I Wish I May, I Wish I Might

PopMatters has an utterly caustic review of the new show Three Wishes, which, along the way, makes some very good points.

About an hour after the first episode was over, I went from being mildly irritated by its manipulations to being flatly pissed off. What does it say about our culture when a middle class family has to choose to between having a home and piecing their daughter's skull back together? After all, before Grant and company breezed through, Abby's parents had foregone their daughter's surgery, because they didn't have the money. How many stories like Abby's won't attract a corporate sponsor and crooning pop star? Sure, we can cry in front of our television sets, but if it's a moral imperative for Grant to give a child a chance as a normal life, doesn't that same imperative apply to us collectively? If these individual cases fill us with a sense that justice must be done, why shouldn't that same luxury be afforded to all poor people without health insurance?

Good question.