Incorporated Season 1 Episode 6 Sweating The Assets [Review]
The video is a detailed, spoiler‑heavy review of Incorporated S1 E6, “Sweating the Assets.” The host walks through the episode’s opening nightmare sequence with Ben, who is haunted by the murder of Roger and his own emerging capacity for violence. The bulk of the episode is a flashback to Laura’s kidnapping in the Red Zone: she and friends illegally cross from the affluent Green Zone, are captured by a family‑run kidnapping ring, and endure brutal ransom tactics, including ear‑severing and wrist‑cutting. The host explains how Laura’s repeated wrist‑cutting is a symbolic act of freeing herself from bondage, and how the nanite‑spray that heals her wounds reinforces her trauma. Elizabeth, CEO of the Spiegel Corporation, refuses to pay the ransom, knowing the company will likely kill Laura anyway; this decision is tied to corporate politics, board pressures, and the risk of exposing secrets to the rival Inazagi Corporation. Julian Morris, a former military operative, is coerced by Elizabeth to rescue Laura, revealing his desire to leave the violent security role and the company’s manipulation of his skills. The review also touches on the broader Red Zone/Green Zone economy, the kidnapping ring’s business model, and the episode’s sub‑plots: Theo and Ben’s plan to leverage an Inazagi defector to rescue Elena, and hints at lingering mysteries about Elizabeth’s past, her husband’s death, and a possible secret that she hails from the Red Zone. The host offers a speculative prediction that Elizabeth is originally from the Red Zone, which could explain her actions toward Ben and her husband. The video concludes with a call to action for likes, subscriptions, and comments.
Chapters
Welcome back to the channel, guys, and today we're going to continue our review of the TV series Incorporated, episode 6 of season 1, Sweating the Assets. And, um, in the opening scene, we get Ben, who's, um He's basically having a nightmare, um, after killing Roger last week as Roger got too close to discovering all his secrets. Well, actually, Roger did discover all his secrets, and, uh, he found out Roger was going to use that against him in order to get the promotion. So Ben's having all these nightmares and dreams about Um, you know, Roger hunting him and him murdering him. And, uh, you know, it would seem he's never murdered anybody as of yet before, so, uh, he's dealing with that, uh, issue. So interesting enough, um, In the last previous episodes, we've danced around Laura's post-traumatic stress disorder and her past that had her— or I'm sorry, of what happened to her in the Red Zone. And this takes place years in the past when Laura looks like she's maybe a very, very young woman, maybe around, you know, early 20s or something like that, maybe college years. And her and some friends, they embark on an adventure to go to the Red Zone. But she lies to her, her parents. She lies to Elizabeth and she tells her, oh, I'm just going out to dinner with some friends. But they're actually, um, headed to the Red Zone. And the Red Zone is, um, you know, basically the Red Zone is one of these, uh Uh, you know, dangerous places people go for fun. People from the Green Zone, uh, you know, they can do all these illegal activities— drugs and fun and sex and a lot of different things that they wouldn't be able to, you know, do in the Green Zone. So that's why they're always crossing over to the Red Zone to do these things. But of course, there are many dangers when, uh, uh, venturing over to the Red Zone. And in this scene, we get, uh, Laura, who's, uh, actually, uh, uh, is having, uh, some problems with, uh, a guy who's being very disrespectful and rude. And this gentleman she's dancing with, he actually, he actually defends her and comes up. He seems to be a nice guy. They take to each other and they start to hang out. But, uh, turns out he wasn't a nice guy, and that what they do is they, um, basically try to kidnap people from the Green Zone who comes over to the Red Zone. And we had gotten a lot of these, uh, situations and kidnappings in early episodes. They touch on, you know, what happens to these people They basically kidnap people from the Green Zone and then they ransom them for money. And it's very gruesome how they do it. And, you know, in order to help people understand that they're serious and the demands need to be met, they actually sever body parts, send them back to the Green Zone in boxes. And, um, you know, basically, uh, in order to uh, you know, uh, make people pay the ransoms for, uh, the kidnappies. And so we had seen things like that in earlier episodes with Elizabeth and some of her friends, where there was a scene where her husband, a friend of Elizabeth's husband, had been kidnapped, but the wife, uh, she didn't pay the ransom right away because she wanted him to sweat. I guess there was things he had done to her that she didn't like. Uh, perhaps he had been cheating on her, but, uh, she was stalling, uh, to kind of teach him a lesson. And basically, this is