Incorporated isn't bad, just overly familiar, featuring a fair amount of twists and turns that, if you're in tune with the genre, you'll see coming -- and that's okay. It's the first episode (out of a 10-episode season) so there's room to improve. The most disappointing thing about Incorporated though is the fact that the whole "corporations now rule the world" aspect of the series doesn't quite stand out enough. There's little to distinguish the show, based on the first episode, from any other future series where certain folks get to live high on the hog because they do the bidding of the "powers that be." USA's Colony, in fact, uses this blueprint as well.The very Oscar Isaac-esque Sean Teale is our lead Ben Larson, an upwardly mobile executive at Spiga, a sprawling biotech firm that, like all the other conglomerates that cover the planet, is severely obsessed with preventing corporate espionage. Run by Julia Ormond's Elizabeth and protected by Dennis Haysbert's calmly ruthless Julian, Spiga finds itself under attack by a group of rebels called the Sons of Tomorrow. Or are they being targeted by a rival company? Whatever the case, and beset on all sides, Spiga's paranoia is rampant. All its employees are kind of a-holes and Ben, the most agreeable exec we meet, gets to live a marginally happy life with wife Laura (Allison Miller).
So then how does Ben's life begin to unspool? Where's the intrigue? Well, it turns out our well-behaved suit, who gets to live in the "Green Zone" (those who don't work for a major company live in "Red Zones"), is dead set on tracking down a mysterious young woman from his past (Denyse Tontz). Through this search, more is revealed about Ben's backstory and the tension begins to pick up. Again, it's nothing revolutionary, but it was smart to pare this story down to something personal -- to, essentially, a rescue mission.
There's no way Ben's going to, say, topple Spiga or bring down all the companies controlling the planet. The world is ruined and corporate tyranny is the status quo. Giving his covert mission a human face allows this large premise to start off comfortably restrained, giving us more of a buy-in.
