|
Incorporated is a new Syfy show about the horrible world of the future where corporations rule. Economic death spirals and climate change disasters have made the US into a third world country (though to be fair, the rest of the world is probably as bad off if not worse). Spain and France are deserts. Alaska is a tropical paradise. The ultra rich live in walled off futuristic cities and walled off suburbs, while the poor live in shacks and shantytowns, or burned out ghettos in fallen cities. Basically it looks like Idiocracy--dust, crowding, everything falling apart. Even 20 years ago, there was some semblence of our modern society, with insurance agents, middle class jobs, etc. But climate change pushed refugees more and more north, as vast areas of the US south became uninhabitable. In the world of the rich though, everything is ruled by the corporations, who have more real power than the hollow remaining governments. They are like nations without territory--to get a new job is to defect, an "NDA" non disclosure agreement means you'll be brainwiped if you quit or are fired. Corporations can kill you at any time, with impunity. They watch your every move, raise your children with the most fascist propaganda, and office politics are life and death. Meet  quote:Ben has the best job, the prettiest wife, the nicest house, the best self-driving car…the best of everything. A rising star in the firmament of Spiga Biotech, one of the most powerful and influential corporations in the world in 2074, Ben is a driven man in a dog-eat-dog world whose ambition masks a secret motive: Ben is actually a child of the poverty-stricken Red Zones, where the love of his life, Elena, sold herself into servitude to the corporation to pay off her family's debts. Determined to find her and rescue her, he invented a new identity for himself and infiltrated the cutthroat world of the corporations – the one way he could find her and get her back. But as he gets closer to his goal, the secrets keep mounting – and the danger keeps escalating… Our hero, like Don Draper has the perfect upper middle class life (in so much as there is a middle class in this dystopian world). But like Don, it's all based on a lie and he's not who he says he is. He even fake married a woman and pretends to love her, just to get higher on the corporate food chain. This is easy because his wife, Laura Larson, is  quote:a successful plastic surgeon and the daughter of the head of Spiga’s US Operations, Elizabeth Krauss. Laura has fought all her life to escape from the shadow of her mother and forge her own identity. Born and raised with corporate privilege, Laura nonetheless has a conflicted relationship with it. She yearns to escape the gilded cage of the Green Zones, yet is frightened of what exists beyond the walls. Her mother is very powerful in Ben's company, and the one he must impress if he wants to move higher in the food chain to the vaunted 40th Floor, where he can have the power and resources to find his lost love. Elizabeth Krauss  quote:Ben's mother-in-law, and the head of Spiga’s US Operations. Whip-smart and powerful, Elizabeth certainly enjoys the perks of her position, but she’s also trapped in a system that demands constant results and the grit needed to produce them. In order to protect herself and her family, Elizabeth has made some tough choices, which have estranged her from her daughter, Laura. Her right hand man is the corporate gestapo head who always makes sure his employees are In Good Hands Julian Morse  quote:Head of Security and the most feared man in Spiga’s US Headquarters. A former military officer and tenacious investigator with an uncanny ability to sniff out spies and traitors in the company, in his private life, Julian is a loving husband and father who does everything he can to keep his family separate from the brutality of his work. Lines will be crossed when he suspects that there’s a mole inside Spiga and begins to work relentlessly to sniff him out… putting him on a collision course with Ben. Ben's lost love Elena has a brother, one of the few Ben keeps in contact with from his old days in the slums. Theo  quote:Elena's younger brother, Theo was left behind to fend for himself in the slums of the Red Zones. The only person who knows the true identity behind Ben's corporate mask, Theo is a tough and resourceful hustler who scuffles and scraps to get by. When he steps on the toes of local gang lord Terrence, Theo escapes savage punishment and earns himself a second chance to make a living, as a cage fighter – something that can either be his ticket to fame and fortune... or destroy him. So far it's a pretty good show. They're worldbuilding by teasing out various nuggets about the way the world is, and how we get from now to then. The future technology is believable. The world of corporate life is suitably horrible, but somehow people live in it--much like the world of the future on Continuum. As I said in the Westworld thread, watching this show is like seeing the cutthroat, horrible world where the Man in Black comes from. I can believe that these are the kind of people who would spend $40k a day to gently caress and kill realistic android slaves.
