INSIDE JOB in a Post-Truth World

The world might not be flat, but it is hollow. Democracy is a sham, but mediocre white men still fail upwards. The moon landing? Filmed on a sound-stage, and all of this is the purview of Cognito Inc.

Just What Is an Inside Job?

The idea of a TV show about conspiracy theories is far from new. Take The X-Files, for instance. Inside Job spins the story a little bit differently, though, by taking the premise of a secret shadow organization and using it for office-politics humor that will feel familiar in a post-The Office world. Add in a bit of the zaniness of Rick and Morty, and now you have Inside Job.

The series centers on Reagan. She's dedicated her whole life to Cognito Inc, but when she gets the promotion that she's been striving for it comes with an unexpected downside: she will be co-leading alongside mediocre white man, Brett Hand.

Office politics ensue. Besides the world-shaking conspiracy stuff, the show has episodes about Reagan's attempts at dating (she's bad at that), Reagan's emotional suppression (she's better at that), and organizing her mother's marriage to herself (this one is a mixed bag).

At times it is charming, and it should be: staffed with veterans from other hit animated shows like Regular Show and Gravity Falls, Inside Job has every chance to be good.

Honestly, the question of whether or not you like it will largely come down to your own taste. Are you in the market for another adult cartoon where the characters can talk about sex while cursing? Do you need another maniacal paternal figure ala Rick Sanchez or Grunkle Stan? If so, yeah, you'll probably enjoy Inside Job. Will it emerge as a classic alongside those? Probably not, but it will be distracting for its ten episode run if you like that sort of thing.

My question isn't whether or not Inside Job is funny. My question is how are we going to tell stories like these in the post-truth era. And honestly, I don't know if that's a question with an easy answer.

Inside Job is built on the premise that some conspiracies are true. Reptilian shape-shifters really have infiltrated the higher levels of society, for instance, and the President is being manipulated by the Deep State. Most of the time these jokes just enter the show for the sake of easy punchlines. For instance, the characters often stop by a restaurant titled McUltra's. Obviously, this restaurant takes its name from MK-Ultra.

What was MK-Ultra?

Project MKUltra (or MK-Ultra) is the code name given to an illegal program of experiments on human subjects that were designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Experiments on humans were intended to develop procedures and identify drugs such as LSD to be used in interrogations in order to weaken the individual and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture.

-"Project MKUltra," Wikipedia

So, what's the joke here? On the surface level, it seems to be nothing more than absurdism. A CIA torture operation sounds kinda like a McDonald's menu item, so... why not?

Only, MK-Ultra wasn't fictional. People really were tortured by the American government. People died. Obviously, satire can be a powerful tool to speak truth to power, but what truth is being spoken here? Is the restaurant supposed to call attention to this 1950s conspiracy? Because honestly, it just feels like a detail that was thrown in to be like, hey. This is a conspiracy related thing. Funny, right?

Across the ten episodes of the series, that's about as far as engagement with conspiracies goes. If this is satire, it's incredibly thin satire. For the most part the jokes just rely on the absurd premise of a workplace comedy where the workplace is the deep state. Does the show care that MK-Ultra is real while the moon landing conspiracy is nonsense? Not really. At least, it doesn't care enough to prevent those two from existing side-by-side.

In episode 8, a character blatantly admits to this, saying, "It is so hard to keep track of what's real and what's fake here!"

I Swear I've Heard the Phrase "Inside Job" Before

One of the main characters in the show is a talking mushroom from the hollow earth. It's absurd and silly, and it perfectly fits the tone that the show ends up taking for most of its run. However, it also doesn't exactly fit with the theme of conspiracies and government cover-ups. After all, if the characters were just super-spies (and not Deep State agents), they could still have a sentient mushroom on their crew if the show was intentionally silly.

But there are details in Inside Job that aren't like that.

Let's return to McUltra's, for a second. In an establishing shot we can see the convenience store that's next to the restaurant. It has the orange-green-red branding of the most popular chain of convenience stores in North America, only in the world of Inside Job, it's called 9Eleven. It's a minor detail, but you can practically feel the show leering at you. Not 7Eleven. 9Eleven. Do you get it? Huh?

In the very first episode, the protagonist offhandedly mentions that jet fuel can't melt anything, echoing a trope that conspiracy theorists often employ when spreading the baseless idea that the American government was responsible for the September 11th attacks.

Is there satire here? Is there a point here? Is there even really a punchline?

Not really. For all its potential, when Inside Job engages with actual conspiracy theory nonsense, it often takes the tone of a teenager saying shocking things for the sake of being shocking. This is adult animation, but like so much of adult animation, the sense of humor is remarkably adolescent. Is it shocking for a show on Netflix to casually throw around comments that echo 9/11 trutherism? Yeah, it's shocking. Does it serve a point? I don't think so.

