Yes, the moment you mention was among the most affecting of the first season. The scene is constructed diabolically to ratchet up the mob mentality — where people are just acting in the moment, purely emotionally.

I read the season as an allegory for where we are now politically. The captain is a figurehead, the passengers are readily manipulated, the far-off owners don’t care, yet everyone aboard is hurtling through space in a very complex machine that they don’t really understand.

Hugh Laurie is doing a great job in the show. Another draw is the creator, Armando Iannucci, who did Veep.