I, Robot... You, Jane

"I, Robot...You, Jane" is the eighth episode of season 1 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode was written by staff writers Ashley Gable and Thomas A. Swyden, and directed by Stephen Posey. The episode originally aired on The WB on April 28, 1997.

In this episode, Buffy and Giles face a demon spirit who has been trapped since the Dark Ages and is unleashed into cyberspace. Meanwhile, Willow has fallen for a cyber-beau whom she met online and Xander and Buffy are wary of who this anonymous wooer may turn out to be.^[1]

During the 15th century in Cortona, Carlo pledges his love to the demon Moloch, who then kills him. Priests form the sacred Circle of Kayless to trap Moloch inside a book and seal it to prevent his return.

In the present day, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) opens the box containing the book, and Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) instructs her to set it aside. Meanwhile, a group of computer science students assists Jenny Calendar (Robia LaMorte) in scanning library books, during which she tries to persuade Giles that computers represent the future. After the students leave, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) remains to scan Moloch's book. After saving her work and leaving the library, the words "Where am I?" appear on the computer screen.

A week later at school, Willow tells Buffy that she has started an online relationship with a boy named Malcolm. Buffy warns Willow about the dangers of rushing into a relationship with someone she has never met. Meanwhile, Moloch eavesdrops on their conversation via webcam and orders Fritz to keep an eye on Buffy.

Xander (Nicholas Brendon) invites Willow to the Bronze, but she declines, wanting to talk to Malcolm instead. Buffy accuses Xander of jealousy, but he denies it, explaining that he is simply concerned because they do not know if Malcolm is who he claims to be. Meanwhile, Fritz repeats, "I'm jacked in," as he cuts an "M" into his arm.

The next day, when Willow is late for school, Buffy discovers she skipped classes to talk to Malcolm. Suspicious, Buffy asks Dave to help uncover Malcolm's true identity, but his angry reaction leads her to suspect he might be Malcolm. She turns to Giles for help, but he admits that computers intimidate him and suggests she follow Dave instead. As Buffy follows Dave to the CRD building, a security camera locks onto her, triggering a message on Fritz's computer screen: "Kill her."

Back in the library, Buffy and Giles are surprised when Xander identifies CRD as Calax Research and Development, a tech company that supposedly shut down. Xander finds it suspicious, noting he would have known if CRD had reopened, and they decide to investigate. When Ms. Calendar interrupts, she expresses surprise at how much time they spend in the library. Buffy and Xander make an excuse and quickly leave.

During an online chat with Malcolm, Willow becomes suspicious when he reveals he knows Buffy was expelled from her previous school. Immediately, she logs off. Meanwhile, Ms. Calendar calls Giles a snob due to his aversion to computers, and they begin to argue. Suddenly, she notices that the pages in Moloch's book are blank, prompting Giles to rush inside his office.

Outside school, Dave tells Buffy that Willow wants to meet her in the locker room as part of a plot to electrocute her. At the last moment, Dave has a change of heart and warns Buffy, allowing her to use her Slayer reflexes to avoid the trap. In response, Moloch begins composing a fake suicide note on Dave's computer, and Fritz kills him.

In the library, Giles explains to Buffy and Xander that Moloch is a powerful demon who seduces victims with false promises of love, power, and glory. In the Dark Ages, demons were sometimes imprisoned in books, but reading the text could release them. They conclude that Moloch was digitized when his book was scanned into the computer, allowing him to access the Internet. When Buffy attempts to delete the "Moloch" file, his face appears on the screen and warns her to stay away from Willow. Buffy realizes that "Malcolm" is actually Moloch.

After Buffy discovers Dave's body, she asks Giles to enlist Ms. Calendar's help so they can combine his knowledge of demons with her expertise in computers to imprison Moloch once again. Buffy and Xander head to Willow's house, where Fritz kidnaps her.

In the library, Giles is surprised by Ms. Calendar's familiarity with Moloch, and she reveals she is a technopagan. Meanwhile, Buffy and Xander find an email from Moloch on Willow's computer and head to the CRD building to search for her. Buffy contacts Giles to coordinate their plan.