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 17:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 23, 2024 12:39 |
|
|
Watched the first two episodes of this. Digging it. I loves me some Dr Rodney McKay, and Dennis Haysbert. Also Ben's wife is super hot.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 18:07
|
|
|
So I actually got to see the original pilot for this back in May. Bens wife was originally played by Georgina Haig and its pretty much the same as the release pilot just with a new actress. The only thing that got moved around was the part with the maid stealing the bacon which got moved to episode 3. They're doing a great job of having showing what a total corporate hellscape would look like. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a ton of buzz surrounding the show so I don't see it going past the first season.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 21:40
|
|
|
Its kind of hard to tell if he actually cares about his wife or not. We've seen Ben be absolutely ruthless in order to get what he wants and be fake in his professional life but to be fake all the time in his personal life is a little much.
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2016 03:35
|
|
|
It seems like in this episode he was gonna give up and make the best of life with her, til he saw the Ring Message about Elena.
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2016 06:49
|
|
|
I'm digging how weird this show is willing to be. That entire corporate lunch sequence was loving great, and super super strange. Hopefully we'll get more of that kind of thing as we go on (not that we haven't already, but you know what I mean...)
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2016 07:25
|
|
|
This has been really good so far and the future tech they show off has been great so far. Really dug the whole defection sequence in ep3
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2016 09:25
|
|
|
muscles like this! posted:Its kind of hard to tell if he actually cares about his wife or not. Edit: the officer Bucky cartoon show for kid is so loving totalitarian in nature. RAT ON YOUR PARENTS, COMPANY DEPUTIES. Toplowtech fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Dec 16, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2016 15:31
|
|
|
Show is good, hope it gets renewed.
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2016 18:41
|
|
|
Open Source Idiom posted:I'm digging how weird this show is willing to be. That entire corporate lunch sequence was loving great, and super super strange. Hopefully we'll get more of that kind of thing as we go on (not that we haven't already, but you know what I mean...) The best thing about it, and I could have just missed it, is that I don't think they exactly explained what it was, what they were supposed to get out of it. It just started and ended abruptly and leaves you to wonder. I assume that they were getting some sort of download of this fat guy's pleasure at binging to death without the caloric gain, but it wasn't fully spelled out (I think). Toplowtech posted:I do not think he cared at first but when you live the lie long enough, it fucks you up enough to believe in it. In a way it makes Our Hero incredibly psychopathic. Just because she's the daughter of an Evil Corporate Overlord doesn't mean she's less of a human with feelings, but he just picked her out, wooed her, and pretended to love her solely to worm his way into The System to rescue his ex. Hopefully they'll explore more of this morally grey area and address it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2016 02:24
|
|
|
Ben is definitely messed up in the head considering how he completely burned down his supervisor's life to get a promotion. He knew exactly what was going to happen because of his actions.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2016 03:39
|
|
|
Grognan posted:Show is good, hope it gets renewed. This is the show I spent a stupid amount of episodes wishing Continuum were before giving up.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2016 03:49
|
|
|
Astroman posted:The best thing about it, and I could have just missed it, is that I don't think they exactly explained what it was, what they were supposed to get out of it. It just started and ended abruptly and leaves you to wonder. I assume that they were getting some sort of download of this fat guy's pleasure at binging to death without the caloric gain, but it wasn't fully spelled out (I think). No it was clearly exactly what you said.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2016 07:57
|
|
|
Tuxedo Catfish posted:This is the show I spent a stupid amount of episodes wishing Continuum were before giving up. Continuum became a pretty good show when it's all said and done. The funniest thing about the show is that the terrorist organization wound up being right and actually good guys even if their methods were wrong. That poo poo would've never flown on a US-made show.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2016 08:49
|
|
|
MiddleOne posted:No it was clearly exactly what you said. What also made it hosed up was that deriving almost sexual pleasure from the brainwaves of a dying person is something you would do in front of colleagues, as a sort of business lunch in the office.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2016 21:47
|
|
|
The donating to save the (American) children bit was a little obvious but fun.
