BrainDead S01 E01 – #TeamMagicallyDelicious

Stephen King Tweeted about it so now we’re watching it.
—

The Insanity Principle: How Extremism in Politics is Threatening Democracy in the 21st Century

Dani: The show begins with a collection of TV screens displaying clips from our current election cycle. Scrawled across them, we get the following message:

“In the year 2016 there was a growing sense that people were losing their minds…
And no one knew why…
Until now.”

Marines: Well, shit. That’s scary because I do think people are losing their minds, but I’m not sure how I feel about zombie bugs as a reason…

Dani: We zoom in on a Russian reporter in front of a lake. Then we get a series of clips showing a meteoric fireball blazing across the sky, exactly like the one that sailed over Chelyabinsk in 2013 (it’s even the same footage from that event, but they’ve edited the date-stamps to read 2016). The final clip shows some guy skipping rocks into a lake when the meteor crashes into the water, sending a tidal wave that sweeps him away (along with whoever was filming him).

Less than one minute into the show, and we already have two casualties. I’m impressed.

We cut to Washington D.C., where Laurel Healy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Mercy Street) is on the phone, looking frustrated as she learns the funding for something fell through. She says she’ll deal with it when she gets back to L.A., which tells us she’s not a Washington insider (and gives us permission to like her). (M: This is good news for me because Mary Elizabeth Winstead was part of the original Passions cast and um. YES.) Laurel leaves the bedroom where she was having her call and returns to a swanky-looking house party. We don’t know it yet, but it’s her dad’s house/party. Laurel looks like she’d rather be anywhere else, and we learn why when a smarmy guy approaches her and insists he knows her. He’s clearly fishing, and when Laurel tells him she’s a documentary filmmaker from L.A. he practically throws himself down the stairs in his haste to find somebody who might be important. Hmm, where’s a giant meteor when you need one? (M: Don’t worry; THE BUGS ARE COMING.) (D: Oh, right.)

Laurel spots her brother, Senator Luke Healy of Maryland (Danny Pino, Law & Order: SVU, Cold Case, although I only know him as Frankie Vargas’s politico brother on Scandal). Luke is happy Laurel made it to the party, and when the smarmy guy comes back Luke has his bodyguard hustle him away. Do all US senators have bodyguards? Are my tax dollars paying for this? Laurel also comments on it, and Luke says it’s because he’s now a Very Big Deal and also Laurel can’t make fun of him anymore (although she assures him she’s still totally going to make fun of him). I like Laurel already.

Luke and Laurel (I’m guessing their parents watched a lot of General Hospital in the 80’s?) go to the kitchen to make mojitos while Luke half-listens to a supposedly important conference call on the federal budget (this explains so much about our economy). (M: Just like the bodyguard, really.) We learn Papa Healy is consulting on Armed Services now, and that’s why Laurel’s old bedroom looks like it’s been taken over by a James Bond villain. Seems like a weird tidbit to mention, so maybe this will be important later?

The siblings catch up, and we learn that the financing for Laurel’s latest documentary fell through. Luke snarks that it’s probably because it’s about the religious music of Bora Bora (“the Solomon Islands,” Laurel corrects indignantly), and he tells her she should make something people want to see. He offers to help her get an NEA grant to make a documentary about gun control, but Laurel shuts him down fast.

This is obviously a recurring theme in the Healy family.

Luke returns to his call, and talks to Dr. Daudier, a scientist from the Smithsonian who’s working with the Russian government to bring that meteor to America — but he needs $40 million more to do it (BRB: changing my major to “Meteor Retrieval”). Luke can only give him $5 million, plus his office will need to sign off on expenditures. Dr. Daudier calls his Russian counterparts and asks them to do it cheaper … because cutting corners with science stuff has never once ended badly.

Cut to the vodka-swilling Russian crew locating the meteor, which is surrounded by creepy fish behaving creepily.

Mari: I don’t know, girl. Probably rethink your hasty career change into meteor retrieval.

Dani: Dammit.

Back in Washington, Laurel’s father (Zach Grenier, The Good Wife) is trying to convince her to move home and work for her brother, ostensibly because Luke “needs” her. Laurel calls bullshit on this, knowing her dad just wants a spy in Luke’s office. Papa Healy must really want a spy, because he offers to pay off Laurel’s student loans if she works for Luke for a year. Laurel hates politics almost as much as she hates her family trying to control her, but our girl’s no dummy. She agrees to work for Luke for six months if her dad will finance half her film. He tries to haggle, but Laurel is resolute so he agrees to the deal.

