Doctors perform a c-section on Marie, and she tells the nurse that she couldn't push anymore. The anesthesiologist assures her that she has nothing to apologize for, and holds her hand as the doctors remove the baby. They gather for a moment nearby and Marie asks if everything is okay, and breaks into tear. The anesthesiologist tells her to relax, and the baby starts crying.
Three Years Later
Marie's father Russ is feeding the girl, Sara, and Marie comes to take her daughter to the park. As she takes Sara in a stroller, a neighbor's dark barks at them and Marie quickly goes across the street. They arrive at the park and Sara gets on the slide. As a friend comes over to talk to Marie, Sara climbs through a play tunnel and finds a cat. It runs off and Sara goes off. Marie notices that she's gone, looks for her, and calls for her daughter. She gets a group together to search for Sara, and a man finds her down by the track following a cat.
Later, Marie takes Sara to Arkangel and a doctor Jasmine assures her that the process has been fully tested and safe. She injects a needle into Sara's forehead as Marie looks on, and then takes Marie into another room and shows her the Arkangel parental app. She reviews the controls and explains how to use it to notify Marie of Sara's location and monitor her health levels. The app lets her tie into Sara's visual feed, and Jasmine explains that Marie can pink out things that cause Sara stress. She demonstrates by showing an image of violence and then pixelating that. Jasmine assures Marie that it's all optional.
Marie takes Sara home and tells Russ that it's a free trial and perfectly safe. Russ is skeptical and Marie points out that she broke her arm because Russ wouldn't get a baby gate.
Marie plays hide-and-seek with Sara, hiding in the closet and watching her via the app. Russ tells Sara to look upstairs, well aware that Marie is watching. Marie calls to Sara and her daughter finds her in the closet.
Later, Marie takes Sara out and turns on the filter so that Sara doesn't see or hear the dog. That night, Marie tucks Sara in and goes out, leaving the tablet behind. The next morning, Mari makes breakfast for her father and daughter, and Russ assures her that they'll be okay. At her physiotherapy lab, Marie works with a patient, Anthony. At home, Sara paints with Russ, and he has a heart attack. His image pixelates as Sara's stress levels rise.
Marie checks Sara on her tablet and gets a warning. She sees the image of Russ having the heart attack and depixelates it, and then calls 911. Later, Marie brings him home from the hospital and Sara goes to the kitchen to get a cookie.
Six Years Later
Sara and Marie go to the cemetery and Mari leaves flowers on Russ' recently-dug grave. Back at home, Sara draws and Marie monitors her via Arkangel. When Sara walks to school, she sees the dog and it's still pixelated. In the schoolyard, Ryan Tribecky--nicknamed Trick--is showing several kids a violent video. Trick calls Sara a chip head and refuses to show her, calling her a snitch, but describes it to her in graphic detail. The implant pinks out his words
That night at home, Sara draws the image that Trick described. The implant pinks out the blood that she draws, and Sara pricks herself with a pencil tip but can't see the blood. The tablet goes off a few minutes later and Marie runs in to see Sara poking herself in the hand. When Marie tries to stop her, Sara pokes her in the cheek.
Dr. Usborne analyzes Sara later and Marie watches via the implant as he shows her an image of two men fighting. Afterward, Usborne asks Marie if Sara has ever shown undue anger before. He explains that Arkangel was banned in Europe and will be banned in the U.S. as well, and says that she can throw away the parental unit even though they can't remove the implant. At home, Marie shut down the parental unit and puts it away. She tells Sara that she'll be on her own without Arkangel, and Sara worries that Marie won't see her. Marie assures her that nothing will happen to her and hugs her daughter.
Sara walks down the street and sees the dog for the first time. It barks at her, and when she tries to cross the street a truck drives by and the driver yells at her. Meanwhile, a nervous Marie takes out the parental unit and turns it on. At school, Sara sees Trick fighting with a boy and stares at him. She sits next to him and asks if he's okay, and he says that his dad will bust his lip again because he got in trouble. Sara explains that Marie turned the system off, and Trick gleefully shows her porn and violence.
