The Lottery - General Discussion

[ottoDbusdriver]

@Sophia Fatale -- You're right, and I've corrected it in the original post.  Minor confusion on my part.

[Sofie Fatale]

It's kind of weird that they didn't cgi the Big O tower out of the shot. It took me right out of the scene, but I guess it's more noticeable to a Montrealer lol

[SpaghettiTuesdays]

The only reason I could think of as to why Darius would have the egg woman killed is 'cause ALIENS.

But seriously, I hadn't even heard of this show and randomly caught it on repeat. I think the premise is interesting, but I think I'm not going to enjoy how it's executed. Like PP said, I don't find the lady doctor to be someone I can get behind. I like Kyle (and Elvis!!) and the other parent of the little girl. I think it's interesting how the mother at the school reported Kyle - I think they could go into more detail about society's perception of the Last Six and their parents. Jealousy rules all type of thing.

I think at this point, they might funnel the people in the dying industries (things marketed for babies and young children) into science or something of the sort. What else would they have going for them? I think they would be doing extensive testing on the few children left in the world, why they were born and so many potential children weren't.

I'm a conspiracy theorist by nature, so I'm thinking Darius is behind some huge evil scheme or is taking bribes. Maybe he had egg woman killed so other nations don't get ahold of her, and therefore her eggs.

I'm tuning in. For better, or for worse.

ETA: I just realized how much money could be made off fertility. Fertility doctors, meds, treatments, charting supplies, ovulation predictors,  pregnancy tests, support groups, even. You could make a killing. I bet that's where all those companies turned to.

Edited August 1, 2014 by SpaghettiTuesdays

[SpaghettiTuesdays]

Is it bad that I can't even remember what happened? I think I've blocked it on purpose.

I think the writers are trying hard to get us enthralled, but it's too overwhelming and completely underwhelming. There's so much going on, but nothing really going on. I feel like, maybe, they should've done a little more character development before all hell broke loose. Maybe show, not tell.

As it happens, I actually did make tea and come back later and still knew what was going on. I have a feeling this is going to be a bigger mess than I thought, but I'm still going to watch.

[thewhiteowl]

@SpaghettiTuesdays  Me too. I really kinda like it. Sure it not high brow or setting the world on fire but it moves along. 

[thewhiteowl]

 

Vanessa, Darius, and President Westwood deal with the hostage crisis. Alison and James make a strange discovery after testing Kyle that may lead to more questions than answers. The world reacts to news of the lottery as the U.S. government prepares to open the testing centers.

 

[Happytobehere]

I'm still puzzled by a major point of the premise of the show. They have 100 fertilized eggs and they are doing a lottery to see who gets them. Wouldn't the biological parents hold ownership to those embryos? How is any sort of lottery taking place? I know they killed one bio mom in episode one, did they go kill them all, and what about the bio dads?

[thewhiteowl]

The egg and sperm donors gave up the rights to their genetic material. According to Lennon when she was telling Brooke (egg donor) about the fertilization. The Govm't owns those embryos.

[Happytobehere]

Thanks! This then begs the question why Brook was so insistent on being a mother to the embryo when she gave up her rights. Stupid on her part.

[thewhiteowl]

You're welcome, Brooke didn't care until she found out it was fertilized, she said she had found a lawyer right before she was killed. She would have tried to get the embryo, probably why she was eliminated.

[millahnna]

Kind of funny; this episode addressed some of the questions I found troubling in the pilot but it still feels like something is off. Oh well. It's reasonably entertaining and raises intelligent questions despite the not always intelligent execution.

[ottoDbusdriver]

That woman they interviewed was beyond stupid -- she was inspired by Dr. Lennon's honesty on TV, so she was going to back to the good old fashioned way to have a child.  Love.  As if that was the problem in the first place.

 

All those Dept. of Humanities guys pulling guns on Kyle and one of the few 6 year-olds on the planet was seriously beyond stupid.  What if they accidentally fired and killed Elvis ?

 

Sure, the Chinese gov't will have no problem with a US SEAL team entering a Chinese city for black ops mission.

