CATCHING UP: The Lottery – Episodes One & Two

The spoils are real.

When I saw the trailer for The Lottery on Lifetime, of all places, I nearly toppled over. Lifetime premiered its new original series on July 20th, this being the network’s first trek into the world of sci-fi. Written by one of the writers for the acclaimed film, Children of Men (2007), The Lottery transports us to the year 2024, where human civilization may be on the brink of extinction. No child has been born since 2019, and the harsh reality of worldwide infertility has morally shattering repercussions.

There’s a sense of desperation in this seedy, futuristic world. It’s definitely very provocative as men and women offer themselves up as prostitutes to procreate by any means necessary.

The pilot introduces Dr. Alison Lennon (Marley Shelton), who hijacks the sperm cells of the most fertile and genetically agile men she can find to assist in discovering a cure for fertilization. With the help of her fellow doctor, James (David Alpay), she manages to fertilize over a hundred donated eggs.

This scientific feat seems to cause more harm than good. An interplay of politics and social obligations dampens the doctors’ original celebration. Alison believes the matter is as simple as allowing the women that donated the fertilized eggs years ago to be able to carry the children who are rightfully theirs. That notion comes to a close when government officials, namely Darius Hayes (Martin Donovan), the head of the United States Fertility Commission, shut Alison out of her own lab and proclaim that the eggs are to be possessed by the U.S. government.

Once U.S. President Thomas Westwood (Yul Vazquez) and Chief of Staff Vanessa Keller (Athena Karkanis) learn of the news, they decide not to let the opportunity for good publicity pass by. It’s Vanessa’s idea to host a lottery. All eligible women can participate and win a chance to be  selected at random as surrogates for the eggs. The plan is to paint a beautiful picture of the U.S government working towards a cure and giving back to its citizens while, in actuality, nothing will be by chance and the government will be pulling all the strings. I believe “Controlled Democracy” was the phrase they used.

Anyway, for reasons unknown to me, Alison decides the best option is to track down the women that donated their eggs. She finds Brooke Ashton (Amanda Brooks), one of the donors, and tells her of the fertility success. Naturally, Brooke wants to be responsible for the child, and although years ago she signed away her rights on a waiver, she contacts a lawyer to see if she, along with other donors, can fight for the eggs. Alison urges Brooke to wait patiently as she has already nabbed an egg from the lab. She doesn’t listen, and when Alison shows up to Brooke’s place, she discovers the young woman is dead. The rumors say suicide, but Alison knows that Darius had a hand in it.

Also, the USFC has discovered an egg missing and captures Alison.

While all of this is occurring, we meet the youngest child in the world, a diabetic six-year-old named Elvis Walker (Jesse Filkow), and his father, Kyle (Michael Graziadei). Kyle is a single father trying to raise Elvis the beat way he can, doing much better than some parents in 2014, but his shortcomings have greater consequences. The one time he’s late picking Elvis up from school, the Commission is all in his beeswax, evaluating his capabilities as a parent. The situation turns extreme when Kyle realizes that they plan on taking the boy out of his custody. That’s out of the question. Kyle breaks into the facility and whisks Elvis away in the middle of the night, instantly becoming a fugitive.

In the second episode, “Rules of the Game”, Kyle and Elvis are on the run. Kyle removes a tracking device that was surgically placed in Elvis’ arm and, throughout the episode, tries to be as inconspicuous as possible. He takes Elvis to the home of his friend, Camille (Genelle Williams) and her daughter, Lila, another six-year-old. The two kids hit it off well, probably too well. While playing, they knock over the freezer containing Elvis’ insulin,  and Kyle the Fugitive must find some more.

While his father is away, Elvis’ blood glucose level is entirely too high (a result of two cupcakes) and he’s barely conscious on the couch with a distraught Camille hovering. After a series of extremely close calls, Kyle successfully steals insulin from a local pharmacy and makes it back to Elvis just in time.

On the other side of the plot, Alison is being tortured for information on the location of the fertilized embryo she stole. Darius is unrelenting until Vanessa orders her release with “the weight of the President of the United States” behind her. Under the terms in a closely worded contract, Alison agrees to be the government’s puppet and return the embryo, in exchange for her freedom and restoration of her place at the head of the project.

Although she begrudgingly accepts the deal, everything is fine and dandy until Vanessa supplies Alison with a speech to give at the announcement of The Lottery. Alison struggles with whether or not she should deliver the oration. She finds it ethically wrong to lie about her findings to the American people, specifically the portion of the speech that states she’s closer to a cure than she truly is.

Through much coercing by Vanessa (mostly threats), Alison decides to make the speech, but another problem arises when she discovers that the egg donors’ files have been deleted. There’s a chance that the key to unlocking fertility lies with the donors of the fertilized sex cells. With the files gone, all Alison has to go on is the deceased body of Brooke and the more viable, but difficult to obtain, Kyle, who’s purposely nowhere to be found.

Although The Lottery business has been keeping Vanessa busy, her personal life is in shambles. Her lover and colleague, Nathan Mitchell (J. August Richards), has left the country to do a Asian tour of appeasement, basically asserting America’s position on the embryos (it’s ours, not yours) and trying not to start another World War. Too late. By the end of the episode, Nathan and several other diplomats are taken hostage. Their captors want five eggs. Do you think we’re going to fork them over? My guess is no. Hopefully, we can make it to the fourth episode before the only black guy on the show dies.

If you enjoyed Keyoka’s review, you can find the rest of her work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow her on Twitter @keyokakinzy.

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