Lithia

A community of women has survived a major world war. During that time, the remarkable result is that something has happened to all the men. They have died off. Because of medical technology, the women have been able to produce without mates. There are several of these sects that are governed by a woman who is a kind of overseer to them. Lo and behold a man who has been a cryonic cell wakes up to this world. He finds his way to the commune and is taken care of by them. They are, however, suspicious of his motives, and are constantly on the alert. As time goes on, he begins to aid them in their efforts to produce food. He also begins to have relationships with a couple of the women who welcome it. Problems begin to occur when he suggests that they begin to stand up to the other sects, who have much more than they do. There are some lessons to be learned here about equality and about what a society should be. An interesting, though far fetched effort.

Imagine submitting a script, the central theme of which were some ill conceived and self serving generalisations commonly held by ignorant men about women. This script wouldn't just be an example of stereotyping but a fully rounded rationalisation of prejudice, depicting woman as universally incapable of functioning independently, habitually stupid and selfish. What do you think the reception for that script would be, be honest, it's never going to fly is it?

Oddly but I admit none too surprisingly, the same isn't true if you simply transpose the gender roles. Yep you can get away with rendering bigotry on screen if you just take the time to select the -correct- subject matter. What's even odder though, is just how blithely this particular example negotiates this hypocrisy so un-self-consciously; there's not even a perfunctory attempt to qualify the crass reasoning it presents.

And this is where the paradox arises, the narrative presented is so crass and objectionable that it actually turns out to be quite an effective (probably unintentional) satire on feminism.

My oh my! Ignoring the major plot hole of the reproduction process, if there's a worse episode of this run of The Outer Limits, please let me know as I need to avoid. The intent to showcase the evil of man; the result; pettiness of woman on display. My initial thought; only man, let me get out of here: end of the episode, proven correct. The writers do not understand the difference between submission and cooperation.

I have to laugh at the reviews calling this episode misandric and radically feminist. TOL is speculative fiction. It takes an idea and expands on it to explore facets of humanity and existence. Historically, wars and violence have been caused by men, not women. The writers of this episode explored a future where men (in general) cause their own extinction due to their own violence and aggression.

For an hour-long show, I think this was a well-told story. Mercer is a likable, noble character with good intentions. But the all-female enclave functions the way it does for a reason. Mercer rocks the boat, and tragedy ensues.

If you're watching this episode, I encourage you to watch it with an open mind. Reflect on the sex and gender dynamics that exist in our society. This story is just one interpretation, but it's not so far fetched or one-sided to be counted out for plausibility.

Half of the reviews think this is full of misogyny and the other half think it's misandry. Maybe not half and half, since possibly more men have reviewed it crying misandry. Personally I think the entire episode is just full of awful gender stereotypes all around. It's definitely got a fair amount of male fantasy (re: lesbian relationships in an all-male society, the pining of women for a man the second they see him, the need for a man to take charge of things). And the claim of some reviews that this represents some sort of utopian female society are bizarre, because clearly there are all sorts of problems with the society, which according to the writers clearly need a man to fix -- it's just that he goes about it wrong. But yes, it is also full of stereotypes about men being inherently violent and causing violence. And in the end it has a lot of anti-man rhetoric. So in my opinion this is just unfair to both men and women.

The biggest problem is that it's a silly story and the acting is mostly really bad. And the end is just more silliness.