Rotten

Some episodes are better/more interesting than others, but overall it's a good docu. It has some major focuses and unlike other wannabe docus out there lately doesn't try to create a false image of the world and what YOU should do to follow their idea of fairness. It informs and does so well as it should be. Not some highly biased individual experience based "idea" of a docu. Good stuff and worth/enjoyable to watch.

The concept for this show is really quite brilliant. Looking at the shady underbelly of food manufacturing, and trade is a compelling idea. The first episode dips into this potential by looking at how Chinese honey exporters dilute their honey with various syrups made from rice, corn, and other food products. The fourth episode about garlic taps into part of the concept as well by looking at how Chinese garlic producers use prison labor to peel garlic that they then sell to the U.S.

However, despite moments of thoughtprovoking brilliance, this series only scratches the surface of most topics, and is increadibly unfocused in several of the episodes. The episode about chicken for instance deals more with a series of chicken coup attacks in the Southern U.S., then it does looking at the payment structure for farmers and the globalized scale of ownership with chicken companies.

So while the core idea is terrific, the execution of the series leaves a lot to be desired. They should've dug deeper into the issues, focused their episodes a lot more, and ensured that the finished product is just as engaging and thoughtprovoking as the idea itself.

The garlic episode was great. Idk what resources Netflix allocated to making those, but I often felt frustrated with the finished product. The issues tackled are huge, but all those do is scratch the surface, basically, and it's neither very satisfying or informative. A bunch of problems are dug out, 2 sides of the story are presented, the editing doesn't help, and there's nothing really helpful coming out of it. Sometimes it felt they weren't even talking to the right people, for eg taking a step back and thinking of Option C, when neither A nor B seems to work.

Rotten is predominantly an American-centric documentary aimed at creating awareness around food-related crimes and scandals, particularly those which impact upon American food producers. Generally less emotionally 'shocking' than many similar 'food revolution' films, Rotten somewhat lacks information around how individual consumers might take meaningful action towards a better system, and acts instead to expose crime and corruption occurring, leaving viewers to draw their own conclusions. The series has a limited approach to tackling serious global food issues as, instead of looking at each issue from a broader perspective and investigating all components, it directs itself more towards discussing specific cases and individuals within each industry. Though only narrowly addressing the greater issues, the cases within themselves are interesting 'food for thought' and in the least the series may help to promote important wider awareness and discussion around sustainability, ethical food production, mass-scale production issues, food quality and responsibilities of producers and consumers.

The second season of this show was similar to the first, focusing on the industrial processes and environmental harms of so much of what we consume. The first had episodes on honey, peanuts, garlic, chicken, milk, and fish, while the second season covered avocados, chocolate, water, sugar, wine, and marijuana edibles. It's a really good show, well produced and thought provoking, and made me think twice about the products I buy in the supermarket. I do take umbrage, however, with the tone of the last episode of S02, on pot edibles in Amsterdam and in the U.S. While I'm sure they were aiming for impartiality, too much of the episode ended up being like "Reefer Madness", using scare tactics to convince viewers that pot legalization is moving too fast. That's balderdash and one quote alone shows the fallacy of the "war on drugs":

"...enforcement of federal and state marijuana laws costs eight billion dollars a year..."

It's pure insanity that we waste so much money, and incarcerate way too many black and brown people, for something that should never have been illegal in the first place. All the money that's spent fighting a plant that is patently less harmful than alcohol is asinine. Soapbox rant aside, I'd definitely recommend watching S02; all the episodes are illuminating and interesting (and infuriating and frustrating).