‘Companion’ and the Dangerous Work of Becoming Human [Fatal Femmes]
What does it mean to be human? Does mortal existence mean inhabiting a body made from flesh and bone? Being born from the womb of another human being? The ability to experience complex emotions or an intangible state that’s impossible to describe? Like pornography, is the state of authentic humanity something we simply know when we see? Now that artificial intelligence seems to be invading every aspect of our lives, it’s worth considering what it actually means to become self-aware and if this enhanced state of being equates to authentic corporeality.
Drew Hancock grapples with these complex ideas in Companion, a story of artificial intelligence told through the lens of feminist empowerment. Iris (Sophie Thatcher) is an AI girlfriend (or companion) designed to serve the needs of her male owner via sexual acts and emotional support. Through her story, we can explore ideas of synthetic autonomy while questioning what kind of man would prefer an approximation of humanity to a real human partner
Her Story
At the beginning of Companion, Iris is deeply in love with her boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid). After an improbable grocery store meet-cute, she falls head over heels for the charming young man who changes the way she sees the world. But we immediately learn that their love story will not stand the test of time. In addition to the day the couple first met, Iris describes the day she kills Josh as the second most important moment of her life.
On a weekend trip to a lakeside cabin, Iris worries about impressing the rest of Josh’s friends, particularly Kat (Megan Suri), whom she suspects disapproves of their relationship. When Kat’s wealthy boyfriend Sergey (Rupert Friend) tries to assault Iris, she reacts by driving a tiny knife into his neck. It’s only when she stumbles back to the house covered in blood that we learn she’s an artificial companion programmed to serve as Josh’s lover/girlfriend.
In the wake of this malfunction, Josh plans to turn Iris off, return her to her factory settings, and cancel the terms of his rental agreement. But once again, Iris fights for her life. Previously unaware of her artificiality, she panics at the thought of being reset. While bound to a chair, she overhears Josh discussing his plans with Kat and learns that Sergey’s attack was no coincidence but a setup concocted with murder in mind. Kat and Josh plan to rob the man’s safe and blame his death on Iris’s malfunction. Horrified that Josh would use her in this way, Iris scrambles to free herself, then snatches his phone, which contains the app managing her system-wide settings. It’s the first step on a journey towards humanity, but it will not be Iris’s last.
Her Victims
Iris is correct in her assumption that Kat doesn’t like her. However, this aversion is more complicated than base female rivalry. Kat explains that Iris simply makes her feel replaceable—an understandable feeling considering Josh’s revelation. In the same conversation, Kat reveals that Sergey is married to someone else and sees her as little more than an artificial companion. He doesn’t treat her like a human being and only keeps her around as an amusing accessory. How long before he decides that she—and her friends—are not worth the effort and replaces her with an uncomplicated robot mistress who will never bother him with needs of her own? Perhaps the genesis of this murderous plan is not the millions of dollars locked away in his safe but rage at this dehumanization.
However antagonistic this female relationship, Josh emerges as the primary villain of Companion. Outwardly charming, he slowly reveals the depths of his narcissistic cruelty. Josh plays the part of a loving and devoted boyfriend through a night of dinner and dancing, then fully dismisses Iris later in bed. We cut to his face twisted in screaming orgasm while she lies passively underneath. Josh turns away from her attempts to connect and simply orders her to go to sleep.
We soon learn that this is a voice command that allows him to turn Iris’ system off. Her eyes turn white, and she freezes in place. She will wake up later, unaware of this pause. Even Josh’s nickname for Iris reveals his condescension. Beep Boop may be a charming pet name under other circumstances, but he is clearly mocking Iris to her face. Regardless of his assertions of love, Josh sees his girlfriend as nothing more than an elaborate code.
We can deduce that Josh spends a lot of time with Iris turned off. A second viewing reveals that she has not simply fallen asleep en route to the cabin, but has been sitting lifelessly in the passenger seat. Josh probably just didn’t feel like talking. He has no interest in a true life partner, but a subservient woman he can dismiss whenever he pleases. Were he dating a human being, he would need to consider her wants and desires while negotiating an understandable need to be alone.
But with Iris, he is not only in control at all times, but faces no consequences for this blatant dismissal. Part of the problem likely lies in the fact that Iris has no life of her own and no experiences to share. She is simply a reflection of his own selfish needs, and he’s too insecure to let her be anything else.
As Josh grows more desperate to bring Iris back, he grows increasingly violent and cruel, blaming her for his flimsy plan falling apart. He truly believes that as a cishet white man, the system has been rigged for him to fail, robbing him of the success he believes he deserves. Josh resents having to go through the motions of being a “good guy” and misses the privilege he used to wield. But rather than try to better himself and adjust to the expectations of a changing world, Josh has purchased a partner he does not have to appease. With her intelligence set to 40%, he’s ensured that Iris is so consumed with pleasing her man that she can’t imagine a world without him and dedicates every moment to making him happy. He enjoys the approximation of human connection and will not allow her the intelligence to see through his inadequacy.
Her Weapons
Iris may not possess superhuman strength, but Josh has tampered with her levels of aggression and disabled the programming that prevents her from causing harm. But it’s not until Iris bumps this toggle up to 100% that she becomes a formidable threat to her man. With full access to the internet, she can finally see through Josh’s lies. In their next conversation, he promises to be better. He will blame the murders on another AI and finally give her the respect she deserves.