Mari: Um, if anyone wants to give me some kind of spying gig to pay off my student loans, hit me up in the comments.

Dani: I have to stop and admire the way the creators/writers established all the backstory and set-up for the entire show so seamlessly. Pilots can be kinda clunky, because you’re trying to flesh out characters, histories, motivations, etc. in a short amount of time and there should probably be a plot somewhere in there, too. Here we get everything we need to know in less than ten minutes. Well done, show!

So, Laurel goes to work in Luke’s office, handling CC (Constituent Casework). Everyone else is hella-busy because Congress can’t agree on a budget, and a government shutdown seems imminent (exactly like what happened in 2013. Are you sensing a pattern?) Since everyone else is doing real work, Laurel’s thrown into her job with zero training or preparation, and she’s probably thinking IndieGoGo would’ve been a better way to finance her documentary. Instead, she gets to listen to constituents complain/ask for help with various government-related programs like Social Security and Medicare. She also gets her share of crackpots who just want to give the senator a life-sized dog sculpted out of chocolate.

Mari: That’s probably the scariest thing we’ll see on this show. LOOK AT ITS FACE.

Dani: The last constituent of the day seems relatively sane, until she tells Laurel that her husband (Randall) isn’t her husband any more. Randall is an engineer on a container ship who’s been different since his last trip. Like … Randall used to drink like whoa, but now he’s suddenly sober all the time. Mrs. Randall shows Laurel a video she found on her husband’s phone, which shows Randall and a crewmate filming themselves as they open one of the containers on the ship because it was making noise. Inside they find a big white crate, and it looks like something has clawed a hole through the top of it. While the video zooms in on the hole, we hear weird noises and the guys realize something is moving somewhere in the container. NGL, I watched the next part through my fingers and still totally jumped when some unidentified thing makes a weird, hissing noise and jumps at the camera. Randall screams, and the video ends.

Randall’s wife believes that whatever was in the crate did something to her husband, and she wants Laurel to help her figure it out. Just then a guy (Aaron Tveit, Graceland, Grease Live) bursts into the room and asks to speak to Laurel, but she tells him to wait his turn like everyone else. He tries to argue, but Laurel has way more willpower than me and doesn’t fall for that charming smile.

Mari: I’m not gonna lie: when Dani asked if I was in the market for BrainDead recaps I mostly said yes because of Aaron Tveit. So, clearly I would’ve let him walk right in.

Dani: He’d be very hard to resist.

Laurel wants to know why the woman thinks Senator Healy can help, and it’s because the Navy shipyard said the crate was from Russia and was signed for by Luke’s office. Laurel goes to check on why they’d be receiving strange crates from Russia, but she’s distracted when she sees Interrupting Guy giving Randall’s wife his business card.

So she sits down with Interrupting Guy, who turns out to be Gareth Ritter, the Legislative Director to Red Wheatus. Red is the other US senator from Maryland, but since Red’s a Republican and Luke’s a Democrat it means Laurel and Gareth work for opposing camps. But they both know the government is going to shut down in 90 minutes if the two sides don’t come together. So Gareth suggests a deal: Red will cross the aisle and vote with the Dems in exchange for a $48 million earmark for autism studies, which is a pet cause of his.

Laurel wants to find a more senior staff member to speak with Gareth, but Gareth doesn’t want senior. He wants the sister. Wow, news travels fast in Washington. Laurel is out of her depth, but Gareth tells her 100,000 government employees will be out of work unless she convinces her brother to agree to this deal in the next 90 minutes. So … no pressure. Laurel considers for a moment and then runs to Capitol Hill (where running isn’t allowed).

Having missed her brother on the Senate floor (and having no luck calling him), Laurel follows the Luke-trail to a restaurant, where she’s told he left a short while ago with “a red-headed woman.” Luke’s Chief of Staff is a red-headed woman, and her name is Scarlett, so obviously she’s a wanton hussy. Sure enough, Laurel finds Luke at Scarlett’s apartment. Did I mention that Luke’s wife is eight months pregnant? Because she is. (Side note: we have a red-state conservative named Red, and a scarlet woman named Scarlett. All we need is a hooker named Tricks to complete this triumvirate of subtlety. Or should we name her Crimson, and stick to the color scheme?) (M: Color schemes are important, but Tricks has a nice ring to it.) (D: Tricks it is!)

