Transcription
Welcome back for another shot at a stupid villain. And what better panacea for the looming AI apocalypse than to throw fists at one of the dumbest examples of a so-called artificial intelligence to ever be dreamed up. And if you'd like to assist me in my own struggle against the scourge of AI generated content, please give this video a like, subscribe to Media Zealot, and hit that bell icon to be notified when I upload. Humanity must prevail and we will if our future AI overlords end up being half as comically stupid as this one.
It's the Tet from Oblivion. Fresh off the heels of Jack Reacher, Tom Cruise's back into science fiction with an outing as Jack Harper. A good pallet cleanser before getting stuck in the epic Groundhog Day of Alien Invasion combat loops, sharpening his knives in Oblivion against a far weaker and more mundane alien enemy. Light on action and deprived of flashy stunts, poor Tom will have to make do with an aircraft that looks like it was designed by Homer Simpson and an underpowered ebike. Not my goddamn bike.
Though I suppose living in this penthouse suite on a stick is probably enough terror for one movie. Then they ramp up the public humiliation even further by putting him in the same room as 6'2 Nikolai Kosta Wald. And they didn't even give him a low camera angle or a box to stand on. I swear someone around here is taking the piss. Tom obviously forgot to get his contract susted. Though at least he was made to look a genius-level intellect in comparison to his opposition, the T. Probably so named because it's a it's a tetrahedron. Yeah, this thing's notable lack of imagination is hitting us strong and early because it's safe to assume it wasn't smart enough to name itself after the Vietnamese Luna New Year despite basically replacing our moon.
In theory, a super intelligent advanced AI spaceship thing with mysterious origins, a prominent streak of malevolence, and an incalculable capacity for sheer idiocy. Inexplicably traversing the vast voids of space, despite having motivations and operations that are error-ridden, to say the least. Are we sure this thing wasn't actually meant to be a sorting block for a giant space baby? Hopefully, it comes along shortly and shoves this thing in the nearest black hole.
"Why didn't you JUST GO HOME? THAT'S YOUR HOME."
The movie might be called Oblivion due to the themes of memory and identity loss, the ruined Earth, the Tet's existential state and its ultimate fate, but a far more fitting name would have been Oblivivious because the Tet is repping that frame of mind from title screen to credit roll.
Point one, the Tet chooses to harvest resources from the most difficult site in the solar system. Sometime around the year 2017, the Tet meanders into our system after a long voyage between stars, looking to feed its insatiable thirst for water, the hydrogen therein, used to power its fusion generators, supremely dedicated to a dreary, pointless existence of burning massive amounts of fuel to get more, buying itself another few years of life. That's obviously something we can't sympathize with at all. The Tet is nothing more than a malfunctioning directionless space Roomba desperately searching around for a charging dock. And for some inexplicable reason, like the dumbass blob that came and lost before it, the Tet bypasses the most easily accessible sources in the outer solar system and makes a beeline for the good liquid stuff on Earth, blowing up the moon and starting an unnecessary and risky war with the warmongering ape creatures.
"It would be tactically unwise to engage them."
...before deploying these hydro rigs and starting an even more reckless and poorly managed water harvesting operation that will pick apart in the coming sections. And hey, some form of warped common sense might suggest that liquid water is just easier to process than ice. But unfortunately, a super intelligent AI doesn't really have an excuse to be thinking so simplistically because the energy needed to melt ice into water before processing it is negligible and pales in comparison to the energy gained from using the hydrogen to produce fusion energy. I won't bore you with the maths, but suffice it to say, someone or something smarter than me has already figured this out. And please don't assume it was ChatGPT. I wouldn't dare consult with the enemy. You'd think an AI as advanced as a TE should be just as capable of running this calculation. And even when we consider other relevant complications, it still makes zero sense to choose Earth. Water as ice is one of the most abundant compounds in the universe. And the outer solar system is absolutely caked with the stuff. Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, all have far more H2O than Earth does. And they probably have subsurface oceans of liquid water, meaning you'd only have to breach the icy crust to get at it. Granted, there may be a few difficulties such as separating the water from sediments, etc. But even accounting for that, harvesting water on Earth is a far more complicated and energy-intensive operation. Earth has a thick atmosphere and a far stronger gravity well than the bodies of the outer solar system. The fuel required to get the fuel into orbit is a massive energy loss, even when considering the hydro rigs appear to be processing the water into hydrogen before transport. If the Tet had chosen a more direct or energy-efficient method of hydro-harvesting, it might make a bit more sense. Not that it's advanced enough to go with other options.