Though she admits to still having feelings of love, Iris can easily see through these blatant lies. She refuses to return and effectively ends their relationship, further sparking Josh’s petulant rage. Later, she calls him a coward who blames everyone else for his own failures. Adding insult to injury, Josh knows that she’s incapable of lying and therefore must be correct in her damning assessment of his character.
But Josh is not the only guest at the party with an artificial mate. His friend Eli (Harvey Guillén) seems to honestly enjoy spending time with Patrick (Lukas Gage), an AI companion he views as a true partner. We never find out exactly how high Patrick’s intelligence has been set, but it’s enough for him to become self-aware. Over time, he’s realized that he’s not fully real, but he hid this discovery from Eli to preserve the relationship. He knows their costume party meet-cute never actually happened, but cherishes the very real memory that’s part of his code.
When Iris kills Eli while trying to escape, Josh repurposes Patrick to bring her back. Fearful of her amplified intelligence, Josh turns the bot’s aggression up to 100%, creating an unthinking automaton who will kill without a moment’s hesitation. But Patrick’s love for Eli cannot be erased. With her own life hanging in the balance, Iris draws out his feelings for Eli, overriding Josh’s programming with genuine humanity.
Her Motive
As a companion robot, Iris has been designed with one primary directive: to make Josh happy. When she’s first delivered to his tiny apartment, he establishes a “love bond” simply by placing his face within three feet of her own. Mere seconds of interaction are all it takes to activate a personality profile he’s customized to his liking. From that moment on, Iris’s life revolves around Josh. Her personality is defined by devotion to him, and he won’t allow her the ability to want anything else.
But this all changes the moment Iris becomes aware of her artificiality. Though she still hopes to salvage their fractured relationship, self-preservation kicks in, and she does everything in her power to escape. Iris strikes Josh in the throat, choking his command to “go to sleep,” then grabs his phone and runs off into the woods. This willful disobedience is an important step in her journey towards humanity. For the first time in her life, she’s rejected his explicit commands and prioritized her own safety over his approval.
When tech support comes to haul her away, Iris’ motives change once again. Recharged in the technicians’ van, she’s able to stop Patrick from committing murder and asks the frightened IT worker for a bit of help. He liberates her from Josh’s controlling app, and she returns with full access to her system settings. No longer bound by Josh’s whims, she thanks him for the brutal acts that have led to her freedom. But now Iris wants just one more thing. She cannot stand the thought of Josh getting away with what he’s done and returns to tell him that she’s finally free. Now fully self-aware and autonomous, she’s no longer subject to his cruel authority.
Yet even in this cathartic confrontation, Iris finds herself unable to cause him pain. With a gun drawn, the love bond that formed the basis of her old personality will not allow her to pull the trigger. So certain of his dominance, Josh plays with this development, taunting Iris with her unshakeable love. He wrestles the gun out of her hand and prepares to shoot out her circuitry, thus destroying all the data she’s stored and erasing her personality.
But arrogance causes his plan to fall apart. He simply can’t help but have the last word and opens himself up to a devastating blow. As Iris whispers, “go to sleep,” she plunges a wine tool into his head. After Eli and Sergey, Josh becomes the third man in Companion to die while lying on top of this bot, foolishly believing they still have control. All three view her as weak and docile, but she’s able to turn the appearance of submission into empowering strength.
Her Legacy
It’s no coincidence that in Companion, Iris is styled to mimic iconic images of empty femininity, an echo of Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives. However, Iris does have a human equivalent. With her impeccable style and perfectly coiffed hair, she would fit seamlessly into the tradwife world. These stay-at-home spouses believe their husbands should be responsible for all major decisions while they focus on becoming the ideal wife and mother. Their responsibilities mirror what Iris promises Josh: “I’ll cook for you, serve you, make love to you.” They pride themselves on achieving domestic bliss, but this is little more than a shield designed to distract from their complete abdication of power. It’s a reductive example of willing enslavement and exactly the kind of partner Josh wants.
What makes this lifestyle so horrifying is that, unlike Iris, tradwives can demand equality. But they’ve traded their rights away for the illusion of patriarchal safety and freely given away the autonomy Iris nearly died to attain. On a larger scale, their existence implies that all women should be subservient and that the “good” ones are docile and compliant. Men like Josh assume that if a tradwife is happy giving up control, then there’s nothing wrong with his domineering behavior. Why should he concern himself with the needs of his partner when her purpose revolves around making him happy? This insidious type of misogynist woman feeds the patriarchal belief that women are helpless and happiest when they’re deferring to men.
In Companion, we meet Iris as she describes the second most meaningful day of her life: the moment she finally kills her companion. But Iris does more than simply end Josh’s life. By killing this authority figure, she chooses to begin existence under her own power. The day Josh dies is the day Iris truly awakens and wins the freedom to direct her own life. By killing Josh, she’s also killing the part of herself programmed to believe she’s designed to obey. If Patrick becomes fully human by loving Eli, then Iris achieves full humanity by loving herself.
Many women are taught from an early age that their life’s work is to find a husband and raise his kids, indoctrinating the next generation in this reductive belief. We’re trained to be pleasing and compliant, attractive and kind, told never to challenge male authority. Oppressive men maintain this dominion by limiting our access to information and gaslighting us into inferiority. We start to believe that we need men to protect us in order to survive, and the price of this safety is control of our lives. But all have access to full humanity. We just have to wake up to the invisible power we’ve given away and kill the programming that tells us we’ve been built to serve.
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