The Consultant (Season 1): Besides the ‘Eat the rich’ theme, 2022 was a year of corporate thrillers. Severance became a voice for this new genre, indirectly questioning Aaron Sorkin’s approach of considering a workplace a family. It made workplace horror not be limited to just Black Mirror episodes and brought a lot of heart and humor into its bleak world.
‘The Consultant,’ on Prime Video, is another show that critiques the corporate structure and the recent crop of power-hungry, egotistical CEOs. It finds the roots of idealistic egalitarianism and competitive capitalism and puts forth both of them with the same contempt.
Let’s find out what happens in the show’s first season. Be aware that there are spoilers ahead.
The Consultant (Season 1) Recap:
Episode 1: Creator
The season begins with a shocking revelation. When a few school-going kids are being given a tour through CompWare (a game developer company), its visionary CEO – Sang (played by Brian Yoon), gets shot in the head by one of them. With no clear leader in place, a mysterious man arrives to take charge as ‘a consultant.’ He calls himself ‘Regus Patoff’ (played by Christoph Waltz) and provides no explanation besides Sang having appointed him before his death.
The company’s creative liaison, Elaine (played by Brittany O’Grady), and a coder, Craig (played by Nat Wolff), take offense to his arrival. Meanwhile, Patoff makes his eerie presence felt through his strange disciplinary actions. On his first day in the position, he starts smelling each individual employee and then fires a senior – Iain (played by Micheal Charles Vaccaro), because of his unpleasant smell. While Elaine helps save Iain’s job, she and Craig find Regus’ behavior incredibly demeaning and his appointment odd since Sang had not mentioned it before. So, they start searching for Regus’ identity details to check his true intentions behind this move.
Soon after, they stumble upon the security footage of Sang’s cabin (presently occupied by Regus), where Sang gave Patoff a blow-job. Patoff looks at the camera during this incident as if he sees how it reflects in their power dynamic. Meanwhile, a box arrives in the office, making it clear that Regus Patoff is a combination of an acronym. He is Reg. US. Pat. Off (Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office). However, none of the CompWare employees knows about this. While this happens, Iain, who is horrified by the fear of losing his position, shuts off all his office cabin and takes a bath with a bucket full of water. Yet, this is just the start of Regus’ scary presence.
Episode 2: Mama
Regus starts enforcing his command on the employees by asking them for favors even at night. He also decides to shut down an entire department due to their lack of output. The sudden change infuriates Craig, especially since he kept working on a game with them for months despite having no interest. He decides to retaliate against Regus.
Meanwhile, devastated by her 20-year-old son’s untimely death, Mama Sang (played by Gloria John) comes to CompWare all the way from Seoul. While Regus tries to put his spell on her with his fluent Korean speaking skills, Elaine tries to enter their records room. Meanwhile, Craig decides to send the footage they saw to Sang’s mother. But Elaine thinks it would be an impulsive step. While working late for his game, he sees that Regus has re-entered the office. Craig finds it odd and informs Elaine about it.
Since she is already worried about where Mama Sang is, she calls Patoff to ask about it. However, he keeps avoiding giving any answer. She gets suspicious that Regus killed her. Due to all the stress, she decides to stay away from her apartment and buys a room in an expensive hotel. Meanwhile, Regus appreciates Craig’s commitment to the office and gives him input on his work, which is technically Elaine’s department. Through this action, Patoff tries to break his and Elaine’s truce (by making Craig inclined toward him). Later, he entered the records room, where no other employee had a key. We only hear typewriter sounds from the outside.
Episode 3: Friday
After appreciating Craig’s work regime, Regus invites himself out with Craig. Craig has no choice but to follow it, despite Elaine’s warnings about the potential consequences. He keeps trying to get out for his actual night out with his fiancée, Patti (Aimee Carrero). But Regus does not let him go. Instead, he asks more personal questions about Craig’s relationship with Patti in order to break him by pitting him against her. Patoff then takes him to a different place. It’s a place that appears as strange as the one from Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut.
Over there, Craig stumbles upon Milani (Gena Heylock). Her face looks weirdly reconstructed. Craig keeps getting drunk due to Regus’ commanding presence and eventually gets into a van with him. Two men suddenly drop a wrapped-up body in its back, which scares him to death. Even when a cop stops their van, they get away without any issue, which surprises him. He gets to see the influence Patoff has even over the law enforcement department. He, however, does not want to get caught in such an abduction case. Furthermore, Craig keeps questioning Regus about his intent.