their business. This is what these people do. Uh, they have a, um, a setup where they, uh, basically ransom you off. And Laura is, uh, you know, basically captured by this you know, this guy who pretended to be a nice guy. And you know, this is basically now telling us the story of how she, um, uh, you know, what happened, what really happened in her past. So you know, again, this is, this is all happening years ago in the past, and this is the what actually happened with her kidnapping and, you know, how she was, uh, brought over into the red zone and all these terrible things happened to her. But as you can see, her mom here, Elizabeth, is standing there watching the demands of the money they're asking for. And this person next to her is the security chief at the time. This is pre-Julian Morris, who's, you know, now the her, you know, security chief, the head that we've seen, um, you know, in all the other episodes in present time. And so they're basically getting the, uh, notice for the demand, how much is going to have to be paid in order for her to be returned. So unfortunately because of Elizabeth's position as CEO of the Spiegel Corporation, uh, you know, a lot of manipulation can be— can go on now. Because what they can do actually is the kidnappers can— if the company doesn't pay, the kidnappers can actually send, um, Elizabeth oh, I'm sorry, Laura, over to the Inazagi Corporation. And basically what will happen is in the Inazagi Corporation, they will basically try to use her as leverage against Elizabeth and try to extract secrets. So the company knows this, and what generally happens is even if they do pay, the kidnappers usually end up killing everybody anyway because then they know that the, um, after the Spear Corporation pays, they'll be hunting for them and any evidence and any information. So they usually just tie up all loose ends, kill everybody anyway. And so this is why Elizabeth is refusing to pay because she understands that they're going to, um, execute her daughter Anyway, and so this is back to the, um, interrogation scene— or not interrogation scene, but it's actually as Elizabeth refused to pay, now they're going to sever an ear from Laura, and it's very gruesome, uh Now apparently the woman who's holding, um, Laura's head, she has some nursing skills, so she's done this many times before. She knows how to sever ears but stay along the cartilage areas. But the, the, her, her associate here, I'm not sure, I think this may actually be her brother, but he, uh, he apparently hasn't done this much. This, and so as he's severing her ear, he's, you know, he's really creating a lot of pain for her because he doesn't really know how to do it. So he's getting close to the bone area. He's just, you know, it's just making it just so much more painful and traumatic for Laura. And so, uh, you know, unfortunately for Laura, uh, you know, the, the mom comes in the room and You know, apparently what happens in these, uh, settings is when you're living in the red zone and you're living in poverty and you can't find a way out, entire families seem to be in on these kidnappings. You know, this is how they make a living. This is how they're able to survive in the, you know, the red zone. This is their means of living. And so The mom's in on it, and you know, it's just a house full of this family that does this. And she actually finds, uh, a picture, uh, that's been going around of Laura. And, uh, Laura actually has a charm too with a picture of her mom. And so basically they're able to put together and find out that Laura is the daughter of Elizabeth, the CEO of the Spindle Corporation. And this is significant because they thought they were just kidnapping anyone, someone from the green zone. You know, everybody in the green zone lives pretty well, so they can, you know, they can afford to generally pay these ransoms. But when you kidnap the daughter of the queen, so to speak, you could demand a much higher ransom, right? So they understand now that the amounts of money they've been asking for in the ransom is not enough, that they've hit the jackpot, that they've hit the lottery, and they actually have the daughter of the CEO of the Spiegel Corporation. So now they can renegotiate the ransom and ask for a significant amount more money. So this is them basically, um, doing a renegotiation, uh, renegotiation, saying, hey, now we know that, um, you know, this person is your daughter and that we need more money. And if you don't give us more money, we're gonna sell her over to the Inazagi Corporation because they know we have her. So we'll sell her over there if you don't pay. And this is even a huger problem because now, uh, that they know who Laura is, um, the company is in jeopardy as well. So the, the company, they wanna— they would— they will do anything. And when I say the company, of course I mean bigger corporation and their board of directors. Because even though, uh, Elizabeth is the CEO, she still has to answer to her board. You know, she's not like a full monarchy, it's more like a