Witness… The Intelligent Artifice

Believe it or not, “The Second Singularity” did not come from a desire to reprimand the surge of A.I.-related products that seem to be spamming both the news and pop culture these days. I wasn’t watching the opening to Secret Invasion and muttering, “What the fuck,” over and over again to myself (if anything, I was muttering that because I was stunned how a classic comic book storyline could turn into such a mediocre live action adaptation). My support of the WGA and SAG strikes didn’t inspire me to concoct a scathing takedown of the concept of A.I. that would show the producers the light and make them realize how asshole-y they were being. No, I wanted to write about one thing and one thing only, and it just happened to be in a tale about robots.

I wanted to write about FOMO.

I get mad FOMO (“fear of missing out,” for those not in the know and have been getting FOMO over whatever FOMO means), especially for things that I am not even designated to be a part of. That’s not a unique trait, but that doesn’t make the FOMO any less irritating. Maybe it comes with the territory of being a writer, but there’s this innate curiosity within me to know what’s going on with everybody at all times. These people were hanging out without me? Well then, I must know what activities they experienced, so I may either A) live vicariously through anecdotes and understand any inside jokes that may crop up, or B) realize, eh, I wouldn’t have wanted to be a part of that anyway. Or, it has nothing to do with writing, and it’s just all a byproduct of low self-esteem and worry over the concept that people don’t really like me. Ain’t insecurity and anxiety grand?! Woo!

Why, though, in order to express any discomfort with FOMO, would I choose to use robots as the vessel with which to express it? Honestly? There was no reason. It was simply luck of the draw. Sometimes, the theme presents itself as I am writing the script. Other times, I decide what I want to be at the heart of the story, only to see that change over the course of writing. And other times still, that planned theme sticks around with no problems whatsoever. That’s what happened with “Singularity.”

This episode, by the way, wasn’t even part of the original plan for Season 4, or for that matter, the series as a whole! I can’t even say if it was a gleam in my writer’s eye when I began mapping out what the loosely planned six seasons would look like, around summertime 2021, a few months after S1 ended. In fact, I wrote a whole complicated episode with the intention of it being in S4, only to backtrack on that plan once I realized, eh, there was a big gender disparity going on, and decided to bump that eppy into S5 in order to make room for more diversity.

My original 6-season plan for WiYW…

The redacted titles are ones I still have planned, while the visible genre ideas might be in the cards for the future? I’ll never tell…

As is the case sometimes, “Singularity,” while a late addition to my list of potential titles to tackle, was a concept that was hard to get off my mind and made my fingertips restless to type it out on a keyboard. I wanted to present a typical domestic family with typical domestic family issues, only they would be sentient machines and their pet/adopted child would be a human being. It needed to be done! And sure enough, it was, and fairly quickly, too.

Only the ending of the first draft was greatly disappointing upon rereading it some time later. In the original ending, instead of a glimpse of the full-on human uprising, the action continued to take place in the home of Ann, Rob and Cy. Rob had passed away (or been shut down) off screen due to catching a virus while having an affair with another robot (har har har, UGH), and Cy was more repentant for his shitty teenaged ways of the past. However, Hugh would soon return with a pack of humans in tow, seeing revenge against the family that hurt him. He had no plans to take back the planet; he was just spiteful. He dismantled Cy and threatened to do the same to Ann, but Ann distracted him with love and electrocuted him with the cord she had almost used to “feed” Hugh when he was a baby the night she first brought him home. Dramatic irony! (?)

Yeah, not my best work. For one, Hugh was suddenly and all out villain? He literally talked like a Bond antagonist, cocky and mocking, and yeah, it was delightfully over the top, but it brought up a bigger issue with the script: there was no point of view. I decided that if the story was told from Hugh’s perspective— with, of course, some leeway here or there when he was not in the room— the whole thing would feel more centered, and I think that was pulled off for the most part. I don’t know, you tell me.

Recording took place in mid-September, 2023, at Dylan’s house. Going into the session, it looked like everyone would be able to attend, which, for a cast of five, would be kind of a big deal. I don’t even think every Zoom recording session with a cast that size or more successfully had everyone take part, save for maybe a handful during the first and second seasons combined. For that to happen for the third ever in-person recording was a big deal for me. However, Grace Orriss, who was cast as Ann, had a last minute emergency and had to bow out a couple hours before we were due to start rolling. So close! But as I often say, life comes before stupid and silly li’l’ podcasts. And as usual, there was no rush to get everything done, so it didn’t matter too much.

Besides, Grace was able to do a solo recording session a week later, so it all worked out in a short amount of time.

Clockwise from left: me, Alem Bulcha (Cy), Shailen Parmar (Hugh), Alex Jackson (Rob), Julia Cinnamon (IMA).

Yes, I’m wearing a Mr. Robot shirt. I’m shamelessly gimmicky.

As it stands, “Singularity” is probably the most complex episode I’ve had to edit. You have voice filters on all five of the performers for the majority of the runtime; you have a plethora of mechanical sound effects, both small and large, subtle and extravagant; and you have characters who don’t need oxygen, so you have to go through all their dialogue and remove anything that sounds like a breath, which, sure, is easier to pull off than it sounds, but it’s still a lot of work. And it’s also impossible to pull off fully, as so many spoken letters or words involve some helping of air in their pronunciation, but I’ll just chalk that up to an emulation program found in every robotic being living in this fictional future.

Now, here’s a fun little tidbit for you: “The Second Singularity” was meant to be episode 5 for this season. My original plan was to have the episode order parallel the first season’s episode order in some ways. “The Map Makers” stars three men, whereas “The Homecoming Queen” stars three women, and “The Evil Twin” is a twisty, turny crime-adjacent thriller dealing with potential secret identities, not unlike “The Wrong Button,” only that involved spies instead of police. “Singularity” was meant to line up with “The Eurydice Rescue,” as both were science-fiction tales; “Eurydice” also had a robotic character! However, as it became more and more apparent that S4’s delay was going to be indefinite, my patience over getting some goddamn content out there was wearing thin. Plus, I had three episodes in the can, and performers and artists who deserved to hear/see their incredible work on display. So I said fuck it to my self-mandated rules and made “Singularity” episode 3. I think the world is better for it.

With its release, though, we have now reached the end of the first part of Season 4. At the time of this entry’s publication, the vocals for one of the remaining episode are finished (minus any retakes that may be needed), and the other two are in the process of being scheduled. I don’t want to make any promises, but my hope is that they’ll be out by August at the latest. That’s what I’m going to aim for, anyway. Fingers crossed that everything works out for that to happen, but rest assured, they won’t be released without letting you, dear listener, know. I wouldn’t want you to get FOMO, after all.

—Andy

Alem does some improvised baby talk.