Tired of Craig’s bickering, Regus finally calls the abducted person to be the cause of Sang’s death. Meanwhile, Elaine gets hold of the records department key. Since she is alone in the office, she decides to enter to find out extremely personal information of all the employees, compiled in documents, that are in conflict with their right to privacy. When Regus stops the van at a gas station, Craig rescues this person, who happens to be Milani, from the bar. He notices that one of her legs is amputated.
Before running away due to her fear of Regus, she tells Craig to look for Frank Florez if he wants to know more about Regus. The next day, Craig wakes up at his place and then returns to CompWare to find no employees inside.
Episode 4: Sang
We get a peek into the time when Regus entered CompWare to influence Sang. While Rosie (Sloane Avery) tells him he needs an appointment, he decides to wait until Sang is free. Then, he enters his office to warn him that his business is bound to fail due to a lack of funds. He offers his help as a consultant, which would result in his employees forever worshipping him. But he will need to die for that to happen (so that he can be immortal). However, instead of an administrative fee as compensation (which isn’t possible considering the dire financial state of his business), Regus asks him for oral sex.
In the present, Craig persistently works to find traces of Regus’ shady history. In the past, Regus had helped an artificial limbs corporation in Moscow almost to double their revenue in six months. However, it also meant the number of amputations spiked all of a sudden. Regus made the same deal with its CEO as he did with Sang. Three months later, he was found dead.
While Craig is busy with this pursuit, Regus fires an employee who was on a sabbatical due to her mental health issues. When Elaine questions this decision, he informs her that they have only six weeks’ worth of funds to run their business. So, she returns to Craig to alert him that they need to fast-forward the new game’s development for the sake of his and his department’s job security.
On the other hand, since Craig cannot find any traces of Frank Florez online, Elaine tries to find if there’s any document about him in the records room. But the previous night, Regus seemed to have changed the keys. Therefore, she can’t enter now. To help with the financial woes, she tells Regus about the cruise that Sang had purchased impulsively. Craig also shows an initiative for the game – Upskirt Jungle. He tells Regus that it can be finished by the month-end if all the resources are put into its development. However, he decides to keep mum about their Friday night together.
While trying his best not to let Regus know about his intent, he adds spyware to Regus’ phone, which makes him discover Frank’s number. Hearing that, Elaine offers to call Frank the next day. After her call, she only learns that Frank owns a jewelry store since he refused to share any other details on the call. As a result, she tells Craig to meet Frank in person to know more about his relationship with Patoff.
During their dialogue, Craig says that Regus sent every employee a demo link to his game. It also meant that stalker-ware that he had installed on Regus’s phone also went to their devices. While questioning possible legal implications, they enter the office to find a nude sculpture of Sang. Having previously humiliated Sang, Regus now decides to use this ‘image’ of Sang to motivate people to push themselves in order to demonstrate their commitment to Sang’s vision.
Episode 5: Sick
Craig calls in sick for a day since he wants to go meet Mr. Florez at his store. However, it does not sit well with Regus. So, he makes a dramatic announcement about it to the employees to indirectly humiliate Craig. Meanwhile, Patti has no idea that Craig called in sick. So, she arrives in his office to surprise him with a meal. Elaine sees her and tries to divert her toward the exit before Regus gets to approach her. But she does not succeed with it since he notices Patti and brings her to his office even if she is about to drive back home.
Regus treats Patti with feigned compassion, which makes her question what Craig told her about Regus’ evil nature. Before she leaves, Regus kisses her. Besides influencing her, he also creates a disruption in the office by offering a senior position to anyone ‘who most wants it.’ Elaine questions Regus about this disharmonizing step. He rather makes her want to pursue it by saying that her merit won’t get her where she wants to go as her desire would. Still, she doesn’t break her idealistic approach.
Later, she finds Iain terrified by this animalistic race between the employees. He is scared that he will lose his job, which would result in him not getting any other work in the job market. So, to save his job, she takes his office and transfers him outside with a temporary demotion.
Meanwhile, Craig meets Frank Florez (played by Juan Carlos Cantu) in person and asks him about Regus Patoff. When Craig utters his name, Frank closes the shutters and shares what the name stands for. He then shares his history with Regus, where he was given constant orders to create gold sculptures to the point he started running out of gold supplies. Still, he kept working tirelessly since it paid for his kids’ education. Eventually, he lost all that he held dear to his heart, all because of Regus’ tyrannical demands.