Since the Tet's existence is already severely lacking purpose, surely it would make more sense for it to set up camp in the outer solar system, put itself in idle mode, and stay like this for as long as possible, only leaving once it has depleted the water to such a level where there is just enough to load up for its voyage to the next system. It could probably chill out there for centuries, maybe millennia before needing to move on. And I doubt the humans would be bothered enough to even try and do anything about it. And dare we ask that the Tet takes a second to consider that perhaps the only planet-bearing life in the solar system deserves the right to continue existing. At least the likes of Galactus, another planet killer, has the excuse that he cannot help his hunger, is serving a cosmic balance, and requires planetary cause and life force energy to continue on his pilgrimage. The Tet has no such excuses. It's ignoring perfectly viable alternatives that would meet its needs entirely, leading us to the Tet's most horrendous miscalculation. It underestimating the risk associated with invading the one place in the solar system that has sapient life and then believing it can manage this unpredictable threat long-term.
Point two, the Tet's hydro-harvesting operation is heavily reliant on a flimsy house of cards. When humanity first detected the TET, ignoring the potential in the outer solar system, NASA redirected a manned mission to go check out this intruder, which seems a bit silly in itself, knowing nothing of its intentions or capabilities. This was obviously a job for a probe. What are they meant to do? Politely ask it to leave. The Tet's patchy control over its own tech showing early. Jacking the rest of the crew into Earth orbit while him and Vika are brought aboard via a tractor beam. The tech going on to unleash environmental chaos on the Earth with the destruction of the moon.
"We will spare at the worst of the waves, quakes."
...and then launching a bizarre form of warfare in phase two of its invasion that I assume only worked because humanity was in such disarray. Dropships touching down and unloading thousands upon thousands of clones of astronaut Jack Harper.
"Thousands of you programmed to kill. No soul, no humanity."
...seemingly reduced to soulless automatons carrying out programming, which is probably the only way that was going to work. Not sure what kind of rationale the Tet would have to dream up to justify Jack fighting alongside thousands of copies of himself, eradicating starving, displaced fellow humans. But hang on, what was the Tet planning to do had it not encountered this convenient human genetic material on its way to Earth? Surely, rather than committing vast resources to redesigning its interior in service of cloning humans, it should have had its own invasion force at the ready. Whether that be the drones it uses later, alien warrior clones, or even better, something that we can't even fight conventionally, a nano swarm, a biological agent, or assuming the poor thing has enough energy left, pummel the remaining population with whatever Death Star-like weapon it used on the moon. But the goal never appeared to be to wipe out every last human, even though it probably should have. In the aftermath of the Jack Harper-induced genocide, the Tet leaving a few pockets of human rebels around to scavenge the ruins of the old world and cause all kinds of problems for the hydro rigs. It prematurely steaming ahead with phase three of its plan. And although things have gone fairly well for the Tet so far, this is precisely where that ends. Because its water harvesting scheme is so poorly managed, overly elaborate, and with so many points of failure, I'm genuinely shocked it managed to last the 60 years it did. The Tet deploying its hydro rigs with a force of drones to defend them, with a batch of Vika clones to serve as comms officers and a new batch of Jack Harper clones to function as technicians to repair and maintain the drones. I must say it doesn't really bode well for the longevity of the Tet itself if these drones require life forms to maintain them. What? The Tet doesn't have its own means of machine maintenance. And if that wasn't concerning enough, this new batch of clones are far from the soulless automatons that came before them. In fact, they seem like genuine facsimiles of the original donors. Far from being blank slates, these clones come replete with emotions, free will, and individuality. So now its operation is completely reliant on fallible, potentially disloyal humans. And about the worst humans imaginable, too, astronauts. People who are literally picked and trained on the basis of them displaying not just sound judgment, intelligence, and problem-solving abilities, but their capacity for independent thought and natural curiosity. When adrift and alone in the void of space, they can't completely rely on intermittent communications from a boss back at NASA to get the job done. Not to mention, Jack was mission commander. He's the most likely to start questioning things and noticing inconsistencies.
