Review: Dream Corp LLC “Amnesia”

Spiders are the least of this patient’s problems.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Dr. Roberts is treating Patient 62 for arachnophobia troubles, but a short circuit in the system accidentally ruins the treatment and gives the patient amnesia. This means Dr. Roberts has some more work to do and resolves to use “Fundamentals” to try and fix the patient’s memory loss.

In the monochromatic room, Dr. Roberts tries to jog the patient’s memory, but the patient is difficult and has trouble understanding who he is and who Dr. Roberts is. Meanwhile, Randy tries to make friends with Patient 88 through the use of hoagies, but he’s frustrated with 88’s immutability. As it turns out, Randy has been catfished by someone pretending to be 88, who’s been making him think that 88 wants to be his friend.

Dr. Roberts continues with his treatment, endorsing a hard rewire to rebuild Patient 62’s cognitive functions. With the discovery of the patient’s wedding ring, Roberts and his intern gather the time to discuss plans for the treatment.

Randy’s catfish turns out to be T.E.R.R.Y., who was catfishing Randy because Randy was lonely and intolerable. The two resolve their feud, and Dr. Roberts stages a new wedding to jog Patient 62’s memory, but with Randy as the bride. Sadly, the wedding doesn’t work out, but the Dream Corp team enjoys the reception and has a party complete with hoagies.

Our Take:

Well, this episode was an interesting turn for the series so far, is a far cry from anything we’ve seen from the series. Most notably, Dr. Roberts doesn’t actually solve anyone’s problems, and we get to see him a bit more for who he really is. Things are as funny as ever, of course, with plenty of gaggery to entertain the viewer, along with great character comedy to bring everything home.

If you were hoping for some nice, trippy dream sequences to feast your eyes on, you’ll be disappointed here, I’m afraid. The only time we get to see the trademarked dream sequences of Dream Corp LLC is at the very beginning when Patient 62 is trying to deal with his arachnophobia. Other than that, this episode exists almost entirely in the real world, focusing solely on the team and their attempts to restore Patient 62’s memory.

There are enough little-detailed gags to remind the viewer of watching Arrested Development” in its heyday, which was known for using these long-running setup jokes that have big punchlines at the end of the episode. This comedic technique works beautifully here, especially since the episodes are so short and fast that one needs a more rapid pace to keep the viewer interested. In addition, this also helps with Dream Corp’s aesthetic and grungy design.

Dr. Roberts is much more of a shill this time around than anything else since this episode is about basically only him. (And Randy’s obsession with hoagies) Roberts has a terrific amount of chuckling movements where he drops off a line of business speak or insurance jargon that exempts him from being sued, which is his number one fear apparently.

What really works for this episode is its “Non-resolution.” Despite all the efforts of the team, they really did break Patient 62’s brain and it looks like there isn’t a whole lot they can do about it. Not even their fake wedding ceremony works, and the team is forced to accept their own failure. thankfully, they take it all on the chin and leave Patient 62 to his own fate while taking the time to revel in their own.

I’m not sure if Patient 62 will come back, but he is a character who certainly has some unfinished business with the world. All in all, this is a good episode that’s plenty funny, weird, and has all the trimmings you’d expect from this kind of show.