We all know it’s never good to be called on the carpet by human resources.
But, hey, at least you don’t live in the world of “Incorporated” — where a “trip upstairs” can be deadly. Literally.
This new futuristic series, premiering Wednesday on Syfy, is set in 2074, a world in which global warming is a stark reality. (Norway produces the world’s best champagne; the sunny beaches of Iceland are a top vacation destination.) Ben (Sean Teale) works for Spiga Biotech, one of the (evil) corporate agribusiness monoliths lording it over the country (while making a handsome profit). He’s married to Laura (Allison Miller), a doctor, and they live in a “green zone” surrounded by lush vegetation, high-tech gizmos and a wealthy, country-club lifestyle, all courtesy of Spiga Biotech. The catch? The Big Brother-type company conducts daily security checks on its employees and demands total loyalty.
Translation: No unauthorized interaction with the wretches who live in the “red zone,” a crime-ridden post-apocalyptic hell parched by global warming that’s home to Ben’s brother, Theo (Eddie Ramos). “Bad things happen to people who stray in the red zone,” says one character. If you’re caught consorting with red-zone people, or suspected of company espionage, you’re sent to the “quiet room” to have information, a confession or both painfully extracted by the company’s glowering security chief, Julian (Dennis Haysbert). It’s not pleasant.
Ben has other ties to Spiga; his smarmy mother-in-law, Elizabeth (Emmy winner Julia Ormond), is a powerful executive at the company. And, like her daughter, Elizabeth has no idea that Ben has been concealing his true identity: His real name is Aaron, and he’s been trying to climb Spiga’s corporate ladder in an effort to save his true love, Elena. They met 12 years earlier at a FEMA “Climate Relocation Camp” outside of Milwaukee, and Ben/Aaron now believes Elena has been forced into the international sex trade. If he can just get to the company’s “40th Floor” — its seat of executive power — he’ll have security clearance to access data that might help him find Elena. What could possibly go wrong?
There’s more to the “Incorporated” story, but you’ll have to watch the series — produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck under their Pearl Street Films banner — to really get into its flow. I was impressed by its big-bucks special effects which, for the most part, don’t get in the way of the show’s human element. That’s always a slippery artistic slope in gadget-heavy TV shows, particularly on a network that’s called, well, Syfy, but it’s handled adroitly by the “Incorporated” cast. Outside of Ormond, who won an Emmy in 2010 for HBO’s “Temple Grandin,” they’re largely unknown, but they acquit themselves nicely here.
Count me in for the rest of the series.