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Fridge Brilliance

Season 1

    Part 1 
  • ROBOTUS not being able to identify Brett via scan makes sense given the real reason he was hired.
  • Reagan is half Japanese, but in Clone Gunman Andre refers to her as "white girl wasted" and in The Brettfast Club, Gigi refers to a group centered around her as "all the white people". Genetics are complex and children sometimes do strongly favor one parent, so it's not implausible that her coworkers couldn't tell she's half-Asian... but it certainly makes more sense after Rand casually mentions in Buzzkill that he tampered with her DNA in the womb to ensure his was dominant.
  • Andre is shown not taking any hits at all during "The Brettfast Club" while dealing with casual '80s racism, showing uncharacteristic introspection and clarity about how nostalgia favors white people but ends up in a Troubled Fetal Position as he's forced to be sober in "My Big Flat Earth Wedding". Knowing Andre, he probably got high ahead of time when Reagan mandated that no one was bringing their phones or devices.
    • This would also explain that gong sound effect Andre was hearing all episode every time he spoke. While it could just be a running gag, it could also be a hallucination caused by the cocktail of dangerous intoxicants he takes on the regular not sitting well with him. None of his coworkers or the town's residents bring it up, and it also doesn't play every time he speaks, as he speaks a few times and the effect isn't heard. The only time we see it openly addressed is the first time, when Brett bumped into one at a shop. It could have just been playing in repeat in Andre's head while he was high and no one cared because he's like that all of the time, anyways.
  • Tamiko seems to care about Reagan's well-being slightly more than Rand does; when the Flat-Earth leader Harold kidnaps Reagan during "My Big Flat Earth Wedding", Tamiko goes Mama Bear and attempts to rescue her. (It goes wrong because Rand follows her to continue their argument, and they end up in the escape boat as well.) When Harold jumps into the portal to the Earth's core, Tamiko tries comforting Reagan first before Rand does. But then, Tamiko is a narcissist that didn't have future plans for Reagan. Rand only saw Reagan as a pawn, and not as a daughter; it was how he hurt Tamiko that mattered more to him than how he hurt Reagan.
  • Two different characters in the season face a dilemma that causes them an inconvenience. Memory wipes are shown as a solution, to erase an entire person from memories to avoid the eventual awkward conversation. One person almost restarts the project and finds that she can't go through with it and instead opts to chew the victim out and be the bad guy. The other was gleefully talking about how their victim would win a Nobel Prize at 13, without showing any regard for the latter's emotional well-being. Reagan and Rand may be related, but she proved that she was his Superior Successor by refusing to stoop to his level, subconsciously.
  • Cognito Inc. is shown to have access to various means of erasing memories of the organization, such as guns and extraction teams. So why does Rand, who spends most of Season 1 fired from the company, still have all his memories of Cognito? Thinking about it, there are some factors that go into it:
    • First of all, knowing Rand, he probably thought of this ahead of time and created a clause for himself that even if he was fired, nobody could touch his memories. Since he was one of the company's founders and a former CEO, he could get away with this. This also makes what he did to Reagan's memories even worse.
    • Second, even though Rand knows a lot of secrets, he undermines his credibility by being perpetually drunk and using his knowledge for petty reasons. This is showcased in the very first scene of the first episode, where it's clear that everyone around him doesn't believe a word he's saying because to them, he's a visibly drunk loon who's just spouting nonsense. And even though Cognito does know how dangerous Rand can be (see J.R.'s reaction to a sober Rand in Episode 2), they still underestimated just how much of a threat he could be.
  • Regarding the mechanisms of Rand's mind-exploration tech; it's possible for a person to enter their own memories and mess them up with their presence, as Reagan and Brett both end up doing. However, this begs the question of how the in-memory counterparts decide how to behave; they're not physically there, after all. The obvious answer is that they react the way the memory owner would expect them to react. If they can do this on purpose, through Rand's technology, there's a good chance they can also do it accidentally, resulting in Self-Serving Memory.
  • Rand openly states in "Inside Reagan" that people who aren't as smart as he and Reagan only serve the purpose of "delivering (their) pizzas and fighting (their) wars." This makes it doubly ironic that Brett managed to get the password from Reagan's mind not by outsmarting anyone, but just by his own kindness, something neither Reagan nor Rand were able to do.
  • Why is Robo-Reagan so much more direct than Reagan to the point of creepiness? She was created by a neglected Bryan-bot, who would likely want more affection and sex.
  • Why does the otherwise amiable and charming Buzz Aldrin call Reagan his "moon-slut"? Aside from his old-fashioned 60s mindset, the moon colony was founded on free love and sex. "Slut" may not be a derogatory word and may have meant something like "lover".
