Episode 03: The Corporate Glow

Some things shine because they’re lit. Not because they’re alive.

From the river, it looks like gold. A city washed in light. A monument to ambition. Glass gleaming like promise. Angles that make you believe something powerful is happening inside.

But not everything radiant is real. Not everything well-lit is warm.

Inside those towers are cubicles.
Deadline emails. Burnt-out minds trying to pretend they’re grateful.
Desks with family photos. Slack messages filled with fear.
Resignations never submitted. Lunch breaks never taken.

And yet, from here - from this angle - it’s breathtaking.
The glow doesn’t reveal what it holds. It hides it.

This is how we mistake systems for progress. How we mistake visibility for success.
How we take structures built on exhaustion, and rename them ambition.

The human experience is built on these illusions.

We tell ourselves we’re building something. But what if the building is hollow?

What if you’ve been staring at someone else’s fantasy - projected onto your own longing?

Maybe that glow isn’t something to aspire to.
Maybe it’s just a reflection of everything we’ve learned not to question.