Review: Dream Corp LLC “The Bullied”

You just can’t trust someone to get a good Top Gun reference these days.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Dr. Roberts works with Patient 37, a hopeless claustrophobic in dire need of some help. The two of them enter a dream wherein they’re incredibly small and feeble, eventually ending up in a stadium occupied by thousands of Patient 37’s. Meanwhile, T.E.R.R.Y. learns about the internet from Pedro, and proceeds to use that knowledge to make Pedro feel bad about himself. He doesn’t stop with just Pedro, though, and uses his newfound internet awareness to get under everyone’s skin.

Patient 37 gets into a funky sex dream with his old eagle scout counselor but loses it when she turns into Jesus Christ instead. Roberts pulls out of the dream to regroup, and Bea runs into T.E.R.R.Y. while he’s having sex with the vending machine.

T.E.R.R.Y. continues to be a bother on the internet, and Randy explains that the robot used to have access to the internet, but they cleared that from his memory banks because it was too addictive for him. Patient 37 struggles with a nightmare about his childhood bullies and Dr. Roberts turns T.E.R.R.Y.’s parental controls back on to get him off the internet and bring him back to normal.

37’s nightmare continues, with him being trapped in a box after being chased by his bullies. Roberts realizes this is where his fears originated, and he guides 37 into escaping his fate using his skills as an eagle scout. 37 frees himself from the box and soars into the sky like an eagle. A job well done, Dr. Roberts and Bea sell Patient 37 some gourmet popcorn and consider his claustrophobia well taken care of.

Our Take:

This second episode of season two of Dream Crop LLC offers a story that’s a lot more coherent than the first. Instead of hitting its audience with a rapid-fire sequence of dream teamwork, it slows things down with a funny side story about T.E.R.R.Y. to keep things in the mix.

The “A” story of this week’s episode isn’t really funny, but it does offer some cute moments with Randy trying to get Dr. Roberts to respond to his Top Gun references, a movie which Dr. Roberts hasn’t even seen. This adds some levity to the rather terrifying sequences of Patient 37 struggling with his claustrophobia, which are immersive and exciting to watch. It’s amazing what this show can do with the brief amount of time it has to tell a story, but they do an excellent job of getting the audience invested in Patient 37’s tale. His fight against claustrophobia feels like a real struggle, something that’s haunted him for his whole life, and when he finally breaks free of the suffering, there is a strong feeling of relief for his well being. The audience can identify very strongly with 37, and therefore shares in his victory.

The “B” story, meanwhile, about T.E.R.R.Y. and his internet travels, is funny as a reflection of the terrible realities of the internet and the people who inhabit it. T.E.R.R.Y. embodies basically everything terrible about the internet all in one bot. He has the caustic criticism of a channer, the selfishness of a teenager, and the vivid voice of a Youtube commenter. It’s a good diversion from the side story, and one that keeps the usually breakneck pace of the show in check. It keeps things tied back to reality a bit, which is important since Patient 37’s nightmares are pretty tough to watch at times.

This second episode had less of an impact on me than its premiere counterpart, but it was still an excellent viewing. It feels like something a lot more structured than the first episode, but one that still retains the character and comedy that makes this series so great. In the story, in humor, in that elusive “X Factor” that makes an Adult Swim show reach new heights, this episode pulls its weight and then some.