What’s the name of this show? BrainDead
When does it premiere? The first of the 13-episode limited series airs on CBS on Monday 13 June at 10pm EST.
What is it about? An asteroid lands in Russia and it’s full of ants. They take over the brains of members of Congress and lead to a complete government shutdown in Washington. Oh, and people’s brains start exploding.
Who on earth would come up with such an idea? Robert and Michelle King, the husband and wife team behind The Good Wife.
Seriously? That show was so safe and this seems, well, weird? Yes, The Good Wife was a sort of super-intelligent procedural drama, the kind of thing that CBS is known for. This is certainly not that. It seems more appropriate following the newest Sharknado movie rather than reruns of Scorpion and 2 Broke Girls. That it’s on conservative CBS is its own special kind of head trip.
What happens in the first episode? Laurel Healy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a down-on-her-luck documentary film-maker who is the member of a Democratic political dynasty. Her former senator father (The Good Wife’s Zach Grenier) persuades her to return to DC to work for her current senator brother, Luke (Danny Pino). On her first day on the job she begins investigating people whose behavior changes when they’ve come into contact with a Russian meteor that was shipped to the Smithsonian to be studied. Because the Republicans and Democrats in Congress can’t pass a budget, the government shuts down and there’s no money to guard the meteor. All of the crazy ants that live in the meteor escape, infesting the brains of unsuspecting Washingtonians.
One of the targets is Republican senator Red Wheatus (Tony Shalhoub) a former drunk who has given up booze and womanizing in order to demand increasingly conservative terms for the budget deal, making the congressional stalemate even worse. Laurel is also falling in love with his aide Gareth (Aaron Tveit) and dealing with a scientist whose brain explodes right in front of her.
What do these alien bugs look like? Exactly like ants. I was hoping for a bit more exotic space bugs, but apparently the CGI budget isn’t as big as it is on Game of Thrones.
How can you tell when people’s brains are infested? The aliens seem to have a kind of hive mind and all of the infected are working toward creating political gridlock. The victims’ behavior becomes more intense so if they were liberal before they’re now like Bernie Sanders reading Leon Trotsky and if they were conservative before they’re trying to resurrect Ronald Reagan by reading Ann Coulter’s tweets. They also hate booze and sex, dress immaculately and have a strange fondness for the Cars’ song You Might Think.
This is obviously a political allegory and most in Hollywood are liberals. Let me guess, the liberals are always right? The genius of this show is that it isn’t nearly that simple. The problem isn’t one’s political beliefs; it’s the sort of misplaced radicalism that leads to days-long filibusters and actual government shutdowns. The Kings are poking fun at the Republicans and Democrats who can’t work with each other and the atmosphere that led to such an impasse. There are sane characters that are both red and blue, it’s when the alien bugs get them and they refuse to see the other side of the argument that things get messy.
Honestly this all seems stupid. Is it any good? I think the fact that it knows it’s stupid is what makes it so good. More than anything else, BrainDead is a self-aware TV B-movie. There’s no mystery about what is causing the mind control and there’s no subtlety about what the allegory means. The campy cheapness really comes through when one person who is recently infected taps his head and an incredibly fake-looking chunk of grey matter oozes out on to his pillow.
Because of this dedication to the low-rent aesthetic, the Kings are just having a great time with the story. It’s fast-paced, funny and a little bit suspenseful as we wait for Laurel to figure out what is really going on.
While it is sort of stupid, it’s also incredibly astute, with a keen eye on exactly how Washington works and how everything from the news channels we watch to the social media we follow is helping this invasion of mind-snatching insects. With references to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, it is also shockingly up-to-date.
Is there anything wrong with it? A few of the jokes are lazy, like the old line that DC is just Hollywood for ugly people. Also the love story between Laurel and Garrett seems a little obvious and tacked on. Oh, and there aren’t two humans alive who look less alike than Laurel and her brother Luke. They have about as much family resemblance as a duck and a bowl of pasta.
Is there anything else to love? The recap of previous episodes is a silly song that is delightfully self-referential. Be sure not to fast-forward past it if you’re watching on DVR.
Should I watch this show? Absolutely. The jokes are good, the characters are likable (if a bit stock), and the satire is sharp and unlikely to offend no matter what your political affiliation. Since everyone is obsessed with the election anyway, we might as well watch something that is going to make our political messiness something we can laugh at.