  • In "Blue Bloods" both Tamiko and Andre at different points claim that they think Reagan has Asperger's. Tamiko mostly makes this point to make her book more interesting and show her clear dismissal of Reagan. However, as we later learn, Andre canonically has anxiety, OCD, and Tourette's, and Andre's self medication with drugs may imply that he is self-treated and therefore self-diagnosed. His diagnosis of Reagan could possibly be based on previous research that he had done on neurological conditions when figuring out his own problems.
    • That said, Reagan's unofficial diagnosis, despite the outdated term, is pretty accurate. As per the last edition of the DSM that included the term "Asperger's Syndrome," which was the DSM-IV, Reagan's behaviors pretty much hit the nail on the head regarding diagnostic criteria. It might be a punchline, but she's definitely written as such.
  • In "The Brettfast Club," Myc's watch shows the kids from Still Valley that he enjoys bukake porn. It's certainly fitting that he is interested in that specific niche of porn, considering that Myc has multiple tentacles.
    Part 2 
  • Keanu Reeves is revealed to be a vampire, but an even bigger twist is that his love for Tamiko is completely genuine. This is foreshadowed by the differences between him and the other leading male vampires; that is, Keanu Reeves (both in the show and Real Life) dates women who are well into adulthood rather than fresh nineteen-year-olds like his peers, already implying that he has some moral boundaries in place.
  • When doing their yearly revisal of the Constitution, Brett wonders what the Founding Fathers would think of this, and Myc callously replies that they'd feel the same way his father feels about him. That is, since the Founding Fathers are dead, and Brett's dead to his father.
  • Myc's abrasive and rude personality may seem odd considering that he comes from a race of sentient mushrooms who are connected to a massive Hive Mind and act perfectly amicable to each other, but it makes sense when you consider how his class, during Hive School all isolated him and secretly found him annoying. To Myc, the concept of joining a cluster meant accepting all of the people who he felt rejected him and still look down on him to some extent, so its possible that Myc's terrible behavior stems from his rejection of connections in ALL forms, be it one through a Hive Mind or one through regular relationships. Which means his acknowledgement that he doesn't hate his coworkers is even more impactful; his relationship with them is perhaps the first where he isn't rejected for being different.
  • Brett, in his campaign to politically ruin him, manages to unionize Sex Work only for him to be later be "killed" while he was Union-Busting, in which his supporters respond with disbelief and violence as it contradicted his earlier campaign performances.
  • In his first appearance, Ron tells Reagan that being forced to erase others' memories means that you are the only one forced to live with them. By the end of the season, Reagan erases Ron's mind, finally offering some peace and a chance at happiness, but also damning herself to remember all of their happy memories on her own.
  • Once Reagan starts hooking up with and eventually dating Ron, her character noticeably begins to change, arguably for the better. This is some Truth in Television, in that many people who enter committed and healthy relationships begin to gain substantial confidence and social skills that carry through to their day-to-day lives.
  • When Alpha Beta and the team discuss the "plot holes" caused by project Reboot the two given examples (the Illuminati and Myc being actually an alien) are both things that the show introduced in part 2, just like project Reboot itself, and the episodes were released together. It's not handwaving past inconsistencies, they took those liberties to set up project Reboot as the payoff.
  • The Juggalos being one of the six societies ruling the world is totally random and for Rule of Funny. However, there are several conspiracy theories about the Illuminati, the Reptoids, the Catholic Church, and Atlantis, which means those societies have slipped up keeping themselves under wraps in the past. The Juggalos, not having any massive conspiracy theories about them, are actually better at keeping their place in the deep state a secret!

Fridge Horror

Season 1

     Part 1 
  • Brett's inability to displease people has nearly gotten him killed on a few occasions. He was bitten by about a hundred rats while doing extra hazing with his former frat bros and refused to let the Flat Earthers take Jeff Bezos hostage because J.R. asked him to commit to the billionaire bit. Unless Reagan helps him reel it in, he might die for real.
    • Also, "The Brettfast Club" demonstrates that Brett will go to certain extremes to receive the validation he craves, even when it accidentally puts his friends in danger. Brett is not only a danger to himself, but potentially to the very people he cares about.
  • "The Brettfast Club" has a lot of this:
    • Brett accidentally gets coated in a combo of Nostalgia Max and chemicals from recalled 80s paraphernalia. While Reagan manages to stop his rampage, we never see his powers get actually removed onscreen; he just calms down and stops using them all of a sudden. And, also, Brett was covered in a dosage of Nostalgia Max meant to be used on an entire town of people. Is it possible that those powers aren't completely gone and, at some point, there could be nasty consequences in the future?
    • This episode also puts all of Brett's previous behavior into horrific perspective. All those times when he's disregarded his wellbeing for the sake of being liked, and the other characters (and the audience) saw it as him just being sensitive and agreeable to a stupid degree? Yeah, turns out there's a reason for it.
