The Darwin Incident

Episode 10

Fair play again to The Darwin Incident, but it does, as I've regularly appraised, continue to work better when it focuses on being a thriller. This week's episode continues the ramp-up of the story around Lucy's abduction, and it turns out that's only been a smokescreen from the real guardrail-smashing swerves this arc was heading for. It also uses some foreshadowed, but not yet revealed, other shocks to keep the tension afloat. The episode is even animated more nicely than this show ordinarily is, prioritizing the action and direction it's selling. It's almost enough to make me forget about all the iffier, head-scratching parts of The Darwin Incident up to this point.

Almost. The show still indulges a few trademark moments of sociological screwiness. Lesley's confrontation with Charlie reaches a turning point as the audience gets the most clear, blunt articulation yet of the humanzee's philosophy, best described as elevated nihilism. Charlie feels no sense of responsibility to the larger world, regardless of any capacity, big or small, he might have to make it better. He'll prioritize protecting those close to him, both emotionally and spatially, as he's been seen saving everything from random students to butterflies. But he has no interest in revolutionizing or otherwise elevating the wider world. It's actually parallel to Phil's resignation from a couple of episodes ago, the one that Bert so soundly shot down.

Charlie's hollow regard for anything not in his proximity may be, as I've speculated, intended as a midpoint on the arc of his whole story. Otherwise, The Darwin Incident is raising bizarre questions about how the audience is supposed to regard the humanzee hero, as he's regularly framed in this episode as a nightmarishly powerful inhuman with scary glowing eyes. Can Charlie realize a more effective altruism? Or will all these experiences only push him to retreat even further into animalistic preservation? His work is cut out for him, given that he ends up as a fugitive and an orphan by the end of this episode. Uh, spoilers, I guess.

My other digression on Darwin's diversions comes from Rivera's detour. He takes this in the middle of a more personal backstory delivery. Rivera's explanation for the shift in the ALA's tactics comes from the revelation that their raid on the lab where Charlie was conceived was done at the behest of Charlie's biological father, the lab's big-name scientist, Dr. David Grossman. Before that, the ALA had actually been operating as little more than mercenaries nominally in favor of animal rights, but more in service of taking out competition and raising the revenue of whatever other animal-abusing lab company was willing to hire them. It's a cynical arrangement seemingly regarding these kinds of efforts and direct action as little more than the bought-and-sold maneuverings of true capitalistic overlords. Which, yes, does occur in places, but swings just a bit too close to the presumptions of protests in the real world all being "paid" astroturfed efforts, as if grassroots organizing couldn't possibly exist.

Unless this is another place where The Darwin Incident isn't meant to be broadly allegorical and really is just talking about animal rights groups by specifically calling out the likes of PETA for their ineffectual bullshit. That'd be better.

I mean it when I say this episode of The Darwin Incident largely worked better for me than past entries, I just have to get these inherent issues with it out of my system. It's just the nature of the show—even the strongly directed tension of Rivera teasing Lucy about some secret in her past is tempered by the omnipresent question of what sociological rake the show might step on with the reveal. But it doesn't even get there, just keeping that yet-unseen fact as background radiation to drive up the stress of the rest of the confrontation between Charlie and Rivera. That's complimentary, it's a good use of this kind of mystery! Similarly, even Rivera's seemingly long-winded explanation of Grossman's part in this long-running plot and the temptation of Charlie to meet him works on multiple levels, secretly indicating the kind of bargaining chip Rivera has and foreshadowing that Charlie might be in the market for new parentage soon.

I was so focused on Lucy's situation, the teased secret of her past, and the fulfillment of her rescue contingency plan through Phil that I didn't even think of Charlie's parents and the pending, protesting threats against them. It's genuinely smart narrative sleight-of-hand, hitting the audience with the realization as soon as it does everybody else. The Darwin Incident couldn't elicit much of a reaction out of me with a school shooting, but getting the drop on me with the extremely surprising deaths of two major characters is a real gut-punch. Not Bert! I liked Bert!

Anybody watching could tell this situation won't be as easy to resolve as it seemed. It flips the status quo upside down and sets it on fire, at least precluding that the story could continue with more narrative thrust compared to contemplating sociological issues that it's otherwise ill-equipped to fully explore. I'm genuinely interested in whether Charlie will go…anywhere, in the wake of this, and there are still other cut-off mysteries to explore. I don't know that this wholly makes up for all the hemming and hawing The Darwin Incident did leading to this. If anything, it once again prompts the question of why this couldn't have been the whole show. But it is something the show is noticeably better at, so for the time being, I'll take it.

Rating:

---

The Darwin Incident is currently streaming on Prime Video.

Chris's favorite ape is probably Optimus Primal. He can be found posting about anime, transforming robots, and the occasional hopefully more salient political commentary over on his BlueSky.