An android nanny is programmed to protect children from harm, but gets involved in a romantic triangle between the husband and his abused wife, while showing signs of flawed programming.
Opening narration
| "Our children need protecting from much more than physical harm. Just as threatening to the fragile child are the dangers of the mind... and the dangers of the heart." |
Plot
The Innobotics Corporation has decided that sexual companion robots are too dangerous and discontinued their development, but as a result, the company has started to stagnate. On a board meeting, Charlie Bouton introduces Mary 25, a robot with the same appearance as Valerie 23 but designed to care for children, as a solution. His boss Mrs. Janus, still disgusted by the incident with Valerie 23, is distrustful of the project and doesn't want to support Charlie so he offers to let Mary care for his own children. Mary 25 replaces the household's current nanny Carmen Ortega. She is designed not to allow anyone to harm the children, including the children themselves. When they start fighting amongst themselves, Mary places them in separate rooms and doesn't allow them to meet even when Teryl, their mother and Charlie's wife, returns home and tells her to give way.
Teryl wants Mary out of the house but Charlie dismisses it and uses physical violence against Teryl without hesitation. Instead of elimination of Mary, he has started using the unresponsive Mary as a sex toy when the others are asleep. It becomes clear that Charlie has been abusing Teryl when the children ask Mary "Why does Daddy hurt Mommy?" It is then revealed that Teryl and Melburn had a relationship once and Melburn still has feelings for Teryl by trying to protect her from Charlie. He then re-programs Mary so that she now considers that by hurting the mother, Charlie is hurting the children.
One night when Charlie is beating Teryl, Mary comes in, strangles Charlie and breaks his neck. In the aftermath, Mary 25 is dismantled, the first nanny Carmen has been rehired and the spark is rekindled between Teryl and Melburn. However, Teryl's dark secret is discovered: the real Teryl that Melburn loved was killed by Charlie and replaced by Valerie 24, a successor to the defunct Valerie 23. She had used Mary to get rid of Charlie because she believed Melburn would love her. It also explains why Teryl did not remember her history with Melburn. The final scene shows the robot grinning while Melburn is frightened.
Closing narration
| "Let us hope that no technology will ever exist that can replace human warmth and compassion. For when such a technology does exist, will we cease to be human?" |
Notes
- This episode is a direct sequel to "Valerie 23". It features some of the same characters and the same fictional corporation, Innobotics.
- Although Charlie's surname is Bouton in this episode, it was Rogers in "Valerie 23".
Cast
- Sofia Shinas as Mary 25 / Valerie 23
- Cynthia Geary as Teryl Bouton
- Tom Butler as Charlie Bouton
- Britt McKillip as Brook Bouton
- Matthew Prior as Brandon Bouton
- Patricia Mayen Salazar as Carmen Ortega
- Michael Shanks as Melburn Ross
- Paula Shaw as Mrs. Janus
- Ian Robinson as Grant Kildale
- Mike Dopud as Vince Scarbari (uncredited)
- Kevin Conway as the Control Voice (voice)
Appearing in archive footage
- William Sadler as Frank Hellner
- Nancy Allen as Rachel Rose
| Innobotics Corporation | "Valerie 23" • "Resurrection" • "The Hunt" • "Mary 25" • "In Our Own Image" | |
| Major John Skokes | "Quality of Mercy" • "The Light Brigade" | |
| Alien Infiltration | "Birthright" • "The Voice of Reason" | |
| Strong Brothers Investigate Conspiracies | "The Voice of Reason" • "A Special Edition" | |
| Dr. Theresa Givens' Time Machine | "A Stitch in Time" • "Better Luck Next Time" • "Final Appeal" | |
| Genetic Rejection Syndrome | "Unnatural Selection" • "Criminal Nature" | |
| The New Masters | "The Camp" • "Promised Land" | |
| Dr. Martin Nodel | "Double Helix" • "The Origin of Species" | |
| USAS | "The Joining" • "The Vessel" • "In the Blood" | |
| Earth Coalition-Free Alliance Conflict | "Phobos Rising" • "The Human Factor" • "Human Trials" | |
| Jack the Ripper | "Ripper" • "Better Luck Next Time" | |
| Nicholas Prentice | "Tribunal" • "Gettysburg" • "Time to Time" | |