentary crew on site following the event, a handy explanation for the cameras following them around. However, Anthony is kept unaware of just how much is being filmed, and that every wacky event he experiences has been scripted and staged. For, as we’ll be repeatedly reminded over these eight episodes, the business is fake, and everyone except Anthony is an actor.<\/p>\n

The narrative around which Corporate Retreat<\/i> is structured is a relatively simple one: Rockin’ Grandma’s is about to experience a change in leadership, with current CEO Doug planning to retire and leave the business to his 30-something son Dougie. Until, that is, Dougie manages to embarrass the company publicly and privately with some bad decisions, and Doug decides on a new plan — selling the company to a private equity firm.<\/p>\n

The introduction of a private equity firm instantly creates a bad guy for the series (anyone who remembers the fate of Toys ‘R Us will know why), but the bulk of the action here focuses on Anthony trying to navigate the just-so-slightly-exaggerated personalities of the company staff.<\/p>\n

It’s an eclectic collection of characters, including hapless Dougie, trying to prove that he’s not a failson, the head of HR who commits a massive HR gaff on day one of the retreat, the awkward, quasi-agoraphobic web designer, and a receptionist who feels more committed to his YouTube snack-rating channel than his job. Because we know none of this is real, the artificiality of their performances can’t help but shine through; between that and some of the more ridiculous events that occur, no wonder Anthony says more than once, “It feels like I’m on a TV show!”<\/p>\n