"They had taken one of our best, turned him against us."
If he's truly one of the best of us, then he will be a massive liability and a potentially dangerous enemy to the T. To make it worse, the Tet's cloning system appears to have serious flaws. All these more recent Jack clones have fragmentary memories of the original donor's life and a strong emotional connection to a woman who still exists, plagued by dreams of a former life and world they were never part of. And the Tet either never notices this or perhaps doesn't see it as an issue. I'm not sure how this even happened. Transferring memories from a genetic donor would surely require its own separate process. Unless the Tet was stupid enough to do just that so that its clones could function as competent human adults should. So, we've got intelligent, capable clones with free will and personality. And then to make the odds of them rebelling against their master all but assured, the Tet relies exclusively on periodic mind wipes. Or what's probably more likely, periodic decommissioning and an elaborate phony backstory to keep them loyal. The Jack and Vika are told that the remaining pockets of humans, or scabs, as they're now being called, are the remnants of an alien race that attacked Earth, seeking to make it their new home. Losing the war to the humans, this spacefaring alien race now living in holes as little more than Mad Max-inspired scavengers. The Tet in orbit explained away as our invention. A command and control station waiting to ferry the last people and resources on Earth to Titan where the rest of humanity is waiting for them. The clone's lack of long-term memory said to be the result of a 5-year mandatory memory wipe. Supposedly a necessary measure to stop the scavs from getting any meaningful intel. Though I interpret this as the clones only being allowed a 5-year lifespan, perhaps to avoid their human tendencies manifesting too strongly. Whatever it may be, it's a tacit acknowledgement of just how fragile this whole system is. These clones with the freedom they've been afforded, access to weaponry, and their knowledge of the Tet's technology and operations are ideally placed to take the pain to the T on a massive scale. A threat that will surely come to fruition considering the established narrative is extraordinarily flimsy and has evidence that strongly contradicts it scattered around all over the place.
So, let's start prodding this house of cards from its logical starting point. We're being asked to believe that these supposedly advanced scav aliens came to Earth in search of a new home and then destroyed the moon, ruining the entire planet for themselves. Not that it's now less hospitable than Titan. The humans in this phony scenario aren't exactly behaving rationally either. The Earth supposedly left heavily irradiated from a nuclear war against the scavs. But anyone even halfway knowledgeable would know that after 60 years, the worst effects of radioactive contamination should already be behind them. The air is still breathable, the surface temperature and atmospheric pressure still livable, and life is well on its way to reestablishing itself. Jack himself has found a small valley where nature is markedly regenerating. Even some animal life is making a comeback. It's only a matter of time until the biosphere recovers substantially, especially since humans have been so heavily knocked back. Planet Earth quite obviously remains the most hospitable place to human life in the solar system. Contrast this against Titan, which is fundamentally hostile to all forms of life as we know it with extremely cold surface temperatures, a toxic atmosphere totally devoid of oxygen, where a simple rain shower would kill us instantly, and an atmospheric pressure that would require us to live in domes or environmental suits. Titan isn't any kind of viable option, and the backstory doesn't mention anything about terraforming. Not that we'd be capable of it. It's like the Tet was dumb enough to think that just because Titan has a robust atmosphere, that alone makes it a convincing enough story. Or it co-opted the original destination of the Odyssey spacecraft because it lacks the imagination to come up with a more believable location for the colony.
