Description: Season 2, Episode 8
Air Date: December 2, 1960
Plot Summary: Some time in the future, a woman grows tired of her parents increased dependence on robots.
Review: You may recall I mentioned this episode when reviewing "The Hitch Hiker" as this is the only other episode to star the lovely and talented Inger Stevens. I wish she could have starred in an episode every season, but I've already discussed the troubled life she had. Still, she brings a strong performance and always presents subtlety and depth to her characters. Another thing I have to address is in regards to the shitacular quality of the picture. This was an attempt to cut costs, which backfired greatly, and was thankfully only used on a handful of episodes.
It's not entirely clear what time in the future the story takes place, but I would say there are implications that this is like post-WWIII or something; or I could be reading too deeply into the details. Regardless, Jana (Ms. Stevens), is a girl who lives, in a secluded mansion, with her parents that are completely taken care of by a slew of robots. I have to say, starting the episode off with orgasmic sighs from an old lady was not the best way to open. It was damn sexy though (I kid, I kid!). Mercifully, Jana is annoyed by the groans of ecstasy and gets the robot to stop massaging grandma for two seconds. Okay, I'm spending too much time on this scene, but it was humorous to me. Jana is angry that her parents are wasting their lives away, in a pampered state, and no longer experiencing life as normal humans; Jana wants to live this normal life in the outside world.
There are hints sprinkled about as to what the twist will be, and an astute viewer should pick up on them quite easily. Anyway, Jana threatens to leave if the father doesn't get rid of the robots, and of course he relents in this situation. After destroying the robots, the parents wonder about how they will get used to a life without them while Jana is simply excited about the prospects of doing more with their lives. When Jana rattles on about getting married and having kids the mom has a weird reaction that Jana picks up on. This leads to a, mostly, predictable twist in which you learn Jana herself was a robot all along. As mentioned earlier in the episode, the father installed memories of having lived a full life in all the robots to which Jana was no different. With the illusion of family destroyed, the episode ends with the father reprogramming Jana to be the new maid. Sounds legit.
I felt like they missed an important aspect to cover which was Jana's sense of emotions. The other robots lacked emotions, and even though they discuss Jana being unable to love, she seems to express numerous emotions at will. I'd think they would want to examine why her personality was so prominent while the other robots were mechanical. This was definitely a missed opportunity to explore what it means to truly be alive. Other than that, this is a creative episode as it was one of the first instances of a character not realizing they're actually a machine. I think we can probably lump this episode in the underrated category, because it rarely gets any recognition and it's a cool little tale. Lastly, this episode was made in 1960 and it's 54 goddamn years later...where the hell are my robots?! I swear I've met people who have to be robots...or maybe I'm the robot.
The real future never turns out to be the same way which movies or shows interpret it to be. Back to the future 2 interpreted 2015 to have flying cars and hoverboards, it's 2018 now, where are they? All they can do is use their imagination. I totally agree with most of your other points about this episode, with Jana not knowing about her also being a robot, her wide range of emotions compared to the other robots, etc. Jena wasn't the most likable characters, even though I see a lot of her points. And I wouldn't want to see my mom making those moaning noises either.
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