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2016 04:12
|
|
|
I'm liking this, but goddamn is the "here's what happened on previous episodes" recap hilariously clunky. And maybe it's just me but I really think the "My sister, where is she?" line would work much better as "Where is my sister?". Anyway I like how dark and weird it seems willing to go. NDAs are mind wipes. To change companies is to turn traitor and defect. Children are indoctrinated into being loyal corporate drones from the moment of their birth. Scholarship programs involve taking a cocktail of drugs and downloading information into your brain. Hell yeah, brace yourselves for the full corporate dystopia ride.
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2016 14:03
|
|
|
muscles like this! posted:The donating to save the (American) children bit was a little obvious but fun. I thought it was chilling as gently caress
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2016 14:37
|
|
|
muscles like this! posted:The donating to save the (American) children bit was a little obvious but fun. Please, won't you help poor Johnny?
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2016 14:46
|
|
|
Elite posted:Anyway I like how dark and weird it seems willing to go. NDAs are mind wipes. To change companies is to turn traitor and defect. Children are indoctrinated into being loyal corporate drones from the moment of their birth. Scholarship programs involve taking a cocktail of drugs and downloading information into your brain. Hell yeah, brace yourselves for the full corporate dystopia ride.
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2016 16:30
|
|
|
Haven't seen the last episode, but what I've seen is pretty good. Definitely interested in learning more about the world too.
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2016 16:46
|
|
|
HUGE SPACEKABLOOIE posted:I thought it was chilling as gently caress The show is satirizing super hard how hosed up the contemporary relation between the first and third world is, especially in the last episode. Don't think I've seen a show be so blatantly anti-capitalist.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2016 17:51
|
|
|
MiddleOne posted:The show is satirizing super hard how hosed up the contemporary relation between the first and third world is, especially in the last episode. Don't think I've seen a show be so blatantly anti-capitalist. Edit: the 2008 oecd report on hosed up cities if the sea level raise if any of you are interested: http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/environment/ranking-port-cities-with-high-exposure-and-vulnerability-to-climate-extremes_011766488208 Toplowtech fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Dec 24, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2016 18:07
|
|
|
Toplowtech posted:The only problem with the ad is it's in Chinese and the point behind it is "America was hosed because the coastal cities were hosed, millions of people were forced to move". Yeah China, the country were the population is by millions near the coast, magically didn't suffer from the same trouble. They should have made it an ad from an African nation, if you ask me. I wouldn't call lack of aversion to government doing, uh, anything "magic", really. The easiest explanation is China made a massive relocation effort while Americans whined about taxes until the water was over their heads. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2016 18:20
|
|
|
Polygynous posted:I wouldn't call lack of aversion to government doing, uh, anything "magic", really. The easiest explanation is China made a massive relocation effort while Americans whined about taxes until the water was over their heads.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2016 18:30
|
|
|
MiddleOne posted:The show is satirizing super hard how hosed up the contemporary relation between the first and third world is, especially in the last episode. Don't think I've seen a show be so blatantly anti-capitalist. Clearly you didn't watch much Continuum...
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2016 02:54
|
|
|
It was too abstract in Continuum. Here it's literally just, 'hey looks at this common practice of today but if it applied to the west as well'.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2016 06:40
|
|
|
HUGE SPACEKABLOOIE posted:So I actually got to see the original pilot for this back in May. Bens wife was originally played by Georgina Haig and its pretty much the same as the release pilot just with a new actress. The only thing that got moved around was the part with the maid stealing the bacon which got moved to episode 3. They're doing a great job of having showing what a total corporate hellscape would look like.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2016 08:09
|
|
|
MiddleOne posted:It was too abstract in Continuum. This show's future, while dark, has a long way to go to being as pitch black as Continuum's. Continuum was anti-capitalist as hell, though obviously it didn't treat democratic revolutionaries with kid gloves either...but still, not a lot of show would have the brutal mass murdering terrorists be essentially right. I mean all we saw on the show was Vancouver. How lovely must the rest of the world have been? Also anyone who likes this show and hasn't watched Continuum, there are four seasons of awesome waiting for you. Starts a bit erratic in places but finds its footing very quickly. DarkCrawler fucked around with this message at 13:38 on Dec 25, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2016 13:34
|
|
|
