I just finished re-watching the first season of “The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret,” which is a show starring two of the stars from “Arrested Development,” David Cross (creator and writer of “The Increasingly Poor Decisions”) and Will Arnett. This show is about a socially clueless compulsive liar who is unwittingly transferred to the UK to sell a mysterious Korean energy drink called “Thunder Muscle.” Needless to say, as the plot progresses, Todd Margaret completely ruins his own life with his lies and touristy ignorance.
“The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret” is a comedy, but there are many serious messages in it. One is the issue of honesty—Todd’s failures can all be traced back to the web of lies he spun about his past and present conditions. According to “The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret,” dishonesty is an evil that leads to the sin of lying, which only makes things worse. Todd arrives in some wildly chaotic situations because of the lies he tells, and, true to form, his attempts to weasel his way out of them involve even more lies.
Another issue is greed. Todd’s new boss Brent Wilts (Will Arnett) is just as foolish and naive as Todd, but his character is much more aggressive. That’s because Wilts is a gambler who is obsessed with money & power. Once he mysteriously gets promoted from his telemarketing position, he has an extremely profane field day lording his power over the office where Todd works. This says a lot about our world’s idea of human purpose. Arnett’s character is sort of a caricature, but he embodies many of the evils that affect people everywhere: greed, perversion, and carelessness. These evils are deceptive and blinding.
We eventually learn that Todd’s only employee, Dave, is really the deluded son of a British millionaire, and has been playing Todd and Brent all along. This is another perversion of power: manipulation. This doesn’t make power a bad thing, it only calls out the misuse of it. Dave’s reasons for messing with Todd and Brent are completely personal, and his massive masterplan for revenge is a gross misuse of power.
1. If dishonesty and greed are Todd’s and Brent’s weakness, respectively, then how could they redeem themselves and solve all their problems?
2. How can a person see a show like “The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret” as apocalyptic? That is, how can somebody glimpse the kingdom vision through it?
Sounds like an interesting show, Andrew, particularly in our present business context. I wonder why the writers of the show chose this story to tell now, right after the financial collapse of 2008.
ReplyDeleteI've always been a bit fascinated with comedy shows that send up corporate culture because it seems like there's something very relatable in them (i.e. - many folks have had idiot bosses who got ahead by cheating, lying, etc.). It's almost as if we get our release through television instead of telling off our bosses in person. Just a theory ... not sure if that's happening here or not!