It was inevitable that they would do a show with this premise eventually. It's pretty low hanging fruit really. I went in with an open mind and I feel no remorse saying that this is basically just Rick and Morty except translated into a workplace sitcom rather than a family-based sitcom. However, R&M was just as much an adventure series than an examination of family and this show here also has a heavy family theme as well.
It's not a bad show though. It's not really about the deep state, it's about an individual on her own journey. (Why isn't it called "Deep State"?) Regan (I don't remember her last name) is a pretty swell character; arguably one her deserves a much better show. A woman of great intellect but emotionally starved trying to influence the world any way she can and actually has more power than any human really should. She's an ultra-Hobbesian with firmly Marxian biases and her anti-democratic leanings notwithstanding, it's hard not to develop something of a crush on her.
In terms of jokes, this show coasts a lot on "deep state is powerful; conspiracy theories are true; you can laugh now" humor a lot. The concept quickly gets old but the individual stories with that R&M sense of absurd adventure hold their own even if the subtext is always "rulers are savages but the ruled are worse". It's gets more than a little irritating as they re-iterate the same core messages but they are, like I said, very Marxian does make the medicine go down smooth.
There is an element of the odd couple in how Regan is paired with a born and bred yes-man and I am intrigued about their developing relationship because I think they could bring out better sides of each other. I was sincerely touched by Regan's struggle with intimacy and it's just a shame there cannot be just one character who is basically not a nutcase. I'm talking like maybe Pubert from Futurama or even Leela but I suppose Regan is just Leela if she were a technological genius and 20% more messed up.
What really cripples this show is something subtle. It is difficult when developing and writing a show to have just the right balance of characters and here, the scales sadly tip too much toward the negative. There is a toxicity about this series that made me keep wanting to skip over it for other stuff. Negative/dark humor can be swell. Family Guys knows exactly what it's doing to allow each of its characters to sort of cancel each other out. But in Inside Job, you only really have 4 developed characters: protagonist, boss guy, yes-man and everyone else. All Regan's colleagues eventually blur into one. And yes, I appreciate that individually they represent different things about modernity (military jingoism, social media fuelled vanity etc.) but they feel less like characters and this 4 headed monster and dealing with the nonsense they spout can be funny in small doses but in practice I felt as exhausted listening to them as Regan must feel working with them.
I was surprised but pleasantly so when I found there would be a second season (edit, 2nd part). This show has definitely needed to go through teething pains but there is a future for this show and I feel that is by being like Disenchanted.
Disenchanted didn't begin strongly either but it found itself by being less like a sitcom and having a serialized story to tell about the characters' journey.
I would love to follow Regan in her questioning her mission on this Earth, in seeing that other guy (I forget his name also) in finding out there's more to life than a Spongebob-esque people pleaser and maybe even toppling this rotten political system.
It would be ambitious but I would so follow that.
The part one finale is better than any other episode in Part 1.
It's not a bad show though. It's not really about the deep state, it's about an individual on her own journey. (Why isn't it called "Deep State"?) Regan (I don't remember her last name) is a pretty swell character; arguably one her deserves a much better show. A woman of great intellect but emotionally starved trying to influence the world any way she can and actually has more power than any human really should. She's an ultra-Hobbesian with firmly Marxian biases and her anti-democratic leanings notwithstanding, it's hard not to develop something of a crush on her.
In terms of jokes, this show coasts a lot on "deep state is powerful; conspiracy theories are true; you can laugh now" humor a lot. The concept quickly gets old but the individual stories with that R&M sense of absurd adventure hold their own even if the subtext is always "rulers are savages but the ruled are worse". It's gets more than a little irritating as they re-iterate the same core messages but they are, like I said, very Marxian does make the medicine go down smooth.
There is an element of the odd couple in how Regan is paired with a born and bred yes-man and I am intrigued about their developing relationship because I think they could bring out better sides of each other. I was sincerely touched by Regan's struggle with intimacy and it's just a shame there cannot be just one character who is basically not a nutcase. I'm talking like maybe Pubert from Futurama or even Leela but I suppose Regan is just Leela if she were a technological genius and 20% more messed up.
What really cripples this show is something subtle. It is difficult when developing and writing a show to have just the right balance of characters and here, the scales sadly tip too much toward the negative. There is a toxicity about this series that made me keep wanting to skip over it for other stuff. Negative/dark humor can be swell. Family Guys knows exactly what it's doing to allow each of its characters to sort of cancel each other out. But in Inside Job, you only really have 4 developed characters: protagonist, boss guy, yes-man and everyone else. All Regan's colleagues eventually blur into one. And yes, I appreciate that individually they represent different things about modernity (military jingoism, social media fuelled vanity etc.) but they feel less like characters and this 4 headed monster and dealing with the nonsense they spout can be funny in small doses but in practice I felt as exhausted listening to them as Regan must feel working with them.
I was surprised but pleasantly so when I found there would be a second season (edit, 2nd part). This show has definitely needed to go through teething pains but there is a future for this show and I feel that is by being like Disenchanted.
Disenchanted didn't begin strongly either but it found itself by being less like a sitcom and having a serialized story to tell about the characters' journey.
I would love to follow Regan in her questioning her mission on this Earth, in seeing that other guy (I forget his name also) in finding out there's more to life than a Spongebob-esque people pleaser and maybe even toppling this rotten political system.
It would be ambitious but I would so follow that.
The part one finale is better than any other episode in Part 1.