Summary
“Broker” delivers an intriuing and morally questionable case, but it still seems unwilling to really interrogate its own ideas.
This recap of Tomorrow season 1, episode 8, “Broker”, contains spoilers.
What are rules for if not to be broken? That seems to be the moral of Tomorrow, which can’t help but veer around the established framework of its own universe. For many, this won’t be too much of a problem, and in truth, it’s not that much of an issue for me either. But I think it’s indicative of something larger, a greater worry with Tomorrow’s writing and storytelling in general. It’s too safe.
Tomorrow season 1, episode 8 recap
I know that the show deals with heavy topics and here in “Broker” it introduces a dicey moral conundrum. But in the same way that the show is absolutely adamant about using slapstick silliness to offset its more serious elements, even when that kind of approach isn’t welcome, it’s also keen to wrap up each case in a neat little bow and move swiftly away from it. If the whole thing’s missing something, it’s challenging ideas that don’t have easy resolutions. It lacks longevity.
Despite being a somewhat separate case, “Broker” actually leads in from yesterday’s episode, with Jun-woong figuring out that the nitrogen canisters in Ye-na’s room must have been supplied by someone. Oddly, Ryeon sees that as interfering in human affairs, despite there having already been plenty of instances when it was seemingly perfectly acceptable to do so, so Jun-woong is left to try and deal with this amoral profiteer on his own.
The hook here is that the scam artist, Jin-ho, is psychotic and borderline suicidal himself. In causing the deaths of others, he sees some kind of life for himself. It’s a perverse attitude, obviously, but it’s an intriguing dilemma. Should a man like this be saved? Do we have a responsibility to seek justice, even if we define its terms for ourselves? Are there fates worse than death? These are big, interesting questions that I’m not entirely sure Tomorrow is prepared to answer. Jun-woong is able to get his desired “vengeance” without too much compromise, and there isn’t too much interrogation of the Reapers themselves and how their role fits into all this. That, I think, is where there’s room for much more, and at this late-ish stage, I’m just not convinced that Tomorrow is all that interested in providing it.
You can stream Tomorrow season 1, episode 8, “Broker”, exclusively on Netflix.
