Inside Job — Like Rick and Morty… But Different

A satire about conspiracies

This article might be a bit late on the subject, but I recently came back from New Year’s Eve in Amsterdam, and it was a blast. While I’d be happy to indulge my readers on the adventures over at Europe, it’s not one of the things I talk about. I need to talk about more important topics, “important” being what’s relevant to this blog –mainly subjects about popular culture, and whatnot. While all the fireworks and the crowded streets were fun, I came back home sick as a pirate after a sail in the sea, and didn’t feel like playing video games in that moment (I guess fever just does that to you). What did I do instead?

I browsed Netflix for whatever shows might be interesting enough for me to watch, and there are a lot of Netflix shows. There are so many of these, that it just seems like a sea of digital media where the perfect show will never be found, since Netflix’s covered by a layer of mediocre shows (not that I’d know, since I never watch those). But amidst all the shows of varying quality, there was one that I was particularly fond of because of its intriguing premise. Although it has been recently cancelled (God knows why), I really enjoyed Inside Job while it was still around.

Inside Job is an animated farce that takes place in a world where various phenomena exist outside of human awareness; things like Bigfoot and the Illuminati and basically the kind of things that people on the Internet recognize as conspiracy theories and/or any myth that Snopes can uncover as fake. More so in this world, shadow governments exist that secretly control the various events that happen throughout history. It mainly follows the misadventures of Reagan Rand, a scientist who seeks to be the head of Cognito Inc., the shadow government for which she works at. However, her daddy issues keep getting the best of her, and throughout her misadventures, she’s accompanied by a group of misfits who are just as reckless as she is.

Sure, the premise is a bit overcomplicated, but what people need to realize about this show is that it’s enjoyable for the watch alone. Much like Rick and Morty, you don’t have to dive deep into the worldbuilding to enjoy a good laugh. Speaking of good laughs, while I was caught by the farcical premise, not all jokes were good. I still enjoyed watching the last 8 episodes while recovering from this sickness, and it was nice to hog the sofa all week long with a wooly blanket. This is what it was like with a cup of tea in hand…

And a bit of Gravity Falls

At this point in the show’s chronology, I’m already familiar with the cast and the world in which they’re featured. You have the protagonist, Reagan Rand, the antisocial scientist who, despite her unorthodox name, is actually above her competition. Her obsession to outshine her jerk of a father and make everything happen her way, which rarely ever happens, comes between herself and her being promoted to a higher position in her employing company. She works alongside other questionable individuals who shouldn’t rule the world in any way whatsoever, discreetly or otherwise. Among them are: an army veteran who was mutated into a human-dolphin hybrid; a sapient anthropomorphic mushroom with the mouth of a sailor; a chemist specializing in all kinds of recreational drugs, mainly on himself; a Hollywood-type specializing in social relations; and the new guy who just wants to get along with everyone. Together, they form a group of dysfunctional frenemies who are questionable candidates for secretly ruling the world. I guess that’s what makes the show funny, meaning these people should definitely not to be calling the shots when it comes to humanity’s fate. This is why this show kinda feels like Rick and Morty, in that situations expand beyond the ridiculous to include extraterrestrials and parallel universes and all that existential nonsense — and it’s an animated farce.

While the premise is enjoyable for the many radical ideas it explores, the jokes feel a bit try-hard at times, and the characters, while ok on their own, don’t do much to differentiate themselves from the conventional farcical character archetypes. The familiar formula of a farcical animation that takes place on many borders of reality is something that’s already been done before (no names mentioned), and it’s because of this familiarity that the Inside Job characters didn’t feel spectacular in a way that they could shine. But the show itself was original enough to enjoy its humor, even when at times the jokes feel bland. It’s their adventures that propelled me to keep watching what mess Reagan and her buddies will get themselves into, and every episode there’s a whole new world to discover, sometimes literally. I guess that’s also a reason why it feels like Rick and Morty.

It’s a shame that it got cancelled and that bums me out. But I can somewhat understand why it wasn’t good enough to catch on, mainly because it felt like just another Netflix cartoon, and one that while interesting and fun, doesn’t really introduce an original premise. But y’know… the show deals with parallel universes, so maybe there’s a universe out there where it didn’t get cancelled… good luck trying to get there, though.

In Conclusion…

Inside Job was fun and watchable while it lasted. For those that haven’t watched it yet, I’d recommend you do if you’re searching for something similar to Rick and Morty. However, you should do it now, and given there aren’t many episodes to watch since its cancellation, binging the show will happen fast.

Would’ve loved to see more of it, though.