so i decided to read some reviews before watching it and this giant  from Wapo about the show being mean to corporations has sealed the dealhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/ente...3976_story.html quote:Taken with a post-Nov. 8 tilt, “Incorporated” feels like a needless dig at the wrong target. When a boisterously aggressive fan of the president-elect insulted and berated a Delta Air Lines plane full of passengers last week, using foul language and epithets, the authority that stepped in and stood for common values and civility was the airline itself, which has said it has banned the passenger for life. Imagine a world where corporations are the ones who stand up to bullies and champion human rights. The sooner someone can come up with a futuristic TV show about that, the better.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2016 13:55
|
|
|
quote:Taken with a post-Nov. 8 tilt, “Incorporated” feels like a needless dig at the wrong target. When a boisterously aggressive fan of the president-elect insulted and berated a Delta Air Lines plane full of passengers last week, using foul language and epithets, the authority that stepped in and stood for common values and civility was the airline itself, which has said it has banned the passenger for life. Imagine a world where corporations are the ones who stand up to bullies and champion human rights. The sooner someone can come up with a futuristic TV show about that, the better.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2016 14:36
|
|
|
DarkCrawler posted:This show's future, while dark, has a long way to go to being as pitch black as Continuum's. Continuum was anti-capitalist as hell, though obviously it didn't treat democratic revolutionaries with kid gloves either...but still, not a lot of show would have the brutal mass murdering terrorists be essentially right. Again, too abstract. In contrast, the scholarship plotlines, that's reality today if you're from the third world.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2016 14:47
|
|
|
DarkCrawler posted:This show's future, while dark, has a long way to go to being as pitch black as Continuum's. Continuum was anti-capitalist as hell, though obviously it didn't treat democratic revolutionaries with kid gloves either...but still, not a lot of show would have the brutal mass murdering terrorists be essentially right. In my head I'd really like this show and continuum to exist in the same universe and or timeline. Astroman posted:(Paid for by Sonmanto) I appreciate this post Josh Lyman posted:I love Georgina Haig and really dislike Alison Miller so this is very disappointing. Can't confirm but I think she was slated for a full time slot on season two of Limitless ad wouldn't be able to do both. 
HUGE SPACEKABLOOIE fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Dec 25, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2016 17:18
|
|
|
consumed by normies posted:so i decided to read some reviews before watching it and this giant
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2016 22:11
|
|
|
Oh wow, I'm glad there's a thread for this here. I just got caught up on it last week and I was kind of shocked at how consistently good it was, even if it's really on-the-nose at times. I can't believe how good Syfy's production values are getting.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2016 22:47
|
|
|
Paradoxish posted:Oh wow, I'm glad there's a thread for this here. I just got caught up on it last week and I was kind of shocked at how consistently good it was, even if it's really on-the-nose at times. I can't believe how good Syfy's production values are getting. Well most of it was due to how Syfy noticed lots of other networks managed to have breakout hits and decided to adjust their usual low budget shotgun approach to TV shows. The Expanse was their first gamble on this different strategy.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2016 23:37
|
|
|
Watching the first episode now. As much as I love Syfy actually pushing out sci-fi content, corporations always being the bads is getting stale. Is there something inscribed on Haysbert's hand? I couldn't make out whether there was or if it was just his veins. e: ben larson seems like a poor man's oscar isaac Iseeyouseemeseeyou fucked around with this message at 06:01 on Dec 27, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2016 05:58
|
|
|
Iseeyouseemeseeyou posted:Watching the first episode now. As much as I love Syfy actually pushing out sci-fi content, corporations always being the bads is getting stale. Major companies with any sort of of power being evil is a fact of life since the Industrial Revolution though (actually before, remember colonial companies or trade republics?)  It's kind of like complaining that there are too many conservative priests on TV. Private enterprise can never be separated from human nature and takes evil forms at every level.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2016 16:53
|
|
|
Show is really cyberpunk especially the whole talent theft concept. Really liked the futuristic twists on things such as the NDA concept.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2016 18:58
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 23, 2024 12:39 |
|
|
DarkCrawler posted:Major companies with any sort of of power being evil is a fact of life since the Industrial Revolution though (actually before, remember colonial companies or trade republics?) You've completely missed my point and gone on your own political binge instead. A majority of the sci-fi content on Syfy centers around either corporate statism (incorporated, kill joys, dark matter) or a corporate antagonist (the expanse). I enjoy all of these shows, but its a noticeable and increasingly boring trend.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2016 20:52
|
|