I, Robot... You, Jane
Encyclopedia
"I, Robot...You, Jane" is the eighth episode of season 1 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode was written by staff writers Ashley Gable
and Thomas A. Swyden, and directed by Stephen Posey.
Willow flirts with a mysterious boy, Malcolm, over the internet. Meanwhile a demon, Moloch the Corruptor, has been freed after five centuries.
, Italy
, in 1418. Carlo, a young Italian man, looks at a horned demon: Moloch
"the Corruptor", his master. Moloch coaxingly promises Carlo everything if he gives Moloch his love, and as Carlo promises his love, Moloch kills him. In a monastery, a circle of priests trap Moloch in a book using a magic ritual. The book is sealed in a box, with the head priest expressing his hope that the book will not be read, lest the demon Moloch be released upon the world.
In the present, Buffy
finds the book in its box, and Giles
tells her to add it to a heap that Willow has been scanning into a computer. Ms. Calendar
and Giles trade jibes about the need for modern technology. Willow
scans Moloch's book, then leaves the library. The text "Where am I?" appears on the computer screen.
A week later, at school, Buffy questions Willow about her missing a few classes. Willow confides she has an online relationship with a boy named Malcolm. As Buffy tries to warn Willow about the dangers of rushing into a relationship with someone she has not seen, Fritz (a computer geek) is instructed by Moloch, via the computer he is working on, to keep watch on Buffy. Ms. Calendar questions Fritz about the unusual amount of time he and Dave are spending on the computer, and receives an ambiguous answer. Later, when Xander asks Willow if she will accompany him to the Bronze, she passes, wanting to talk to Malcolm. Buffy accuses Xander of jealousy, and Xander denies vehemently, claiming he is just worried about Willow, because they have no idea if Malcolm is who he says he is. The scene cuts to Fritz mumbling "I'm jacked in" as he carves the letter "M" into his arm using a scalpel
. As Willow is late on the next day, Buffy finds that she blew off classes to talk to "Malcolm". When Buffy asks Dave for help in finding out Malcolm's real identity, his angry response causes her to think that he is Malcolm. When Buffy asks Giles for help, he confesses he cannot help her much as he finds technology to be intimidating. His only idea is for Buffy to follow Dave. As Buffy follows him to the CRD building, a security camera points at her, and a message appears on a computer screen Fritz is looking at: "kill her".
When Buffy goes back to Giles and Xander, Xander unexpectedly knows that CRD is "Calax Research and Development", a hi-tech company which shut down. When Xander assures Buffy that it is suspicious, since he would know if CRD re-opened, they decide to break in. When Ms. Calendar interrupts them, Xander and Buffy leave. Willow becomes suspicious of Malcolm after she learns that he knows Buffy was kicked out of her old school, and logs off the conversation. Back at the library, Giles's and Ms. Calendar's verbal sparring leads them to discover that Moloch's book is empty.
Outside of school, Dave tells Buffy that Willow wants to talk to her in the girls' locker room, as a plot to electrocute Buffy. Dave changes his mind at the last minute, and his warning combined with Buffy's slayer reflexes save her. When Moloch hears of it, he begins writing Dave's suicide note on the computer, and Fritz kills Dave by hanging
. In the library, Giles tells Buffy and Xander that demons can be imprisoned in books; if the books are read aloud, the demons are set free. Giles also explains that Moloch is an extremely powerful and seductive demon who "preys on impressionable minds", winning his victims over with false promises of love, glory and power; Dave and Fritz being two of his disciples. Together, they realize that Moloch has gotten into the internet - the scanning of his book being close enough to "reading" it to set him free - and is causing chaos from there. When Buffy tries to delete the "Moloch" file, his face appears and tells her to stay away from Willow, and Buffy realizes Malcolm is Moloch.