    • Also, Brett originally planned to use only a little bit of the stuff on his friends to get them to want to stay in the 80s a little longer. But an overdosed Brett decides that, instead of a just a small amount, he intends to to pour a whole tub of the stuff onto his coworkers, as he nearly does this to Reagan before she can bring him back to his senses. Brett probably didn't intend for this, but how do we know that the Nostalgia Max would only make the team nostalgic, and not just turn them into more Nostalgia Monsters like Brett? If Brett hadn't been talked down, the town probably would have had multiple, nostalgia-empowered lunatics terrorizing it!
    • On a different note, it is stated that the only reason Cognito still drugs Still Valley with Nostalgia Max is so they can sell the town unsold 80's crap that is too dangerous to sell to the rest of the world. As pointed out elsewhere, cognito isn't actually producing this stuff, so there is a finite amount they can sell. Once they run out of products to sell to Still Valley, which they should be close to doing, since they've been selling stuff for decades, they have two options. Either they stop drugging the town, causing everyone to realize they aren't in the 80's and try to get them to adapt to the 2020's without the rest of the world finding out, or massacring the entire town once they are no longer useful.
      • Alternatively, they'll let Still Valley "develop" into the 1990s to start selling them unsold 90's crap. As long as Cognito has outdated nostalgic products to sell, they can let Still Valley exist a few decades behind the rest of the world.
  • Reagan's one night stand with Rafe Masters happened because she was drunk. Sure, she kissed him in the previous episode, but that doesn't equate to consenting to sex. Did he take advantage of a drunk woman and Date Rape her?
  • Why did Bear-O hug Reagan on her prom night? She wasn't sad at all or needed a hug at that point!
  • If Rand was the one who programmed Bear-O, it's possible those "misfires" were entirely intentional to tank Reagan's social life further.
  • "Inside Reagan" has a lot.
    • Bear-O believes that Reagan has an Adderall addiction. She doesn't contest this when seeing the footage. How long has that been going on again?
      • She is also seen passed out on a couch holding a beer bottle, with a chart chronicling her Blood Alcohol Index.
      • Bear-O's concern actually becomes significantly more warranted when you realize that Adderall and alcohol combined leads to significant health hazards. Although Bear-O was not the one to do it, maybe someone should be constantly monitoring Reagan's habits...
    • In the analysis of Reagan's well-being that is given by the mole, Bear-O, there is one factor to Reagan's unhappiness that she is very much aware of, yet is not mentioned. This factor, a single person present when the analysis is given, is the only one that isn't targeted by the mole's, Bear-O's, weapons. Then again, Bear-O was made by Rand, so it's entirely possible that Rand designed Bear-O to exclude his actions from any considerations to Reagan's happiness.
      • In fact, it wouldn't be much of a stretch that Bear-O was programmed by Rand to do everything he did during the last two episodes. We never find out why Rand was crawling around in Cognito Inc.'s vents, as the subject is dropped in favor of seeing if Rand is the mole. Considering Rand's programming skills displayed in Episode 1, he could have feasibly engineered the entire crisis just to make himself look good for the Shadow Board while undermining J.R. and Reagan.
    • Reagan has an entire vault of repressed memories. She just went through two. What do the others hold?
    • The Reveal basically throws a lot of Reagan's life into question and raises some horrific implications, because we have no real clue how much of Reagan's psychology is due to Rand's tampering. Did he erase any other friends of hers from her memories? Considering that Reagan seems much closer to her dad than her mom, how much of this is due to Tamiko's narcissism and neglect, or Rand's psychological tampering? Was Reagan's choice to become a scientist and work for Cognito even her decision at all? If Reagan wasn't struggling with existentialism already, she sure is now.
    • With The Reveal in the first season finale that Rand raised Reagan to be his "insurance policy" to get his job back and actually didn't care about her psychological well-being, one has to question how Rand founded Cognito, Inc. and turned it into a whopping success if he knows nothing about the importance of emotional connections. You can't run a business solo while juggling hats, something Reagan learned the hard way. He scoffs that friends hold you back and can't understand when Reagan orders Bear-O not to kill Rand because she wants to do it while begging Bear-O to let her team go and she'll do anything. Sure, Rand and Tamiko were involved with an unhealthy Masochism Tango and stayed together until Reagan was an adult, but he reacts in a Hypocrite way when thinking that his ex-wife moved on with someone else.
      • J.R. was probably The Face of Cognito while Rand was The Brains, which is why the company continued to function after the latter was ousted. J.R. just had more people and management skills than Rand did.
    • Considering that Tamiko isn't in any of the memories where Rand erased Orrin from Reagan's mind, it's highly possible that Rand kept this little experiment secret from her. Sure, Tamiko is a Narcissist and freely admits to being one, but imagine how she would have reacted to Rand mind-raping their daughter considering she tried to rescue Reagan from a gun-toting Harold.
