Hulu’s Future Man Recap: “Pilot”
At the New York Comic Con panel, attendants were treated to the first viewing of Hulu’s new pilot for Future Man. The Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg produced series is just as weird as their other television venture, Preacher but now free to unleash as much R-Rated content as possible.
The “Pilot,” revolves around an infamous video game called, “The Bionic Wars,” that is considered unbeatable. However, the protagonist Josh Futterman (played by Josh Hutcherson), has an obsession with being the first person alive to win and consistently loses himself in the game.
It’s a fun escape from his daily life: overbearing parents, a dead-end job as a janitor, and rude scientist played by Haley Joel Osment. Future Man is his alter ego, the heroic soldier who he dreams about in all of his free time. At work, Josh locks himself in a closet where he plays “The Bionic Wars,” when he isn’t unclogging the toilets.
What he doesn’t realize is that his game is actually a training simulator sent from the future where the two main characters are searching for someone to help save their world. Josh eventually beats the game, but his celebration is interrupted by the arrival of the game’s characters: Tiger and Wolf.
They explain that his boss, Dr. Kronish, invents a cure for all diseases which will eventually leads to the end of the world. Of course, Josh just sees the the nice old man as his boss who wants to put an end to Herpes after getting the disease in college.
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He convinces the group they should just try to change Kronish’s mind rather than killing him which sends them back in time to his boss’s college years. There, Josh runs into the teenage version of his dad and his whole family beats him up before Tiger intervenes. The dynamic between the three in “Pilot,” is a lot of fun even though Tiger and Wolf serve mainly to murder everyone in sight.
It’s important to note just how well acted the show is despite the ridiculous premise. Eliza Coupe and Derek Wilson are fantastic as video game characters from the future. They perfectly capture the sense of awe and disdain for the fun timelines they travel to compared to their bleak lives. Not to mention their fight scenes are over the top, but in line with how actual video game brawls would look. It’s a testament to the stunt choreographer as well as the actors for being to pull off some of the best feats.
While Josh doesn’t get to see a dinosaur by the end of the “Pilot,” he does prove himself to be useful despite his lack of fighting abilities. With his new friends, he has finally found a purpose in the world and donned the hero name, “Future Man”.
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The show isn’t exactly Emmy-Award winning, but it’s nonstop fun and action-packed making it an enjoyable ride. Without the cable limitations that Preacher faces, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen are able to dive straight into the R-Rated side of their comedy for a winning series.