Buffy and Giles realise that there is no limit to the destruction that a demon could do through the Internet. After they find Dave's body, Xander and Buffy go to Willow's house, and Buffy tells Giles to ask Ms. Calendar for help, hoping that between his knowledge of demons and her knowledge of computers, they can reimprison Moloch. Willow is kidnapped by Fritz. Giles seeks help from Ms. Calendar, and is surprised that she is already aware of the demon in the Internet; she explains that she is a "technopagan". Buffy and Xander, guessing that Moloch had Willow kidnapped, rush off to CRD. Buffy calls Giles, and they coordinate plans. Inside CRD, Moloch's robotic body is prepared, and he is happy to see Willow. Moloch kills Fritz as a demonstration of his power and tries to entice Willow into his clutches, but she resists him, disappointing him. Buffy and Xander break into CRD as Giles and Ms. Calendar start preparing the binding spell. The binding spell does not complete, but casts Moloch out of the internet and traps him inside his robotic body. Enraged at losing his "omnipotence", Moloch crashes through a wall and attacks Buffy, Willow and Xander. After a brief battle, Buffy tricks Moloch into punching an electrical power line, causing his robotic body to explode and, presumably, destroying him for good.
The next day, Buffy, Willow and Xander joke about how the Hellmouth is screwing with their love lives, laughing about how none of them will ever find true happiness; suddenly, realising what they are laughing about, it ceases to be funny.
Ashley Gable
Ashley Gable is an American television writer and producer who has worked on a variety of well-known television series including Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Crossing Jordan. She is currently serving as executive producer on the CBS crime drama The Mentalist.- Career :Gable's television career...
and Thomas A. Swyden, and directed by Stephen Posey.
Willow flirts with a mysterious boy, Malcolm, over the internet. Meanwhile a demon, Moloch the Corruptor, has been freed after five centuries.
Plot
The episode begins in a castle in CortonaCortona
Cortona is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic center of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo.-History:...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, in 1418. Carlo, a young Italian man, looks at a horned demon: Moloch
Moloch
Moloch — also rendered as Molech, Molekh, Molok, Molek, Molock, or Moloc — is the name of an ancient Semitic god...
"the Corruptor", his master. Moloch coaxingly promises Carlo everything if he gives Moloch his love, and as Carlo promises his love, Moloch kills him. In a monastery, a circle of priests trap Moloch in a book using a magic ritual. The book is sealed in a box, with the head priest expressing his hope that the book will not be read, lest the demon Moloch be released upon the world.
In the present, Buffy
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
finds the book in its box, and Giles
Rupert Giles
Rupert Giles is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head. He serves as Buffy Summers' mentor and surrogate father figure...
tells her to add it to a heap that Willow has been scanning into a computer. Ms. Calendar
Jenny Calendar
Jenny Calendar is a fictional character in the fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . Played by Robia LaMorte, Jenny is the computer teacher at Sunnydale High School...
and Giles trade jibes about the need for modern technology. Willow
Willow Rosenberg
Willow Rosenberg is a fictional character created for the fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed throughout the TV series by Alyson Hannigan...
scans Moloch's book, then leaves the library. The text "Where am I?" appears on the computer screen.
A week later, at school, Buffy questions Willow about her missing a few classes. Willow confides she has an online relationship with a boy named Malcolm. As Buffy tries to warn Willow about the dangers of rushing into a relationship with someone she has not seen, Fritz (a computer geek) is instructed by Moloch, via the computer he is working on, to keep watch on Buffy. Ms. Calendar questions Fritz about the unusual amount of time he and Dave are spending on the computer, and receives an ambiguous answer. Later, when Xander asks Willow if she will accompany him to the Bronze, she passes, wanting to talk to Malcolm. Buffy accuses Xander of jealousy, and Xander denies vehemently, claiming he is just worried about Willow, because they have no idea if Malcolm is who he says he is. The scene cuts to Fritz mumbling "I'm jacked in" as he carves the letter "M" into his arm using a scalpel
Scalpel
A scalpel, or lancet, is a small and extremely sharp bladed instrument used for surgery, anatomical dissection, and various arts and crafts . Scalpels may be single-use disposable or re-usable. Re-usable scalpels can have attached, resharpenable blades or, more commonly, non-attached, replaceable...