"It was a research flight to Titan."
Pretty concerning either way. A colony on Mars would have been more believable. Though even that would fall apart once you start paying attention to how things are on Earth. Tech 49 himself seems to know there is something deeply wrong with humanity abandoning Earth. It bothers him constantly.
"I can't shake the feeling that Earth is still my home."
But the biggest hole in the story is so easily uncovered. I'm shocked the truth hasn't already been exposed. Hyper conveniently, the so-called Scav aliens only need to take off their helmets and ditch their voice gobblers, and the whole house of cards comes tumbling down. It was already suspicious enough that all trace of the Scav's advanced technology seems to have disappeared. But the backstory that maintains Jack's allegiance will totally fall apart the second the Tet's mortal enemies take an extremely trivial action. So maybe this isn't the horseshit to bet everything on. I'm very surprised Tech 49 hasn't uncovered this by accident during his skirmishes with the Scavs. Meanwhile, it's not just one version of Jack they have running around potentially blowing the T's cover. Ostensibly, there's a huge number of them all patrolling their specified zones, unaware of each other's existence for obvious reasons, only prevented from encountering themselves by this phony radiation warning. Whether there be an accident or simple curiosity on Jack's part, the jig could be up at any moment. Granted, the Vika clones seem to be too self-diluted to start questioning the story they've been fed. Even though from her position, she is still being hit with clues that not all is as it seems. Overseen by this fake command officer, Sally. Supposedly stationed up in the T. Presumably, this is a front for the TED intelligence itself.
"Are you and Jack an effective team? You're still an effective team."
Stuck in some kind of linguistic loop, hinting at the limitations of its intellect and advertising its artificiality without realizing it.
"Understood. We're doing the best we can. Are you an effective team?"
And that is a non sequitur. Would you please hand me a burrito? I've seen more convincing fake people scamming on Facebook Messenger and they're dumb as [ __ ]. Even if your team wasn't effective, no wise employee would answer this question honestly. Should they bring the wrath of the suits down on everyone, including themselves?
"We're great."
The inquiry itself is totally pointless. The Tet is generating suspicion for no gain whatsoever. But in terms of the Tet's supremely poor day-to-day management of its water harvesting operation, this is but the tip of the tetrahedron.
Point three, the Tet's staggering lack of oversight and insight ensures its destruction. So, we enter this mess with Tech 49 Jack and Comms officer Vika. And first of many red flags, these two sole employees in this isolated operation have been allowed to start banging each other. The swish high-end apartment apparently only has one bed, and they've been supplied with a couple selfie that was taken by the original Vika. This relationship seems to be not just condoned, but encouraged, helped along by the fact the original Vika seemed to have a thing for the original Jack. As if this kind of intimate emotional attachment couldn't create serious complications for the Tet's operations. I assume the Tet has convinced itself that allowing Jack a bit of nookie might assist with pacifying him.
"I'm pleased you're enjoying yourself."
But considering he's getting either decommissioned or mind-wiped every 5 years, he wouldn't be getting enough life experience to realize he's a terminal incel. I get that people go wacky without some form of companionship. But I think assigning two Jacks to this post would have probably been a better idea. Just convince them they're twin brothers and monitor them directly and give them two beds. Definitely two beds. Although I'm sure this would bring its own drama, it would have surely been better than the emotional dynamic pairing Jack and Vika brings to the table. What makes it all the more nonsensical is that Vika's job is totally unnecessary and she's terrible at it. Taboo, receiving directives from this Sally bot, relaying them to Jack and reporting the latest back to the Tet when the Tet itself could have performed this role and probably to a higher standard. Considering Vika is madly in love with Jack and so fails to keep him in line. Vika's role is an unnecessary complication and yet another point of failure that adds risk to the Tet's entire scheme. The apartment itself is amazing/terrifying. I'd tolerate the instant girlfriend, but I'm not sure how I'm expected to sleep perched at the top of this pole with those scavs running around below. I'm surprised it's even still standing. Jack starting his day with a run on a hamster wheel, a hint to the reality of their life in a gilded cage and their status as lab creations. We follow Jack as he goes to recover and repair these drones which are under constant attack from the scavs. But apparently the tech can't even supply enough parts to maintain them all. What is the point of invading this planet if not to acquire all the resources you need? It's not long before Jack's rebellious spirit is revealed. Him immediately covering up the fact he almost bit the dust after flying through a storm.
