Hello Tomorrow! – Season 1 Episode 7 Recap & Review

Another Day, Another Apocalypse

In Hello Tomorrow! episode 7, Buck watches a movie about the Gargon Invasion, starring himself. Believing himself to be the Space Sheriff in the film, he attacks automatons in the area to “protect” his neighborhood.

Jack proceeds with his plan to sell units to Mrs. Selwyn. Realizing she’s too smart to fall for his usual deception, he takes a unique approach. He admits that Brightside is a scam, but starts to win her over with the idea that she could resell the units to someone else.

Joey visits his comatose mother to apologize for not being around lately. He tells her he wishes he never met Jack. He obviously wants to quit Brightside, but he needs to have proof of employment in order to set up a payment plan for his mom’s hospital bills. Even then, he decides to quit. But Shirley urges him to keep quiet about Brightside until they can work things out.

They might not be working things out at all, however. Mrs. Selwyn’s employee communicates to Shirley that she no longer wants to buy after seeing the news about Brightside. Apparently, the news is covering Buck Manzell’s attacks on the automatons.

Meanwhile, Myrtle sneaks into Brightside to steal a list of every one of their customers. She gets in contact with everyone to tell them the truth and convinces Lester to bend the rules and help her for the sake of doing what’s right.

Joey goes to his old boss to get his job back, but his boss is too upset at news Myrtle gave him: that Brightside is full of crooks and will never get him to the moon. Now jobless, Joey scrambles to make a payment on the hospital bills, only to learn that Jack has already taken care of it.

Angry customers swarm Brightside after hearing from Myrtle and hearing the news about Buck. But Jack and Shirley aren’t there to handle it, as they’re out looking for Buck. This leaves Herb alone to deal with the unexpected development.

Eventually, Herb comes out of his office to try and assuage the protestors, to no avail. Betty comes up with her own solution–to refund the customers by stealing Ed’s bag of money (his own personal refund for the unit he bought for himself and Shirley).

While out searching for Buck, Jack tries to convince Shirley that they can make Brightside real. In Jack’s fervor, Shirley sees that he’s not Jenkins’ stooge, as she thought. They finally catch sight of Buck, but Shirley doesn’t start the car to go after him. She wants to hear the truth from Jack and the full extent of his involvement in Brightside’s scams.

The Episode Review

I have to wonder–has Joey known that Jack is his father all along? The scene in the hospital room makes me question if his apology to his mother was about being swept up by the lies of a father who abandoned him. Perhaps a father that his mother has warned him about. Maybe Jack’s not the only one who’s been keeping secrets.

Interestingly, though, Jack has more than once revealed his hand intentionally–first to Mrs. Selwyn and then to Shirley. It seems he wants to get caught and is tired of living in deceit. But he’s not willing to change his ways; he just wants someone to be in on something with him and to tell him he’s doing the right thing. (I don’t think that person will be Shirley!)

Things are finally escalating in the show, although the developments seem more the result of a simple domino effect than any intricate planning. Most characters remain two-dimensional, but I’m actually looking forward to seeing how the final episodes of the season explore Jack’s inner conflict.