While the name confused many as referring to the famous short story, this show is only remotely similar. A lottery is commenced to decide who gets an embryo in a global fertility crisis, and as a result people have gone slightly insane.
I really hate evil white bureaucrat guy Darius. God, do the suits on this show have any redeeming qualities? He’s also stupid. Never do you fire the woman who makes that big a leap. That dude is very shady, he just unrepentantly murders a woman. What kind of age is this? Also, why would you kill someone you don’t really have to kill? I thought humanity was in danger of extinction.
Speaking of which, let’s do the math on that. Approximately 56,597,034 people die every year. The current world population is 7,177,568,766. Estimated world population for 2019, the year women stopped conceiving, is 7,558,167,582. We’re going to assume, for the purposes of simplicity and my laziness, that the birth rate only dropped off slightly until then. In order to further simplify, I’m going to round the numbers off.
Deaths per year: 56.6 million
Current population: 7.2 billion
Estimated 2019 population: 7.6 billion
Okay, assuming the death rate remains stable, in six years 339.6 million people die. That takes world population down to around 7.3 billion, which is a little higher than today’s. So, IN WHAT WORLD IS THAT CLOSE TO EXTINCTION? I would understand the worry for the species if the last children were in their late thirties, but for real? They’ve been working on curing this thing for six years. In terms of scientific discovery, hell, in terms of human history – that’s a drop in the ocean. Give it some more time, people.
Hot dad Kyle is the best character on the show. He’s motivated only by the love he has for his child, you can see that clearly. After being separated from his son, he hugs him close and breathes deeply, smelling his son’s distinctive scent. Despite having named his child “Elvis” (yuck) he’s so far the most compassionate and sympathetic character on the show. Plus, the only one who has motivation outside of the ephemeral notion of the “greater good.” His actions are based only on what’s good for his son, and keeping his family together. Despite having committed what is deemed a crime, he’s the least morally compromised character on the show.
Both the scientist and one of the successful donors were adopted, there’s possibly a link there. Oh, I’m sad hippie chick is dead. Despite being named Brooke (yuck) she was really sweet.
Okay, these people in the president’s administration gotta be some future version of democrats. The amount of government overreach is staggering. I get it, it’s a future full of uncertainty and stuff, but aren’t citizens allowed any form of privacy, or liberty? Yeah, let’s keep a secret from our nation and the rest of the world. Let’s not offer anyone a choice. The lottery is also a bad idea, just give the women their fricking eggs! Disclaimer: I’m a liberal republicrat, I’m not a government conspiracy nut. I think they do a great job delivering the mail and making sure I can drink clean water. Still, I’m really disturbed whenever I watch stuff like this that depicts the government as this dark oligarchy. I’m aware that the government is doing shady stuff all the time, but I get relief from pretending that stuff doesn’t happen under the government I voted into power.
Okay, brilliant scientist Alison is kind of stupid. Who does something extremely illegal and doesn’t carry a weapon? Get a damn taser!
All of these fertility laws sound very, very extreme. Wtf? How is none of this regulated? This government violates the privacy and rights of its citizens without protecting them at all.
Ooh, Austin T. Richards. Hey, I knew he was sleeping with that Vanessa woman. They’re cute. Too bad political relationships are doomed. And from the preview in the next episode, it looks like he might die.
Good, finally someone uses strong language to talk about how incredibly messed up this is. Kyle, man. He’s the best.
Oh, great. Now the guys in suits are torturing a pretty white woman. This isn’t going to make the shit hit the fan at all.
Aw, Kyle has a nice friend with a kid Elvis’s age. That’s actually super sweet. Man, not only is he a good guy, but a smart thief. How much do I love this guy? Very much. We knew the kid couldn’t die, he’s just too damn cute.
Series Projections
– Darius is a good villain, I really hate him and he scares our protagonists, so he’s effective. Though it doesn’t seem like he has a lot of power in the current administration, he’s planning for the long haul. God, he’s a dick. I hope Vanessa slaps him. He killed that nice hippie lady! He deserves that at least.
– Kyle is a great character, a young single dad with a lot on his plate. The plot device of sick kid is kind of overdone, but it works.
– Everyone in the government feels kind of evil, I just hope Vanessa steps it up. She’s trying not to directly confront Darius, but she needs to make it clear that she’s the boss and he needs to bow down. There is no room for creepy dictators trying to take away the last semblance of privacy that Americans have.
– I’m on the fence with Dr. Alison. Ethically speaking, she and Kyle are close to being on the same page, but they’re on separate sides. She, unwillingly, is working for the government, doing work she believes in. He is trying to protect his family and keep his son, and is on the run from the government. Her experiments need him to participate, as he is the only link we have so far to the cure.
– Government interference is truly insane. The degree to which they supervise the lives of these last few children is just horrifying. To be blunt, these kids are not special. Sure, they’re the last ones. But they’re normal in every other way. The deserve to live normal lives and to be raised by parents who love them. The whole privatizing the one hundred embryos is just a civil war waiting to happen. If people aren’t angry enough already, that would be a tipping point.
The Chamber of Spoilers 