Better Than Us Season 1 Episode 2 Recap

People are out on a date with robots. Outside the restaurant, a young man watches them. He has a hidden camera that helps someone see what he sees. Someone orders him around and tells him to follow the man who just left the restaurant with his robot. “Don’t forget. Memory block comes first,” the voice says. The young man follows the man and the robot in a dark alley. He pushes the man aside and sprays paint over the robot’s eyes. The robot’s owner tries to stop him from doing what he’s doing, and just when the young man’s about to stab the robot, the man puts himself in the middle and gets stabbed instead. The young man runs away from the scene when the voice orders him to leave.

Sergey’s fiancé, Galya, reports her missing fiancé to the Cyber Crimes Department (CCD). She says she first went to the police, but they sent her to CCD when they found out Sergey works at Cronos. The detectives look for Sergey using the number they got from Galya and find out he’s already in the morgue. Galya can’t believe what she’s hearing, so the detectives try their best to calm her down. Detective Varlamov calls Georgy and tells him he wants to see Sergey’s body. Georgy wants to take Sonya to work, but Sonya says she’d like to stay at home. Because Egor doesn’t want to go to school, his best friend takes him to his father’s apartment. After Georgy leaves, Sonya plays with Arisa, who she dressed up like her. She discovers Arisa can imitate voices. Marina, Alla’s friend, comes over and asks Sonya where Georgy is. Arisa imitates Georgy’s voice to save Sonya from the situation and says he’s in the bathroom. When Arisa finds out Sonya’s parents are separated, she pats Sonya’s head and comforts her.

When Detective Varlamov arrives at the morgue, Georgy refuses to show him the body without a warrant. The detective says he understands that rules are rules. He then adds that he doesn’t like robots because you can‘t tell if they’re lying, but humans are easy to read. Georgy meets up with Vadim to tell him about the detective. He tells him he has decided to turn himself in. Vadim stops him and says he should think about his kids and what will happen to them if he dies. He reminds Georgy that there are influential people behind, but Georgy says he will no longer listen to Vadim’s advice. In Cronos, Victor tells Sergey’s fiancé that she can return to work after giving birth. He adds that there‘s nothing for her to worry about because the company will pay off her mortgage. When the detectives contact Galya to give a statement about Sergey’s death, she says she’ll not give any statement because it won’t change anything. 

Egor’s bullies find his best friend and ask him where Egor is. To avoid trouble, his best friend tells them about his whereabouts. Then he messages Egor saying his father is going to the apartment. When Egor comes out, he’s surprised that his bullies are waiting for him. He escapes them, but he bumps into a girl who accidentally spills cola on him. The girl, Zhanna, tells Egor to come to Bot.Net club to bring her the soda he owes. 

Igor has trouble looking for Arisa because even with a tracker, Arisa is not answering. So, to track Arisa, he wrote a code and picked the right frequency until Arisa answered his calls. When Victor hears it, he immediately sends the head of his security team to where Arisa is. While playing with Sonya outside, Arisa removes the tracker from her body and puts it inside a nearby truck. By the time Egor comes home, Sonya and Arisa are already back. Sonya tells Arisa to log Egor on, so she puts Egor as her second-level user. As a deal, Sonya agrees not to tell Georgy that Egor came home early if Egor promises not to say anything about Arisa.

The report says that the Liquidators, an extremist group associated with vandalism and rioting, have started attacking people. The group uses something sharp to strike the robot in the power unit and then removes the robot’s memory block. The spray paint conveys to the world that humanizing bots is vicious and perverse. After listening to the news, Georgy goes to the police station to tell them what he knows about Sergey. Before he can talk to anybody, Gleb warns Georgy to think about his next actions. Georgy worries about his kids, so he immediately comes home to check on them. Alla calls to ask how the kids are doing. It turns out that Alla didn’t leave the country and is staying with her friend, Marina. They plan to wait for Georgy to mess things up so they can use it against him.

After catching the culprit in the stabbing incident, Detective Varlamov interviews the suspect, Kirill. He says that even if Kirill’s case belongs to a different department, he might help if Kirill tells him who‘s giving him orders. Instead of cooperating, Kirill says what he did was just the beginning. Things will only get worse. 

Egor goes to Bot.Net to meet Zhanna. She introduces him to her brother, Bars, who doesn’t seem so happy seeing Zhanna with Egor. While Egor is having fun, his best friend approaches him with Egor’s bullies. They face off in the toilet. Egor has no chance — it‘s only him against three people. Luckily, Bars comes to his rescue. Egor’s best friend apologized to him and said he didn’t want to bring the bullies, but he had no choice. Bars takes Egor to the rooftop and welcomes him to Bot.Net. Zhanna, who has been looking for them, takes a towel and wipes the blood off Egor’s face.

When Egor comes home, Georgy asks him where he’s been. Egor says he doesn’t have to say anything to his father since they’ll be leaving in a month anyway. Egor’s bully, Kolyan, barges in with his father and threatens them that they will call the police. He says he will send Egor and Georgy to prison for what happened to his son. Georgy grabs the man’s arm so hard he breaks it. After the man and his son leave, Georgy receives a message. It’s a request from CCD to release Sergey’s body at 9 a.m. the next day. Georgy goes to the morgue and uses spray paint to create the symbol of the Liquidators. Then he stabs his robot in the power unit to destroy its memory block. Then he burns the entire place down. 

While Arisa watches over Sonya, she sees Alla’s photo. Arisa changes into Alla’s clothes and then walks to a sleeping Georgy. She takes Georgy’s hand and logs him on as the main user. “The family is complete,” Arisa says. Meanwhile, Victor sees the video of Arisa putting the tracker inside the truck. He tells Igor to make a bot that they can show to his father-in-law in a few days, or they will both be in trouble.

Our Thoughts

The amazing thing about Arisa is somehow, she can think for herself. Other bots do what they’re told, but Arisa sometimes does what she wants. It’s weird why she thinks she’s part of Sonya’s family, but it’s good that she keeps Sonya company. She even comforts the kid when she’s sad. As for Georgy, he seems like he never runs out of problems. He’s a bit short-tempered, which sometimes gets him in trouble. We thought he would really talk to the police and make a report, but because he got scared that something bad could happen to his kids, he changed his mind. Is burning the morgue down the best decision? It’s definitely suspicious given that he’s supposed to release Sergey’s body the next day.

We don’t know if Egor’s best friend is a good friend or what. He‘s always on Egor’s side, but when there’s trouble, he gives in. It’s hard to know if he’s a loyal friend. But since Egor is rebelling against his father, he might get into more trouble. Even if we don’t like his best friend that much, we still prefer him over Bars. Bars and Zhanna seem like trouble.