Again, for the actual stories that the show tells, Cognito Inc. could just be a super-spy organization. They don't have to be the Deep State. But if they weren't the deep state, it wouldn't be so shocking, and people like me wouldn't be giving them free advertising. It's gross, but I don't know that it's ineffective.

The Post-Truth Era

I won't re-litigate the January 6th insurrection here except to point out one detail: the insurrectionists were largely inspired by the baseless idea that the American election had been compromised by the Deep State. Inside Job cracks zany jokes about the American democracy being tampered with in that first episode. It's mentioned as a gag, nothing more, when less than a year ago there was a violent insurrection because of a widespread belief in the exact sort of Deep State that the show is making jokes about.

Obviously, it's not Inside Job's fault that the insurrection happened. As well, regardless of the problems I have with the show, I am not pro-censorship. However, I am pro-critique. Just because I don't want a show banned doesn't mean that we cannot criticise it and think about what it represents.

See, comedy is in a weird place right now. Figures like Joe Rogan and Russell Brand are ostensibly comedians, but if you were to check out their podcasts it would be obvious that they really function more like gurus. People look to them for insights, and I'm not innocent here. After all, one of the earliest pieces I wrote for Vocal was about what Bo Burnham's Inside meant to me. As a society, we're very comfortable with the idea that wisdom and truth can appear in the form of comedy.

However, if something is going to be meaningful, it can't also just be jokes. Something can be just jokes, sure, but then it probably won't be ultimately that meaningful. Inside Job faces that dilemma, and it chooses to just be jokes. And devoid of meaning, how should we feel about casual 9/11 gags?

The Joke We Won't Tell

If you know anything about conspiracy theories, you might be waiting for one theory in particular to come up. Yes, across the last century there have been theories about the JFK assassination, the moon landing, and the deaths of various celebrities, but there is one conspiracy theory that dominates them all, and it is repugnant.

Despite the overwhelming amount of historical evidence and eye-witness testimony, many people still participate in Holocaust denialism. Thankfully, Inside Job declines to make jokes about that. Considering the rest of the show's tone, it's almost an impressive display of restraint. However, because it is such a glaring omission, it ends up calling more attention to the show's bizarre tone. You start to wonder where is the line, exactly?

After all, if Inside Job knew better than to try to tell jokes about the Holocaust, why did it feel comfortable telling jokes about 9/11? The second episode is all about the JFK assassination, and Grassy Noel Atkinson (in this universe, Lee Harvey Oswald really wasn't JFK's killer) is a primary character. The show delights in this transgressive humor, even as it knows better than to attempt humor about the one conspiracy theory to end all conspiracy theories.

But in a world where we've all had to learn about Pizzagate and QAnon, are we really ready for a show that makes light of all of this without having anything to say?

Timelines

Netflix ordered 20 episodes of Inside Job in April of 2019, a past so distant from this moment that it almost feels like ancient history. In April of 2019, Ivermectin wasn't a part of most people's vocabulary, and the idea of a violent insurrection at the United States capital was considered a worst-case scenario. Sure, we'd all heard about the flat earth society by then, but we didn't think that we'd need to take any of these people seriously.

It's amazing how much two years can change, and I can't help but wonder how much this show would have changed if they knew what the past two years would hold. I wonder if there is a responsible way to make a lighthearted show about conspiracy theories right now, and I'm afraid that there isn't. I want to have fun with a premise as goofy as this. And maybe before the worldwide pandemic and election nonsense, people believed that this premise could just be goofy.

The jokes could just be shocking. That's all.

It didn't turn out that way.

The Buzz Aldrin Problem

Without going into massive spoilers, episode 8 prominently features a fictitious version of Buzz Aldrin. After all, this is a universe where the moon landing was faked. Jokes are made about how Aldrin punched a conspiracy theorist in the past for calling him a liar. It's all very silly, although a little bit meanspirited.

At the episode's conclusion, a character breaks the fourth wall to remind the audience that this is all just a joke, and they ask, on behalf of Inside Job, that Buzz Aldrin not sue them for this.

The show's cowardice is on full display. They want to make disparaging comments about Buzz Aldrin, but they don't want to be the next person he punches. In the end, that is the feeling that I will take away from Inside Job.

It's a cute show. A lot of the writing is tight. There are moments where I chuckled. But then, without warning, the show would become mean-spirited and shocking with no more rhyme or reason than a Call of Duty pre-game lobby. Maybe there will be a time for shows like this in the future, but I can't help but feel like we are not in that moment now.