Ann Droid is a bizarre show. S1 is only six half-hour episodes, so I can't rightly tell you not to watch -- it's short and inoffensive and easy enough to work through -- and I almost want to encourage viewing it. It's not good. It's not even consistent -- the show really doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it pro- or anti- AI? Are the characters good people we should root for or terrible people who deserve what they get? And the show (unevenly) splits its time between the elderly widower Sue -- who receives the titular Ann Droid so that she can stay in her home rather than move to an assisted living facility -- and her son Michael, an underemployed ne'er-do-well simping embarrassingly for the self-centered wife that cuckolded him prior to the start of the show's events. So it's kinda two shows, and they're both hella dark if you overthink it.

The show inexplicably encourages you to overthink it. Michael is so pathetic that our *introduction* to this man sees him picking a sandwich up off the floor after Sue drops the ceramic plate it was on, and he continues to crunch -- wincing in pain all the while -- after acknowledging that the sandwich now has bits of plate in it. (And no, Sue is not so doddering that this is an attempt to assure her it's okay -- she stares at her son in bewildered disappointment during the entire scene.) We're told that, prior to her husband's death, Sue's identity was defined by being a homemaker and mother -- but one can't help thinking she did a terrible job (either with guidance or with seeking accommodations for his obvious mental handicap) if this is the result of her mothering. I'm actually not saying more to avoid spoilers (eh, I'm gonna throw you a few to whet your palate), because if you're going to watch you *should* be surprised. The Michael show's resolution is insane.

The Ann Droid show -- that is, the portion of the show that focuses on Sue's interactions with her caregiver robot Linda (Ann Droid is the brand name) and her elderly neighbors -- is closer to the show you might expect, but it's still kinda nuts. (Spoiler: one of the old men of Sue's acquaintance really wants to fuck Linda. Drools when he sees her and everything. It's a recurring bit, and it goes somewhere.) The robot is both legitimately helpful and spectacularly UNHELPFUL, such that the show *could* be aiming to make a curious and nuanced point about the pros and cons of AI -- except the positives are so very positive and life-affirming and the negatives are potentially fatal. Life without the robot kinda sucks, especially for someone who's often alone and depressed, but also Linda routinely fucks up in super-duper dangerous ways. (They didn't even show the aftermath of the robot giving hallucinogens to a child.) So... huh?

I think I'm coming down on the side of recommending this show, if only because the various tensions on display are fascinating. It's clear that much of what we see is supposed to be funny -- ha ha, he's eating bits of porcelain -- yet it becomes disturbing AF when the bit continues and the characters seem resigned to the horror. Like I said, it's not a good show. It's not consistent; it has no idea what it wants to be. And now I'm wondering... did AI write this show?? Probably nah; that might just be how British/Aussie humor rolls.

(I just looked up reviews. Rave. Things are weird in other places.)