Episode #07 - The Lonely

Air Date: 11/13/59    written by Rod Serling    Directed by Jack Smight
PLOT: in the future, convicted men are sent off-world to lonely asteroids to  serve out their sentences; one such man is Corry (Jack Warden), who is in the 4th year of a 50-year sentence...

Though 'only' in his 4th year of exile, Corry is already feeling the harsh effects of solitude and lonliness. He's desperate when the supply ship, which comes around every few months, arrives, hoping for at least a few hours of companionship. But, the crew have to leave right away. The commander (John Dehner) takes pity on Corry and leaves him a box; inside are the parts to build a female robot. Corry is initially repelled and continues to be hostile about the whole concept even after he builds the robot, for she represents a mockery of a real female; but soon, he begins to develop feelings for "Alicia"...
This episode always disturbed me a bit, especially the ending. I suppose it's because I looked on Alicia (Jean Marsh) as a real woman, just as Corry does. Maybe it's the performance by Marsh - there's no real evidence that she's anything but a real woman - until the end, that is. This kind of challenges all our perceptions about what is real, in terms of feelings & emotions, and what is illusion; and, what are simply our delusions.  There was a similar use of a robot in the episode I Sing the Body Electric; it also suggests that emotions can be manipulated with a panacea, a replica of reality, and we don't really know the difference.  BoG's Score: 7 out of 10
Trivia From the Zone:
One of the hostile crew who arrive briefly at the asteroid is played by Ted Knight, who went on to the Mary Tyler Moore Show.
This was ranked the 11th worst episode by Buzzfeed, mostly due to an abusive depiction of women - but the point is she is not a woman.