Depending on your perspective, the rise of computers, smartphones, and digital media can be seen as a boon or a threat, especially as AI becomes more pervasive and invasive. It’s safe to say there are executives and innovators in the technology sector who are willing to unleash the proverbial next update without worrying too much about real-world repercussions as long as there’s the likelihood of money to be earned and clout to be gained. Accordingly, profit motives and power lust are the driving forces of the timely, shrewd, and satirical eight-episode TV series The Audacity, set primarily in the extravagant glass-and-steel headquarters and McMansions of the Silicon Valley.
The scathing and often bleak humor of The Audacity, created and overseen by writer and producer Jonathan Glatzer, recalls elements of the similarly-themed sitcom Silicon Valley, which, as its title suggests, played out in the same Northern California enclave that’s generally considered Ground Zero for the tech industry. Rather than simply gunning for laughs at the expense of the wannabe innovators and keyboard-pounding code monkeys that come to Palo Alto, Cupertino, and the surrounding area to strike it rich, The Audacity digs deeper. It takes aim at the darker intentions of those in charge of the companies, addresses the morality of unfettered data-mining, and touches on the unchecked evolution of AI, while skewering the cutthroat boardroom politics and ruthless corporate rivalries that are hallmarks of the business. Along the way, The Audacity pokes fun at the community’s hierarchies and finds drama in the family dysfunction that can result from a parent’s obsessive need to succeed.
Although the series is truly an ensemble effort, Duncan Park is as close to a protagonist as there is in The Audacity. He’s an embattled tech CEO and a narcissistic megalomaniac with no compunction about accruing and weaponizing personal information on anyone and everyone to increase his wealth and influence. Psychologist JoAnne Felder is Duncan’s therapist and provides her expertise to a host of other local execs with mental and emotional issues. During therapy sessions, JoAnne learns about her patients’ professional plans and uses their secrets to illegally enrich herself on the stock market. Duncan realizes what she’s doing and decides to lean on JoAnne for insider tips that will allow him to thwart his enemies and build his empire. Billy Magnussen (Game Night, Bridge of Spies) and Sarah Goldberg (HBO’s Barry) are excruciatingly good as the flagrantly unlikeable Duncan and the desperate, self-serving JoAnne. These two characters are pivotal to The Audacity, and as their relationship becomes increasingly antagonistic, their selfish behavior has an adverse effect on everyone around them, including their spouses and offspring.
Rampant and relevant
Duncan’s tenuous grasp on his company, Hypergnosis, leads him to attempt an alliance with foul-tempered tech billionaire and iconoclast Carl Bardolph (Zach Galifianakis), puts him at odds with his chief ethics officer and ex-mistress Anushka Bhattachera-Phister (Meaghan Rath), undermines his already problematic marriage to vapid social-climber Lili Park-Hoffsteader (Lucy Punch), and distances him further from his teenage daughter Jamison (Ava Marie Telek). As for JoAnne, her obvious instability has caught the attention of her husband Gary (Paul Adelstein), a psychiatrist, and they’re both concerned about Orson (Everett Blunck), her alienated teen son from her first marriage. Other than the kids whose personalities are works in progress and are impacted by the flaws and excesses of their parents, the bulk of the people populating The Audacity are less than laudable. Exceptions would be JoAnne’s husband Gary; Tom Ruffage (Rob Corddry), a retired army officer tasked to find a tech company that will digitize the entire database of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; and Martin Phister (Simon Helberg), Anushka’s husband and the inventor of what he hopes will be an artificially intelligent buddy for the lonely or disenfranchised.
So many participants in The Audacity are either short on virtue or downright predatory that you may get some perverse glee from watching these smug, greedy weasels in conflict and hearing the deliciously nasty, argot-laden dialogue they spout. You might also feel sympathy for the few innocents that become collateral damage along the way. For instance, Martin — an altruist at heart, albeit an egocentric one — is demeaned by his wife and peers despite his drive to create that benign AI program to help those in need, even as he neglects his own troubled daughter Tess (Thailey Roberge). If the rampant arrogance of Duncan and his ilk and the eagerness to see their comeuppance provide much of the show’s allure, there’s no disputing its relevance at this moment in history when corporate and personal ethics are an afterthought, privacy is becoming nonexistent, and offhand cruelty is the norm from the Oval Office on down.
The final episode of the first season of The Audacity will be available May 31 on AMC and AMC+. The series has been renewed for a second season.