constitutional monarchy, uh, you know, for example. So she has to still work with the board, and the board, they, you know, if, as long as the secrets are protected, if everybody ends up dead They're fine. They just need to keep company secrets protected overall and, you know, not put Elizabeth, that CEO, in a compromising situation where she may start to waver to demands of the Inazagi Corporation because they're holding her daughter hostage. So that would compromise her position and make her vulnerable. Company doesn't want that. So that's why, uh, the company just wants to close this deal. They'll— they know that if they send the money, they may kill Laura anyway in order to try to, you know, uh, you know, you know, not have her as evidence that they were involved in the kidnapping. So, uh, this is what, you know, Elizabeth's faced with, you know, as they're making their demands. So we cut back to Julian Morris, and Julian is around during this time, but it's important to mention that Julian is a different person, uh, very, very different. And, and, uh, you know, it definitely shines a different light on Julian when we now view him, and I'll explain what happened. Again, this is happening in the past. This is a flashback sequence. Of what happened with, uh, you know, uh, Laura so many years ago when she was assaulted here and kidnapped and went through all this trauma in the Red Zone. And Julian is not long after his, um, command in the military when he was part of the oil wars. And we find Julian to be a very different person. Julian didn't want to be the security chief for this bigger corporation. Julian wanted to take his wife, and it seems he wanted to go to a very, um, a distant part of the corporation or in the Green Zone where his task would not be interrogations of people, that it would be a lot more civil. He would be a lot more normal. He and his wife could live a kind of peaceful and happy life. But because of Julian's background, you know, his, his experience in war. Although he wants to get away with it, his experience and how to interrogate and extract information and secrets from people— the company just sees him as such a valuable asset in that department that they won't grant Julian's request to exit into a more, uh, a different life, a less violent life. And they won't let him go. So Julian, uh, uh, is, uh, actually propositioned by Elizabeth, you know. And Elizabeth is telling Julian that, hey Julian, you need to go in there, you need to get my daughter out of there before the company sends in, uh, you know, security of a team and, uh, an extraction team, because once they send them in, we know they're gonna kill her. So we need you to go in quietly and secretly and get her out of there. And she tells Julian that, Julian, if you, if you do this for me, I understand that you want to leave and do something, live a more quiet life, or more, you know, a more peaceful life. You know, as Julian, it seems Even though he has these specific set of skills in extraction and military, he doesn't want to be a soldier anymore. So Elizabeth tells him, I will grant you that request. I will let you leave, and I will do everything I can if you save and rescue my daughter. So this cuts back to the family, you know, that's holding Laura hostage. And basically the gentleman who's, uh, I guess he's kind of like brokering all the deals of the kidnappings, he's associated with them, he's letting them know, hey, you know, they've already paid the ransom. And, you know, we basically need to take this money and go. And you also know that once they paid the ransom, um, they're gonna come and they're gonna come in, they're gonna kill everybody involved because that's how the company closes up everything. You know, they're not going to leave anybody living. And this gentleman, he knows all of this, and he's explaining to him to them, hey, you, you, what we need to do, we need to go ahead and kill the, the, uh, the hostage, the kidnappee, uh, so we could try to distance ourselves from her and so we can't be identified and this and that. And so then basically the next plan is they're supposed to kill Laura. But Laura has been, um, you know, uh, smart enough to understand that this was going to happen anyway. You know, she's apparently aware of what happens when a person from the Green Zone is kidnapped and taken hostage over in the Red Zone, especially, uh, somebody of her status. So, um, the knife that was used to cut her ear off. Apparently, uh, someone got careless and the knife was left on the ground. And although Laura was tied to a chair, she's able to knock the chair over, get to the knife, free herself, pretend to still be, um, tied up. And when they come in to kill her, uh, she lunges forth with a knife and she's able to— she's able to kill the, um, you know, the, uh, the sister, or, you know, one of the family members who's, you know, basically, basically the one who had the nursing background. And the reason we know she had a nursing background is because she was the only one who was, I guess you could