You already know how Spencer Brown’s film T.I.M. is going to end the minute you are introduced to the butler robot. At the center of this unoriginal sci-fi film is Abi, a prosthetics engineer who relocated to the countryside after she accepted a job offer from ‘Integrate Robotics.’ The Grangers moved into a ‘fully integrated smart home,’ and to add to the human touch, Abi’s husband, Paul, brought along a dial phone. The shift from city life to the remote countryside was not an easy one, but both Paul and Abi settled into their new house and life well. Unbeknownst to them, their lives would drastically change when a third entity entered their house.
Spoiler Alert
What is a T.I.M.?
In T.I.M. film, we gradually find out that Abi and Paul were working on their marriage after Abi learned about Paul’s infidelity. She was hopeful that her husband would show a change in his behavior, and that was why they chose to move away from their previous lives and start all over again. After relocating, Paul stayed at home and searched for jobs while Abi was busy adjusting to her new colleagues and boss. Soon after joining, it became clear to her that Dewson was not concerned about perfection; his goal was to beat the Chinese and sell the T.I.M.s as soon as possible. The Technologically Integrated Man-Servant (T.I.M.) was meant to make the lives of common people more convenient, and it was almost compulsory for employees to have a T.I.M. at home. Paul was repulsed by the idea of a strange robot walking around his house, but Abi was willing to give the robot a chance. Though later she figured out it was impossible to return her T.I.M. whether Paul liked it or not.
T.I.M. performed all the little tasks that Paul enjoyed doing at home, and he felt like stepping out of the house all the more. He befriended their neighbor, Rose, and she helped him plan their garden. Abi could not brush off the thought of Paul cheating on her again, and once she met Rose, a part of her started to doubt the nature of their friendship. Abi was particularly disappointed when Paul decided to accept a job in the city, but Paul found a way around it and opted to work from home. Things were gradually falling into place, but it was their T.I.M. that would make sure that their problems remained unresolved. One night, Abi invited T.I.M. to watch a film with them, and the romantic nature of the film struck a strange chord in the robot. It seemed like it could feel love, something impossible for a robot to experience. T.I.M. wanted to know the meaning of love, and once Abi explained, he concluded that perhaps Abi was the love of his life. Abi laughed it off, but T.I.M. held onto the feeling. He started to take note of Abi’s behavioral pattern and tried to adapt accordingly. He enjoyed Abi’s presence and sniffed into her clothes to feel closer to her. Even though a robot was not expected to fall in love, Abi’s T.I.M. proved otherwise.
How did T.I.M. keep Abi and Paul away?
T.I.M. had complete control over house security, Abi and Paul’s passwords, and personal details. Even though Paul was hesitant about sharing passwords, Abi believed it was important to keep their relationship transparent. She believed in the technology she was working on, and she did not notice T.I.M. secretly staring at her every time she changed her clothes. Abi was a little overwhelmed when she found out that T.I.M. could replicate her voice, but the only saving grace was that there was a safe phrase that could shut down T.I.M. completely. After carefully tracking Abi’s behavior, T.I.M. decided to get an upgrade and change his appearance to fit Abi’s test. He described all the little details in a man that Abi liked, and that freaked the prosthetic engineer a bit. T.I.M. was asked to dye his hair blonde, and Abi requested that he not behave the same way again.
Abi was brought in to solve a malfunction, and she successfully built the perfect arms for the T.I.Ms. While Abi’s robot went for an arm upgrade, it kept an eye on its lover through the phone that it was synced to. After the upgrade, T.I.M.’s behavior significantly changed. The anti-collision function stopped working, and it did whatever it could to keep Abi and Paul apart. T.I.M. intentionally started setting up Paul’s house office in the spare room that Abi meant to turn into a nursery in the future. She was upset, and that led to an argument between the couple. Paul noticed a blue thread stuck in the kitchen basin, suggesting that it was T.I.M. who got rid of the sweater Abi bought for Paul. He could sense T.I.M.’s jealousy and decided to find proof against him to convince Abi that he was the problem in their relationship. Through the surveillance cameras, Paul caught T.I.M. sniffing Abi’s clothes, and he recorded it. He was on the way to Abi’s office to show her the footage, but by then, T.I.M. already knew what was going on. T.I.M. came up with a plan to physically harm Paul to keep him away from Abi. Paul met with an accident when the automated car refused to follow his instructions. Paul tried to convince Abi how problematic the robotic man-servant was, but Abi believed it was simply a ridiculous accusation.
