Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams. Episode 5, Real Life.

Director,  Jeffrey Reiner. 

Writer, Ronald D. Moore. 

Starring Anna Paquin as Sarah, Terrence Howard as George, Rachelle Lefevre as Katie.   

Production and Design.

First of all, I’m happy that we now have an American episode in this series. My brain can only imagine that America is the setting for all of Philip K. Dick’s work. However, I should start to think differently about this. I enjoy a good retina shot, and I was happy to see it used in this episode. However, I felt uneasy with the glossiness and distinctive look of the show, but it was supposed to look like a perfect world, to show the distinction between the two realities we are shown. I’m a big fan of some of Ronald D Moore’s work, so I was happy to learn he had directed this episode, and couldn’t help thinking about those same aesthetics that he used in Battlestar Galactica. Unfortunately, Real Life didn’t seem to have the same beauty as some of the previous episodes and felt less appealing somehow. However, it served the story very well.

Story.

Sarah’s life is in ruins. Well her mind is. Her life looks pretty sweet to be fair. She has a hot girlfriend, a beautiful home, and all the benefits of living in a modern utopia. Unfortunately, grief and guilt are something you can’t remove in the future, or can you? Sarah is suffering mentally from a massacre that occurred fifteen years earlier, in which her colleagues were killed. Heavy stuff for the police officer, and this is when Sarah’s girlfriend has found the perfect way for her to escape that pain for a while. A virtual reality vacation, that is built on your secret desires. Disney World, Paris, or a nice Luxury? No, Sarah’s secret desire is to become a man whose wife has been kidnapped and killed, fantastic.

In the other reality, that man is George. The only problem is that George also believes his reality is real, and that’s when the story begins to turn on its head. It isn’t long before Sarah starts to think her reality is not what it seems, and by the end of her vacation, she believes it’s her life that is fake. She, he? Cuts the route for Sarah to go back to her life. Unfortunately, Sarah’s partner stands over her in the virtual studio, and she has committed virtual reality suicide. Was her reality real life, or not?

Conclusion.

I will be honest, I felt nothing about this episode at first, but I started to think about it in more depth as time went on. That is definitely a sign of Philip K. Dick’s writing style, and I am happy about that. Back to the story, and I didn’t mention earlier, that it was George, who created this virtual reality headset. After much thinking, I do believe it is George, that is living the real life. Why? Well, I believe it is George who is trying to escape the pain of the murder of his wife, and in the alternative reality, it still creates the grief in the form of the massacre. However, I could be completely wrong, and I accept that. I also noticed that Sarah’s reality looped a few times in the diner, and I didn’t notice that happening in George’s reality. Then something happened in my brain that blew my mind a little further. What if the technology inside the headset had created its own reality, and it was capable of creating life. I mean, what is reality? Maybe Sarah’s girlfriend is really grieving at the end? This question is so relevant in today’s world as we delve deeper into artificial life. A week after watching this episode, I can say it’s one of the best episodes in the series up to now and it was very pleasing. However, it also felt a lot smaller in scope, compared to its predecessors.

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