I imagine what it was like in 1987 to come up with scenarios for stories for this show. In some aspects the show is very grounded, but in others they are way off the mark, like in the field of AI, and now with cloning.
I guess the writers thought that human cloning would be as feasible as face recognition, for instance. But they failed to understand both the technical complications of cloning humans and the myriad of ethical issues that would simply paralyze any effective research in this area. Just imagine, for instance, the results of all the failed experiments with human cloning until they finally got a viable sample. What were they thinking? Oh, and let's not forget that a viable human clone, according to the show, would've been possible not in 2027, but, if the pianist was, say, 35 years old, in 1992. Well, Dolly came to this world in 1996, so it seems the writers thought from sheep to humans would be a short step. Now, in hindsight, we can see how weird that sounds.
That also hurt the story itself. For this they would need to have established how ordinary the idea of cloning a person would be in the show's reality. The way Nathan even starts considering the possibility of a human clone is completely out of the blue, which wouldn't be if the show had already mentioned there had been cases of cloning, maybe a notorious incident involving some millionaire and a rogue doctor, or a failed experiment made by the American government, or something. I kept imagining this dialogue:
"Box, how can a man be in two places at the same time?"
"That question is illogical, Nathan."
"OK... Say, in comic book reality."
"Oh, why didn't you say so earlier? It could be a teleporter, a time traveler, a robot, a shape-shifting alien, a clone..."
"A clone? Yes! It has to be it!"
Because, you know, in 1987 that could've sounded futuristic, but now it sounds just corny and an evil plan Lex Luthor would concoct to defeat Superman. It's amazing how this specific sci-fi trope has fallen from grace in 30 years.
There was also a nice subplot with Anna getting confidence to be a "Star Cop," something which begs the question, how can anyone be a Star Cop if they are not a cop to begin with? It looks like anybody can have this job.
Last week I suggested there could be some unresolved sexual tension between Devis and Kenzy. Now, being more serious, I describe Colin']s behavior as rather juvenile, and if he used to bicker with Pal, now he bickers with Anna. Giving a more serious thought to the whole situation, it turns out this is much more believable than we might have consider. Colin's behavior clearly seems to be a result of their confinement, and at some point little things the other people did could drive him crazy. That cold also explain the issues between Kenzy and Spring, even though the show wants to convey the idea that these are the natural relationship issues those people would have. In reality, though, whatever they went through, would be much worse in an environment like that of their moon headquarters.
Finally, the episode also approaches a controversial issue and I'm not sure what to think of it: abortion. The case was often described as one of "kidnapping," although one can only kidnap a person and embryos aren't people, at least legally. But the writer often tried to make it seem they were talking about real children, which in a way, they were... Or not? Again, as I said, that's controversial... And the part in which the criminal "executed" the "children" was so underwhelming and anticlimactic: all we saw was the bad guy dropping a little plastic container in acid. Perhaps our resident British expert in "Britishisms" could explain to us the country's predominant position in terms of abortion and what that situation was like in 1987.
Another thing is, as I spoke about comic book concepts, the villain's motivations, which were as deep as a page of a pulp magazine. He spoke as if Bannerman had neglected him and had deserted their father, but the pianist didn't even now Albi existed and when his mother took him he was a baby, so all the villain's ramblings didn't make a lick of sense. Unless cloning makes you cuckoo as well.
Finally, this episode demonstrated one of the show's biggest problems: it's too ambitious. The story takes place on the moon and in two continents on Earth. Yet, moving from one to the other is as simple as walking from one stage to another in the same building. Theroux is on the moon. Next, he is in Bannerman's apartment (probably in England). Next, Bannerman's kidnapped and taken to a country I believe to be in the Middle East. Our heroes cross the void of space and cover a good portion of our planet in their trips, but we still end with the same claustrophobic sense of confinement given to us by all indoor scenes. Yes, I could make a video with scenes in six different rooms and claim each room was in a different country, but how believable would that be? And while all of that happen, no other police officer, investigator or civil authority was involved, so the idea we ended with is that the world is incredibly small (including the moon) and thinly populated, as we keep meeting the same people over and over again.
Despite that, it was a good episode. Much more palatable than the boring ones we had earlier. "A Double Life" gets 8 clones, one for each of these names: Dolly, Rosie, Darcy, Bonnie, Cotton, Lucy, Sally and Debbie.