The next day, Sara goes to school and Marie puts the tablet away in the attic. Sara grows up and eventually befriends the neighbor dog, Petey. At school, Sara and her friend see Trick in his new van, and Trick invites them to hang with him and his friend at the lake that night. As they walk home, Sara and Meryl work out how to go to the lake without Marie knowing. Sara insists that she isn't going to do anything with Trick. When Sara arrives home, she says that she's going to Reilly's for movie night and she'll be home late.
That night at the lake, Trick does marijuana and offers some to Sara. She accepts and he hugs her to keep her warm.
Marie goes out with Anthony and ends up in bed with him. She heads back and leaves a message for Sara, and then calls Reilly's mother. The mother says that they didn't end up there, and Marie calls Sara's friends and confirms that she isn't with any of them. When Marie arrives home, she gets out the tablet and charges it up, and locates her at the lake. She brings up the visual readout and sees Trick having sex with Sara. Shocked, Sara shuts down the tablet.
After sex, Trick tells Sara that she must have had sex before. She insists that she hasn't, and says that he didn't have to talk like she was a porn star. They kiss and Sara jokingly calls him a pussy. Meryl knocks on the door and tells Sara that her mother knows she's not at Reilly's.
Marie tracks Sara approaching the house. Trick drives up to the house in his van and they notice that the lights aren't on, and Sara figures that Marie isn't home yet. They laugh and kiss, and then Sara goes into the house. She tells Marie that she's running late, and Marie doesn't say what she knows.
The next morning, Sara says that she'll be a little late from school because she's helping Meryl with a project. Marie goes to work and afterward, leaves with the tablet.
Sara shows Trick a sketch of a burning house to put on the van. He says that it's not his van and it's better if he stays anonymous, and Sara asks if she has any coke. She runs to the van to grab his backpack, and he yanks it away and says that he's selling to make money but doesn't use it. Sara asks him to show her what it looks like. He shows it to her and explains how to use it, and gives her a sample. Sara insists that she wants to try it just once.
Marie hears the tablet register a narcotic alert. She brings it up and sees Sara take a hit of coke. Furious, she tosses the tablet on the floor. She then picks it up and brings up the image of Trick, and discovers that he works at a furniture warehouse. Marie goes there and finds Trick, calls him a junkie, and tells him to stay away from Sara. She threatens to show the cops what he did, and tells him that she sees what Sara sees and warns Trick to stay away from her no matter what.
When Sara comes home that night, she goes up to her room and calls Trick. He ignores her call, and keeps ignoring her as she tries to reach him. Marie finally checks on Sara and finds her on her bed, crying. She says that she just wants to sleep, and Marie goes to her bedroom and checks the visual feed.
Sara finally goes to the warehouse and confronts Trick. He says that it was a mistake and he can't be with her. Marie watches as Trick tells Sara that he doesn't want her, and Sara storms off. She walks around, grief-stricken.
Marie goes to a pharmacy.
The next morning, Marie is making breakfast and mixes a smoothie for Sara. Sara comes in and gets breakfast, and then goes to school. In school, Sara finally runs to the restroom and vomits. She then goes to the school nurse, who tells her that the EC pill he took made her sick. However, it aborted the pregnancy. The nurse says that she'll have to put it in her file but won't flag it.
Sara goes home and finds the EC pill wrapper in the garbage. She searches Marie's room and finds the tablet, and plays back the video to the images of Trick. Furious, she packs her things and hears Marie arrive outside. Marie comes in and sees the garbage on the floor, and goes upstairs to her daughter's room. She finds the tablet on the bed, and brings up the visual feed to see Sara watching her. Sara accuses Marie of watching her and yanks it away, and tries to turn it off. Marie says that everything she's done is to protect her, and Sara beats Marie with the tablet. The image pixelates until she smashes the unit, and Sara runs out.
Marie wakes up and reaches for the tablet. She walks outside and discovers that Sara has left, and is unable to bring up her location on the broken tablet.
Sara walks out of town and hitches a ride with a truck driver.
Written by Gadfly on Dec 30, 2017