Bryce Lynch

If the synths can be shut down by a simple touch under the chin, why doesn't George shut off Vera when she badgers him? The men being attacked by Niska might also be able to do this if they could get close enough.

I think what happened with Anita and Joe was a textbook example of how people give into temptation. He is upset with Laura and a bit drunk. Then he decides to activate Anita's adult function out a curiosity and for "her sake" so they can both know what it is like for her to "feel"... or so he convinces himself. I think he is rationalizing his lust for her and setting up the situation to act on it, but doesn't fully understand that he is doing it. I think the ambiguity of what Anita is and what Joe thinks she is makes the situation very confusing (in a good way for the story). As you said, if he thinks she is merely a machine, he might consider what he did a glorified form of masturbation. If he sees her as human, then it is akin to rape. Since he probably sees her as something in between a human and a machine, he probably doesn't know exactly what to think of it. The only reason I wasn't surprised was that the episode preview on my TV mentioned Karen not being what she appeared to be. It is unusual to have such a spoiler in those.

She walked home because someone had to bring the bicycle home and Toby was injured and Anita had been damaged. Now I do think Anita riding shotgun while Laura walked might be foreshadowing of Anita replacing Laura, but it was done out of necessity, not out of abuse. As for the kids' reaction to her, I think that is an indication of how little she has been doing to cultivate a healthy, loving relationship with them. We see bad fathers and husbands on TV all the time. I don't see any problem with showing a less than wonderful wife and mother.

While all domestic synths apparently being sex capable seems a bit unrealistic, it is a minor issue for me. I have no problem believing that millions would buy synths, because they are extremely useful. A cook, housekeeper, nanny, chauffeur, security guard, nurse, and for those so inclined, a sex partner for less than the cost of a car payment? Where do I sign? :) What the show does a great job of is also show the issues that they create. As for Laura, Joe works a full time job and spent time with the kids and at least tried to feed the kids and keep the house in order. Laura didn't seem to be even trying to do these things until she felt threatened/shamed by the job Anita was doing.

Good point. Then again, lots of women with synthetic breasts wear bras. :) Well, sex with synths seems to be a fairly common use. That said, you would think they would make "family friendly" models without genitals for users that only want housework and other such services. They would be less expensive and prevent a lot of domestic issues.

Lydia had sent Todd and the Nazis to threaten Walt's family. She also setup Walt to be killed by the Nazis, though he knew what she was doing and it was part of his plan.

It is not just about cleaning and organizing. Laura seems to be only minimally involved in her children's lives. She barely acknowledges Toby's existence and doesn't have much of a relationship with Mattie. I am sure no android could ever replace you in your son's eyes. The fact that little Sophie so quickly comes to prefer a plastic appliance over her mother is a pretty good indication that Laura is not providing much love.

I agree about Joe not being a perv, and to a lesser extent about Toby. Toby has behaved inappropriately, but he is a teenaged boy and teenaged boys spend about 70% of their brain capacity thinking about naked ladies and how to get to see naked ladies, so it is not that far out of the norm. Parents of teen daughters please take note. :-) I thought Joe's discomfort with examining Anita for damage was a sign that he is NOT a perv. He saw it as an uncomfortable but necessary task rather than an opportunity to ogle and grope her. I do wonder if Anita was trying to seduce him or plant a seed along those lines. If she could take over the wife role in the household, it would solidify her spot as the kid's de facto "mother".

"Tom" seems to be Laura's younger brother. When Anita snoops in Laura's photo album, she finds an old phograph labeled, "Laura and Tom". The photo is of a girl who appears to be about 5 or 6 and a 2 or 3 year old boy. I wonder if Laura was somehow responsible for her brother's death. That could explain wby she freaked out when Anita asked about him and might reinforce Anita's belief that Sophie is not safe under Laura's care. If Anita believes that Sophie is not safe with Laura it could explain how she lies, using the loophole in her programming that allows synths to lie if they believe it is in the best interest of human safety.

I wonder if the sharing feature on the synths could eventually be used by the sentient synths to send software upgrades to regular synths and make them sentient as well. I wonder the same thing about Mattie's uploading Anita's data to the web. Will other synth rooters try to install the software on their synths and make them like Anita?

