The second episode of The Lottery was more promising than the premiere, but the series continues to ask us to suspend disbelief far too often in order to progress the plot. Before we get into the specifics, here is a short list of absolutely baffling incidents that defied logic:
1) If the government put a tracking device in Elvis’ arm, then why couldn’t they immediately pinpoint where he was?
2) Today, we are already working on technology that will allow police officers to force a car to stop remotely. If that technology exists in 2014, why has it not advanced to the point where Kyle’s car would be on lockdown the minute an APB went out on him in 2025?
3) Even if Kyle managed to flip off the cameras inside the drugstore, given how prevalent satellite and street monitoring is today, could he really escape all cameras even in a rural area?
4) Would America really risk an international incident by withholding embryos from other countries after signing a treating vowing to share/return embryos if they were ever fertilized?
5) Also, given how advanced science is in other developed countries, I find it suspicious America cracked the mystery first…unless every egg was fertilized by Kyle’s sperm in which case, these 100 kids are not super useful in terms of saving humanity.
6) Two out of six of the world’s last six-year-olds not only live in America, their parents are old friends?
7) The government waterboards the only scientist who has successfully fertilized human embryos, threatens her and her boyfriend because why? If they had never fired her, she never would have stolen the embryo and had they not deleted all of her files she would be much closer to fertilizing more.
8)Why is all futuristic technology see-through? We all understand that would suck right?
All of that aside, the story moved along at a nice pace and we got a closer look at the corruption of the government. The President is just concerned with numbers, but his underlings are busy setting up a mother concentration camp. It was nice to see the show pause, at least for a moment, and feature a woman who had no interest in joining the lottery. Meanwhile, I also appreciate the idea that the government will not guarantee the surrogates are the mothers. That adds an even darker aspect to the series. These women do not realize they are signing up to be human incubators and that the government will potentially take these children to raise in a controlled environment. Add in their continued threats to Dr. Alison and the future the series is building becomes creepier and creepier. Do we really want to bring children into a world where ethics have deteriorated to the point that a fertility crime strips a person of all rights?
Again, I was most interested in Kyle and Elvis’ flight from the law. While the story was riddled with preposterous actions as I mentioned above, including Elvis eating two cupcakes and nearly killing himself– seriously, Kyle, watch your kid. Watching Kyle go into super dad mode is a highlight of the series for me. He is rivaled only by Vanessa, who can flip between good cop and bad cop in the blink of an eye.
There is a fun show in The Lottery. Granted, I was hoping for smart social commentary, but popcorn television has its place as well, and it is cheaper to check my brain at the door for a blockbuster style romp at home than it is to bust out money for whatever random, nonsensical movie is playing at the theater.
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