Counter-Measures
Calumny, betrayal, and rugs of all sorts getting pulled out from under in the season 2 finale! This episode finally delivered a crie du coeur for the digitally fractured age.
Carlo and his band of Merries lead their big protest at the Swift, Inc corporate building South of Market Street. The retail giant has been accused of scapegoating assistant store managers for improperly opening rewards program credit cards without customer consent (while exonerating the suits that pushed the quotas and knew about the violations.) A large assembly of workers and other protestors have assembled with the requisite bull horns and walkie-talkies. The protest remains largely contained and downright civil.
That is, until a counter-protest emerges. Several private buses drop off large groups of people toting signs with “Save our Jobs”, “Protect our Neighborhood” and “Back to Business” slogans. Amrita, with walkie-talkie and official armband, leads a small subgroup with firm instructions on where to go and what to look out for. As the sub-groups shift, the counter-protesters use a mobile app to get coordinates and block them off at every exit. Carlo tries to lead his crew down an alley mid-block but there is a counter group marching toward them and he retreats. Eventually, the original protest group is encircled completely.
As the two factions shout at each other, a counter-protester slips into the legitimate protest unnoticed. He pulls out a fire extinguisher and starts spraying down security guards in front of the Swift, Inc building. He then charges his own group and starts spraying. Another man from the counter protest throws firecrackers and chaos erupts as the crowd descend into a brawl. The security guards out front take cover inside and lock the huge glass doors.
Amrita gets caught in the fray and is roughed up. The man who threw the firecrackers pulls a balaclava over his face and starts spray painting “Swift Justice” on the side of the historic building, posing as one of Carlo’s crew. Carlo tries to get him stop but realizes that they’ve been infiltrated. He starts sprinting away from the scene and is able to push through the crowd. Tossing off his mask and over-shirt, Carlo ducks into a large group of sightseeing students for cover a few blocks away.
But there is nowhere to run for everyone else as a fleet of police cars and uniformed riot cops descend on the protest.
In the Sherwood office, Jenya, Pascal and Kasia discuss Derek’s offer from a couple weeks back. They all agree the purchase price was too low and wonder why Nature Stop would even make an offer. Kasia thinks it’s likely for personal reasons but Jenya explains that Nature Stop is expanding aggressively, buying up a number of small regional chains in the Pacific Northwest and Midwest. Pascal confirms they are VC backed and wonders if there is some core tech on the platform that they would want. Perhaps the cost of acquisition would be cheaper than developing in-house.
Kasia wants Jenya to keep Derek on the line just to have the option of going back for a more robust offer. Pascal agrees it’s the smart strategy but Jenya’s not convinced.
Soon the office is abuzz with the local news of the downtown riot. Three people are in critical condition at St. Francis Hospital with more injured and dozens arrested. They look immediately for Carlo, who is not to be found. Uh oh.
Mathilde grabs Jenya and fills her in. Carlo texted that he escaped but Amrita is among those injured. She’s okay, just a few scrapes and bruises but she was not arrested. Jenya’s relieved on both counts.
That evening, Pascal pushes Jenya to accelerate expansion in order for them to weather the brewing storm without key safety features complete. Jenya doesn’t think that’s prudent. They can control the app experience all they want but the Sherwood Merries are in the field taking bigger risks than ever before.
As they bicker, Derek Bonafair calls Jenya to apologize. His offer was out of line and he rescinds it “out of respect for her.” He doesn’t want to mix business with friendship and hopes to see her before another ten years goes by. “Very strange timing” comments Pascal.
The next day, the office is uneasy after all the recent events. Mathilde has her hands full in meetings with the Policeman’s Benevolent Association and Food Pantry steering committee. They are both rethinking their partnerships. She does her best to put out these fires while hurrying to court to support young Randy at his foster care hearing. It’s a rough morning for everyone.
Jenya and Pascal debrief with their vigilante development team and lay down the law. Carlo and Amrita need to choose between being on the front lines fighting for <justice> and being the brains behind the software that powers it. Jenya tells them their extracurricular work is endangering both missions. The more negative press Sherwood receives, the closer it is to folding and everything will be flushed away.
Carlo says he’ll consider her words and then recaps what went down at the riot. There were counter-protestors brought in on private buses that all used an app to communicate their logistics. He saw some of the messaging, mapping and notifications as they came through. Everything was professionally coordinated and he details the activities of the two main saboteurs. Pascal wagers it was corporately funded. (I couldn’t help myself. It’s been two seasons people!)
But they don’t get to chew on this for too long before they learn that Nature Stop has acquired this very app, named Civilian P.I. The webcast and press release tout the rapid development cycle that led to this inspired connection between businesses and people that care. And yes, you guessed it: The founder of Civilian P.I. is Cabot Barely! He poses with Nature Stop’s SVP of Strategic Initiatives, Derek Bonafair, in a series of staged “casual” photos announcing the purchase.
A quick download of Civilian P.I. confirms their worst fears. It’s a rough port of the Sherwood app with the payment feature Cabot and Duc discussed adding. The Sherwooders lose their minds and hurl invectives about the skullduggery. Oh, how could ya do them so dirty, Duc?!
Pascal and Kasia want to sue immediately but Jenya has other ideas. She wants to meet Cabot face to face before deciding on a course of action. At Café de la Press, Cabot’s quick to play the wise older brother while touting his “vision” and the amazing deal he got from Nature Stop. They need help creating a positive business climate for their acquisitions and expanding customer base. What better way than to incentivize citizens to help? It’s another “win-win for the double bottom line.”
When Jenya presses for details on the deal, he can’t help himself. He sold Civilian P.I. for $750k and “a ton” of Nature Stop RSU’s (restricted stock units). He’s moving to Minneapolis for six months to kick off the project in their Innovations Lab. When she asks why he sold for so little, he lets her know he thinks he has the inside track to become the Nature Stop CEO. “They’re buying me for my expertise,” he preens. Jenya congratulates him.
She calls Pascal on her way out and lets him know she is accelerating Sherwood’s roll-out plan.
“Let’s remember we didn’t start Sherwood to sell the IP. We are a tool to challenge the greed that’s eating this country from within. Civilian P.I. is their new weapon. We have no choice but to give them everything we’ve got.”
Sherwood will launch in three new markets by the end of the month: Philadelphia, Rochester, and Minneapolis. Definitely Minneapolis. Jenya and the Merries are bringing the fight to the heartland.
Adventitious Commentary
Amrita didn’t understand the counter-protesters’ incoherent stance. The signage for “Jobs over Greed” and “I’m My Own Boss” contradicted other slogans like “Let Business Choose” and “The Good of the Many>The Needs of a Few”.
Carlo’s analysis of the Citizen P.I. name was clever. Big businesses were notorious for using private investigators to fight labor and trade unions last century. The ability to disavow their violent activities should they meet with any trouble is a standard tactic. The original ‘rogue element’ defense.
While the timeline on deployment of a new app seems rushed (even if it did steal some code from Sherwood) a re-watch of the season clearly shows Duc working on another project from the get-go. I’ll allow it (barely) just cuz it’s “Premium Programming”.
HooSingz kept crashing on install so I had to scour every dingy vinyl shop in town to identify Steve Reich’s Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards.
I like Jenya’s now hardened realpolitik outlook. Gone is her vague dreaminess about innovation as panacea for the ills of the world. There are firm battle lines drawn and she’s choosing a side. Jiayou, Jenya!
The use of Brass Against’s version of RATM’s Wake Up was an inspired song choice for the credits. Sophia Urista goes hard on the track. I’m sure Troop JZ will go just as hard to Take the Power Back next season.