 

And the lip-reading nonsense was beyond stupid -- if they black-bagged them at the airport, when did he see the address on the front of the building ?  Did one of the kidnappers say the address during transport ? 

 

I'm confused about something -- in the pilot there were protesters (that the Chief of Staff walked through) that were protesting against mandatory fertility testing at fertility centers.  Wouldn't everyone want to know who's fertile because otherwise it's the end of the species boys and girls ?  But now that they have 100 viable embryos, are they setting up completely separate testing clinics ?  Wouldn't they just re-use the clinics they already had ?

 

What was with that comment by Dr. Lennon to Kyle about "That was fast" when he contributed his sample.  That seemed kind of bitchy and uncalled for.  Is she unaware that he has been making his living providing samples since he is one of the last fertile men on the planet, and can probably rub one out on demand ?

 

When Dr. Lennon was talking to Kyle as he was negotiating to get his record expunged, the whites of her eyes were heavily tinted blue -- why were her sclera blue ?

 

Kyle Walker has the bubonic plague, the plague that died out in the 16th century.  Uh, not exactly.  The bubonic plague is active even today in places like India, but it has been contained -- do they not have Seinfeld reruns in the near future ?  Hell, the Chinese city of Yumen was in the news just yesterday when the entire city was quarantined because of a one confirmed bubonic plague death. Instead of Doctors without Borders, these fertility clowns are apparently Doctors without Google.

 

Why would the Dept. of Humanities guy try to extort his way to 5 embryos ?  Does he want them all to himself or to sell on the black market to rich people (my bet is on the latter) ?   Of course he killed the lone loose thread on the op.

Edited August 4, 2014 by ottoDbusdriver

[tripsy]

Kyle Walker has the bubonic plague, the plague that died out in the 16th century.  Uh, not exactly.  The bubonic plague is active even today in places like India, but it has contained -- do they not have Seinfeld reruns in the near future ?  Hell, the Chinese city of Yumen was in the news just yesterday when the entire city was quarantined because of a one confirmed bubonic plague death.

instead of Doctors without Borders, these fertility clowns are apparently Doctors without Google.

 

Not to mention that the bubonic plague is a bacterial infection, not a virus. Or that to see it you would need to obtain blood cultures, not look at blood under a microscope. Or that the truly anomalous thing about that blood was that is had absolutely no white blood cells or platelets, only red blood cells. If those are the best scientists they have working on the infertility crisis, no wonder they have no clue what is causing it.

[tv echo]

Foreign terrorists are willing to kidnap American diplomats and hold them hostage in exchange for fertilized human embryos.  Yet no one is concerned that someone might try to kidnap, say, the scientist who successfully fertilized those embryos and claims to have almost found a cure for infertility?  Dr. Lennon has been on TV - everyone knows who she is and what she looks like.  Yet she is free to go about her life on her own and unprotected.  What if someone kidnapped her when she went into that bar alone?  Even if the U.S. closed its borders to non-citizens, anyone in the U.S. (citizen or non-citizen) could easily kidnap her and sell her to a foreign government or terrorist group for tons of money.  Or someone who doesn't want a cure found could easily track her down alone and kill her.

 

So the key to the cure for infertility is a deadly disease?  Hmmm.... sounds familiar.  Wait - wasn't a deadly disease the key to vaccinating against the zombie virus in World War Z?

Edited August 4, 2014 by tv echo

[Aliconehead]

I thought the last scene was proving that she was being protected, they just had not let her know.  The tool from the bar was going to shoot her, another guy shot him.  I am assuming the other guy was a bodyguard.

[Arynm]

I thought this ep was ok. The part where the Seals just waltzed into mainland China made me almost turn the channel. But then they shot the hostages and I changed my mind. I like a show that doesn't always have a happy ending for everyone.  Maybe the main girl will turn up pregnant now that her boyfriend is dead. I think the other girl with the 6 year old will be pregnant. She is fertile and Kyle is very fertile, so it's a match made in heaven. Can't they use his sperm and change the DNA or something? If they figure out how to fertilize more eggs?

