The whole premise of the show is its psycho pass system, to read the state of mind of someone. The entire society is built around tracking mental states and therapies that can keep people mentally healthy.
But none of the characters are actually mentally healthy. The work environment there is borderline toxic!
This is within just the first 2 episodes.
The main character gets zero support from her colleagues, and no one is kind in the sort of way that an emotionally healthy person is. Consider that if this society truly understood how to be mentally healthy, they'd know in an instant that that work place was unhealthy and needed fixing.
This story wants to go places with its premise, it wants to explore interesting questions in the world its built. However, the very conceit of its world is fundamentally broken.
Asking questions like "should we judge these people before they do things" only works if you can actually judge them before they do it. The show wants to ask a bunch of hard questions, but only succeeds in muddying the waters.
It wants to have its morally grey cake and have its edge too. This is not a story of a working system that is morally grey. This is the story of a dystopia run by a broken system, because its clear the system does not work. Either way i guess it serves the purpose of a dark warning, just not the one the show is trying to make.
I could cut myself on this show, its edge is so sharp. It ends up undermining every argument it makes. Its bleak, but worse, its bleak for no reason! Its pretentious as all hell! It thinks its deep but its really not.
I feel offended having watched it
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Its entire logical point "is it fair to judge before we even commit our actions"
"what is free will with a system that makes all of our decisions"
And "can you be judged with free will so in question"
All of these points the show tries to setup become meaningless once the show undermines them all in the second half by overthrowing its own premise for the sake of edginess.
Lets look into the morally grey questions around a system that can say with 100% accuracy and objectivity that you are a criminal. And can detect mental health.
Great. With this premise we will ask such questions as "what is free will" and "in a world where you can read your mental health, is poor mental health therefore a choice? Or hereditary?"
Except, the thing isn't actually accurate. Its not objective and scientific. The society in question does not understand mental health.
The system is actually a super computer MADE OF 260 BRAINS OF SUPER PEOPLE WHO ARE EMOTIONLESS AND WANT TO RULE THE WORLD.
Worst part. The main character now knows this and continues working her job, but is now a gruffled cop about it. There is no moral grey here anymore. So when the show still tries to dwell on the morally grey questions, I can only laugh and feel insulted.
The ONLY question this show is liable to be making is: "are humans capable of making a utopia?"
And i believe the stance of the show is: "even our best effort wont actually be one"
Which i would accept as deep, if only the show wasn't making that on accident.