We cut to Luke in Scarlett’s kitchen. He’s on a conference call with some Democratic senators, and everyone is arguing over whether to make the deal. One wants to use the deal to embarrass the Republicans, another thinks they should make the deal because a $48 million earmark for autism is pocket change. Luke argues they should let the government shut down and THEN make the deal, since that will make the Republicans look bad. Disgusted, Laurel argues on behalf of the 100,000 people who will be out of work, but the senators would rather let the shutdown happen. Scarlett (Paige Patterson) says it’s the smart move, and Laurel responds with “God, I hate politics.”

Scarlett goes upstairs, and Luke comes out of the kitchen and tells Laurel that the senators are letting the deadline pass. Laurel starts smacking the crap out of him for cheating on his ultra-pregnant wife, and even though I’d never condone violence this was pretty satisfying.

Mari: It’s also such a sisterly thing and I kind of love it in that regard.

Dani: I know I never miss an opportunity to smack my sister.

While Luke goes to get dressed, Laurel calls Gareth to tell him they’re passing on the deal. She tries to make excuses, but he tells her that when she sees all the people out of work tomorrow it’s totally on her. Ouch.

All in all, not a great first day for Laurel.

Cut to Dr. Daudier at the Smithsonian. He got his meteor (yay!), and we see it’s inside the white crate from the container ship (ruh-roh). Dr. Daudier is excitedly examining the odd, honeycomb structure of the meteor when the boss tells him he has to go home because Laurel failed they have no budget and no one’s allowed to work. They shut out the lights and leave, and seconds later a FREAKING GIANT SWARM of insects spills out of the meteor. How the hell did these bugs survive not only its fiery entry into Earth’s atmosphere, but also being submerged for days at the bottom of some frozen lake in Russia? These are EXTREME BUGS, people! And now they’re loose in Washington, D.C.

Mari: I also clicked away while they did their crawling. I want to be able to sleep tonight, thank you so much. 

Dani: The next day Capitol Hill looks like a ghost town. Laurel goes into the office just as Luke is furloughing his entire staff save two: his lover, the Chief of Staff; and his sister, the Constituent Caseworker. This earns Laurel plenty of glares from departing staffers, and her second day on the job is off to a great start. Luke tells Laurel if she feels bad about the arrangement then she should work twice as hard, and I think Luke picked that up when he was on the Scandal set.

Cut to the shipyard, where Laurel is investigating Randall-the-changed-husband. The captain tells Laurel that being out to sea for four weeks can change a person, sometimes it’s hard to adjust, yada yada yada. Then he cranks up the music (“You Might Think,” by The Cars) and walks away. Laurel finds it weird that he didn’t even ask which crew member she was inquiring about. Good point! She asks for the ship’s manifest, and the captain sends her to see someone about it. Surprise – it’s the guy who was in the video with Randall, except he claims he has no idea who Randall is. Laurel looks up and sees other crew members staring at her while “You Might Think” plays on a continual loop.

Laurel just wants to get the manifest and get the hell out of there, but Randall’s former buddy says he already gave it to a different Congressional aide — Gareth.

Cut to Laurel marching into the offices of Red Wheatus (which, unlike Luke’s offices, are down in the basement and kind of dark and depressing). I guess the Democrats hold the majority of Senate seats and therefore get the nicer offices? Another thing worth noting is all the TVs in Luke’s offices are tuned to an MSNBC-ish station (complete with a Rachel Maddow-esque anchor blaming the shutdown on the Republicans), while the TVs in Red’s offices feature a buxom blonde  on a FOX News-ish channel with the headline “Dems Hold Gov’t Hostage.” Both Gareth and Laurel have the same reaction/expression upon being in the other’s office and hearing the opposing newswomen cast aspersions on their party. It’s a nice piece of symmetry.

Laurel finds Senator Wheatus (Tony Shalhoub, Monk) (M: Tony Shalhoub!! Aw.) lying on a couch, and he sleepily/drunkenly asks her if she’s a masseuse. She says no, but he’s already snoring again. Red doesn’t seem like the sort to have masterminded a budget deal, to be honest. The only other person in the office is Gareth, who’s on the phone telling people the senator is out to lunch. When he sees Laurel, he closes the door in her face, but she tells him she’s not there about the “stuff yesterday” and only wants the ship manifest. Gareth takes exception to Laurel dismissing the failed deal and mentions the twenty staffers he had to send home in tears (presumably because Red was “out to lunch” then, too). (M: Red looks like he eats a lot of “lunch.”) Luke may have been a dick by keeping Scarlett and Laurel on staff, but at least he furloughed everyone else in person, rather than having an aide do his dirty work.