[txhorns79]

I feel like the show is on the border now between campy fun and terrible.  I can't exactly explain it, but it felt like the episode got progressively worse as the episode went on.  The "acting" between the CoS and the guy who worked with her now dead boyfriend was awful.  I mean, he was really terrible. 

 

I did crack up at the reporter in the television interview making Southern California sound like some bleak existence because there were no longer small children running around.  I know it was said that no new children have been born in six years, but wouldn't that still mean that there are decent, if not spectacular, numbers of older children and teenagers running around?   

Edited August 5, 2014 by txhorns79

[Shermie]

....why did they need Kyle to provide his sperm sample the old fashioned way? Couldn't they have extracted the sperm the same way a bull's sperm is extracted?

 

How do you think bull semen is acquired? It's not like they knock out the bull and remove it surgically, you know. It has to arrive, as it were, the "old-fashioned" way too. There are just different methods to achieve this.

[Snarkette]

This show exists to make Dominion look logical and appealing.

[SpaghettiTuesdays]

I really just couldn't even focus on anything in this episode. I was so confused. The secretary of state or whatever is the worst character. I just can't stand her. Kyle's stay on the farm with his lady friend was cute. It would be nice to see a family. I was actually like "wtf bitch" when Dr Main Character said "that was fast". And how does she not know how to treat a child? Has the world gone mad without little ones around? Stupid episode. Did not enjoy.

[thewhiteowl]

 

Vanessa has second thoughts about the lottery and consults Darius and the President about shifting the control back to the government. Darius and Vanessa discover the culprit behind the diplomat’s kidnapping and death while Alison and James quarantine Kyle as they dive further into the anomalies found in his blood.

 

[renatae]

Adding to the snark about the Black Plague organism, say that it was a retrovirus and did die out in the 16th century, how would they know what it looked like? =8/

[ottoDbusdriver]

How does the President's Chief of Staff not have a Secret Service detail all the time ?  In a time of crisis ?  Yet she can go jogging in a poorly lit park without security.

 

And now they are turning the embyro lottery into American Idol ?  Sure, that will work out well. </snark>

 

The Dept. of Humanity is an fully autonomous department, reporting to no one -- it's still a US Gov't dept., how could the Chief of Staff not have more pull than just getting a visit with Elvis.

 

That DoH woman doctor describing how they were going to force early puberty on several test subjects -- that's creepy !!

 

There's no way that Vanessa just does that impromptu TV interview.

 

So what's the deal with this super-secret vaccination that Kyle got with the zombie black plague virus ?  And the doctor that gave it to them mysteriously dying shortly thereafter.  Who else did he vaccinate, and did they know that about the fertility crisis beforehand ?

Edited August 11, 2014 by ottoDbusdriver

[meatball77]

So we finally get the super evil government agency which every dystopian needs.  They want to control society by controlling reproduction.

[jb0495]

I'm wondering about the secret service agent with Dr. Lennon. Does he really not care or is he watching her for the DoH? He was watching the conversation between Dr. Lennon and the assistant way too closely for just an agent.

I agree inducing early puberty is creepy!

Edited August 11, 2014 by jb0495

[PugLoaf]

I don't remember if Children of Men ever revealed the cause of the infertility but a virus as a cause is definitely part of a certain novel and possibly others.

In the Dan Brown novel Inferno a terrorist releases an airborne infertility virus as a means of population control. Now I will be getting that annoying feeling of having heard this story every time they mention virus.

Spoiler hidden for those who haven't read the book in question and for some reason might want to.

Edited August 12, 2014 by PugLoaf

[Snarkette]

OMG. This show just astounds me with its near limitless capacity of stupidity. Just when I think things can't get more stunningly incoherent, they do. I try to imagine the writer's room ("Hey, let's come up with even more senseless evil!") but my brain boggles.  This show is like heroin. After swearing I'm done with it after each episode, I find myself tuning in again. Oh Lottery, Lottery, Lottery, why can't I quit you?

 

"We intend to put them on a hormone regimen to induce early puberty!...We have a mandate Miss Keller. The more candidates we have, the more we can assure success."

