A blue-collar repo woman discovers and befriends an escaped android.
Opening narration
| "When we are able to instill a machine with human emotions, will we then instill it with a soul?" |
Plot
Mona Lisa 37X (Laura Harris) is an artificial human, an android. She was built by the Quantitron Corporation and is equipped with GPS, Chomsky language acquisition, an ability to access the Internet, extreme strength and the ability to start any electronic equipment, such as cars or ATMs. Her abilities are meant for assassination missions, but Mona Lisa escapes her facility in order to pursue a life in which she is free to choose how she lives her life.
While wandering, Mona meets Teddi Madden (Rachel Ticotin) as she is repossessing a vehicle. Mona befriends Teddi because Teddi is the first human to be kind to her. Teddi is hesitant to help her when she discovers that Mona is an artificial human but they eventually become friends and go on the run to help Mona escape. Teddi reveals that her daughter has been kidnapped by her ex-husband, and Mona uses her abilities to track her down. While tapped into the Internet, Mona is infected with a virus by her creators and begins to break down, slowly becoming inoperative.
Mona and Teddi drive to Teddi's ex-husband's trailer where he meets Teddi and threatens to kill her. While impaired, Mona is still able to physically restrain him, but stops short of killing him when Teddi pleads with her not to murder people, despite her programming. Teddi and Mona are left to wait for Teddi's daughter before they can flee, but Mona stays behind to allow Teddi and her daughter to get away. Mona self-destructs by taking an electric shock to her system, leaving her nonfunctional body to be found by the scientist who made her.
Closing narration
| "When our machines are smart enough to be as destructive as a human, perhaps they will also love like one as well." |
Notes
- Timothy Webber previously appeared in "In Our Own Image", which also involved an escaped android who began to explore their humanity.
- Mona refers to the 1984 film Repo Man and its star Emilio Estevez. In one of his first television appearances, Estevez's father Martin Sheen played Private Arthur Dix in the original series episode "Nightmare".
- This is the only episode written by John Schulian.
Cast
- Rachel Ticotin as Theodora "Teddi" Madden
- Laura Harris as Mona Lisa 37X
- Timothy Webber as Dr. Willard Haley
- Dean Wray as Alvin Madden
- Michael David Simms as The Administrator
- Dax Belanger as Security Guard
- Mark Brandon as The Gentleman
- Biski Gugushe as Chief Technician David
- Derek Morrison as Deadbeat
- Michael P. Northey as Vern
- Rick Poltaruk as Banjo
- James Ralph as Ominous Man
- Sylvesta Stuart as Ominous Man
- Julia Tortolano as Amanda Madden
- Ashlea Earl as Stunt Double for Laura Harris (uncredited)
- Kevin Conway as the Control Voice (voice)