. As Willow is late on the next day, Buffy finds that she blew off classes to talk to "Malcolm". When Buffy asks Dave for help in finding out Malcolm's real identity, his angry response causes her to think that he is Malcolm. When Buffy asks Giles for help, he confesses he cannot help her much as he finds technology to be intimidating. His only idea is for Buffy to follow Dave. As Buffy follows him to the CRD building, a security camera points at her, and a message appears on a computer screen Fritz is looking at: "kill her".
When Buffy goes back to Giles and Xander, Xander unexpectedly knows that CRD is "Calax Research and Development", a hi-tech company which shut down. When Xander assures Buffy that it is suspicious, since he would know if CRD re-opened, they decide to break in. When Ms. Calendar interrupts them, Xander and Buffy leave. Willow becomes suspicious of Malcolm after she learns that he knows Buffy was kicked out of her old school, and logs off the conversation. Back at the library, Giles's and Ms. Calendar's verbal sparring leads them to discover that Moloch's book is empty.
Outside of school, Dave tells Buffy that Willow wants to talk to her in the girls' locker room, as a plot to electrocute Buffy. Dave changes his mind at the last minute, and his warning combined with Buffy's slayer reflexes save her. When Moloch hears of it, he begins writing Dave's suicide note on the computer, and Fritz kills Dave by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
. In the library, Giles tells Buffy and Xander that demons can be imprisoned in books; if the books are read aloud, the demons are set free. Giles also explains that Moloch is an extremely powerful and seductive demon who "preys on impressionable minds", winning his victims over with false promises of love, glory and power; Dave and Fritz being two of his disciples. Together, they realize that Moloch has gotten into the internet - the scanning of his book being close enough to "reading" it to set him free - and is causing chaos from there. When Buffy tries to delete the "Moloch" file, his face appears and tells her to stay away from Willow, and Buffy realizes Malcolm is Moloch.
Buffy and Giles realise that there is no limit to the destruction that a demon could do through the Internet. After they find Dave's body, Xander and Buffy go to Willow's house, and Buffy tells Giles to ask Ms. Calendar for help, hoping that between his knowledge of demons and her knowledge of computers, they can reimprison Moloch. Willow is kidnapped by Fritz. Giles seeks help from Ms. Calendar, and is surprised that she is already aware of the demon in the Internet; she explains that she is a "technopagan". Buffy and Xander, guessing that Moloch had Willow kidnapped, rush off to CRD. Buffy calls Giles, and they coordinate plans. Inside CRD, Moloch's robotic body is prepared, and he is happy to see Willow. Moloch kills Fritz as a demonstration of his power and tries to entice Willow into his clutches, but she resists him, disappointing him. Buffy and Xander break into CRD as Giles and Ms. Calendar start preparing the binding spell. The binding spell does not complete, but casts Moloch out of the internet and traps him inside his robotic body. Enraged at losing his "omnipotence", Moloch crashes through a wall and attacks Buffy, Willow and Xander. After a brief battle, Buffy tricks Moloch into punching an electrical power line, causing his robotic body to explode and, presumably, destroying him for good.
The next day, Buffy, Willow and Xander joke about how the Hellmouth is screwing with their love lives, laughing about how none of them will ever find true happiness; suddenly, realising what they are laughing about, it ceases to be funny.
Production details
- "I, Robot… You, Jane" features the first appearance of Jenny Calendar. Although her first name was not mentioned, the script called her Nicki. However, the name was then changed to avoid confusion on the set, where the cast and crew all call Nicholas Brendon by his nickname, Nicky.
- The episode reached a Nielsen rating of 2.3 on its original airing.
