Episode ten of Amazon Prime’s Electric Dreams, based off of science fiction author Philip K. Dick’s works, attempts to draw parallels between an evil dictator and President Trump. The last episode of the season, which was released January 12, is based off Dick’s short story, “The Hanging Man.” In the original story, a man discovers a dead body hanging from a lamppost, is the only one to react, and then discovers aliens have taken over some of the town members.
But in Electric Dreams’ liberal version, retitled “Kill All Others,” a tyrannical political leader (Vera Farmiga) asserts, “kill all others,” to the disbelief of only one man, Philbert Noyce (Mel Rodriguez).
When the leader starts asserting “kill all others” in speeches and interviews, and billboards appear around the town with the declaration, the public and media react disinterestedly. Alluding to how liberals view Trump supporters, a media pundit argues, “I think it’s more about anti-establishment sentiment than any real agenda against a so-called “other.” Another claims, “Well, obviously, the candidate isn’t speaking literally.”
Philbert panics at the appearance of a “kill all others” billboard accompanied with a dead body, calling the statement “hate speech,” which seems like a weak descriptor of a declaration calling for everyone to murder everyone else. But one of Philbert’s friends tells him, “This political stuff, don’t take it so seriously. It doesn’t mean anything.” He continues, “Those idiots say anything, we know it isn’t real. It’s just entertainment.”
The town becomes hostile to “others,” chasing and beating random people. After Philbert accidentally reveals himself as a dissenter to the political leader, the town law enforcement hunts him down. At the end of the episode, Philbert stands in front of one of the billboards and yells, “The candidate’s serious! You hear me! This is real! This is real! We are all others!” before falling to his death. His friends watching the incident on TV change the channel and resume their pool game.
Will the evil dictator resembling Trump trope ever get old? Apparently not for liberal Hollywood.
