We are down to the last installment of Vidol’s BL series that started last year! Starring Leo Huang and Ping Chen Wu, ‘AntiReset’ revolves around an injured history teacher, Yi Ping, who is given an AI robot in the form of Ever 9 to test and train. As the two spend time together, they not only learn how to care for and communicate with another being, but they also discover how to love. See what transpires in this BLTai recap of the ‘AntiReset’ episodes 1 and 2. Does love outweigh science and research?
Warning: Spoilers alert. Read at your own risk.
Episode 1: The First Day of Delivery
Yi Ping miserably fails to make his own coffee due to his injured left arm, resulting in the coffee beans spilling all over his floor. As he tries to clean them up, the doorbell in his modern-esque home rings, and a young man who introduces himself as someone from Heng Ji Smart has a document for him to sign. With the young man’s pristine look, Yi Ping finds himself staring unbelievably at him.
In the university where he teaches history, to the dismay of his parents, who are working in the field of science and research, Yi Ping is continuously hit on by his students who are romantically interested in him, even though he always turns them down. That afternoon, one of his students tries to give him a century-old pastry and accidentally falls on him due to her clumsiness. Yi Ping manages to catch his student but strains his right arm in doing so. He rejects the pastry, goes on his own, and realizes that he needs medical attention, resulting in him ditching their department’s gathering. On his way to the hospital, he receives a call from his Uncle Wei, who wants to check up on him, and he dramatically reacts after finding out that he dislocated his shoulder. Uncle Wei immediately follows Yi Ping to the hospital and volunteers to be of his assistance in the meantime. He also brings him home and asks if he should hire a nurse for him after seeing him struggling to move around the house with just one moving arm. Yi Ping turns down the offer and insists that he can manage just fine. The uncle and nephew end up arguing as Uncle Wei insists that Yi Ping needs someone to assist and accompany him, but the latter is firm with his decision not to get one. Yi Ping tells Uncle Wei that he didn’t ask him to like him or help him around, but Uncle Wei comforts him that he truly likes him the best. As Uncle Wei makes instant noodles for Yi Ping, he gets the idea of giving Yi Ping the opportunity to trial run their company’s latest project, a secret test of robots. Uncle Wei continues that the robot is designed with the hope of curing emotionally disabled people, and he thinks that Yi Ping can take one and provide feedback on his experience. He also thinks that having a company, even a robot, will help Yi Ping learn how to communicate with other people. Uncle Wei informs Yi Ping that he will have one delivered the following day and requests that he take time off from work as well before leaving for a business meeting.
The following day takes us back to the first scene of the episode, where Yi Ping finds a young man waiting at his doorstep who looks at him from head to toe to confirm his identity. To Yi Ping’s surprise, the young man introduces himself as part of the Heng Ji Smart series as Product Number Nine. He further adds that since Yi Ping is injured, the company already set him up prior to his delivery and mentions that Uncle Wei sent him. Yi Ping realizes that the young man in front of him is one of the company’s test robots and asks for the young man’s confirmation. The young man answers that he is an artificial intelligence, prompting Yi Ping to call Uncle Wei and accuse him of sending him a real human to take care of him. Uncle Wei denies the accusation and tells Yi Ping that even he himself thought that it was a human when he first saw the product. He instructs Yi Ping to touch the robot to check, and to the latter’s surprise, he doesn’t feel any pulse coming from it despite the human-like body. He also finds a barcode at the back of the robot’s neck that serves as its switch to shut down. Yi Ping brings the robot inside his home and begins to interview it, asking if it needs to be charged or if it needs to eat to function. He also curiously touches the robot, who finally introduces himself as Ever 9, the ninth product of the Heng Ji Smart series. Ever 9 tells Yi Ping that he is set to take care of him for the time being and tells him what he needs to remember when handling a robot like him. Ever 9 is also equipped with fake memories and life backgrounds to be able to fully interact with other humans. As Yi Ping continues to pinch and touch Ever 9 to check on him, he can’t help but remember his old pet, a dog that he also loves to touch. Uncle Wei gives Yi Ping another call to remind him that the project is confidential and to boast that Ever 9 is the only product that passes the emotional quotient test for picky people like him. When Yi Ping asks if it’s possible for him not to return to Ever 9 anymore, Uncle Wei tells him that he cannot and should just take his time utilizing the robot.
Ever 9 starts to care for Yi Ping, such as by preparing his meals, before he suddenly asks him if he is his master now. To his surprise, Ever 9 kisses him and tells him that he saw a Japanese manga where the owner kissed the robot to activate it before he smiles at Yi Ping widely.