Trivia
- We can notice that WillowWillow RosenbergWillow Rosenberg is a fictional character created for the fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed throughout the TV series by Alyson Hannigan...
has a picture of GilesRupert GilesRupert Giles is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head. He serves as Buffy Summers' mentor and surrogate father figure...
and herself in her locker. Much later on, in season four's "Where the Wild Things Are", she'd confess she had a crush on him during this period. - When Giles listens to the radio in his office, the voice speaking is actually the uncredited voice of Joss WhedonJoss WhedonJoseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
.
Cultural references
- The title of this episode is a play on the phrase "Me TarzanTarzanTarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
, You Jane", as well as a reference to I, RobotI, RobotI, Robot is a collection of nine science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov, first published by Gnome Press in 1950 in an edition of 5,000 copies. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines Super Science Stories and Astounding Science Fiction between 1940 and 1950. The stories are...
, a collection of science fiction short stories by Isaac AsimovIsaac AsimovIsaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
. - "My spider-sense is tingling": This is the phrase used by Marvel ComicsMarvel ComicsMarvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
hero Spider-ManSpider-ManSpider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
when he senses danger with his spider sense. The term has come into common usage meaning someone has a bad feeling about something. - The character named Dave may be a reference to Dave Bowman, the human protagonist in Arthur C. ClarkeArthur C. ClarkeSir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
's 2001: A Space Odyssey, who shuts down the AI computer system HAL 9000HAL 9000HAL 9000 is the antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction Space Odyssey saga. HAL is an artificial intelligence that interacts with the astronaut crew of the Discovery One spacecraft, usually represented as a red television-camera eye found throughout the ship...
. Also, when Giles and Ms Calender perform the binding ritual, the computer screen flashes a number of different colours, much like a scene near the end of the film version of A Space Odyssey2001: A Space Odyssey (film)2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
. - Giles' suggestion that they stop Moloch by means of a computer virusComputer virusA computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer to another. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability...
prompts a response from Jenny that he's seen way too many movies. This is likely a reference to the film Independence DayIndependence Day (film)Independence Day is a 1996 science fiction film about an alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance counterattack on July 4 – the same...
where the protagonists disable the defenses of alien invaders by introducing a computer virus into their system.
Errors
- When Moloch accesses Buffy's file, her birthday is listed as October 1980 and she is listed as a senior with a GPA of 3.4, then as a sophomore with a GPA of 2.8. When Chris pulls up her file immediately after that shot, her birthday is listed as May 1979 and listed as a senior.
- When Willow leaves her PC to go to the front door and is kidnapped - her computer clearly has a black screen with a message saying 'You have mail' on there - when Buffy and Xander go into her room - they find the PC screen opened, and the actual message saying that Moloch wants to meet Willow on there, instead of the rather ambiguous 'You have mail' one.
Continuity
- This episode first shows the interactions between technology and the supernatural, a theme which occurs multiple times later in the series, most notably in Season Four, with the creation of the human-demon-cyborg hybrid Adam.
- Season 5 episode "The Gift" Buffy's headstone states 1981 as her year of birth.
- This is one of only eight episodes of the series not to feature at least one vampire, the others being "WitchWitch (Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode)"Witch" is the third episode of the first season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . It serves as the show's first regular episode after the Pilot and originally aired in the United States on March 17, 1997, on The WB Television Network...
", "The Pack", "The Puppet ShowThe Puppet Show"The Puppet Show" is the ninth episode of season 1 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode was written by story editors Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali, and directed by Ellen S. Pressman. The Scooby Gang becomes involved in the school talent show through the mechanations of new...
", "Inca Mummy Girl", "Living Conditions", "Fear, Itself" and "Beer Bad"
Arc significance
- This episode introduces Jenny Calendar, who will later become the second adult member of the Scooby Gang, joining Giles. She will go on to play a major part in Season Two.
- Ms. Calender's flirtation with Giles at the end of this episode lays the groundwork for their relationship in Season Two.
- Buffy states: "Let's face it that none of us is ever gonna have a happy normal relationship." A foreshadowing of the whole series.