Anyway, Laurel yells at Gareth through the door, and when he tries to leave his office she follows and demands to know why he’s trying to poach her constituent. He scoffs at the idea, and when people in the hallway stare at them he tells Laurel to stop following him because it looks like he’s colluding with the enemy. Laurel waits until some other staffers pass and then says loudly, “Oh, Gareth, about that pro-choice rally… What are you wearing?”

We cut to the park by the Washington Monument, where Gareth gives Laurel the ship manifest. It just says “scientific equipment,” and when Laurel asks whether Gareth spoke to the first mate he pulls out his phone and rattles off everything the guy told him. It’s the EXACT thing the captain told Laurel. Like, verbatim. Laurel thinks they agreed on a story, so they must be hiding something. Gareth points out that it’s only her second day on the job, and there are lots of reasons to be paranoid in D.C. without making up new ones. Laurel sasses him for mansplaining D.C. to her, and he shoos her away so he can eat his lunch in peace. But before she goes he tells her his boss may still be interested in making a deal and getting the town back to work. He implores her to convince her brother. Laurel, to her credit, gives it another shot.

Cut to a bar where Luke is telling Laurel that Red Wheatus only cares about two things: drinking, and screwing. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about autism research — but his Legislative Director, Gareth Ritter, has a sister who’s autistic. Hmm… does this mean Gareth engineered the deal, too, and is steering Red to act? Whatever the case, Luke reluctantly tells Laurel if she’s sure Gareth isn’t freelancing then he’ll think about taking the deal. But Laurel is distracted because people at the bar keep staring at them oddly, just like the dudes on the ship. Luke says it’s because their family is famous; they’re the celebrities of D.C. He then delivers my favorite line of this episode as he gets up: “It’s like Hollywood, but with uglier people.”

Mari: Somewhere Gareth is thinking, “speak for yourself.”

Dani: Word. Has Luke not seen that smile?!

After Luke leaves, Laurel calls Randall’s wife to tell her that the crate from her husband’s ship went to Dr. Daudier at the Smithsonian. Randall interrupts the call, and his wife pretends she’s talking to someone else. Later that night, as Randall and his wife are lying in bed, he hugs her tightly and apologizes for not being himself lately, saying he thinks he was just angry at the way things are in the world. Then he goes all psycho and holds her down while a line of meteor bugs MARCH ONTO THE BED AND ACROSS HER PILLOW. He covers her mouth so she can’t scream and whispers that it’ll be okay, she’ll still be herself; just a better part of herself. Goddamn you, Randall. I liked you much better when you had a drinking problem.

The next day, Gareth and Laurel meet outside the Lincoln Memorial (far, far away from the Senate office buildings) so she can figure out whether he’s freelancing. Gareth admits that he lied to his boss and told him the Democrats approached them first and offered the $48M for autism funds to seal the deal, but he only did it because he knew Red would be on board, so long as he wasn’t the first to hold out the olive branch. Laurel’s annoyed by Gareth’s machinations, and I can’t figure out whether Gareth truly wanted to avoid the shutdown, or if he just saw an opportunity to get the money for autism research to help his sister. Maybe both? Either way, his intentions seem to have come from a good place.

Laurel must agree, because she returns to Luke’s office and tells him Gareth isn’t freelancing, and he’s not lying about Red Wheatus wanting to meet. Laurel tries to set up the meeting, but Luke tells her he’ll think about it and dismisses further pleas. Laurel isn’t going to let this opportunity slide again, though. She calls Papa Healy and convinces him to remind Luke that making this deal (and ending the shutdown) would be great for his career. Papa Healy points out that for someone who hates politics, Laurel is pretty good at them.

Just then, Luke walks in and congratulates Laurel for her excellent CC work. Turns out Randall and his wife (who has gone full-out Pod Person) want to contribute $2,600 to Luke’s campaign fund because they were so appreciative of the “hand-holding” Laurel did. Randall’s wife claims she was just being silly, but all is well now. Randall chimes in that everyone comes back a little changed from the sea, and then he recites the same lines that the captain told Laurel and the first mate told Gareth. Laurel says the lines with him, in perfect unison, and it’s both creepy and fantastic. She then takes Randall’s wife into the hallway and asks if Randall is threatening or abusing her, but the woman insists everything is hunky-dory.