Inside CRD, a team of technicians has constructed a robotic body for Moloch, who is pleased to see Willow. Moloch kills Fritz to demonstrate his power. Buffy and Xander break into the facility while Giles and Ms. Calendar prepare a binding spell that expels Moloch from the Internet and traps him in his robotic body. When Moloch attacks, Buffy tricks him into striking a high-voltage power line, causing him to explode.

The next day, Giles returns an earring he found in the library to Ms. Calendar, sharing his fondness for the smell of books. She surprises him by responding flirtatiously. Meanwhile, Willow feels down over Malcolm being a demon. Buffy tries to cheer her up by reminding her that the guy she liked turned out to be a vampire, while Xander confesses he once had a crush on a giant praying mantis. They joke that the Hellmouth is messing with their love lives, but their laughter soon fades into uneasy silence.

The title simultaneously refers to Isaac Asimov's I, Robot and Tarzan the Ape Man, in which Tarzan allegedly says, "Me Tarzan, you Jane."^[1]

Xander quotes, "With a Little Help from My Friends," the title of the 1967 song by The Beatles.

Buffy tells Giles, "My spider sense is tingling," Spider-Man's catchphrase.

"I, Robot... You, Jane" was first broadcast on The WB on April 28, 1997. It received a Nielsen rating of 2.3 on its original airing.^[2]

Vox ranked it at #142 on their "Every Episode Ranked From Worst to Best" list of all 144 episodes (to mark the 20th anniversary of the show), writing, "The internet is possessed by a demon robot, and wow are we in 1997. 'I, Robot' is the first episode to really spotlight Willow, and she's such a lovely and complex character that saddling her with this piece of '90s low kitsch is a bit of a letdown. On the plus side, it also introduces us to Jenny Calendar."^[3]

Noel Murray of The A.V. Club was critical of the episode, giving it a grade of D+ because it was "corny, tonally off and lacking even the illusion of depth that other slack episodes have provided in Season One". He felt that it was "frustrating in its lack of extra levels, because there are so many places that episode could've gone", and also found some "odd" things about the episode, such as the sudden appearance of other students in the library. However, he was positive towards the final scene and Ms. Calendar.^[4] DVD Talk's Phillip Duncan was more positive, writing that "What could have easily been a silly plot is made all the better with an excellent set-up, the introduction of another key player, and the continued focus on characters other than Buffy."^[5] A review from the BBC was also positive, writing, "Although the plot is rather tired and seems to belong to the Cyberspace-obsessed eighties, it's given a unique Buffy The Vampire Slayer spin or three to create a very satisfying episode." The review praised the focus on Willow and the way Moloch was presented.^[6]

Rolling Stone ranked "I, Robot... You, Jane" at #129 on their "Every Episode Ranked From Worst to Best" list, writing there are only a few times when Buffy the Vampire Slayer is actively bad, "but sadly, this episode here is one of them. Our first Willow-centric episode (and by far the weakest) is so tragically 1990s it’s almost laughable. A demon has escaped into the internet, intent on wreaking havoc while amassing followers, including Willow, who is unaware of his true identity. Everyone’s favorite soon-to-be-witch deserved so much better than this, but thankfully, her character would undergo infinitely more exploration in the future."^[7]

"I, Robot... You, Jane" was ranked at #131 on Paste Magazine's "Every Episode Ranked" list^[8] and #133 on BuzzFeed's "Ranking Every Episode" list.^[9]

1.^ The website This Day in Quotes explains, "It's a misquote because Weissmuller didn't actually say the line in that film or any of the other Tarzan movies he starred in between 1932 and 1948. Nor does the line "Me Tarzan, you Jane" appear in any of the original Tarzan stories or books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. But Weissmuller did say it, jokingly, in an interview published in the June 1932 issue of Photoplay magazine. He told the Photoplay reporter: "I didn't have to act in Tarzan, the Ape Man — just said, 'Me Tarzan, you Jane.' After that, his quip became an oft-used comic catchphrase that many people mistakenly assume came from one of Weissmuller's Tarzan movies."^[10]

Wikiquote has quotations related to I, Robot… You, Jane.

• "I, Robot... You, Jane" at IMDb