

It's a shame the writers didn't do better with this narrative. Messages like these are what allow abusive behavior to thrive in real-life workplaces, where terrible-but-talented people can steamroll their way to the top. Unfortunately by rewarding him for his bad behaviour, and by punishing those who protested, the show implies-perhaps inadventantly-that this moral failing can be overlooked so long as the person is a genius. The character is simply toxic, and his flirtation with eugenics should have been unequivocally condemned by the narrative. Nor is he a case of a misunderstood antihero who is trying to do what is right via questionable methods. Enzmann is not a case of a redeemable villain, by the way-a thing that can and does exist in fiction. She reinstates him as head of the program. Unfortunately, when Enzmann's boss takes issue with his ethics, the show explicitly teaches us that he was right all along by immediately having the entire program fall to pieces once he's removed.Īscension then grinds salt in the wound by having this boss apologize to Enzmann and admit he was right.
#Usa ascension tv show series
It would have been okay to show this sort of moral failing if the series was trying to prove how truly awful Enzmann is. Purely practical." He gaslights the only gay character on the show and their mutual boss whenever he has a chance. He's a voyeur who wants to breed the perfect human being, and he spouts off shockingly outdated lines like "They were left out by design. Very quickly, Enzmann proves himself to have a god complex. He's smart, yes, but he's also bigoted and obsessed with eugenics. In the series, Enzmann has inherited his role as program director from his father.
#Usa ascension tv show free
The worst sin this series committed, however, was its apparent attempt to redeem a straight-up sociopath how it seemed to posit that the head of the Ascension program, Harris Enzmann, was a tortured genius who should be given a free pass for his bad behaviour.
#Usa ascension tv show full
If you choose to watch it, you'll need a high tolerance for cringe-worthy one-liners, as Ascension had dozens of them-up to and including one character proudly declaring "we're going full Snowden." Unfortunately, this series seemed to genuinely cling to this retro ideology with a noted fondness for a bygone era. This would have been a fun critique of Western-styled propaganda if Ascension was aware of it. In Ascension, most of the men are manly men with chiseled jaws who speak in gruff voices about what's best for God and Country. That's not too long ago, so its age doesn't give it an excuse for an otherwise overly simple delivery.

It came off as very "Americana" and run-of-the-mill, and while you expect to see stories like these from the late 90s and early 2000s-when a desire for Americana was rife- Ascension was released in 2014. Beyond its concept, Ascension was incredibly straightforward in its execution.