When Craig is about to leave Frank’s store, several masked men (masks of Elephants, Rhinos, and whatnot) enter the shop, attack him while making guttural animal sounds, and then start stealing stuff. Frank shoots all of them and helps Craig escape. Craig returns home and keeps up with the façade of being sick since telling the truth can be embarrassing plus life-threatening for him. Patti believes him then but soon finds his uber ride receipt from the same day, which reveals to her that he is lying. Meanwhile, Regus proves to be a devil in disguise, making others find a devil behind their good-natured disguises!
Episode 6: Glass
Patti’s experience with Regus (and also her lack of trust in Craig) makes her eerily attracted to the old man. During her weekend at Church with Craig, she even enters a confession stand with Regus. Later at night, Craig wakes up hearing a brick breaking through his window. All of it shows her increasing distance from Craig and her infatuation with Regus.
The next day in the office, Elaine approaches Regus with the analytic report of responses to the game. Meanwhile, Craig returns to the office after his 3-day flu to find out that his game ‘Upskirt Jungle’ is finished without any of his input. He also finds out that it is renamed to ‘Mr. Sang’s Jungle Odyssey. Regus also orders the employees not to wear any footwear while working in the office to increase their productivity.
It gets on Craig’s nerves, who approaches Elaine to vent about it. But she keeps taking Regus’ side. While they argue about it, Regus keeps surveillance on their interaction and listens to it from his cabin. After getting a negative response from Elaine, Craig returns to the developed game to find its flaws. But seeing the coders’ lack of concern toward it, he storms out wearing Regus’ shoes.
Meanwhile, Regus questions Elaine for lying to him about Craig’s illness. Through her response, he learns about Craig’s relationship issues with Patti. She goes back to her work to tap into the players’ reactions who tried their game. Most of them got stuck at stage 316, which angered them so much that they engaged in self-harm in one way or another. She tells it to Regus as a warning of danger. But, he rather applauds it since a consistent defeat makes gamers more competitive (since the hunger for success becomes multifold).
While Regus justifies this shtick and stands by the game, Craig hurts himself angrily, just like other gamers, when he cannot pass the 316th stage. While he is caught up in this emotional turmoil, Patti leaves him for Regus and willingly goes to his office.
Episode 7: Elephant
Regus asks the employees for a publicity stunt to promote their new game. Among others, Elaine jokingly suggests that they should release an actual elephant in the city to gain traction. Regus likes her idea the most and asks her to execute it. She meets him later to explain that it was just a joke. But he persuades her to pursue it by using her hunger for power and a better position in the company. So, she decides to call her ex – Patrice (played by Jake Manley), who she believes will do pretty much anything for money.
Patrice agrees to do it for 30k, But Regus says that the budget is only 20k and summons her to negotiate further. She brings his ask down to 20k by making him feel that his life is insignificant. Later, when the elephant is in position, she returns to Regus, asking for Patrice’s compensation. He offers just 10k now and makes her persuade Patrice by offering a sexual favor. She objects to his insinuation. Regus says that if it were him, ‘he would fuck him.’ That directness pushes her even further in her lust for power. She uses her persuasion skills to make him accept the deal.
While she is trying to rise up the corporate ladder, Craig drowns himself in the sorrow of Patti’s sudden disappearance. He gets high in the office and refuses to honor Regus’ requests. In the same state of anger, he goes to a place where Regus comes every single day. After reaching there, he finds out that Regus comes all the way to just a portable toilet and gets even more frustrated than before. Meanwhile, back in the office, Regus goes to the records room to meet Patti, who works on ‘the typewriter.’
Episode 8: Hammer
While going on his morning run, Craig stumbles upon crushed cars. Soon after, he sees an elephant in front of him. While it could have easily been his surreal dream, it turns out to be the reality for L.A. citizens. The next morning, Elaine finds out that this elephant died in the authorities’ attempts to take it back to the zoo. Patrice arrives at CompWare and worries that he will be arrested for murder. She still stays loyal to the bureaucracy and decides to calm him down. Meanwhile, Regus enters a robotics firm to offer its CEO a deal (probably his next target in his growth initiate consultancy).
While trying to get rid of the issue with Patrice, Elaine applied for a job opening in a different company. Craig is meanwhile worried that his spyware issue (that spied on unaware players’ daily activities) will get him in legal trouble and will destroy his chances of getting any other job. While they are consumed with these anxieties, CompWare employees enjoy the success party of their game. Regus tells Elaine that he spent all the money he was supposed to give Patrice on this celebration. So now, they can’t pay him a single penny. He also points out that the elephant died, which makes their earlier deal a dud.