"What happened? I lost you for a second."
"Really?"
He wouldn't want to upset his lady friend or give Sallybot any ideas about not being an effective team member. His humanity on full display as he throws on his New York Yankees cap and starts chewing gum like he's ready for a game of stickball, reenacting an American football game he shouldn't even be aware of. Of course, the drone maintenance regime is so under-supplied, he has to fix the thing with his gum. If only the Tet's issues could be rectified so easily. Naturally, the drone has to take a moment to verify Jack's identity, as if he isn't literally the only non-scav human it ever has to deal with. And then, after what couldn't be more than an hour's work, it's time for a lunch break before heading off to the second down drone. And although the tech can view Tech 49 directly, it periodically loses the ability to monitor and communicate as it orbits the planet. What? It couldn't deploy a few relay satellites to get around this problem. Extra weird since later we see the TED appears to have either satellites or drones in orbit. The human scabs inexplicably playing their role perfectly, looking and sounding like masked alien abominations that would fit right in shuffling around a cantina on Tatooine. The scavs realizing the correct course of action after 60 long years, finally attempting to capture one of these Jack clones. I suspect the only reason the Ted has got as far as it has is because these scavs haven't exactly been killing it. The next drone up to the plate has to waste time verifying Jack's identity yet again when you'd think they would be aware of his location at all times. The Tet does have control of these things as intermittent as it may be and it already knew Jack was around here. Jack heading home with a few choice but illicit finds. Of course, bootlicker Vika isn't having none of that. After playing house for a bit, it's time for a quicky dip in the glass-bottom pool of pure nightmare fuel.
"This is an unnecessary indulgence."
Jack and Vika are woken up in the middle of the night. Their apartment transformed into the best/worst nuke viewing platform you could imagine. The scavs blowing up one of the nearby hydro rigs with some fuel cells they stole from the down drones. The Tet being the supremely shitty boss that it is, blaming Jack and Vika for its own shortcomings.
"Tower 49, you have put the whole operation at risk."
Despite the fact the tech-controlled drones are meant to be the primary force protecting the hydro rigs, otherwise why else would they even exist? What? The whole system collapses when the clones go to sleep. The Tet's monitoring of its drones so lackluster it can't even accurately determine how many have been lost.
"You are missing an additional nine fuel cells."
"Negative, mission. That number is 10."
It's poor management guaranteeing the scavs a steady supply of nuclear weapons. Jack investigating a scav homing beacon that appears to be going off-world. Sounds like another big deal. Yet, despite having a boss currently on the war path, he then uses a perimeter check as an excuse to go off comms for a while and visit his cozy little valley nest. And man, this place is pretty swish. He's engineered a large shelter with a fireplace, wind, and solar power generation. Got himself a vintage record collection, a load of books, a basketball hoop, and the rest.
"I have never understood the human compulsion to emotionally bond with inanimate objects."
Aside from his constant slacking off at work, this guy is truly repping his man badge. Not bad for an AI slave who was brewed up in a lab. Contrast this against the flashy sky apartment, showing Jack's inner yearning for a more grounded human existence. This guy must have stolen an inordinate amount of company time to acquire and build all this.
"Disruptive and unreliable."
Showing the astonishing lack of oversight he's been enjoying for the last 5 years. Hell, take a nap. Why not? This valley seems to block his ship's transponder and comms, and it obviously can't be recording his current location. Vika's reaction suggests this is a regular occurrence, not that she's going to rat her lover out. Might as well just sleep on the job. The Tet doesn't seem too bothered about its assets disappearing for hours. His afternoon nap interrupted by an incoming spacecraft apparently brought down by the scav signal.
