Aidan Hunter had the resources and foresight to build an underground bunker to survive whatever apocalypse occurred. He has electricity, fresh air, food, booze, a nice home, and the scientific know-how to program holograms. Inexplicably, he has program-med most of these avatars to be his family; and also to continue using the name Aidan.
As we open, Aidan is being awakened by his mother — this is a 36 year old man, by the way. She open the curtains, and says, “Hey sleepyhead. What are you going to do, stay in bed all day?” Wouldn’t this have gotten old during the design phase, or when he was 13? He goes into the kitchen to see his 32 year old brother Griff in tight shorts and a wife-beater, stretching with his foot on the counter. His full name should be Griff Loman Hunter.
Aidan examines a painting he has been working on. He commands all his holographic pals to appear. There’s his mother, his bath-robed father has joined them, here’s Griff still in his workout clothes, and Natasha Henstridge. Wait, what? Why didn’t he just make four of her? After they critique his painting, Aidan sends them back into the computer. All except Emma (Henstridge).
For entertainment that night, Aidan programs up a double-date for he and his cartoon brother. Aidan is wearing some sort of black sleeveless scuba-looking thing. His holographic brother appears to be wearing a jacket over his wife-beater. If this is a sly indication that his clothing can only be overlayed onto his basic template like a paper doll — bravo!
Sadly, the girls have no substance; also, they are not solid. After a few dances, though, he takes one (only one?) to his swinging bachelor-pod. He has designed the device to feed his skin’s sensors so that it is just like having a beautiful live girl; but I notice the girls don’t do any talking in there.
He decides that Emma is more real than the other pseudo-girls. She would even make a perfect model. For one thing, she is beautiful. For another, she can sit for hours and not move a micron. In fact, she can even look like a piece a cardboard for some shots. After the painting is done, they go for a spin in the bachelor-pod. Since Emma is tied into the server, she is able to mentally hit the snooze alarm so they aren’t stopped for using too much power.
Emma begins taking things a little too seriously. The rest of Aidan’s fake family take her side. Emma is the computer’s operating system, so they want to protect her. Emma begins to think she is real and tells Aidan she loves him. Aidan says, “Emma, you’re not here to love me. You’re here to serve me.” Oh shit!
When Aidan conjures up another girl to take into the pod, Emma takes over the form of the fantasy girl. To really get on Aidan’s good side, Emma would have shown up in addition to, not in place of the first girl. WTH, is there a weight limit on that ride? [1]
Emma finally resorts to the nuclear option and says she is pregnant. That’s it, Aidan goes Dave Bowman on her fine, fine ass and starts destroying circuit cards. You can’t beat the house, though, and Emma prevails in a satisfying way.
The episode could get a little tedious at times. Also, there more shots of a sweaty post-coital Aidan than I really needed. However AI run amok, an apocalypse and not-at-all gratuitous nudity redeem it.
50/64 bits.
Post-Post:
- [1] Well, per-girl obviously, but you know what I mean.
- Aidan’s mother is played by Dana Sculley’s mother, Sheila Larkin.
- Griff suggests the music be changed to Feral Klansmen or Venereal Pink.
Paige turns off the soup on his hot-plate — a nice touch — and dashes out of the room to report himself for peeping-tomming. Since phones had apparently not yet been invented, he actually runs to the police station to report the murder of the “pretty blonde”.
Moments later, the “pretty blonde” asks Paige’s neighbors for directions to an apartment she wants to rent. Well, well, well . . .
Mr. Thurgood marshalls the staff for another day at Maynard’s Jewelry. The all-male sales staff is nattily attired, and the elderly doorman Henry is in a spiffy uniform. As Henry is carrying the jewels from the safe to the display case, he accidentally drops a $165,000 necklace [1]. As is always the case in real life, this is the moment the boss chooses to walk in.
Mrs. Rudell meets Thurgood there and puts on the necklace. She goes into an office to put it on. She just misses Dr. Rudell as he comes out to the lobby. AWKWARD! Not awkward because Thurgood is about to spoil the surprise. Awkward because Dr. Rudell calls his wife out of a different office to give her hell, and it is a different woman.
They are surprised by Maynard at the door. He tells Thurgood, “I suppose you know you can’t get away with this.” Psych! He hands Thurgood his gold watch and severance. He says he knows that “forgetting” them was his way of making restitution. Thurgood calls his daughter out to meet Maynard. He is so overwhelmed by Thurgood’s loyalty that he breaks the men-only tradition and offers the daughter a job at Maynard’s beginning Monday morning.
In class the next day, she says, “We will start by conjugating the verb to be.” How remedial is this high-school class? Wizard and Trojan walk in late and constantly disrupt class with their proud ignorance. Adrienne asks why they bother coming to school and Trojan says, “because I like your legs, baby.” This guy truly is an imbecile. 
Closing narration: We are told damned places exist — buildings where madness permeates the very bricks and mortar. We are told sometimes dedication and kindness can purge the evil from those walls . . . a lesson to be learned in the study halls of The Twilight Zone.