The Host Bot Relationship. What is it exactly and does it change? Joel was the father and the bots the children. Mike the older brother teased though respected by Tom and Crow. Jonah the younger brother somewhat respected and occasionally accepted. And Emily the babysitter who’s too cool for school though so far the bots rule the roost. In Season 13, I picked up an indifference of Jonah and Joel towards the bots. Jonah in 1304 exasperated by their behavior post-Munchie (1992) and Joel scooting the bots outside of earshot so he could discuss The Escape Plan with the other Hosts. Emily herself is dismissive to the bots sometimes in a way new to the show. These may be situational but they imply a playfulness to the boundaries of Host Bot relations I haven’t quite seen before. What do you think? To now or what came before.
I think food would be a game changer
I don’t quite follow.
I think in all of the seasons those relationships are occasionally thrown out the window for the expedience of the segment or story line. That explains the dismissiveness towards the bots around the escape plan for me. Some of what made the relationships feel different in past seasons may also have had to do with different writers for those seasons. Now we have multiple hosts interacting in the same season, with the same writers, so perhaps a bit of their individuality gets lost as a result.
Regardless, I think they have really managed to capture Emily’s unique relationship with the bots, which you summed up well. It does indeed have the feel of a babysitter who has lost control of her wards.
They tried that. Apparently the market volatility of the veal industry shut down their first endeavor, and that cheese factory thing did not turn out very well either…
True. There were exceptions and momentary blips of norms during the classic run. Here in Season 13, it may just be that or perhaps where Jonah and Joel are now as characters in addition to the writing. Jonah this Season seems a little worse for wear as a person. The years on the SOL have finally gotten to him somewhat and Joel as an older man back in the experiment after all this time? These factors could be the reads to those reactions more than anything else. Still it raised the question. At least with me.
I think you broke it down very well Bruce. So, I’m just gonna say my favorite Host/bot relationship would be Mike and the bots. I love the fact that Mike kinda becomes the bots foil. They make fun of him. Very playfully, but it kind of puts him on equal footing with them. While Joel is revered by them, Mike is, well, one of them!