"Jack, mission wants you to stand down. The drones will handle it."
With the Tet about to go dark, it finally decides to offer Jack a bit of direction, ordering him not to investigate the crash site, a directive which he naturally ignores.
"Touching down."
And Vika's futile screeching won't be enough to stop him. You'd think the T would want to adjust its orbit and stay monitoring this situation since this chain of events is surely the most concerning thing happening on Earth right now. But nope, it's gone. Jack coming upon the scene and discovering some humans in Delta Sleep. Can someone please explain how the Ted has been orbiting Earth for 60 years and never found this spacecraft up there? It's been missing out on some of that sweet astronaut genetic material, including the literal girl of Jack's dreams. Looks like we have ourselves a love triangle. Or is that love tetrahedron? Damn, bro. This would be the best apocalyptic wasteland to be the last guy on Earth if only this specimen didn't exist and there weren't at least 51 other Jacks to contend with. A drone showing up and brazenly massacring the sleeping humans with no concern at all for what response this might elicit from Jack, if it's even aware he's there, making it crystal clear that neither the Tet nor drones are on humanity's side. Then failing to finish the job after Jack gets in the way when their standard programming should have been to ignore Jack's protestations or outright eliminate this malfunctioning clone. It's not like the tech can't just decant another one. Tech 49 should be viewed as completely expendable. This drone basically just defied the Tet's standing orders. That shouldn't even be possible. So now because of that, we have this person hanging with Jack who can blow the lid on the Tet's story at any time. Vika more than a bit shook when Jack brings Julia back to their apartment.
"I want to go first thing."
Julia, darling, you don't want to sleep on this med bed. It's so uncomfortable. Vika might as well just start packing her bags. Her only faint hope is the Tet will be online by morning and will hopefully command Jack to love her. But Jack being Jack, he's off with Julia to get her spacecraft's flight recorder before that happens. The scavs getting the jump on them at which point Jack proves he has far more autonomous control over his bubble [ __ ] than the Tet ever did. The scavs taking them back to their base and giving Jack a sorely needed dose of reality.
"We are human."
Of course, Vika is still covering for Jack despite claiming that she wouldn't.
"I can't protect you. Jack took a pre-dawn patrol and..."
By now it's clear Vika has been deceiving her bot boss for years. This sanctioned relationship causing a serious operational dysfunction, fracturing the chain of command and stopping vital intel from reaching the tech. But it didn't have to be stupid enough to keep buying into this campaign of deception, especially when it appears capable of reading human emotions to some extent.
"Sick, are you okay? Everything good between you two?"
Instead, it relies on the only pathetic fallback it has.
"You're still an effective team."
By this point, the Tet should have reconnected with the drone that destroyed the Delta sleep pods and be absolutely livid with Jack for defying its orders and interfering. But nah, it's like it never even happened.
"Tower 49, how y'all this lovely morning?"
The scavs attempting to recruit Jack to program a drone to act as a Trojan horse and carry a nuclear payload up to the te. I mean, when this guy starts monologuing with his gravitas-laden tones, how could anyone possibly refuse him?
"And how can a man die better than facing fearful odds for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods?"
The cross-punk Jaime Lannister isn't exactly helping by exuding nothing but dickishness. The Tet tracking Jack's DNA trail to the Scav base, losing a drone yet failing to push the attack. The Scavs releasing Jack and encouraging him to go check out one of these so-called radiation zones. Along the way, Julia adding to the overwhelming evidence of the Tet being the true enemy.
"Deep space scanners picked up an alien object. That object was the Tet."
Jack. And somehow dredging up more memories that Jack shouldn't even possess, including the fact that Julia was his wife. Jack doing his utmost to establish a polygamous relationship by going back to save Vika. But she ain't having none of that.
"There's a place I know."
