episode #23 - The Young and the Relentless

Air Date: 6/7/96 writers: T. Edward Anthony & Von Whisenhant Directed by Richard Compton

The Sliders end up at an obviously upscale estate and see a body floating in a swimming pool. It turns out to be Quinn's double. The Quinn (called "QR" on this world) and Wade of this Earth had been married until his supposed suicide. Quinn takes his double's place to help wrap up a few business matters for about a day. On this world, anyone over 30 is considered elderly and a "2nd-class citizen" (as Arturo puts it). Arturo finds out the history of this Earth, which diverged from Earth Prime around 1980: President Carter was hounded out of office due to the various environmental & nuclear problems and Howard Stern (a famous radio shock jock on our Earth) was elected into office; he reduced the voting age to nine and then the retirement age down to 30. As a result, corporations and government are run by a bunch of obnoxious 20-year-olds. While Quinn attends a party with his new wife, Arturo & Rembrandt go out on the town and get themselves arrested for getting into a fight. Eventually, Quinn comes to realize that this other Wade is not quite as nice a girl as the Wade he's been used to.
The highlights of this episode are Arturo's moments of being aghast at the madness of this world. For example, he and Rembrandt, to his consternation, are about to be defended in court by a young girl named Tiffany; priceless dialog follows > TIFFANY:

Listen, Pops, you're facing curfew violation and an assault charge--one year in the can. My advice, you play dumb, we plead senility, and get you off with 30 days in county lockup. Cool?

ARTURO:

No, madam, that is not "cool."

More than these amusing moments, this episode offers a potent, biting satire on our eighties culture of ambition and greed. The premise of how it came to be is ridiculous (see the 1968 sci-fi satire Wild in the Streets, as possible inspiration, and there's the obvious parallel to Logan's Run), but the execution of the scenario is fine tuned. These very young upstarts represent the worst of corporate culture, where everyone has to watch their back. Sabrina Lloyd as the other Wade gets to branch out into uncharted territory here. BoG's Score: 7 out of 10
Earths Depicted --- #48: voting age 9; retirement age 30; Quinn & Wade married