say, somewhat civil to Laura in this experience, um, you know, um, but Laura kind of played her, you know. Lauren, uh, you know She kind of lowered her guard around Laura long enough for Laura to jump up and kill her and try to plan her escape, as Laura understood that they were coming to kill her at that point. So this is the brother coming in, and he's seeing that Laura has already murdered um, you know, already murdered, uh, his sister. So he comes in, he pulls his gun, he's gonna kill Laura. But right at that moment, uh, as you can see from this gruesome scene, um, he's killed by Julian, as Julian has made it to the, um, you know, to their location. And Julian is about to rescue Laura. So Julian does rescue Laura, and this is the— this guy you see here is the present security chief. He's the pre-security chief to Julian. No, he had the position. He had the position first, and he gets in with his team, but he's too late as Julian has already taken out everybody and closed up the scene and, um, basically rescued Laura. And so, um, basically it's— there is a small child left who was in the house, and they don't seem to kill him. I'm not sure what they're gonna do with him. I, I'm pretty sure they're probably gonna take him back to the Red Zone. They may put them in a detainment camp or may put them in some type of adoption. I, I'm not sure what they're going to do with that kid, but they killed everybody but the kid. And I'm assuming that they didn't feel the kid was going to be, um, a problem. Or maybe it's just that they're not going to show that on camera, but maybe the, you know, the statement being made is that they're going to kill him as well. And so this is a very interesting scene, and it's interesting because, um, you know, as Laura, you know, is retrieved and gets back, and her mom expresses her great concern she had for her over the period of her kidnapping. Uh, Laura starts to understand that initially Elizabeth refused to pay and that, you know, she was trying to, you know, uh, you know, she— but she understood why her mom refused to pay because Laura understands how the company works at this point. She knew that if her mom would have paid, they would have killed her anyway. But because Laura understood that she started to piece together, well, if I was rescued, then that means my father should have been rescued. Because apparently there's a history of Laura's father, Elizabeth's husband here, he was in the same situation where he was kidnapped in the Red Zone, and they actually killed him. And it would appear that Elizabeth did very little to rescue him as she did for Laura. So Laura understands that now, and she's very upset with her mom because she understands that her mom could have saved her father in the same manner that she saved her. So that kind of leaves open some open ideas and some reasons as to why I think Elizabeth didn't rescue her father. And I think that kind of harkens back to a scene we saw a few episodes ago when there was the defector of the Inazagi Corporation. And we find out that the defector who came over to the Spiga Corporation had actually had an affair with Elizabeth's husband, or Laura's father. And, uh, you know, she basically, uh, explains to Elizabeth that's how she knew to use the Robert Frost poem in order to let them know that, hey, this is a code for defection. Without being discovered by the Inazagi Corporation. So very interesting, because it leads me to believe that if Elizabeth didn't save her husband, that maybe she knew that her husband was already cheating on her in the Red Zone, and that maybe this was secretly or internally, uh, uh you know, by her basically allowing it to happen because she maybe was upset that he would cheat on her and that she was okay with him, you know, being, you know, killed in the, in the red zone if it came to that. So this is another strange scene, um, where there are some questions left and Julian is basically letting Elizabeth know that, uh, after this, uh, you know, uh, uh, you know, big confrontation between her and her daughter Laura, that apparently there's more to the story than that, and that Julian knows. And this also allow— you know, helps me to understand that Julian must have some type of really deep and long relationship with Elizabeth. And we do get that they're very close and they have some type of long history, but we just don't know what that history is as of yet. But Julian does come to her and say, well, maybe you should tell her the truth. And I don't know what that truth is. I'm wondering, is, is that truth is that, you know, they had an affair, or maybe is it that there's something going on with her that, you know, uh, was gonna come out in the open. You know, she may have a secret, and I, I have an idea about what her secret may be, but I don't want to reveal it yet. Um, I, I don't want to ruin the show because I've, I've kind of picked up on what it may be, and, uh, I don't want to say it yet this early. And, um, You know, as we get closer to it, I may reveal it in a prediction, uh, but I don't