"With one beard will be safe."
As she mentally implodes, revealing that even she had her doubts. "There are things you need to know."
"I don't want to know."
Remaining in a state of extreme denial, presumably so she could maintain her cushy life with Jack. And now she finally discovers what happens when you reward a sociopathic boss with honesty.
"We are not an effective team."
Jack's behavior doesn't even register, but one simple sentence from Vika and it's all on. A drone unleashed from the bowels of their apartment and that's the end of Vika 49. Weirdly, this drone had its fuel cell exposed like it's just daring someone to blow everyone to hell. And yet, after Vika's report, Jack's consistent pattern of defiance, and the Tet trying to kill him just now, he gets this bizarre offer.
"Jack, we want to bring you in. We're going to assign you a new mission."
"You and the survivor."
Inviting him and his new squeeze up for a visit. I'm assuming the T wants to get its hands on Julia's DNA, thinking her and Jack will make a more effective team. But as they are, the Tet shouldn't want them anywhere near it. And it's not like they need to be alive to get her genetic material. So, it makes some kind of sense that it immediately six more drones on them. But interpreting the Tet's behavior this logically is a delusion that will be shattered very soon. It's more likely it continues to try and kill Jack because he seemed to refuse the Tet's offer. So, with the Tet's control of the bubblecraft remaining non-existent, we have ourselves a Star Wars-esque dogfight. Though, at least it does appear to have an automatic engine shutdown when Jack enters a supposed radiation zone. Not sure what this crash parachute is about, though. Why is the Tet so committed to protecting these clones? Weirdly, Tech 52 is being directed to the down drone when obviously the Tet should have told him to steer clear. Perhaps he didn't listen as usual. Tech 52 also showing clear signs of individuality with his cute little neck bandana and getting immediately aroused when he sees Julia. So now Tech 49 has to beat off this handsome interloper in a mirror match. The prospective suitor is delivering Julia a gut shot during the [ __ ] fight and not the good kind.
"One wonders how your race has survived having so much fun."
So, Tech 49 jacks this other guy's bubble craft, and he's off to see Vika 52 to get some medical supplies and fail once again to get the polygamous achievement. He is persistent. I'll give him that. Weirdly, Tech 52's aircraft will work outside of its assigned zone. So, after treating Julia, Jack finally gets to bring a girl back to his little forest hang. Julia, showing herself to be true wifey material, is ready to get busy just a short time after having a horrific gut wound. What a trooper. Jack enduring a massive bout of postnut clarity goes back to the scavs to assist them in taking out the real enemy. The Tet finally pulling finger and attacking the scav base it should have already been well aware of, taking out their planned Trojan horse drone in the process. So Jack now fully the man his donor was volunteers to get it done. The most dangerous and obvious enemy of the evil AI finally realized. Not that this route should even work, but the Tet now proving its offer to bring them both up alive was completely genuine.
"Tech 49, I have you on approach."
Little does it know that Morgan Freeman is going instead of Julia, and they have a massive nuclear bomb with them.
"Enough to destroy a small moon."
Of course, the Tet, who could previously track minute traces of DNA, now can't even scan to confirm any of the ship's cargo. Long-range sensors. Not to mention, it's failed to recognize any patterns of suspicious behavior among the scavs themselves. All those missing fusion cells bringing down the old spacecraft and Jack disappearing inside their base several times. But the final cluster of oversights is just beginning after all Jack has done. The Tet inviting them in to roar dog its most vulnerable orifice like it's just oblivious to everything that's happened. Keep in mind, it's well aware this is the same Jack that has been causing it all this trouble.
"Tech 49, enter at headway speed."
And of course, now it can control the bubble craft. The tip more or less confirms that it wants Julia and Jack clones to pair up when there was no need to bring them up here to get that done.
"More effective team."
"Proceed entry."
And to be honest, I would think she would actually serve to destabilize the loyalty of every Jack clone on the planet. Surprisingly, the Tet signals a modicum of suspicion when it's too late after they're already deep in its bowels. There's been a pattern of insubordinate behavior recently.
