Pop Squad story
In a dystopian future, humanity has gained drug-induced biological immortality. In order to avoid overpopulation breeding becomes strictly forbidden and any children found are summarily executed by the police force while their parents are prosecuted. After his latest execution, Detective Briggs becomes unnerved by his lover Alice's casual admission that she would let him impregnate her. As his job begins to take a mental toll on him, Briggs decides to conduct a personal investigation. He encounters a woman, Eve, buying an antique toy train set and follows her back to her dilapidated home, where she has been harboring her toddler daughter, Melanie. He asks Eve why she chose to raise a child in such conditions; she explains how her daughter changed her life. Briggs sympathizes and spares them both when Eve tries to kill him preemptively. As he leaves the house, he encounters his police partner Pentle, who realizes what he has done. The officers exchange gunfire, killing each other. Cast: Nolan North, Elodie Yung, Emily O'Brien, Michelle C. Bonilla, Dendrie Allyn Taylor, Debra Cardona, Ike Amadi, Noshir Dalal, Andrew Hawkes, Jennifer Hale, Ayana Shira Haviv, Piotr Michael Directed by: Jennifer Yuh Nelson. Story by: Paolo Bacigalupi.
12 total · 2 choice · 8 major · 2 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| dystopia | choice | The story is set in a dystopian city where humanity's attaining of practical biological immortality has come at the cost of a draconian prohibition on bringing children into the world. As having children was illegal, children were summarily executed whenever found. In addition, society had stagnated the city had largely fallen into disrepair. |
| the flip side of immortality | choice | A message of the story is that attaining practical biological immortality comes at the cost of losing one's humanity. Additionally, the idea is there that society stagnates if people do not die off and make way for new generations. |
| duty vs. compassion | major | The story centers around the Detectives Briggs's duty to execute harmless young children and his emerging reluctance to do so. |
| having a preconception challenged | major | In the end, Detective Briggs came to recognize the inhumanity of judicially executing young children in the name of preventing overpopulation. |
| human overpopulation | major | The story takes place in a dystopian city where people have achieved practical biological immortality through the use of rejuvination treatments. The inhabitants so highly prized their immortality that they largely accepted a ban on having children as a necessary trade-off to control overpopulation. |
| law enforcement | major | The story follows Detective Briggs as he enforces his society's draconian law of executing young children in the name of population control. |
| life extension technology | major | The story takes place in a futuristic, dystopian city where people have achieved practical biological immortality through the use of rejuvination treatments. |
| partners on the police force | major | Detectives Briggs and Pentle were partners on the city's police force. |
| remorse | major | Detective Briggs came to be deeply troubled after executing a young child in the carrying out of his duty as a law enforcement officer. |
| the desire to have children | major | Draconian punishments did not stop some people from wanting to have children. |