Yes, it seemed Niska was going to kill him for being a "cheater" until she realized the hair clips belonged to his daughter. She definitely has issues. Seems like she is hunting for "bad" men to kill. It was like she was looking for an excuse to murder him, and tempting him to give her one. I wonder if the abuse she suffered is the cause or if there was previous abuse of her as a synth or possibly of a human whose personality of memories were implanted in her.

I am on Team Anita. Laura only decides to put any effort into being a mother after she realizes an appliance is doing it 100 times better than her. I wonder if she will try to be a decent wife after Joe starts using the 18+ pacakage. I love they way Anita is playing her.

I doubt they would share private business. It would likely be more general and technical information.

If we bought our own robots they would be unobtrusive. If the government provides them they would likely be just like Vera.

Exactly. One of the ways the Statist Nanny State justifies its control over people is cost. "We are paying for your healthcare so in order to minimize costs we can tell you what to eat, what to drink, how much and when to sleep, what activities you may and may not do." Mike Bloomberg would love to have an army of Veras snatching cigarettes. "unhealthy" foods and soda from all Americans, "for their own good" because the government will always make "better choices" for individuals than they will for themselves.

I was a bit surprised with the synths sudden violent reaction in the brothel. I thought the creepy clients were realistic. The creepiest ones would probably tend to go to synth brothels, rather than human ones, as the synths would do whatever they demanded. As for Vera, I think she is a very accurate portrayal of a government issued synth. When the government comes to "help" you, it generally really is there to CONTROL you. I hope the doctor finds a way to disable her or alter her programming.

Just saw another clue that Laura is cheating. When Joe told her that he feels that she has been avoiding him and Matilda she replied, "Things just get on top of me!" (That's what she said?) :)

I am not 100% sure Laura is cheating but here is why I suspect it: 1) She looked very distressed when she called the house. 2) She lied in her text message claiming she was "stuck in court" when she was actually in the hotel room. 3) Both sides of the double bed appeared to have been slept in. 4) She told Joe he could call the office to verify she was in court, when he gave no indication he doubted her. Guilty conscience? 5) She is still in the hotel room in the middle of the day while Joe and Sophie are bringing Anita home. What happened to court? 6) Matilda, who is very perceptive, is clearly resentful toward Laura and does not trust her.

When Walt started working for Gus, Jesse was not an option. Gus didn't want a junkie working for him and Walt and Jesse were on very, bad terms. In fact, part of the reason Walt took the job was to spite Jesse. When Walt offered Jesse the partnership to save Hank's career he needed to create a fake "desperate situation" to get Gus to agree. He had to pretend Gale was totally not working out to get Gus to accept Jesse.

The daughter even asked if they could exchange her if she wasn't pretty. Also, since Anita was stolen, he was probably getting a very low price from the shady salesman. I don't think Joe had any lustful intentions when he bought Anita, but I would not be surprised if such feelings develop.

Disagree a bit about the husband. It appears Laura is cheating on him and she is clearly neglecting her family. The fact that the children marvel at the basic things Anita does, like making breakfast and reading stories is an indication of what a bad mother and wife Laura is. Laura hates Anita because she makes this obvious to the whole family.

I wonder if that forced the writers to come up with the virtual reality stuff to explain why all the teenagers grew a foot taller in 3 weeks.

Dani was such a jerk and hypocrite. At the beginning she told Charlie to take a break from chopping bamboo. When he sees she is tired and insists on getting the water, she has a tantrum like a 3 year old child. Then she makes him feel guilty for eating snails...SNAILS. "Snails have feeling! Snails are equal to humans!" It is fine to have your own nutty beliefs, but making other peope starve for them is the behavior of a sociopath. People like her almost deserve to be eaten by predators. Does she think a croc or a panther would respect her views about the equality of all living things?

I hated the Tami gets fires from Dillon plot. It was a great idea to get her to be the counselor at East Dillon, but the way she got fired was completely unrealistic. First, she would NEVER have been fired for how she handled the Becky situation. She got the girl's mother involved and her mother not only agreed to, but pushed the abortion. Luke's mother would have absolutely no standing to make a complaint and I thought it was unrealistic that she did. They made her into a gross caricature of a pro-Life mother. They should have fired Tami over a jumbotron or suspendeding a star Panther or something along those lines.

I agree. I could sort of buy the one night stand when he comforted her after Jason blew up at her, but after that, I think she seemed repulsed by Tim, yet continued the affair. I suppose she could have been punishing herself for cheating on Jason by continuing to degrade herself, but I never bought or liked Tim and Lyla.