Do Androids Dream of Electric Lesbians? (Gene of AI ep. 8)

Gene of AI continues to be one of my favorite shows, a glimpse into a possible near future. Episode 8 took a little bit of flak from viewers, however. Not to the degree that certain other shows, best consigned to the dustbin of obliteration, have garnered. But just a bit, for its portrayal of LGBTQ themes in episode 8, “Confession.” Now, not for the reason you might think (although there was some of that flak as well), but let me lay out the scenario before getting to the reason I have in mind.

Spoilers for up to and including episode 8 from here on out. You have been warned!

Not gonna lie: the show pulled the wool over my eyes. I thought the “confession” in the title was going to be Risa, Dr. Sudo’s humanoid assistant, confessing her affection for Sudo. Instead, we’re shown the circumstances leading up to and following from Miyoshi Reon, aka “Breezy”, confessing to Risa.

Both women met through doing community service projects together and became drinking buddies and friends. But Miyoshi has secretly developed feelings for Risa; this was hinted at in an earlier episode after they talked about Risa’s crush on Sudo, and then Miyoshi muttered to herself that she hoped at least one of the two women could be happy.

In “Confession”, Risa sees Miyoshi visit Sudo’s clinic and wants to know what the matter is. Miyoshi wants Sudo to remove her attraction to Risa, but of course she’s not going to up and tell Risa that. Risa pesters Miyoshi until the latter admits that she likes someone, and then pesters her further until finally Miyoshi admits that she loves Risa.

It’s frustrating to watch Risa’s naiveté: she supposedly cares about her friend—who did just visit the doctor, after all, so it’s understandable that she’s concerned—but she’s also clearly pushing past the boundaries that Miyoshi has set up to protect herself and their friendship. And the pain is evident in Miyoshi’s smile every step of the way: she knows what’s going to happen, but what’s she supposed to do when Risa turns on the guilt and declares, “Breezy, you’re always shutting me out! You never talk about yourself.”? At that point, she either has to keep her walls up at the risk of frustrating Risa and driving her away, or admit the truth and risk losing their friendship that way. (A third and entirely understandable option would be to lie, but Miyoshi seems unwilling to do that.)

With the truth out in the open, Risa is shocked and asks if they can still be friends. Miyoshi answers, “Right now, I can’t say for sure. I’m sorry.” Kudos to Miyoshi for setting her boundaries again even after Risa has stomped all over them.

But Miyoshi herself isn’t entirely in the clear either, it seems to me. After all, the show makes clear there are other humanoid doctors around, so why did she go to the very clinic that Risa works at? She had to know that Risa would be startled and ask questions. I mean, it’s possible that her insurance considered Dr. Sudo the only in-network provider, but the show says nothing of the kind. Breezy’s kind of setting herself up here, and seems to be a bit manipulative. I don’t know what her game plan was, though, since driving Risa to ask questions defeats the purpose of all the walls she built to protect her privacy in the first place. But love is complicated.

And now we get to the million dollar question: What is Miyoshi going to do? Is she going to have her romantic feelings turned off, or decide to live with and deal with them? And the answer… is a resounding “We have no idea.” Yep, the show cuts us off right before she makes her decision. Sudo asks, “Are you sure you want to go through with this?” And Miyoshi looks up, with tears in her eyes, and says, “Doctor… I…” And we cut to the ending!

So that’s what people were upset about. She could have been about to say, “Doctor, I can’t go through with this.” Or, equally possibly, “Doctor, I can’t go on like this.” Or even, though less likely, “Doctor, I can see a piece of broccoli in your teeth.” Personally, I like to think that she chose not to have the change made, but gave Risa the impression that she had; this allows her to restore her privacy and boundaries, and to keep that piece of her humanity that love is, despite the pain that it entails, along with her friendship. But at the end of the day, we don’t know.

However, upon reflection, I think there’s a justifiable reason (which is good) and even maybe a meta reason (which is cool) for ending the episode this way. For one thing, Gene of AI has always been about raising questions and then leaving us to answer them for ourselves; this is just another way of doing so. It would have been hard to have us see her answer and not draw some conclusion about what the series wants us to choose. And for another, by leaving us out of the loop, the story restores to Miyoshi what she had lost—her privacy.

The last moments of the show make this poignantly clear. I lied when I said it cuts directly from Miyoshi to the ending; in between, we get just a couple moments of Risa standing outside the door, waiting in ignorance. By watching Miyoshi and prying, even passively, into her life, we viewers have become analogous to Risa; and now, like Risa, we are left outside, ignorant of a decision that really is between a woman and her doctor.