[thewhiteowl]

@Snarkette  I feel the same. Like a car wreck I just have to look and the next thing I know the hour is gone. And I wasn't bored at all. It's weird.

[rwlevin]

The "science" they use in this show makes me want to cry.

[magicdog]

 

I don't remember if Children of Men ever revealed the cause of the infertility

 

No they didn't in the film. 

 

It would be funny if it turned out that the mass infertility was being caused by the constant scientific reengineering of foods and other products we use everyday.  Then there would be a battle with some Monsanto or Archer Daniels Midland expy.

 

If they choose to go with  an infertility virus, then it would likely be some elitists who thought they were worthy of reproducing and were planning on getting those Black Death vaccinations for themselves while the peasants died off.

[Jordan27]

After watching most of the characters in this show, why would we want any of them to reproduce?  They are power hungry, selfish, abusive, murderers, blackmailers, suckups and idiots.

[Sofie Fatale]

I wonder what the criteria for the mothers is going to be? Are they just hosts or will they raise these children? Also the crowd of women lined up seemed overwhelmingly White. Will there be black babies? Asian? Mixed etc? I really want these questions answered

[magicdog]

I wonder what the criteria for the mothers is going to be? Are they just hosts or will they raise these children?

 

 

Considering they're looking at pushing the kids into puberty much sooner than they naturally would, I'm thinking the moms will be pushed into the background once the kids are born, or wait until they're at least 6 or 7 years of age (since natural puberty usually occurs between 11 and 13).  I seriously doubt any of the moms would want accelerated puberty on their children.

[meatball77]

I think the plan is to bring the women to the compound and control their every move.  Then when they have the babies the babies stay there (perhaps with the moms, but only if they follow their rules).  The kids will be tightly controlled and then used to produce more eggs and sperm when they turn ten or eleven.  Being raised with the values of the people in the compound.

[thewhiteowl]

 

President Westwood and First Lady, Gabrielle, announce the two hundred lottery finalists and prepare for the opening night reception. Vanessa uncovers a startling truth connected to the kidnapping in China. Things become dangerous as Alison and James get closer to uncovering clues about the fertility crisis. Kyle and his ex-wife Tracy appear in court to fight for custody of Elvis.

 

[Joimiaroxeu]

 

How does the President's Chief of Staff not have a Secret Service detail all the time ?  In a time of crisis ?  Yet she can go jogging in a poorly lit park without security.

Not only that, why was she watching the President's speech at home on TV? As his CoS, I should think she'd have been there with him. The only reason I can think for her not being there is that it wasn't a live broadcast and the speech was actually taped earlier in the day.

 

I don't understand why Kyle would have gone to a fertility clinic. Was that something required by law once the mass infertility started to become noticeable?

[ottoDbusdriver]

This show just gets stupider and stupider -- it really does.

 

If both Kyle and his ex-wife Tracy are both fertile, why is the Dept. of Humanity not heavily invested in their well-being and testing both of them ?  Why hasn't Tracy been cranking out kids with different men for a fee, like the other 5 fathers of the current crop of 6 year olds ?  Why aren't they testing all the other parents of the six 6 year-olds ?  It just seems odd that they aren't doing that.

 

When Alison was describing the testing they were going to perform, I couldn't help but wonder why would they be testing 'The 200' (since 'The 100' was already taken by the CW) for things like hereditary diseases.  'The 200' are simply acting as wombs for the fertilized embryos -- they won't be passing on any genetic material.  Are they going to eliminate one contestant a week a la American Idol, because that means it will take nearly 2 years to get down to the final 100 ? </snark>

 

You just know that waitress with a heart of gold will somehow luck out into getting an embryo.  

 

ETA:  The Chief of Staff continues to roam everywhere without any sign of a security detail.

 

ETA2:  Are 'The 200' being housed in the National Art Gallery wing of the Dept. of Humanity headquarters ?  With all the paintings on the walls and famous artists names listed along the tops of the walls, it certainly looks like it.