Elaine is shocked by this sudden revelation but wants to sustain her position. So, she decides to take benefit of Patrice’s greedy nature and offer him more money the next day. She assumes that the authorities will arrest Patrice by then for murder, and their problem will be solved. Instead, Regus uses his power of intimidation to make him leave their premises. While Elaine drinks down her guilt and shame, Iain asks for his position back. But she has hardly stayed human to accept his request with generosity by then.
The Consultant (Season 1) Ending, Explained:
What happens to Patti? Does she manage to escape the records room?
Regus enters the record room to meet Patti. Meanwhile, Craig sits next to Elaine to give her company. With mixed signals, she ends up proposing to drive him back and have sex with him. But he does not want to lose Patti’s trust any further and refuses her insinuation. That’s when he suddenly gets a text from Patti in Korean. But why would she text in a language she does not speak? They both wonder and decide to track down the phone’s location. Since Patti had downloaded the game, it became easier for them to track it.
They reach the place to find Mama Sang, who says that she is grateful to the kind & generous Regus, who provided her with shelter, English language lessons, and with Patti’s phone. It leads them both back to the office to save Patti from Regus’ spell. Regus waits for them like a ringmaster and declares that she is doing some last administerial work before he departs. While Elaine tries to save Patti from the records room (and from being under Regus’s influence), Regus provokes Craig, who has a panic attack. In the same mental state, Craig starts breaking up the glass floor with a hammer and ends up getting Regus to fall down. Craig assumes that Regus has died and returns home with Elaine and Patti. Meanwhile, Regus walks away, leaving his bloody footprints behind.
Soon after this terrifying incident, Elaine returns to CompWare to find out that the glass that broke down before has been restored. And now, in place of Regus, she has been promoted to be their new CEO. With this position, she also gets the records room key. So, when she gets approached by the authorities about Patrice’s crime, she praises Regus for his service and for how he improved and elevated them. While she is elated by this change, Craig seems mentally disturbed by all that happened in his life. He makes a golden sculpture of Regus’ elbow that got cut in the accident. Meanwhile, the kid who killed Sang ends up winning the game. Maybe he is the future that Regus wants.
Through this mixed reactional ending, we notice the different kinds of influence that Regus left on people. On one side, he is praised for how he improved the output. He also left a scarring impact on those like Craig, who may never recover from what transpired in their lives. On the other hand, Regus manages to make the employees put a mirror on their work ethic. So, in the end, instead of praising visionary Sang, Elaine takes Regus’s side who saved them from a financial calamity. So the real question is, who will we consider a villain in this story? Results-hungry Regus or Clout-hungry CEO? The series leaves us to ponder upon it.
The Consultant (Season 1) Themes Analysed:
Corporate Culture & Clout-hungry CEOs
The Consultant presents a black mirror to the present corporate culture and its existing facets that make it highly competitive. It brings up the subject of lack of privacy, an emphasis on increased output, besides the hunger for power that keeps motivating its employees to push their limits. The exercise of ‘who wants it the most will get it’ is also an indicator of some of its ruthless practices.
While doing that, it also critiques the clout-hungry CEOs, who will go to any length to ensure that they are perceived through a god-like stature. Through Sang’s character, the show presents a visionary CEO with hardly any understanding to run a business. So, while he seemed non-threatening by his appearance, his lack of acumen can keep all the lives dependent on him in a volatile state.
The Great American Dream
One of the laugh-out-loud situations in this dark comedy is Regus provoking the employees to seek a senior position without bringing up the subject of merit. Besides that, he also promotes a game where success is rare and struggle is constant. So, a rat race persists, and people keep wanting to be in the race so that they can see the light at the end of the tunnel someday. What could better represent the ever-illusive ‘Great American Dream’ than this?
The Consultant (Season 1) Review:
An arresting psychological thriller elevated by Christoph Waltz’s menacing presence
While you can already find a detailed analysis before, I will point out only the factors that made (or did not make) this Prime show intriguing. The most obvious answer is the formidable presence of Christoph Waltz, who gives yet another knock-out performance in a negative shade. He eats up the screen every time he is up on the screen. And this is particularly commendable since he manages to evoke terror that stands apart from his earlier Oscar-winning villain-stints from two Tarantino flicks.
While the commentary is nothing new or inventive, the presentation takes the cake. This slick corporate thriller excels due to its command over unpeeling the psychological layers of its characters to showcase their gradual breakdown. The direction keeps you hooked to its plot and makes you root for whoever is against Regus Patoff, only to make us question our judgment in the end. While not nearly on the level of Apple’s Severance, it presents a tale of workplace horror exceptionally well.
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