Here's my review, point by point.
The episode takes place in Betaville:
This may feel a little unusual now, as stories usually tend to be more grounded, taking place in real cities, but back in the day it was common to set stories in a fictional country or city. This avoids some problems such as, "How could this happen in the United States one day?" and "But that's against the law" or even "What year is this happening in?"
Betaville is a place of its own, and the name is clearly inspired in the French movie
"Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution" in which a futuristic city/state named
Alphaville is almost an oppressive character itself.
It's funny how the writers had no idea that in 2018 the term
"beta," or
"beta male" would be the inspiration for so many memes and jokes with totally unintended meanings. And it's ironic that so many men in this episode with all their heavy makeup and affected mannerisms would fit the description of
"betas" (and I bet
soy must be a very popular food in Betaville).
There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. You open this door with the key of imagination...
All right. Clearly a
Twilight Zone wannabe, but
The Outer Limits is a strong influence too considering the show's exclusive focus on technology. But now in 2018, we have an unexpected bonus, because actually a direct comparison with Black Mirror has become much more relevant. How did writers predict things to come before the age of smart phones, a highly developed Internet or social media?
Advertising has been outlawed:
Simply put, this is ridiculous. Why would a seemingly capitalist society outlaw advertising? That was a gimmick the author used just to justify his plot premise. That would be forcing things, but perhaps we could guess that advertising had become so aggressive and intrusive that a more moralist congress would've decided to ban and outlaw advertising completely.
However, what would really make sense would be traditional advertising being banned not by the law of legislators, but the law of the market. We already know that traditional advertising and traditional media as a whole don't have the same influence they used to have, and alternative sources of advertising are proving to be more effective.
Well, at least the show seems to predict the rise of media influencers like YouTubers and Instagram models who do a lot of advertising. But the premise that influencers alone would suffice to advertise goods is limited; many customers want to understand rationally the advantages of a certain product, and not use it just because PewDiePie uses it.
Did I mention the word "author"?
The short story was written by James Tiptree Jr in the 1940s so this explain why so much of the concept sounds dated. I had already heard of this author before and have heard good things about him.
Fashion!
The show presents lots of "futuristic" fashion we're not likely to ever see in real life. But it does seem consistent and weird enough to be from another time and place.
Diversity and inclusion!
The show was made at a time the media was not yet obsessed with skin color + sexual orientation diversity. In the story, the two main character are White (blonde, in fact) and straight. Now if you take shows like
Black Mirror or
Electric Dreams in consideration, we're much more likely to meet characters like a small but strong and tough Black woman or an outspoken Lesbian Latina. But hey, I was really surprised to find out James, the author, was actually a woman. Now, that makes a lot of sense, come to think of it.
The cast:
I'm not so sure what they found so special about the "P. Burke" character, but it would make sense if they chose someone with no hopes and no connections for their little marketing experiment. Honestly, she's not bad looking at all, so it doesn't become clear why one blonde is such a mess and the other is "so perfect." OK, Delphi is played by a younger actress and a very pretty one, but I would'be preferred in Burke were older and uglier.
Photography and direction:
The scene in which Burke lies alone in a bed in a big room with sheets for walls and Brennan Elliot's character approaches has a very weird and effective feel that drives the concept of the how quite well. By the way, you may recognize Elliot as Graham, the TV host of Everlasting, the fictitious TV show in the real TV show
UnReal.
Strange locations:
This show picks some strange locations as sets. In this case, the GTX Neuro Lab looks like a kind of power or industrial plant in the middle of a quarry.
Faust meets backwards Pinocchio
Like Faust, the protagonist of the classic tale, Burke makes a deal with the devil and pays for it with her life. And unlike Pinocchio, Burke is a real girl who wants to become an artificially made doll.
Plagiarism?
Did James Cameron copy the concept for his
Avatar movie? I know he supposedly had the idea over ten years before the movie is made, but the short story is even older than that.
An uncomfortable position
Here's something I don't get. Burke seems to be standing propped against a vertical board and pretty conscious while she moves the doll with her mind, but later she seems unconscious. That seems pretty uncomfortable and if she can see her surroundings, she would not be abler to "get lost" in her character. And staying immobile for hours would be agonizing. After the first eight-hour session as Delphi she would want to run away for fresh air and not come back ever again. I think that issue is covered much more realistic in
Surrogates, which I highly recommend.
Corporations are evil:
Sci-fi Canadian sows love this theme. Shows like
Incorporated and
Continuum have, well, continued this tradition.
Enter the Beetle
Ah, the
New Beetle. What a sensation it was back in 98. How futuristic that car looked! It was beyond the show's budget to build a new futuristic car from scratch, or even adapt an existing vehicle as they cleverly did in UFO, so the next best thing was
product placement! Which is very ironic in a story in which advertising has been outlawed, but I guess even in Betaville product placement was still a thing.
Tunnel system:
We also get to know Betaville's unusual solution for traffic: underground tunnels. Basically cars travel in pneumatic tubes! All nice and dandy in theory, but in practice imagine how hellish a traffic jam would be inside one of those claustrophobic tunnels.
Backwards Pinoccio?
In the end, Burke gets to live her dream: she becomes Delphi... and dies. OK, I'm glad she did die, because if she had lived and she had reached a happy ending that would have felt forced and contrived. And I can't believe James Cameron stole even that part and used it in the demise of Sigourney Weaver's character.
Grade:
I'll withhold my grade for the first 4 or 5 episodes so I can properly grade each in a better understood context. But I'd say this was an average-to-low episode. The show can do better.
This episode gets 7 itchy dresses no honorable celebrities would dare use as product placement.
