Incorporated Episode 1 Review: Al Gore Was Right; Climate Change Is Bad (Series Premiere)

"Incorporated" premieres on SyFy on Wednesday 11/30 at 10 ET but the first episode was released ahead of time. It's the year 2074 (or so the opening scroll says). Climate change has ravaged the earth. Governments have collapses. Large corporations Spiga and Inazagi (who are constantly in conflict) fill the void. The green zones are corporately controlled. They have manicured streets, great tech and guards everywhere. The red zones are desolate, lawless, and filled with refugees.

Ben (who works at Spiga Biotech) is married to Laura (a plastic surgeon). They've just gotten permission to have a baby. I guess it cant be done the natural way anymore. Each member of the couple has something to hide. Ben turns out to be a spy for someone in the red zone. He's got some mad skillz. Ben's also looking for a woman he later finds in a strip club. Laura is having flashbacks to some violent incident but we're not sure what. Her mother is Elizabeth (a powerful bigwig at Spiga). They are estranged. We also meet a kid from the red zone named Theo. What is his relationship to Ben?

Ben gets his boss Chad canned for stealing company secrets. Chad is sent to something called the "Quiet Room". Julian visits him there and whispers "everything you've heard about the Quiet Room is true". Poor Chad! But the good news is there's a management opening at Spiga.

Grade: 3 3/4 Monsters (out of 5). After one episode it's too early to tell if "Incorporated" is a keeper. The pilot was a bit heavy on exposition. The show has promise though. I'm enjoying the dystopian future. It reminds me of "Minority Report". Matt Damon and Ben Afleck are executive producers. It also has some big hitters with Julia Ormond (of "Witches of East End") as Elizabeth and Dennis Haybert (from "24" and lots of Allstate commercials) as Julian. There are 13 episodes in season 1 of "Incorporated". I'll be checking back in to see how it's going.