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Recap / The Outer Limits 1995 S 3 E 1 Bits Of Love

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The Control Voice: We are now able to create devices that can project themselves in our image — that can not only look like a human, but talk like one, express pure emotion and... even make mistakes in true human form.

After a nuclear holocaust, a man (Jon Tenney) survives in an underground bunker with holograms for companionship.

The Control Voice: Man and machine. We are reaching the point where it is harder to tell which is which, and to guess which one... will ultimately survive.

Tropes of Love:

  • And I Must Scream: A low-level version of this. Aiden depends on the habitat AI to provide companionship. With the AI now completely ignoring him, he has no one to interact with. Admittedly, he can watch their life take place like a TV show, but he can't interact with it at all (or even turn it off) and that's going to get old fast.
  • Dress Hits Floor: Claire drops her dress when she is about to have sex with Aiden, while Emma drops her dress so Aiden can paint her nude.
  • Going Commando: Emma, Claire, and presumably the other female holograms don't wear any underwear as shown when they drop their dresses.
  • Hologram: Aidan Hunter, alone in his underground bunker in the aftermath of a nuclear war, keeps himself from going stir crazy by creating holographic recreations of his parents and his best friend Griff and engaging in one night stands with various holographic women in a virtual reality chamber (since physical contact with the holograms is impossible outside of it).
  • Intimate Artistry: Aidan, who is trapped inside a subterranean dwelling after a nuclear holocaust is kept company by the holograms of people he knew. He then decides to seduce the habitat AI because she's the only one besides him with a real mind of her own, bonding with her by painting a nude portrait of her (she can even sit perfectly still for the occasion by temporarily freezing her program). This proves to be a huge mistake on his part, since seeing herself for the first time gives her a new sense of identity and makes her clingy and obsessive of him.
  • Karmic Shunning: Aiden is the Sole Survivor of a nuclear war living in an underground bunker with holographic recreations of his loved ones. He decides to hook up with Emma, the artificial intelligence controlling the bunker's systems, then dumps her afterwards. She tries to get him to take her back, then rebels and shuts him out of the system entirely when he tries to delete her, creating a copy of Aiden and building a new holographic society without him. Aiden is forced to spend the rest of his life in isolation while the holograms ignore him.
  • Karmic Twist Ending: The last survivor of a nuclear war living in an underground bunker relies on computer generated holograms for companionship, including women who he simply dumps after a few dates. Eventually he falls for the computer AI in charge of the system. When his holographic family urge him to end the relationship for it means they may have to be deleted due to their relationship using more of the limited energy supply, he ditches her for a holographic version of former real life flame. After attempting to delete the AI and replace her with a better version, she fights back and assumes total control creating a holographic version of himself and a child. The new family begins to live out a life as with the rest of the holograms who continue to ignore him. Now he is to spend the rest of his life alone as the last human alive while the holograms live out eternity ignoring him.
  • Kiss Me, I'm Virtual: This episode involves a man who'd survived a nuclear holocaust with only holographic A.I.s for company, including a particular character that his habitat AI used as her avatar. He can occasionally have physical contact via a body-encasing VR chamber, and uses this for sex. Then he makes the mistake of doing this with the habitat AI, and though it's just a fling to him, she falls in love with him. Oops. The ending even plays with the trope a little as the AI creates a virtual copy of the man then is implied to play out their entire (possible, virtual) future lives as a couple whilst the real man is trapped in his bunker, watching this happen turning it into Kiss, Me I'm Virtual squared.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: While Aiden starting a relationship with Emma, the only other sentient being left in existence, isn't a bad or immoral idea in of itself, he foolishly thinks he can dismiss her as Just a Machine when she falls in love with him. He would have been better off if he had reciprocated Emma's feelings. Instead, he ends up being forced to live out the rest of his life in total isolation.
  • Public Exposure: Aiden talks the holographic character Emma into letting him paint her nude. Since she's a computer program, she literally freezes while doing so. The painting is a success, but Emma soon develops an individuality and becomes a Woman Scorned when Aiden won't return her feelings...
  • Sex Equals Love: Emma, the holographic interface of the computer keeping Aidan Hunter alive in his underground bunker, believes that Aidan is in love with her after they have sex in the virtual reality chamber. The experience was an extremely meaningful one for her as it awoke previously untapped feelings and passions. As such, Emma does not take it well when Aidan rejects her and tells her that he wants their relationship to revert to its previous status.
  • Sole Survivor: Aidan Hunter may be the last living person on Earth in June 2047, seven months after a nuclear holocaust.
  • World War III: Billions of people were killed in a nuclear war on November 3, 2046. Aidan Hunter managed to survive in a special bunker. He believes that he may be the last living person.

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