Edited August 18, 2014 by ottoDbusdriver

[TomGirl]

I wondered about the genetic testing of the surrogates as well. But I figured maybe they wanted to ensure that the women chosen were healthy and would remain healthy over time. Still seems silly, though.

I rarely tear up over a TV show, but the scene where Elvis says goodby to his dad really choked me up.

[ottoDbusdriver]

I wondered about the genetic testing of the surrogates as well. But I figured maybe they wanted to ensure that the women chosen were healthy and would remain healthy over time. Still seems silly, though.

 

It won't matter anyway -- you just know that the Dept. of Humanity is going to seize all these kids as soon as they are born, and the surrogates will never see them again.

[marieYOTZ]

The voice excusing the women from the party was so over the top it was laughable. "Goodnight, dear ones" - i can just imagine some writer being like "oh, creepy-soothing computer voices are super dystopian, let's definitely have one of those!"

[Mor]

So much of this show required the usual suspension of disbelief but nothing more than the chief government fertility guy immediately firing, for no apparent reason, the only doctor who has successfully fertilized any eggs in the past six years. Surely the best way to possibly get more embryos is to keep the doctor who created the hundred embryos in a lab with even more resources and trying hard.

Not really. Just because she stumbled over a breakthrough, doesn't mean that she is the most qualified person to take the project to next level. Also it was apparent that the chief wanted to run operation, which would effect things on national/global scale, as top secret for now (not surprising considering the rioting) and he said that she was a security risk (which the crazy broad is, and in spades)

The crazy Doctor who crossed all lines, who abused her position to find her "sperm donors" for her one night stands, who has issues with authority and concept of team. Who escalated from being suspended with pay( yes s*** happens ), into violating how many laws, and placing the whole project in jeopardy stealing the eggs and taking them on the run, because its her "baby" project, so she "must" know best and has the resources to utilize upon it.. Its just plain stupid, I was cheering for her getting arrested and thrown into a loony bin, where she could chant that BS.

Also did I miss something or when she was arrested by the secret service(?) "idiots" she left the eggs in the car and they didn't think to check, really?!

 

This was the most unbelievable bit for me. Where is the political benefit of firing this doctor after she creates only 100 embryos when they have no one else who can replicate the process? People would be outraged if she went to Europe or Asia and created thousands of embryos there.

First she wasn't fired, but suspended with pay. Second she signed a nice contract that prevent her from doing what you suggest. Third, I can assure you that what she did was documented and could be repeated by anyone else in that lab. Edited August 18, 2014 by Mor

[Snarkette]

The Lottery has turned imbecilic into an art form

[Snarkette]

But 17wheatthins, now they're CELEBRITIES! So fame and fortune await them and their blessed uterii

[Launs]

You know what, no. The last episode pissed me off sooo bad, I wanted to just close my PC. What the hell, I've never hated a character as I hate Hayes. WHO THE HELL DOES HE THINK HE IS ? Oh my .. Fishsticks. NO.  And how stupid must the president be ? Seriously ? Does he not see that the true interests of one of his counsellors are as dark as the deep sea? They better do something about this whole Hayes - situation. I'm so mad that Kyle lost the custody of his son. UGH. 

Can somebody, ANYBODY kill Hayes already ? And since he's evil I'll even add : kill him. Kill him with fire. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode Description:

 

Alison's investigation delivers results. The contestants in the Lottery have to get use to their new lives. Kyle finds a new ally.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Finally watched this today ... and it's not getting any better.

 

Between the baby VR, the dumb parenting tests, and the extended stupidity to console Nathan's father (Winston from Ghostbusters) that his son died a hero in the Shanghai surprise, we get the First Lady picking her favorite pet from 'The 200' and giving her presents and extras -- because the First Lady is totally going to steal that baby from her since she's a skanky bartender.  As soon as the First Lady's assistant started describing Perry as honest with no filter, I remember those exact same phrases being used to describe Poochie the Dog on the Simpsons.  It was also weird that during the First Lady's baby VR scene, her hands holding the virtual baby didn't match her hands as she saw them -- even though only the baby was virtual.

