I, Robot... You, Jane
- Episode aired Apr 28, 1997
- TV-PG
- 45m
Willow's new Internet chat buddy turns out to be a powerful demon electronically unleashed from a centuries-old, newly digitized book.Willow's new Internet chat buddy turns out to be a powerful demon electronically unleashed from a centuries-old, newly digitized book.Willow's new Internet chat buddy turns out to be a powerful demon electronically unleashed from a centuries-old, newly digitized book.
- Cordelia Chase
- (credit only)
- Rupert Giles
- (as Anthony Stewart Head)
- Jenny Calendar
- (as Robia LaMorte)
- Male Student
- (as Damon Sharp)
- Moloch
- (voice)
- …
- News Caster
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSeries creator Joss Whedon provides the (uncredited) voice of the newscaster, his only on-air appearance in the seven year run of the show. He did make one on-screen appearance in the spin-off, Angel (1999).
- GoofsWhen the demon is looking through the computer for Buffy's file, her name on the list of students says she is a senior with a 3.4 GPA, and that her birthday is 10/24/80. The file opens with her correct status (Sophomore) and birthday (10/24/80), and lists her GPA as 2.8. The camera goes off the computer screen and when it comes back, the file lists Buffy as being a senior with the birthday 5/6/79, with a GPA of 2.8. Later the series established Buffy's birth year as 1981, conflicting with both sets of information in "I Robot, You Jane".
- Quotes
[last lines]
Willow Rosenberg: The one boy that's really liked me, and he's a demon robot. What does that say about me?
Buffy Summers: It doesn't say anything about you.
Willow Rosenberg: I mean, I thought, I was really falling...
Buffy Summers: Hey, did you forget? The one boy I've had the hots for since I moved here turned out to be a vampire.
Xander Harris: Right. And the teacher I had a crush on: giant praying mantis.
Willow Rosenberg: [smiling] That's true.
Xander Harris: Yeah, it's life on the Hellmouth.
Buffy Summers: Let's face it. None of us are ever gonna have a happy, normal relationship.
Xander Harris: We're doomed.
Willow Rosenberg: Yeah.
[the three of them laugh half-hardheartedly, but eventually stop, wondering if that is actually true]
- ConnectionsFeatured in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001)
Maybe I'm primed to be more forgiving to this treatment of the "terrors of technology" parable because anxiety about the Internet/AI was running rampant in genre fiction in the '90s, and most of it was much worse than this. The X-Files tried it (season one's "Ghost in the Machine"), Are You Afraid of the Dark had a stupid episode about gigapets or whatever, the Sci-Fi Channel had original movies where people were getting attacked by sentient coax cables. IRYJ taps into more grounded fears about the information superhighway, albeit in a lighthearted way.
It's also the first time we see conflict between Buffy and Willow, which I think is handled well. It's telling that Buffy expresses her paranoia about Willow getting catfished through concerns about "Malcolm's" physical appearance, which Willow maintains doesn't matter if you really know someone's heart. I guess on her dating profile today she would describe herself as a sapiosexual. It's consistent with the series as a whole--Buffy falls for hunks that are not good for her, while Willow's love interests are excessively supportive but not appearance-focused. (I'm ignoring Kennedy here, as one should.)
On a more superficial note, I laugh like an idiot when Xander tries to hop the fence and falls screaming to the ground. I enjoy Buffy tailing someone in a trench coat and dark glasses, especially since the disguise doesn't even work. And Moloch looks pretty cool in his cyborg-demon form. I do like the reveal that he DOES love Willow, in his own way...he just has a very twisted definition of love.
- nightwishouge
- Feb 9, 2022