Summary
Serving plenty of monologues, Anthony Mackie leads episode 2 — a story about inveitable death and the memories we cherish. The second chapter relies on sci-fi tropes, but the story’s emotions are key to its success.
This recap of Amazon Original series Solos season 1, episode 2, “Tom,” contains spoilers.
There’s definitely a theme in the first two episodes of Solos. The resistance to grieve and “move on” centers the story. Episode 2 shows a character that is afraid of what he’s going to leave behind and how life will be for his family once he is no longer there. It’s mostly an episode of monologues that makes the experience powerful.
Episode 2 opens with Tom (played by Anthony Mackie) angry with a robot that looks like him — the robot calls it “reunion,” but this is not how the lead character imagined it. Although he is frustrated, it’s clear that Tom hasn’t got much time left as he ends up in a coughing fit — he’s going to die soon. The robot criticizes the original version and calls him an arsehole. Tom rings customer care to complain about his robot, claiming that he looks or acts nothing like him. He asks for a full refund.
Let’s make the most of it
Tom learns that his robot spoke to his mother and wants to know what was said — the robot lists all the things his mother said, but more importantly, she wonders why he hasn’t called her for five months. Tom expresses that “he’s leaving” in 4-5 months, but the robot tells him he isn’t leaving and that it is not his choice. The robot tells him that they have 15-minutes left, so they need to make the most of it. At this point, it is evident that Tom has purchased a robot to continue his life after he dies.
Kelly
The robot wants to understand who Tom is — he asks how he met his wife, Kelly. Tom tells him that Kelly is allergic to meat, but it doesn’t mean she is vegetarian — “she just gets a nasty rash afterward.” He describes Kelly more, and the pained expression on his face reveals how much he loves her. It becomes a reminiscing phase for Tom as he begins to cry, and he states, “I love her more than me”. Tom explains he purchased a robot because he didn’t want her to be alone.
The kids
The conversation turns to the children — Tom calls one of his children a genius and really kind. There’s plenty of goosebumps moments in Tom’s monologue as his robot succinctly listens. Tom tells his robot to be really strong for this family and then talks about Peg, a little girl he adopted — he calls her strong and shows his robot the secret handshake.
The ending
As the conversation begins to close, the robot tells Tom that he’s nervous that he will do something wrong. Tom tells him if he does something wrong, he will be just like him — he fears his family will forget him, but the robot says he will make little changes so they won’t. Time runs out, and Tom now feels at ease — he thinks it feels right. The robot apologizes for calling him an arsehole and raises how Tom is a human being, which isn’t easy. He expresses that he is glad he got Tom.
Serving plenty of monologues, Anthony Mackie leads Solos season 1, episode 2 — a story about inveitable death and the memories we cherish. The second chapter relies on sci-fi tropes, but the story’s emotions are key to its success.