The Stepford couple depart, and Laurel thinks the only reason Randall brought his wife in was so Laurel would stop investigating the crate. Luke tells Laurel to slow her roll with the Nancy Drew stuff. (M: This mention of Nancy reminded me we get to whip our “detecting the shit out of things” tag out. It’s a good day.) He tells her not to question happiness, although I think “happiness” and “$2,600 donation” are interchangeable to Luke. Laurel has no chance to respond, though, because Scarlett comes out to tell Luke his father is on the phone for him.

Papa Healy obviously talked some sense into his boy, because the next scene is Luke and Laurel meeting Gareth and Red at an empty restaurant. Red takes one look at Luke and says to Gareth, “You didn’t tell me it was a Democrat.” Womp-womp.

Either Red’s joking, or Gareth is playing fast and loose with the truth again. Red is clearly drunk already, so this one could go either way. He smiles and shakes Luke’s hand and asks him to join him for a drink. Soon the two men are laughing like old friends, lamenting the days of lobbyists throwing huge parties where everyone could get drunk and gorge on food and yeah, maybe it was unethical, but SHIT GOT DONE.

Cut to Gareth and Laurel, who are standing at the entrance and not privy to the senators’ conversation. Laurel is wondering whether they’re even talking about the shutdown, and Gareth distracts her by telling her he caught her documentary (on yodeling – LOL) online. He says it was good and asks her what she’s working on next. When she tells him Melanesian choirs, he acts surprised (like he knows what the hell she’s talking about) and Laurel, bless her heart, buys it. Then she smacks him when he comes clean, and it’s adorable. (M: Laurel is a smacker. I hope this is a consistent character thing.) (D: Same!) They proceed to have a very cute conversation about disappearing cultures, and even though it quickly devolves into liberal versus conservative, it does so in a flirty, opposites-attract sort of way because Aaron Tveit is delightful and these two have great chemistry.

The senators finish their drinks, and everything seems to have gone swimmingly. They’re going to talk again at noon the following day to set up a press conference, and Luke tells Laurel she may have just single-handedly saved the economy. Not bad for her third day on the job.

Cut to Red opening the window in his bedroom before collapsing in a drunken heap on his bed. Meteor bugs march in a neat little line over the windowsill, across the floor, and up the bed. Then they crawl INTO HIS EAR and also my nightmares. (M: I clicked away again.) Red sits bolt upright in bed, tilts his head to the side, gives it a couple of whacks, and out slides A CHUNK OF HIS BRAIN. It’s disgusting (and medically impossible, one would thing), but the effect is considerably lessened by the way Tony Shalhoub just chuckles at the sight of it. He pokes at the blob now lying on his pillow, and it liquefies into this translucent, pinkish-orange puddle. Eeieew.

The next morning, Red wakes up looking quite refreshed. He throws his bedding into the washer, takes a hair dryer to the still-wet pillow (gag), and cranks up some music — “You Might Think,” by the Cars. I don’t know why meteor bugs chose this song, but I love that they did.

Red goes into the office, and Gareth is obviously surprised to see him in the A.M. hours. Red is feeling good, tossing all his half-full liquor bottles into the trash, and giving out uncomfortably long hugs.

He tells Gareth they’re NOT going to have the call with Luke to set up the press conference. Gareth reminds him there was an agreement, and Red gives him a business card and tells him to call whoever is on it, instead.

Cut to Laurel at the Smithsonian Institute, which is still shut down because of the budget crisis. Laurel hassles a security guard into letting her inside, because she’s supposed to meet Dr. Daudier about the meteor possibly infecting Randall. Inside, it’s dark and creepy, and I’m waiting for meteor bugs to attack her face. Laurel examines the meteor WAY TOO CLOSELY then hears a loud noise. She finds Dr. Daudier on the floor, and yells at the guard to call 9-1-1.

Cut to the ambulance, where Dr. Daudier is screaming and thrashing about and just generally freaking the freak out. He’s got a death-grip on Laurel’s arm, and he’s yelling that something is inside him and that his mind is going. He’s in a total panic, and Laurel, who is impressively composed in a crisis, is doing her best to calm him. But it isn’t working. Dr. Daudier keeps yelling about the bugs in his head, the EMTs are yelling at him to calm down, and Laurel is just trying to get him to focus when suddenly he goes all-out Scanners and his head explodes. Poor Laurel – her mouth was open.

