I was fascinated by Annie’s awakening of what it means to be real/human/sentient and the framing of how a relationship can look lovely on the surface and yet involve abuse and control that eventually suffocates one half of a couple.

The techs working on Annie kept harping about how good of an owner Doug is, but at the end of the day, he still sees and treats Annie as a ln object at the mercy of his whims and moods. Him being able to change her appearance at the drop of a hat without even pretending to consult her over her appearance infuriated me so much. She was only allowed to share her feelings and some semblance of her truth at his discretion to avoid pissing him off. It creeped me out so much, which obviously was intentional.

However, I found it bizarre that Annie was physically modeled on her owner’s Black ex-wife. There’s definitely a discussion to be had there, especially in light of the fact that Doug made her lighter-skinned and changed her hair to avoid her being a carbon copy of the ex. Also he mentioned being really into the fact that his ex was Black, which…like…fetish much?

It’s telling that she began avoiding him in their relationship, likely cuz she realized he was manipulative and controlling like he is with Annie. I wish we could have met her at some point in the story, but I don’t blame her for walking away and not looking back!