    • Reagan showed that as a teen, she pulled a reverse-Carrie on her bullying classmates. That technically is an expulsion-worthy offense, and it would have derailed Rand's plans to get her into a good college. Was she perhaps doing it not just to spite her classmates, but also her father?
    • Rand claims that he and J.R. were involved in a bitter rivalry that led to J.R. ousting him in a coup. J.R. treats their "rivalry" as annoyance and negotiations over Blackmail; he isn't above playing dirty to get what he wants as seen with Oprah, let alone stealing pensions from the company to turn a villain lair into an AirBnB, but he doesn't seem to see Rand as a world-ending or career-killing threat and honors his word to give Reagan her promotion when she seems to earn it. Not to mention that Reagan retorts that the Shadow Council ousted Rand for attempting to blow up the sun, which Rand doesn't contest. It's highly possible that J.R. and Rand could have been business partners, but Rand sabotaged any genuine connection out of spite and his belief that friends hold you back.
    • When Rand is shown erasing Reagan's memories with his machine, he has Reagan sedated by ordering Bear-O to use the machine to raise Reagan's dopamine levels. So not only did Rand willingly Mind Rape his own daughter, he may have caused her brain to have chemical imbalances.
    • The Shadow Council may have not reverted Reagan's promotion purely on the grounds that she lacks experience. It may have been the source who recommended her for the job that did in her career: J.R. The same guy that embezzled from the Shadow Council.
    • Reagan served her purpose: she got Rand his job back unwittingly. Now that Reagan has severed ties with Rand, he may have no more use for her.
     Part 2 
  • Reagan is eerily unremorseful when her messing up brainwashing the Pope leads to citizens being killed, only being annoyed by Bob Iger and worried about her relationship with Ron.
  • Rand's NEEDY Act, where divorced couples are legally obligated to go on a date. Hopefully there were provisions for abusive couples, but considering Rand's personality, not so likely.
  • The Robes' speech to Reagan at the end of Season 1 is reminiscent of Rand's at the end of Part 1, that there are certain "special" people who should control society.
  • Brett’s father mentions that the Hand Family used to have another sibling named Chad who Brett never knew, and when pressed further, Mr. Hand opts to not answer. What happened to Chad? Was he a Black Sheep like Brett and similarly mistreated? A good guy whose death or disappearance made the Hands as competitive and controlling as they are now? Or was he a jerk like Brett’s other siblings but disowned because he disgraced the family?
  • A lot of Ron's life seems pretty tragic when you think about it:
    • Ron seems to be subtly suicidal. He never says he explicitly wants to die, but he recalls that the incident that landed him in AA was when he tried to drink an entire vat of memory erasing fluid, and the way he describes it makes it sound like a mental-breakdown-turned-suicide-attempt, which aren't helped when Ron mentions intense feelings of guilt due to his Catholic upbringing and his hatred of his job. Reagan essentially erases his entire personality when she erases his memory and replaces it with Martin Higgins, so it wouldn't be wrong to assume that this is a Death of Personality, and that the Ron we got to know all season is effectively gone. With this in mind, Reagan's decision almost feels like some spiritual Mercy Kill.
      • Also, considering that when Brett in "The Brettfast Club" got doused in an entire vat of Nostalgia Max (Which is made from the same chemical as Cognito's memory erasing fluid), it turned him into a Nostalgia Monster that wreaked havoc on everybody. If Ron had actually gone through with the attempt and it didn't straight up kill him, something similar could have happened, only, instead of being in a backwater town in the middle of nowhere, it would likely have occurred in a highly populated metropolitan area. No wonder he got into trouble!
    • Ron seems to be kind of a lonely person; unlike Reagan, who has a Vitriolic Best Buds relationship with her coworkers, Ron shows no kinship with the Illuminati heads and seems to work alone for the most part, and never seems to hang out with anyone besides Reagan outside of work. He later even claims that Reagan is the only thing he cares about, and it could very well be true, considering that Ron seems to struggle jiving with everyone at the Halloween party and even Brett had difficulty getting along with him. Ron's desire to run away with Reagan may not just be to be with her forever, but to alleviate his own loneliness by rejecting his old self.
  • In the finale, the Pope says he talked with God and arranged for Reagan (who, while wanting the change the world for the better, still did a lot of messed-up shit for Cognito) to be sent to "VIP Heaven" when she dies, not the normal masses' "shitty Heaven". There is just so much horror in that statement if it isn't a joke. Though, considering what a Crapsack World the series is, maybe this makes sense.
  • The Atlanteans help control the world on the Robes' behalf, but in the Part 2 finale, the Robes mention that they sunk the Titanic to prevent an Atlantean invasion, so Atlantis was their enemy until relatively recently. Did the Robes subjugate the Atlanteans as well? Granted, if Atlantis was planning to invade the surface, maybe this was deserved.

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