I Robot, You Jane

I Robot, You Jane
Written by Ashley Gable & Thomas A. Swyden
Directed by Stephen Posey

Original Airdate: April 28, 1997

Plot: While scanning several old texts into the library, Willow accidentally releases a demon onto the Net...

Review

Warning: If reading a review with major SPOILERS for "I Robot, You Jane" will cause you to unleash a demon, I suggest you turn back now. Major SPOILERS for this episode of Buffy are just ahead.

In short: Good in spots.

As many of you found out last week with my incredible misquote, I'm an X-Files fanatic. I adore that show. I adore Buffy too, but for entirely different reasons.

And while the shows have from time to time crossed over a bit with a similarity of topics, I've always felt that both had their own takes on the types of stories they were telling or trying to tell.

Which is why "I Robot, You Jane" was such an odd episode for me. I literally felt like I'd seen it done before on the X-Files. In fact, many of the basic elements of "I Robot, You Jane" seemed to be taken from three episodes of the X-Files. The possessed computer came out of "Ghost in the Machine" (if you're an X-Phile, you know that is not good company. Sort of like saying, "Well, that X-Files reminded me of Killed by Death."), "Kill Switch" and the screen telling people what to do reminded me of the classic episode, "Blood." Which may be part of the reason that I never really truly connected with this episode--the feeling of been there, done that, got the T-shirt. OK, I'll admit Mulder and Scully didn't end up taking on a robotic demon in the end of the episodes I referred to, but the similarities were so glaring that they really stood out and bothered me.

Willow's role was rather substantial and while it was good, it wasn't quite break-out in the way Xander's was last week in "The Pack." I think part of it was that Xander's role last week allowed Nicholas Brendan to go a bit over the top and dealt with emtions played right at the surface. This week, Alyson Hannigan had to really underplay her role as Willow got deeper and deeper involved and manipulated by Malcolm. At times, her performance felt off--especially her confrontation with Buffy in the gym. But, at others, it felt right on. The biggest scene that really stands out is the whole, "Remember me! Your girlfriend!" as she beats on Mollock with a fire extinguisher. That really stuck out. The rest of the time, she seemed very out of character, which I suppose is the point. But it wasn't as convincing for me as Xander's transformation last week in "The Pack."

Another part of the problem was some severe leaps of logic (or illogic) to get the plot going. I hate to say it, but as nitpicky as Giles is, it's hard to see him allowing a book to be scanned without first looking at it. Knowing what he knows about being the Watcher and the importance some of the texts have, it seems highly unlikely that he'd allow the book to be scanned without first looking to make sure there is no hard done. Of course, as Phil Farrand is fond of saying, if he did that, it's be an awfully short episode.

Another major problem is trapping Molloch in the robot body. Did he plan for this? I honestly wondered at the end. And why did he make to attempt to stop Jenny and Giles performing the ritual? It's almost as if he wanted to be trapped in the robotic body. And if he was, does that mean he can escape again?

Part of this may be that I've got way too much free time on my hands to sit around and think of this kind of stuff. But another is that in the second season, Buffy has been so good about answering these little questions that when they aren't answered it sticks out like a sore thumb to me.

But all this isn't to say there weren't some nice moments that abounded in this episode. In fact, it was full of them. I liked the arguements Jenny and Giles had about computers vs. books, Xander's comment about books making him speak "good" was a hoot as was Buffy's pop culture reference comments. Also of note was how suspenseful the sequence when the boy killed himself was. The notepad writing his suicide note was effective and chilling, as was his reaction. I really liked that part because it had me on the edge of my seat. Also, Buffy's near death experience in the girl's locker room was nice--though her black eye seemed to come and go a lot during the final few scenes.

All in all, I've got say that while I enjoyed "I Robot, You Jane," it wasn't the best Buffy I've ever seen. Nor was I expecting it to be, to be quite honest with you. For what it was--a stand alone episode with a monster, it did a fairly good job. But compared with some of the classics such as School Hard, Lie to Me, or the Becoming, it just didn't cut the mustard. But, who knows--I may watch it again and find something jumps out at me. It's happened before on Buffy and I expect it to happen again.

So, I guess that's about it, except for a few small things...

--OK, let me get this straight--The computer Willow's using has pretty good graphics, but yet Mollock is all pixily and blocky. Jeez, you'd think being an undead demon, you'd get some better resolution. :-)

--Where was Willow's family? From what I gathered from the dialogue, she was spending a lot of time on-line. Did her family not want to use the phone or does she have her own line for Internet access? Of course, if they aren't ever home...

--Where is Cordy? She's gone MIA....

--That is one heck of a network the school has for Mollock to travel around on. Must be an ISDN line for him to so easily get out on the Net is all I can figure.

Well, that's about it for now. All in all, good in spots, weak in others. Not the worst I've seen, but not the best either.

My rating: 6.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: No Tuesday epiosde this week, but next Monday it's the long anticipated repeat of "Angel." Set the VCR now...

"I can just tell something's wrong...my spider sense is tingling."

"Spider sense?"
"A pop culture reference..."

--Buffy and Giles.