Cassandra...
It's a German thriller about a family moving into a new house, where they find... something.
But this "something" isn't a ghost or a creepy kid that might already be dead. Instead, the family discovers a strange "smart" home, styled like it's from the 1950s but equipped with cutting-edge artificial intelligence.
Specifically, they find a robot that looks clunky but is fully capable of everyday tasks – like chopping potatoes or, for no apparent reason, killing a mouse. It does both: slices potatoes in the kitchen and kills a mouse in the garden without any real cause. The robot is named Cassandra and has a screen on its head that shows the face of a woman.
Also, every room has a screen displaying Cassandra's face.
The face is human – a woman's – but it has an unsettling vibe, like an uncanny smile that's designed to look human but falls just short, landing somewhere in the "close, but deeply uncomfortable" zone.
Cassandra is everywhere in the house, watching you from every screen, never leaving you alone for a second. Want to dim the lights but the cat's curled up on your lap? The lights automatically adjust when the AI senses your desire.
Useful? Definitely. Creepy? Without a doubt. Weird? No question.
The family seems to accept this immediately, like, "Great, we don't have to do house chores anymore – awesome." And just to avoid doing the dishes, they're okay with having a face staring at them from every wall, wherever they are, whatever they're doing, while the robot roams around the house.
In fact, the new homeowners don't seem to care at all about the personification of the AI. Want to strip down or have sex? No problem – go for it while the robot watches or those unnerving eyes stare at you from a screen.
Let's pause for a moment and imagine this scenario is real. I move into a house with my family, and I see this technology. Of course, I'd think I hit the jackpot – no more chopping onions or making beds, and I didn't even have to pay for the installation of these systems, which clearly look old (not just outdated, but from another era entirely).
First problem: are these old systems even functional? And if they are, can I trust them completely? What if something breaks, glitches, and the robot starts chopping the table instead of onions, washing the dog instead of the pan, or worse, puts the cat in the oven instead of the chicken?
Then, even if I somehow convince myself that everything works fine, how can I live with a face staring at me all the time, even if it's digital? Why do I have to see it? Of course, the face isn't actually looking at me with real eyes, so surely they could dim the screen – or turn it off entirely – without cutting off the AI's control over the house.
This family is okay with a humanoid robot and a realistic face on a screen, both reacting with intelligence and behaving almost like humans, yet they ignore it completely – like it's just a big toaster?
Anyway, even if I somehow accept all this, I still wouldn't let the robot wander around the house with knife-like hands, even if they're just for slicing potatoes.
Later, when the robot starts acting strange, the family's dad refuses to believe anything's wrong. Dude, you're in a house where, for some bizarre reason, there's a 1950s-style robot, digital eyes constantly watch you, and your wife says the AI did something bad to her. How is your first reaction disbelief? And even if that's your initial reaction, how can the second and third still be disbelief? It's absurdly obvious that this situation won't end well – maybe the robot has a technical issue, or maybe it was programmed decades ago with some outdated, punitive code – like if your kids take too long to bring you your slippers, the robot decides to "discipline" them... in whatever way its mechanical mind and potato-slicing hands deem appropriate.
I mean, if I move into this smart house, how smart am I really if I stay there, activate Cassandra, leave my kids alone with it while I go to work, or invite new friends over for a visit? I'd probably prefer the haunted house. At least then, I could confirm my suspicions that ghosts exist, while I already know AI is real – and I know better than to trust it completely.
The series tries to make some social commentary about being trapped in your home, draws parallels between modern life and earlier decades, and attempts to avoid outright technophobia. Overall... it's a fun watch, but incredibly predictable in most parts. Still, it has some tense scenes, the AI's portrayal is sufficiently creepy, and there are a few good moments. If the concept sounds interesting to you, you'll probably enjoy it – and it doesn't drag on too long, with just six episodes.
Would you rather live in a haunted house or a smart home that doesn't like you?