 

Alison and David determine that the mystery doctor who predicted the fertility crisis actually died in a plane crash in Kabul, Afghanistan -- the ground zero where the fertility crisis was first detected (how exactly ?? I don't see Kabul as a hotbed of fertility clinics that would detect such a thing).  And conclude that the US Gov't manufactured the fertility crisis. Dun, dun, dun, dunnnnnnn !!!!  Was this a plan by the US Military to kill off the Taliban .... eventually ... by making them all sterile so that they would eventually die out, only for it to get out of hand and spread worldwide.  If that's the case, the Lottery is totally a ripoff of 'Revolution' (which ain't a good thing).

 

Kyle connects with a rebel group called the May Twos, named after May 2, 2023 -- the day that the Dept. of Humanity was granted extraordinary powers by Congress.  Who knew that the rebel's game of choice was bocce ?  Is it weird that the May Twos kind of sounds a lot like the Van Doos ?

 

Kyle goes to a bar with a sign in the window indicating it is called the 'Drinkerie', which is totally in Montreal, because the English translation 'Drinkery' is located below that name, in smaller text, per Quebec language laws.  Of course it's nice to see that the Montreal Olympic stadium is official home of the Dept. of Humanity Lottery facility -- only this time we see it in its entirety in broad daylight.

 

Oh, yeah, Alison totally starts making out with her houseguest Kyle, only to get cockblocked David knocking at the door.  She knows that Kyle is fertile, so what the hell, why not ?   Seriously, why aren't they studying Kyle further ?

 

Who knew that so many freighters cruised up and down the St. Lawrence .... cough, cough .. the Potomac ?  Or that there were so many shipyards and grain elevators in Washington ? </snark>

 

The actor portraying the President continues to be just awful.  Haven't seen acting this wooden since Stephen Amell on the first season of 'Arrow'. And Darius Hayes wants to kill the President off, conspiring with the military to do it no less, since he isn't as cooperative as he likes him to be.

 

It's a classic Shock Doctrine scenario -- fabricate a crisis in order to seize power.  Covert group working with the military manufactures a crisis (in this case, fertility), use that to get a new gov't dept. created with no oversight and unlimited power, continue to work with the military to consolidate that power and overthrow the gov't from within.  Ta- daa !!

Edited August 25, 2014 by ottoDbusdriver

[Iguana]

You know, I didn't realize until today that my DVR didn't record Sunday's episode. I think my DVR is trying to save me from myself when it comes to this show, and I'm taking its advice. Woo! Another 44 minutes each week to waste on something slightly less stupid than The Lottery.

[tomorrowgirl]

Stupid can be entertaining at times, which is why I'm still watching this, along with Under the Dome. 

 

When Allison started making out with Kyle, all I could think of was that he would have terrible morning breath, as he evidently drank all  night and hadn't brushed his teeth.  I guess that says something about the show when I'm focusing on that.

 

I rarely give up on shows, so I'll see this one through to the ridiculous end.

[TomGirl]

Is anyone even watching this show any more?

[magicdog]

Is anyone even watching this show any more?

 

 

 

I was beginning to wonder...

 

I just caught the latest episode and the stupid still reigns.

 

Darius' daughter makes her super secret phone call... by pulling out her cell, where her father can see her from across the room.  It looked like an SNL sketch or something as she didn't do anything to hide herself.  Yeah, go hide behind a clear glass panel in full sight of the one person you DON'T want to see you calling.  Apparently Daddy Dearest would kill his little girl to be dictator in chief.

 

One of the lottery contestants is freaking out about her virginity (or lack therof).  Why?  People aren't all that concerned about it now, why should America care more than a decade into the future?  Was being a virgin a requirement for the contest?  Is that why every contestant is dressed in white all the time?

 

Did the girl really OD on the pills or was she poisoned?  How could no one at the center not know what was going on - there are camera everywhere (as been previously established) to watch the women's every move - so wouldn't they have known about the OD without Blondie's panicked cries for help? 

 

More bodies are piling up with the son of the fertility expert is gunned down and now James is in ICU.  The government just doesn't know when to quit!