By now we've all seen the second episode of KC Undercover and unfortunately although it resolves some of the worrisome elements from the first episode, it leaves others unresolved and brings new concerns to light.
KC has revealed the crux of Undercover, and it is, "If you guys were going to recruit me as a spy, then you probably shouldn't have taught me to be so honest."
Good parenting is bad spy-enting. If learning to be sly is part of the real world, then why should you want to be a good person at all?
Good parenting is bad spy-enting. If learning to be sly is part of the real world, then why should you want to be a good person at all?
So this show is basically Wizards of Waverly Place inverted. Rather than a shady girl needing to learn the limitations of deceit, in KC a conscientious girl must learn the practical need to be slippery.
The opening sequence made it clear she has a lot to learn. To start, KC's flashy spy bodysuit and heels, combined with her obvious sneaking posture, makes her impossible to mistake for anything other than a spy.
Notice also that the "other side" keeps their agents' medical records at a secure location, under the watchful eye of their taser-bearing goons. Presumably no legitimate hospital allows goons in their records room. However we know this is some kind of medical facility because of the crutches, IV stands, and wheelchair. Is this a legitimate hospital which has been infiltrated, or some kind of secret spy-hospital? Let's think about the implications for a moment.
Does the Organization know where the other side's agents' medical records are kept, and sent the Coopers to identify them? Or does the Organization know the other side's agents' identities, and wanted to peruse their medical records to discover what ails them?
In the first case, how would KC know which file cabinet to open? If this is a spy hospital, it makes sense to open any cabinet and start taking pictures, because all information learned is information about enemy spies. This may be so, but realize how foolish a foreign intelligence service would have to be to keep extensive paper records including the names of the staff treating their agents.
In the second case, KC went straight to a particular cabinet to learn about particular individuals. This possibility makes it seem more likely that that we are dealing with a normal hospital, and that the other side has found a way to keep armed goons inside. But it also stretches the reason for the scene; why send a teenager in a spy costume, with a spy camera? Why not disguise her as hospital staff and have her make copies? Or pose as an outside practitioner and just request copies of the patients' records?
So it remains unclear what the point of this mission may have been. In either case, we have learned that KC's resistance to interrogation is going to be problematic.
Menaced briefly with a taser, KC promptly doxxed herself. In reality she would have to learn to resist waterboarding, sleep deprivation, extreme cold, stress positions, confinement, and deprivation of food and water. Will she undergo the Air Force's Survival Evasion Resistance Escape (SERE) training program? Zendaya has already gone through a series of torments played for laughs in the Japanese game show episode of Shake It Up! If anyone can pull it off, it's Disney Channel.
Moving on: I'm pleased to learn that, for now at least, the Coopers are going to regard the "Judy" android as a human-like being and accept her as a member of their family. It's possible that the parents are going to want to get rid of her soon and the kids will have to stand up for her, but it appears that Disney Channel is not going the Lab Rats route this time.
So on one hand, despite Judy's admonition to "get a husband" if you want someone to win your affection or to love and obey you, she discovered her human free will by protecting Ernie and KC during the Organization's investigation into their failure at the museum.
But on the other hand, when Judy showed her loyalty to the Coopers she did it by betraying her lawful authority. For an android, this is supposed to be a cardinal offense. Science fiction writers and future theorists have always shown great apprehension towards artificial intelligence for its potential to reject human authority. Indeed, loyalty is relative. An individual can have more than one master. Can an android be trusted to choose from more than one imperative?
Does Judy signify mankind's evolution, or its destruction?
Notice also that Ernie's hacking the artifact-thief's GPS was necessarily illegal. Either he used his own equipment and software to compromise the GPS (a federal crime) or he used the Organization's equipment and software without authorization.
And let's reflect for a moment on why a counter-intelligence service like the Organization would be involved in apprehending an artifact thief. It's true that antiquities dealers operate in clandestine international networks, and that efforted law enforcement is needed to disrupt their absconsion of our cultural heritage. But is the FBI not better suited for this sort of mission?
