July 26, 2023-number 153

Spoilers

“The Brain Center at Whipple’s”

Lookie, there is Robby the Robot again. This is the second bad episode guest starring Robby.

This is also very relevant episode in today’s world as the Screen Actor’s Guild and the Writer’s Guild of America has been on strike with one of the big reasons being the use of AI by studios, which threatens to replace working actors and writers. Much like the theme of this episode.

“These are the players — with or without a scorecard. In one corner a machine; in the other, one Wallace V. Whipple, man. And the game? It happens to be the historical battle between flesh and steel, between the brain of man and the product of man’s brain. We don’t make book on this one and predict no winner….but we can tell you for this particular contest, there is standing room only — in the Twilight Zone.”

Wallace Whipple is only a caricature of a person. He is only a representation of the selfishness and the greed of the CEOs and the faceless heads of giant companies. His glee in his cruelty in this episode really takes away from the downfall later in the episode because it all turned on him too quickly.

Still, there is no one to truly root for in this episode. I think you are meant to relate to Dickerson, the foreman who lost his job and got drunk and tried to destroy the computer, but he was a loud drunk and not someone I felt for. The character of Mr. Hanley was shown as a decent man, but he was not around enough for any connection to be made.

There was Robby the Robot! A silly cameo tucked on at the end of the episode to show that even Mr. Whipple is replaceable. Danger, Mr. Whipple, Danger!

A poorly written episode with way too much melodrama that draws away from the important theme of the show. I did not like much of anything in this episode.