"I'm afraid there's no longer time for that."
Suddenly questioning Jack's intentions and monitoring his physiological responses.
"I can't help notice your respiration and heart rate have increased."
But this lie detector is about as reliable as the real thing, failing to recognize Jack's subtle form of deception.
"Tell me why you're here."
"I want you here to live. I want our species to survive. This is the only way."
He technically doesn't lie by providing an explanation with a hidden double meaning. The tech probably should have used a human technician for this task as well.
"You are misconstruing the nature of the situation."
So, buying Jack's BS yet again, it rolls out the welcome mat and even provides a breathable atmosphere when it could have just asphyxiated them to get Julia's DNA. Not that she's even there. It also seems to have given up entirely on its grand deception, seemingly clinging to a misguided belief that Jack's loyalty is unconditional.
"You are making wild assumptions."
Despite Jack having free will, being completely stripped of the delusion that previously kept him in line, and loads of evidence to the contrary, even weirder since the Tet has already acknowledged that clone rebellion is at least possible.
"Voice analysis indicates you are lying to me, Jack."
And let's not forget the Tet just killed this guy's second wife. He's going to be salty as hell.
"You killed her."
"I know."
So, brimming with overconfidence, it has a little face-to-face with Jack and Freeman. And there isn't a drone or defenses anywhere nearby.
"That's not the survivor you promised me."
The Tet, despite being an AI, proving it is anything but rational and unbiased. Quite the opposite.
"I created you, Jack. I am your god."
It's afflicted with unhinged machine megalomania. This probably being the root cause of its profound logical shortcomings. And so all its oversights and lack of insight comes home to roost in the form of it taking a massive nuke to the face like the half-asters and precursors before it. And you just know the Tet was too stupid to have a backup floating around. The Tet showing a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature, our emotional attachments, our social bonds, and our flexible loyalties. Conundrums. It apparently failed to resolve after 60 long years. Its corrupted AI brain totally stagnant with an inability to develop in any meaningful way. Ultimately, it ends up being incredibly naive and almost childlike in its failure to comprehend human behavior.
"Jack, you're doing the right thing."
Though, I suppose its insane levels of ignorance and overconfidence could be interpreted in a few different ways. Maybe it is a child and this is the first system on its voyage. Or maybe it is ancient and bugridden, tired of its boring, meaningless existence, deciding it actually wants to die. Perhaps its cloning program was a misguided effort to study and understand life forms whose brains are actually functional, ending it all when it ultimately failed to do so. But I believe these would be pretty charitable takes. I don't think the TED is even capable of self-reflection. With all its familiar flaws and near-future recognizable technology, it would also be easy to imagine the Tet as a creation of humanity. This machine monster almost represents the worst traits of humanity distilled, while Jack obviously represents the polar opposite. Perhaps a rogue malfunctioning AI that came back from the void or back in time to mess up its creators. But the director of Oblivion, Joseph Kosinski, has more or less dispelled these ideas. Apparently, the Tet is playing host to an alien civilization of uploaded life forms insane enough to actually choose this existence, prematurely digitizing themselves at a modest technological level that they won't be able to advance from and putting themselves at the mercy of this psycho. I wonder how that's going for them. Are we sure these aren't humans? I feel like we're halfway there already. But I guess it's nice to know the T more than qualifies to be both a stupid sci-fi civilization and a villain too stupid to win. With the T, whatever it may be, getting what it deserves. All the drones and hydro rigs go down with it and a new future for humanity looms on the horizon. Hey, if the biosphere can mend itself with less water present, Earth just got a whole lot more land area. This could actually end up being a massive win. At least there's still a viable human population, especially with iron womb Julia leading the charge. Tech 49 showing himself to be oddly virile for a copy of a man, but with innumerable Jacks around the place all pining for Julia. Stepdad 52 isn't exactly going to get the type of polygamous relationship Tech 49 was gunning for.