Tomorrow and I – Season 1 Episode 3 “Buddha Data” Recap & Review

Episode 3

Episode 3 of Tomorrow and I begins with the coder-turned-monk, Anek and his robot companion, iBuddy trying to cross the road. Physical manifestations of all kinds of AI have taken over such as an AI traffic police which is useless when a tuktuk almost crashes into Anek.

There is another AI, ULTRA that is hampering the merit system, the way of living of monks and the upkeep of temples. Created by Neo, ULTRA is a merit-based point system where users gain points when they do good deeds. These points can then be used for immediate rewards such as paying bills and buying certain goods.

However, ULTRA isn’t able to identify motives as users have started doing good deeds only for the sake of the points. And there are categories – donating to an orphanage brings 5x more points than giving food to a monk. Some users force acts upon certain people to get these points.

Anek looks down upon ULTRA and gets into an altercation with a bully user because of it. His iBuddy is damaged and he tries to look for a new circuit board. The shopkeeper only takes merit points but his former co-worker and friend, Atom comes to his rescue. 

Atom has used parents’ brainwaves to recreate a parent AI in the form of a teddy bear to look after children. He too hates ULTRA as we see him about to throw a gift that he has been given. However, Anek is curious and tries it out instead. He claims there are some pros and cons to ULTRA as it teaches people Buddha’s lessons.

But it leads people down the wrong paths with the idea of tangible and instant rewards. He files a complaint that ULTRA cannot tell right from wrong or dissect dilemmas and he instantly gets some merit points for training it. In the form of adapting, ULTRA also eavesdrops on its users. 

Later, Anek once again runs into the bully who gets physical when his friend tries to give their leftover offerings to Anek. iBuddy tries to help him by repeating Anek’s rant on ULTRA and Buddha’s teachings. Upset, he insists on talking to ULTRA’s customer service. They are not only responsive but invite him to meet with Neo. 

The meeting is eerie and Neo starts off with a memory of his – his parents are religious fanatics who give away all their belongings in hopes of attaining liberation. Their monks take advantage of them and keep asking for money till they drown in debt. Desperate, they kill themselves but Neo somehow survives.

He tells Anek that he launched ULTRA to cut off the influence of corrupt monks and provide rewards in this life so people like his parents do not run after something unachievable. He hopes to hire every monk and look after every temple in exchange for their guidance. But Anek doesn’t trust him and refuses his offer. 

As Atom and Anek wonder what to do, the latter explains why he became a monk. His mother had dreamt that he would become a monk and leave a mark on the world. As her dying wish, she wanted him to get ordained and he lied to her. She died and the project he had worked on was pulled. Realising his lies were for nought and that he disrespected his mother, he tried to kill himself. However, he saw an abbot who comforted him.

At present, Anek realises that ULTRA cannot comfort people, only monks and people can do that. Inspired by Atom’s product and iBuddy’s memory retention, Anek comes up with iBuddha.

Anek and Atom create the AI assistant by replicating the abbot’s brainwaves so it not only knows all of Buddha’s teachings like ULTRA but it can also consider ethical dilemmas and comfort its users like the abbot. On the day of the launch, Anek explains that iBuddha will act as a guide, helping people avoid the wrong paths. 

In the following months, as iBuddha becomes a hit, ULTRA falls into a scandal. ULTRA users are caught forcing their help on homeless people by keeping them captive and enacting good deeds on them to win merit points. These points are equivalent to 100k baht. 

A while later, iBuddha falls into scandal as well – it has been sexually harassing young girls. Turns out, the abbot had made such a pass 40 years ago. And when Atom replicated his brainwaves, that event was also used to train the iBuddha AI.

The abbot tells Anek and Atom that while he was punished back then, actions can come back to haunt people at any time. Monks are fallible as they are human. He heads to apologise to the victims and doesn’t mind if they hurt him for it. 

At the end of Tomorrow and I Episode 3, iBuddha is shut down. Anek takes the drawback hard as he believes it is his fault for not considering human limitations. He parts ways with iBuddy as he isn’t deserving. He also resigns as a monk and heads back into the city where he comes across a kid who only lifts up trash for merit points. A new billboard introduces Neo’s latest product – Super ULTRA.

The Episode Review

Tomorrow and I Episode 3’s VFX is even better than the previous episodes which we didn’t realise was possible. The art direction of this particular chapter is exactly what one would expect when visualising a sci-fi approach to a rich culture like that of Thailand. From the holograms and the neon lights to the traditional lanterns and temples, it can easily be a glimpse into what our future just may look like.

Along with the fascinating visuals, it also keeps viewers hooked with its ethical dilemmas. We get several strains such as the value of merits and instant gratification over faith. While trying to resolve these drawbacks of religion, the Netflix show also questions the invasion of privacy with the excuse of progress which is currently an ongoing issue. If that wasn’t enough, it gets even more controversial as it questions human fallibility vs AI limitations. 

But unlike the previous chapter, it doesn’t try to gloss over all these problems in favour of a new plot twist. With Anek giving up, it leaves behind a sour taste as viewers are forced to consider the stakes of what society may look like if we don’t keep in check institutions, whether they are religious or technological.