Mari: This was terrible. And Laurel was so much more composed that I could ever even imagine being. Also, I’m super intrigued about the head exploding and why that happened to him instead of brain take over. Can the bugs choose? Wouldn’t they have been all up in his… residue? Do some people react with explosions to the bugs? I like that the show has me asking myself these things.

Dani: Me, too. I hope Laurel starts detecting the shit out of things in earnest. I want to see that tag in every recap.

Cut to Senator Wheatus’s office, where Red’s drinking a green smoothie and telling Gareth to bring someone in through the kitchen. Gareth questions Red on whether he’s sure he wants to do this, and Red is adamant. So Gareth goes to fetch the mystery man, and it’s none other than Senator Spitz, a Democrat who seemed pretty chummy with Luke earlier. Red offers Spitz various committee chairs and seats, plus a huge war chest of PAC money. Spitz says he’s been a Democrat all his life, but Red tells him that “Democrat” and “Republican” are just brands, no different than Cheerios and Wheat Chex, and of course he picks two of the most boring cereals out there. (What are Independents in this political system? Froot Loops?) (M: I want to be whoever is Lucky Charms.) (D: #TeamMagicallyDelicious)

Cut to Laurel looking shell-shocked in the shower, as she washes off bits of Dr. Daudier’s exploded head. She gets a phone call and goes back to the office, only to learn that Senator Spitz is now a Republican, giving that pary the majority of seats in the Senate. Since the Democrats are now the minority party, they have to give up their plush offices upstairs and move to the low-ceilinged, fluorescent-lit basement. Nice going, Spitz.

Laurel finds Luke in his new, crappy office and tells him she’s totally sorry, but he’s acting like it’s NBD. He’s fired up, ready to kick some Republican ass, and he wants Scarlet and Laurel to help him. Laurel’s all “tell me what to do,” and Luke looks pretty psyched as he goes out to take a call. Scarlet, on the other hand, is just sitting at her desk cranking up “You Might Think” and smiling at Laurel like she’s not quite sure how to operate a human face. Sorry, Scarlet, but if you didn’t want space bugs to eat your brain, you shouldn’t have screwed your married boss.

Mari: TV is fond of teaching us that if you have sex, you will die.

Dani: It’s an important lesson. The more you know…

We pan out to a TV screen with Not-Rachel-Maddow summarizing the day’s events: number one, bipartisanship is dead. And number two: fade to black, so I guess we’ll find out next week.

And there you have it. This show has a lot going for it, not the least of which is a remarkably talented cast. Laurel is a likable main character, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead does a great job with her. She’s idealistic without ever being naïve, and it’s that balance of hope and cynicism that makes her so appealing. Danny Pino shines as Luke, perfectly showcasing the ego and cunning of a career politician. I don’t like Luke’s character, and since this is a guy who’s cheating on his pregnant wife I’m probably not supposed to. Luke cares more about power and winning than serving his constituents, so it’s a good thing Laurel and Papa Healy are around to keep him honest. And having said that, I guess I have to cut Papa Healy some slack for why he wanted Laurel working in Luke’s office. He might be controlling Laurel’s life, but as far as Luke is concerned… I get it.

On the other side of the aisle, Aaron Tveit as Gareth is both charming and funny. I’m already nervous that he’s going to disappoint Laurel/me down the line, which is a sure sign that I’m falling for him. And Tony Shalhoub appears to be having a lot of fun with the Red Wheatus character, which is good news for viewers everywhere.

This show might be too bizarre for some people, but having seen the first four episodes I’m hooked. It’s a genre mashup of comedy, thriller, romance, mystery, politics, and sci-fi … so basically it’s Doctor Who goes to Washington.

Mari: I’ve only got the one episode under my belt, but I found it pretty enjoyable too, especially for a pilot. I think it did a really good job of establishing characters and premise, with enough teasing bits to get us tuned in next time, while still making this feel like a full and complete episode. I think that’s mostly thanks to the fact that we answered the question of whether or not Luke was going to sit down for that deal. Am I probably gonna have to avert my eyes every time a space bug is on screen? Yes. Am I excited to watch all the other bits of the episodes? Also yes.

 

Next time on BrainDead: Tax Prom (seriously) in S01 E02 – Playing Politics: Living Life in the Shadow of the Budget Showdown – A Critique

 

 

Portions of this recap originally appeared on danidenatti.com