And finally: how can Lincoln Treadwell (Trevor Jackson) and his contact at school, the janitor, be allowed to believe that their cover has not been blown? Will they be prosecuted for treason? Or will they flee the country before the Organization can collect enough evidence against them?
Will KC Undercover go 3-for-3 on fart jokes?
Leave a comment and tell us where you think they are going with this!
 |
| Bad spy-enting. You're not keeping it undercover, KC. |
Notice also that the "other side" keeps their agents' medical records at a secure location, under the watchful eye of their taser-bearing goons. Presumably no legitimate hospital allows goons in their records room. However we know this is some kind of medical facility because of the crutches, IV stands, and wheelchair. Is this a legitimate hospital which has been infiltrated, or some kind of secret spy-hospital? Let's think about the implications for a moment.
Does the Organization know where the other side's agents' medical records are kept, and sent the Coopers to identify them? Or does the Organization know the other side's agents' identities, and wanted to peruse their medical records to discover what ails them?
In the first case, how would KC know which file cabinet to open? If this is a spy hospital, it makes sense to open any cabinet and start taking pictures, because all information learned is information about enemy spies. This may be so, but realize how foolish a foreign intelligence service would have to be to keep extensive paper records including the names of the staff treating their agents.
In the second case, KC went straight to a particular cabinet to learn about particular individuals. This possibility makes it seem more likely that that we are dealing with a normal hospital, and that the other side has found a way to keep armed goons inside. But it also stretches the reason for the scene; why send a teenager in a spy costume, with a spy camera? Why not disguise her as hospital staff and have her make copies? Or pose as an outside practitioner and just request copies of the patients' records?
So it remains unclear what the point of this mission may have been. In either case, we have learned that KC's resistance to interrogation is going to be problematic.
 |
| KC stands for "knowledge capitulator." |
Menaced briefly with a taser, KC promptly doxxed herself. In reality she would have to learn to resist waterboarding, sleep deprivation, extreme cold, stress positions, confinement, and deprivation of food and water. Will she undergo the Air Force's Survival Evasion Resistance Escape (SERE) training program? Zendaya has already gone through a series of torments played for laughs in the Japanese game show episode of Shake It Up! If anyone can pull it off, it's Disney Channel.
Moving on: I'm pleased to learn that, for now at least, the Coopers are going to regard the "Judy" android as a human-like being and accept her as a member of their family. It's possible that the parents are going to want to get rid of her soon and the kids will have to stand up for her, but it appears that Disney Channel is not going the Lab Rats route this time.
So on one hand, despite Judy's admonition to "get a husband" if you want someone to win your affection or to love and obey you, she discovered her human free will by protecting Ernie and KC during the Organization's investigation into their failure at the museum.
But on the other hand, when Judy showed her loyalty to the Coopers she did it by betraying her lawful authority. For an android, this is supposed to be a cardinal offense. Science fiction writers and future theorists have always shown great apprehension towards artificial intelligence for its potential to reject human authority. Indeed, loyalty is relative. An individual can have more than one master. Can an android be trusted to choose from more than one imperative?
Does Judy signify mankind's evolution, or its destruction?
Notice also that Ernie's hacking the artifact-thief's GPS was necessarily illegal. Either he used his own equipment and software to compromise the GPS (a federal crime) or he used the Organization's equipment and software without authorization.
And let's reflect for a moment on why a counter-intelligence service like the Organization would be involved in apprehending an artifact thief. It's true that antiquities dealers operate in clandestine international networks, and that efforted law enforcement is needed to disrupt their absconsion of our cultural heritage. But is the FBI not better suited for this sort of mission?
And finally: how can Lincoln Treadwell (Trevor Jackson) and his contact at school, the janitor, be allowed to believe that their cover has not been blown? Will they be prosecuted for treason? Or will they flee the country before the Organization can collect enough evidence against them?
Will KC Undercover go 3-for-3 on fart jokes?
Leave a comment and tell us where you think they are going with this!
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