Minority Report - S1E8 - American Dream

Previously on Minority Report, ‘Honor Among Thieves’

Two things this show is really good at: weaving modern day issues into a future world in a way that seems organic and making sure that characters interact in meaningful ways. In this episode, Wil(mer)’s character gets placed front and center in a way that makes sense and really develops a character that, up until now, has done little more than show up and harry our protagonists.

Fate vs. Choice

The cold open takes us to 2050, two years into the Pre-Crime program and Dash is disconnected from his siblings when they experience a vision of a future murder. The victim is Imani Blake an abused woman. Her husband, Dante, and her son, Guillermo, get into a fight at the dinner table, which is supposed to result in her death. That young man is our present-day Will Blake.

This week, Blake is shadowing Dash and Vega on their case because they have not been listening to my recommendation and their number of saves is suspicious. Dash’s vision points to the murder happening on Amnesty Day, the day the United States gave amnesty to 10 million undocumented residents. I love this future. America, live up to this future. This takes Vega, Dash and Blake to the South side, a rough neighborhood where Blake grew up. Blake was undocumented until his aforementioned stepfather married his mother.

The case is obviously personal for Blake. The suspect is Felix, a young boy who is delivering packages for an ex-con even though he knows it’s probably shady. Vega, as per usual, is going extra hard on the boy because she knows from Dash’s vision that he’s the potential shooter. Felix, like Blake, is a 14. When the government granted amnesty to those undocumented residents, they also repealed the 14^th Amendment, which grants citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the United States. Those who don’t earn their citizenship through marriage or naturalization have to live off the grid. This was a really great way for this show to talk about being undocumented. It also shows how even the future government plays politics with people’s lives.

The details of the case are overly convoluted but in the end, Blake chooses to help the young man and during the course of the case he finds out that Dash is a precog. That discovery was no surprise to anyone watching. I would have questioned Blake’s skills if he didn’t. Blake also reveals that that evening he thought he was going to kill his stepfather and we are left to wonder if Dash not being connected during the vision was part of his fate or if he made a different choice that night. It’s a recurring theme that shows the fallibility of the pre-crime model and also comments on how we profile and categorize people in the present day. It’s a hard subject to tackle and Minority Report is doing it deftly every week. 

Remember That You Can Die

The overarching mystery of the possible terrorist group Memento Mori gains some traction this week. Blake meets with the DIA and Agent Blomfeld (Reed Diamond) tells him that a bunch of scientists received cards from the group with a skull on them. They don’t know if they were threats or invitations to join but this comes into play when the item that Felix was transporting turns out to be a vintage copy of The Origin of Species with a DNA sequence hidden in the pages. Biological warfare? All the threads are definitely coming together and I think Vega and the precogs are going to be forced to choose between staying hidden and preventing a major attack.

Mentionable Mentionables

• When Blake thinks that Arthur is just an informant, he suggests Arthur bypass Vega and come directly to him. This makes me wonder if that’s how he snaked Vega for his promotion.
• Akeela! She completely puts herself on the line to save Dash when it seems like Blake is going to turn him in.
• Every time one of the brothers wrongs the other, they punch each other in the face  #brotherlylove
• I don’t know if it’s my own sensitivity to police brutality, but the way Vega treats suspects when she interrogates them is really harsh. I get that it’s part of her character, but I definitely cringe.

Future Tech

• Nothing cool that we haven’t already seen.