Handling
the Undead Liberation Army stuff in series 2 (especially when it involves major
characters) requires a great deal of care, and overall, I think In the Flesh addresses it in a
thoughtful way. It really looks at the
parallels between a terrorist organization and a cult, not shying away from the
horrible acts but also examining why someone with PDS would be drawn to a group
like the ULA. This aspect of the show is
always at its most interesting as it relates to Simon (series 2 spoilers.)
It’s hard
to nail down Simon early on, which is as it should be. In series 1, we see the shrouded figure of
the Undead Prophet preaching undead supremacy on the Internet, and the second
season opens with a Blue Oblivion attack on public transit. Everything we’ve seen of the ULA suggests very bad news. When Amy brings Simon back to Roarton with
her and goes around calling herself one of “the redeemed,” we have every reason
to be worried.
But are
Simon and his ideas dangerous, or aren’t they?
The answer is yes and no. There
are clear red flags: he keeps Blue
Oblivion at the bungalow, he’s preparing his followers for the Second Rising, and
he does think he and other people with PDS are ascended in a way that the
living aren’t. However, not everything
he believes is bad. He encourages people
with PDS (including Kieren) not to be ashamed of who they are and not to hide
their true faces. He stands up against
having their rights stripped away and is appalled to see the squalid conditions
in which a pair of untreated rabids are kept at the local hospital, waiting to
be shipped to the treatment center. And
even though he has a hidden agenda in asking his followers to share their
Rising stories (he’s trying to identify the First Risen,) it’s still valuable
to get people to come to terms with that part of themselves and talk about what
they experienced in their untreated state.
Of
course, it can easily be argued that the good parts of Simon’s ideology just
make it even more dangerous, because they lure people into a false sense of
trust/safety and prime them to accept the more extreme stuff. It might also be said something good could
emerge from the ULA, discarding the hateful elements and keeping the
salvageable aspects to create something new.
The show doesn’t ultimately come down on either side where the ULA is
concerned, but Simon at least is shown to be possible of redemption. It’s hard, because he came to the Undead
Prophet when he was very lost and destroyed by guilt. He’d spent months in the treatment center
undergoing torturous experiments in a desperate attempt to be “cured,” he learned
that he killed his mom in his
untreated state – oh my god, how tragic can you get? – and he was living on the
streets, alone in the world, and hating himself. In the face of all that awfulness, the ULA
was this shining thread of hope, a place where people like him were accepted
and he was taught that he wasn’t a monster.
It’s no wonder he was pulled in so thoroughly, and it’s also
understandable that it takes him a long time to reject the darker side of the
ULA.
I discussed
Kieren and Simon’s relationship in a previous post, but Simon’s realization of
what the Undead Prophet wants to do to Kieren (who Simon believes is the First
Risen) is just brutal and raw. As weird
as it is to sympathize with a cult disciple who’s been told to prepare himself
to bring a sacrificial lamb to slaughter, I absolutely feel for Simon in that
moment and root for him to finally let the scales drop and see what he’s
allowed himself to become, to understand that he can demand self-worth without
having to buy it in blood.
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