Amazon Prime has been pushing The Consultant, an adaption of a novel about a consultant who turns out to be the Devil. I knew that bosses are all evil, but not that evil.... So I watched the first episode.
Scene 1: Six kids from Glendale Middle School are taking a tour of one of those gaming companies where employees sit on stools and play foosball. Guide Elaine stops to flirt with Craig (Nat Wolff, left), one of the coders, then gives them the back story: Sang (Brian Yoon, below) coded his first game at age 13, and now has over 100, including all of the super-popular favorites. He's worth uncountrable billions of dollars. She ushers them into his office, then stops by to flirt with the coder again. They discuss how much they hate Sang.
Suddenly gunshots ring out! The employees, looking bored, duck under their desks -- this is America, there are . Guide Elaine and Coder Craig der rush into Sang's office. One of the kids, Tokyo (Henry Rhoades) shot him! "I want my Mommy," he says.
Scene 2: Late at night, Coder Craig lies awake next to his sleeping girlfriend or wife, horrified by the tragedy. He tries playing a video game about killing people, but that doesn't help, so he reads a news story about the murder: "The Devil made him do it," then goes for a run. Through Los Angeles at 2:00 am? Is he crazy?
Scene 3: He jogs through the deserted streets to the office to get some weed (he keeps marijuana at the office, but not at home?). It's deserted except for Elaine, who is removing video cameras from the smoke detectors. She explains that Sang was paranoid, and had them installed everywhere. They discuss the jobs they are going to get, now that Sang's company has closed.
Plot dump: Craig's girlfriend/wife is a fundamentalist, and thinks he should repent of his sins. He wonders: If the Devil really did make the kid kill the boss, are the company employees evil, too? Wait -- the Devil would want a good person killed, so his employees would be the good guys, right?
Elaine shuts him down: millions of people play video games, and don't shoot anyone. There's no evidence that pretend violence causes real-life violence.
They hear a noise, and rush to the foyer: Regus (Christoph Waltz), a white haired man in an overcoat, carrying a briefcase, is just standing there, staring into space like a ghost. He's here to see Sang. At 2:00 am? Then he corrects himself: "Oh, right, he's dead. He killed those kids, then turned the gun on himself."
They explain what really happened. "Oh, right, that was the version I told myself." Creepy, dude.
Apparently before he died, Sang hired Regus as a consultant "on all matters of business." He also ordered this beautiful engraved Bible for you.
Unusual trait: Regus can walk ok, but he can't climb stairs.
He barges into Sang's office, shows them his contract, and calls a staff meeting for 9:00 am. They protest, but the contract checks out.
Scene 4: Coder Craig in bed (muscle shirt), being sniffed by his fundamentalist wife. She criticizes him for smoking weed. After a kiss, he rushes off to the office to join the grumbling employees. I guess the kid killing Sang plotline has been dropped.
Regus starts making crazy CEO demands, like no more working from home. He sniffs everyone, and forces Iain (Michael Charles Vaccaro), the guy that he thinks smells bad, to strip and wash right in his office (chest and butt shots). He knows nothing about video games (except that they brainwash kids into becoming murderers, which Elaine disagrees with). He is usuing an assumed name: Patoff comes from "Patent office."
They check the security cam footage of Regus's appointment with Sang. No sound, but after 14 minutes, Sang signs the contract. Then he kneels and gives Regus a blow job. "Was Sang...." Craig asks, another annoying example of "Don't say 'gay'" No, he was asexual. The end.
Beefcake: Naked chubby guy while he's being humiliated. There's a full-sized, nude, well-hung statue of Sang later on.
Heterosexism: Craig and his fundamentalist wife, but they don't do much.
Gay Characters: Probably not, but gay sex signifies humiliation, degradation, and evil, which, combined with the refusal to use the G-word, becomes was homophobic. Not to mention "cocksucker."
Violent Video Games Cause Violence: Disproven over and over. There's no evidence that violent mass media consumption impacts real-life violence.
My Grade: F.
The trailer doesn't look too interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe events are more weird than threatening, and the argument that violent video games turn people into murderers has been disproven many times.
DeleteIn I think the 2nd episode the consultant adds a life-size or larger nude statue of Sang to the office decor to memorialize him. The statute remains a centerpiece of the office decor in later episodes. The statue is notable because it includes a very respectable size cock for Sang, who is Korean. At some point the a blue condom is added to the white statute and it is left to dangle. The nude statue of Sang made we wish we could have been some skin of Sang prior to this death, but its likely just an artistic interpetation.
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