know. I'm scared if I do it now, I might kind of ruin the show, uh, for a lot of people who want to be surprised. And I think I've kind of figured out what exactly might be happening with her. But, uh, in any event, Julian knows something. He, he, he's telling her to tell the truth about a specific thing, something that he knows in relation to why she didn't rescue the father. And in the next scene, the conversation shifts between Julian and Elizabeth. And, you know, unfortunately, Elizabeth hasn't been able to deliver on her part of the bargain. You know, her, her deal with Julian was to get him in a position where he could leave the Spiegel Corporation, leave his department of interrogating and destroying people's lives, go off to a more peaceful existence with his wife. And, uh, you know, when you're a valuable company asset as Julian is and you have a special set of skills like he has, the company is not, uh, going to let you go so easily when they need you. So she tells Julian she's done all she can, but they just won't allow her to let him go. And of course, Julian didn't want this. He, he wanted to go and live a peaceful life with his wife. So it's so, it's so very interesting because, you know, in the beginning of the series, we get that Julian is this intimidating, um, you know, scary, uh, you know, security chief, you know, who's, uh, destroying all these people's lives. And he's the last person you want to see. You You get that he's this one-dimensional character like that, but now we're discovering he's very complex, that he's not like that, that he never wanted that life. And so, but there's a little bit more to what's going on with it as well, because, you know, as when we open up in the scene, we saw the, his, his, uh, you know, his predecessor, uh, who was the security chief, because of the entire kidnapping incident, him and Elizabeth kind of bumped heads together. And Elizabeth, um, you know, used her powers to have him just, you know, to have him moved and dismissed. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm saying it wrong. Actually, he got a promotion. Uh, the guy got a promotion and he was, um, you know, actually moved to another level. And so now his spot became vacant. Now the company needed to fill it, and Julian was the perfect candidate. So Julian basically explained it to Elizabeth, but this is not what I wanted, you know. This is the last— in fact, this is the last thing I wanted. Now you've basically put me at the head of something that I didn't even want to. In fact, I'm in a worse position now than I was prior, because prior I was kind of underling in this thing. Now I've got to run the entire operation. And so this is a more telling scene of how we go from past Laura to, uh, the present Laura. And, you know, in one part of an important scene I missed, when she's tied to the chair and she does get to the knife, uh, that was used to, um you know, cut off her body parts and ears. And the same knife she's able to get to, to, uh, you know, uh, to kill the, um, one of the, uh, kidnappers. She has to actually cut through her wrist to cut, uh, the, the bondage off and the rope off her arms. And, you know, as you recall in past scenes, you've always seen her cutting on her wrist. You know, that's part of that traumatic experience, cutting on that wrist. And what I'm understanding, and I understand now why she does that, is every time she cuts on her wrist, now I see that she's cutting the rope. She's cutting the bondage, the rope that kept her, her freedom, uh, kept her, kept her, uh, in bondage, kept her, uh, um, you know, tied down and held captive, you know, by her kidnapper. So every time she cuts her wrist symbolic of her being free, and it stops the trauma. So it makes a lot of more sense now, now that I could see that's what was going on with her cutting her wrist. Um, and she's at the doctor's office, and they're doing all of their, um, physical, you know, exams and making sure she's okay. And again, and then the doctor's basically telling her— because this is the year 20, uh, well, it's not 2074 because this is the past, but it's in that era 'Cause this is still the future. You know, this looks like several years prior to, you know, the present. And so this is when we first see this spray, this nanite sprayer, or whatever is using this healing spray. And the doctor's telling her, this is why I have such a great job, because I can just make everybody better. So she's spraying this spray all over her wrist, and it heals Laura's wrist, like the incident never happened. And that's disturbing to Laura because, you know, as I say, because it's done that, she feels like she's still a captive. Every time her body's healed, it's tied to that chair. It's only when she cuts her wrist that she's free again. So, uh, that's— that explains how, you know, why she had been doing that. And you know, there was an opening scene that where Laura was, uh, you know, what's actually started her flashback to this entire event is that, you know, as we recall in, uh, you know, in, um, past