Line #20 Recap/PhilipKDicksElectricDreamsS1E6HumanIs


1	Mission director Vera Herrick is trapped in a loveless marriage with military hero Colonel Silas Herrick. Silas returns to the planet of Rexor IV to obtain a substance needed to process Earth's toxic atmosphere, but comes under attack from the local Rexorians. When their ship returns on autopilot, Silas has apparently survived, and Vera finds him uncharacteristically kind and considerate. The couple are arrested by the State, who believe that Silas has been taken over by a Rexorian consciousness.
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3	* AfterTheEnd: It isn't clear what happened to make Earth a CrapsackWorld ruled by an oppressive government with a FantasticCasteSystem, but the fact that ''breathable air'' is a valuable commodity worth invading other planets for means it qualifies as at least a Class 1 ApocalypseHow.
4	* AlienInvasion: Humans are doing this to Rexor, due to it having the resources they need to clean Earth's atmosphere. At the end, the Rexorians appear to be successfully striking back.
5	* AmbiguousSituation: It's never revealed to the audience whether the Rexorian who replaced Silas was a soldier in the first place or ever intended to act as a spy/saboteur on behalf of his people's government (though he would obviously be [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters justified]] if he did) or, if as in the original Creator/PhilipKDick story, he was just a refugee happy to have survived by chance. His eventual willingness to let himself be executed to protect Vera points toward the latter.
6	* BureaucraticallyArrangedMarriage: The State apparently pairs people as couples due to a "procreation mandate", which is how Vera and Silas were put together, and this explains why their marriage was quite cold.
7	* EnergyBeings: The Rexorians.
8	* FantasticCasteSystem: As a war hero and a commanding officer in the military, Col. Silas Herrick is a "Level 1 Citizen", entitling him to such amenities as a large apartment, a steady supply of fresh food and breathable air, and actual psychological treatment for his PTSD (which he does not avail himself of), as well as the formality of a trial when suspected of treason rather than immediate summary execution.
9	* AFatherToHisMen: His abominable home life aside, Col. Herrick earned his medals for his reputation for staying behind to personally drag his men to safety one by one rather than leave anyone behind. This is what he was doing when he and poor Pvt. Matthews get body-snatched.
10	* FridgeLogic: At the trial, the human authorities claim to have no prior in-person encounters with Rexorian metamorphs and no clear understanding what they're capable of -- yet they know of the existence of metamorphs and do have a clear understanding of the mechanics of how they replace people. Given [[CrapsackWorld the nature of the government]] in this story the discrepancy may be intentional.
11	* {{Jerkass}}: Colonel Silas Herrick before being possessed.
12	* JerkassHasAPoint: The real Silas is a piece of work and his outright emotional abuse can't be excused. But he is apparently correct that Earth will die without a steady supply of chemicals to synthesize clean air, and therefore the stakes of the Rexorian invasion are very high. And no one can argue that he is a war hero and AFatherToHisMen. Much of his behavior may stem from [[FreudianExcuse untreated trauma]] from the battles he's been through.
13	* MarsNeedsWater: InvertedTrope. It's the humans that are stealing elements from Rexor to fix Earth's atmosphere. A big clue that HumansAreTheRealMonsters in this story.
14	* MsFanservice: Vera is shown in an extended sequence seeking solace from her SexlessMarriage by having an [[AThreesomeIsHot anonymous three-way]] with a younger couple, that does little to advance the plot. Later she starts having sex with Silas (or his impersonator) and is shown topless both times.
15	* NotHimself: What allows the main character to realize her husband is not human anymore.
16	* PatrickStewartSpeech: [[SubvertedTrope Sort of a subversion]]. The prosecution in the trial claims that Rexorians are [[FantasticRacism incapable of compassion and self-sacrifice]]. Vera points out that her husband's willingness to sacrifice his life for her then proves that he is human.
17	* PuppeteerParasite: Rexorian metamorphs apparently have this ability. It's implied to be a permanent merging.
18	* SenseFreak: Implied, thanks to the Rexorians initially being bodiless balls of light. The new Silas definitely has an appreciation for food and for the [[RealMenCook culinary arts]] the old one didn't, to say nothing of his newfound sexual appreciation for his wife.
19	* SexlessMarriage: Vera and Silas's marriage is implied to be one before his return. After this, he starts showing sexual interest in her, which greatly surprises Vera. After they have sex, she says he never before touched her that way, so apparently they hadn't even consummated it.
20	* SpiritualAntithesis: To the classical body-snatcher stories, such as ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers1956''. Vera much prefers the possessed Silas, who is much more humane than her "real" husband. This notably serves as such for a different episode of this very show, "[[Recap/PhilipKDicksElectricDreamsS1E10TheFatherThing The Father-Thing]]", which is based on a Creator/PhilipKDick story that predates and inspired ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers''. Interestingly, the selfsame behavior that convinces the main character of "The Father-Thing" that his father has been replaced -- his father's sudden desire to rekindle his relationship with his wife -- is what saves the new Silas from execution here.
21	* TalkingInYourSleep: How the Rexorian who replaced Pvt. Matthews got caught.

Context Recap / PhilipKDicksElectricDreamsS1E6HumanIs