Last week on Incorporated, Laura (Allison Miller) survived a violent kidnapping while Elizabeth (Julia Ormond) watched on-screen in her office, and flashbacks revealed that Elena (Denyse Tontz) signed a contract to be an escort for SPIGA, ignoring advice from Ben (Sean Teale) — then known as Aaron — who tried to talk her out of it. The episode kicked off the second half of the futuristic drama’s first season by expanding the story and raising the stakes.
Luckily, stars Ormond and Dennis Haysbert were on hand to provide some insights at a Television Critics Association party last week hosted by CBS Television Studios, which produces the Syfy original series. Ormond was allowed to share a minor spoiler, and both she and Haysbert discussed the four remaining episodes.
Here are 9 things to know about Incorporated as it approaches its season finale.
Ormond teased that Ben gets the promotion. This will improve his station in SPIGA and give him more power to free Elena from her contract. Ormond also suggested that this would be beneficial for Elizabeth as well.
“I feel like she wants him promoted,” Ormond said. “I feel like she’s enough of a sycophant for status to want her son-in-law to be moved up. I think she wants her daughter to have the advantages that are offered, shallow as they are, by the corporate world and top of the ladder.”
Julian began on Incorporated as a shadowy figure: SPIGA’s resident interrogator. Even as he’s stepped into the light, he’s primarily seen helping Elizabeth maintain control. This week, Julian returns home and sees his family.
“He only has one child,” Haysbert said. “She’s 12. He loves his daughter. Most of what you’ll see coming up is his interaction with his wife and how important she is to him. Then you’ll get a sense of how important his child is, but you don’t see very much of her. You get an inkling.”
It’s hard to imagine how Incorporated can get more intense than last week’s kidnapping of Laura, but Ormond says it does. The relationships that have been established for six episodes will pay off.
“It ratchets up in a really unique way,” she said. “From here, there’s a lot of payoff in terms of the buildup of relationships that they’ve had and the way that they’ve been establishing characters.”
Julian’s promotion to Chief of Security suggests he will still be in charge of interrogations and executions. Haysbert said Julian will begin playing detective in the next four episodes, and that he’s quite a good one.
“As the show goes on, you see his detective abilities, his investigative abilities start to shine,” he said. “I think what you’re going to see more is his investigative abilities, because of the murder; he’s got to find out who’s murdered this kid. He has strong ideas who it is. What’s really cool about it for me is the audience gets to flow with him and get to see things from my perspective, instead of looking at me and saying this guy’s the cruel torturer. At the heart of everything, there’s this good-hearted detective.”
Ben has his boss/mother-in-law Elizabeth and his own wife Laura fooled, but Haysbert says Julian is onto Ben. The problem is, Ben is so good at covering his tracks, it will be tough for Julian to expose him as the former Red Zone kid Aaron.
“It’s not what you know,” Haysbert said. “It’s what you can prove.”
Elizabeth has been fairly comfortable in her tower office, but watching the video of Laura’s kidnapping was harrowing for her, and now she’ll really have to get her hands dirty. Even Ormond thinks she’ll be out of her depth when she enters the Red Zone.
“I don’t think she’d last two minutes,” Ormond said. “I think Elizabeth’s challenge is that she’s been indulged too much. It’s kind of like taking a killer whale out of Sea World. It’s not easy.”
The promotion will keep Julian at SPIGA for the foreseeable future. That’s fine with Haysbert, because Julian moving to Sioux Falls would presumably mean he’s off the show.
“I have a feeling he’s not going to,” Haysbert said. “He’s never going to make it there, because there’s not many people that do what he does. Not many people do it as well.”
Even Haysbert was curious about Julian’s choice of destinations: “I Googled Sioux Falls, because I had to see why he would go there. It’s a beautiful city. It’s actually got a river running through the town with rapids. It’s a very peaceful and beautiful town. He just wants peace.”
As the boss at SPIGA, Elizabeth has toed the company line, and it’s served her best interests to do so. Now that things are getting complicated with Laura and Ben, she’s going to have to break the rules.
“What you see in the episode coming up is the first time you really see her go against corporate and go against the law,” she said. “She tries to play it in order to protect her daughter, but she also dupes Julian into helping her, so that sets up a tension between them that’s not good, but she doesn’t have any other choice.”
Ormond already gave us some answers about the finale, regarding Ben’s promotion, but there will presumably be more revealed that they can’t and shouldn’t spoil just yet. Haysbert explained the finale is inconclusive for Julian.
“It will leave him still looking for answers,” Haysbert said. “You’ll see some.”
Incorporated returns Wednesday, January 11 at 10 p.m. on SyFy