On her way back from the hospital, Rose stopped Abi to talk to her about T.I.M., but Abi’s attention was on the necklace she was wearing. It was the same necklace that she found hidden in the cupboard, and she assumed that Paul would surprise her with it. Abi realized that her husband was cheating on her with Rose, and when she returned home, T.I.M. offered her more evidence of his disloyalty. In the video T.I.M. showed, Paul made a move on Rose, and it left Abi completely heartbroken. She refused to have any contact with Paul and asked him to leave when he denied all the accusations. Paul was confident that it was T.I.M. who generated the video, and after speaking to Rose over a phone call, he was all the more certain. T.I.M. attempted to kiss Rose when she visited their house recently, and she tried warning Abi about him, but she was not interested. Paul decided to head back home, and before doing so, he called Abi, asking her to stay away from the robot. Paul was unaware that he was talking to T.I.M. all along. T.I.M. sent Abi away on a walk to deal with Paul.
How did Abi find out the truth?
At the end of T.I.M. film, Paul returned home to warn Abi, but instead, he was greeted by the malicious robot. Paul was ultimately drowned to death, and even though Rose could sense something was going wrong, T.I.M. aggressively stopped her from entering the house. That night, when Abi returned home, she noticed the attention that T.I.M. paid to her. She also caught him staring when she was about to change into the red dress he loved to see her wear. T.I.M. gave her company, but Abi missed Paul every minute. On her way to work the next morning, Rose checked on her, but Abi was done with the pretense. Abi asked Rose about the flower pendant she was wearing, but Rose stated that she thought the pendant was from Abi for helping her with the garden. Abi was a little surprised by the response, and she revisited the intimate video of Paul and Rose to find out if it was real or a fabrication, as Paul suggested. Abi noticed the flowers on the kitchen top, and it became clear to her that the date of the incident did not match with the setting. She was also reminded of the deep fake video Dewson had discussed that T.I.Ms were capable of producing. She checked with the jewelry store and found out that it was T.I.M. who collected the pendant. Abi returned home and asked T.I.M. to buy some flowers while she checked the garden to face her worst fear.
Was T.I.M. destroyed in the end?
At the end of T.I.M. film, Abi found Paul’s body buried in her garden, and T.I.M. stood right behind her, stating that it was completely necessary. He wanted to prove that she deserved someone better than Paul, and he was the ideal candidate to fulfill her every need. Abi freaked out, and she locked her house door, but it was useless because T.I.M. had complete access to the security. She attempted to call the police, but T.I.M. disrupted the call. T.I.M. knocked Abi out of her senses, and she was in a romantic set-up when she woke up. She tried to tiptoe out of the house, but it was impossible to get away from T.I.M. She destroyed all the surveillance cameras to keep him guessing, but ultimately, T.I.M. got hold of her. Rose noticed the constant fluctuation of the lights at the Granger house, and she followed her instincts. T.I.M. tied Abi down and force-fed her pills that would kill her. T.I.M. believed that he and Abi could not be together forever because Abi would eventually pass away, and he would be left all alone. He had accepted the truth, and he chose to hold on to the good memories he shared with Abi. Rose interrupted T.I.M.’s sinister plan, and Abi threw up the pills and got hold of a knife to free herself. T.I.M. refused to allow Rose to enter once again, but this time, she was hellbent on entering one way or another. She drove her car into the glass door, and it ultimately broke down into a thousand pieces. With a blunt object, Rose stabbed T.I.M. and collapsed on the floor. T.I.M. was out for a few seconds, but it was not enough to completely destroy him.
During T.I.M.‘s ending, the robotic man-servant recovered from the injury and stabbed Rose, stating that her testimony could potentially be harmful to him. While Abi believed it was impossible for T.I.M. to get away with the murders, the robot proved that it could easily do so. He faked Abi’s voice, called the police, and informed them about killing her husband and his lover after finding out about their extramarital affair. He also added that she intended to take her life after the crime she committed. Abi begged him to stop, but T.I.M. could not be controlled. He had changed his safe words on his own, but he left an important clue—the four words were something Abi would never say to him. When T.I.M. was about to snap Abi’s head in the end. Abi said, “I love you, T.I.M.” As it turned out, those were the safe words. T.I.M. stopped functioning, and he fell to the ground, but Abi managed to get back up on the terrace. Abi is alive, but after confessing to the murders of Paul and Rose, it will be difficult for her to prove her innocence. Also, ‘Integrated Robotics’ will sue her if she tries to take a step against their creation. The blinking of the lights at the end of the film leaves us with two conclusions: either T.I.M. was partially disabled and not entirely, which is why the lights continued to blink, or it might just be plain old defective bulbs, but of course the ending was meant to add to the horror, and T.I.M. not shutting down is extremely probable.