episodes, she had a housekeeper that worked for her that had to be fired because the housekeeper was stealing from her. But the reason the housekeeper was stealing from her, because we find out that she was trying to help a girl to pay for medicines and try to get this young girl help who had suffered from appendicitis. And that was when we saw the last few episodes of where Laura was trying to sneak her into the Green Zone so that she can, you know, basically give her medical attention. But everybody's found out from the Red Zone, or a large group of the community, and they're trying to sneak through the gates. So, um, she, uh, so Laura, every time she goes back to the Red Zone, she suffers from her PTSD. So she spends the entire time in her vehicle while she's going through this flashback sequence to decide if she wants to venture back into the Red Zone or not in order to help the poor young child with appendicitis. And she's called her housekeeper in the Red Zone, and her housekeeper is telling her that you know, she's still, you know, having some issues, some problems. So Laura wants to go check on her. So in this scene, what we get is we kind of get Laura starting to overcome her PTSD, because as we recall, she had never went back into the Red Zone after that incident, as she explained to Julian in their kind of heart-to-heart, uh, therapy session. But in this scene, she does venture back into the Red Zone. She builds up the courage, and it shows her meeting with her housekeeper her, and she's about to go in the building to aid the young girl, um, you know, who was— who needed desperate medical attention. So, um, in this scene, uh, we get Theo, and Theo's basically, uh, basically trying, uh, meeting with an Inazagi. Um, representative, and he's a part of a plan with Ben in which they're going to use the Inazagi information with the Inazagi from the Inazagi defector in an attempt to try to rescue his sister Elena. And so that's pretty much the episode Um, you know, again, uh, in the last final scene, Ben and Theo, they're devising this plan to use the Inazaki defector to use information to get an Inazaki involved in some type of way. And through this plan, they're going to try to create a situation where they can get Elena out of the, uh, you know, out of the, you know, above the 40th floor and, and rescue her. So, uh, you know, again, uh, this episode, uh, I thought it was a fair episode. I think it— we had to have this episode, you know, although the episode was entirely about Laura. But better that they devoted this episode entirely to Laura so that we could go ahead, get her backstory, get that all tied up. Because, you know, uh, you know, as we're moving up toward the end Uh, you know, we've seen, uh, just her mystery about what's going on with her every week after week, and now we were able to finally just, you know, tie that up and tie up a lot of this history. There are still a lot of lingering questions between her mom and Julian and the death of her father, and so I guess, you know, we'll eventually get more information in upcoming episodes on what's going to happen with them and what actually happened and what's Elizabeth's secret. And I think that's going to be a big secret. But, uh, wow, guys, uh, predictions. If I'm going to do a predictions— I said I wouldn't do the predictions, but, uh, wow, I guess I got to do the prediction in order to, uh, um, you know, in case it comes true, I can kind of tell you guys I told you so. And I could be wrong, it's just a prediction. I could be totally off, and I, I hope this doesn't turn you guys off the show But, uh, my prediction is that Elizabeth is actually from the Red Zone, and this is why she sympathizes with Ben so much. I think Elizabeth knows Ben is from the Red Zone and knows he's in a dangerous situation. And that's a big spoiler prediction, but I kind of just picked up on it because, uh, it's just something about her not rescuing the father, that would seem a bit too petty, I think, for Elizabeth. I think she maybe didn't rescue the father because I think she may have been aware that the father was aware that she was from the Red Zone, or soon was going to find out. And so that's my prediction on that. I could be totally wrong. And I hope it hasn't spoiled it for you guys, but it's something to look out for. And, uh, you know, we'll see what happens. But if that turns out to be the case, that will be very interesting. So guys, I hope you've enjoyed, uh, this week's episode. And, um, you know, same time, same channel next week as we move into the next episode to get some more answers. And, uh, if you have enjoyed the series, if you haven't already subscribed with me yet, Please go ahead and like and subscribe. Let me know if I maybe gave you a little bit too much in spoiler or I gave you a little bit too much in predictions. It just kind of jumped off in the heat of the moment. And share, comment, let me know you like this show as much as I do or don't like it. All right, take care, guys.
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