“The Hood Maker” episode one of season one of Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams and is based on the short story of the same name.
This episode opens with two people fishing on a river. Another person, a woman, is standing in the river watching them.
The next scene is of a demonstration, against what are called Teeps. The woman from the river is there, with what looks like the police, and she has a nasty mark on her face. She is saying what the people in the demonstration are feeling. Someone else is photographing this. When the demonstrators realise that someone is reading their minds, they object quite violently. One of the demonstrators is wearing a hood and throws a Molotov cocktail at the woman, but misses, and the man who looks to be in charge of the police chases after him – successfully. There are others with the same mark on their face as well, although not always on the same side.
Technology is not hugely advanced, being around the level seen when the story was written, perhaps a bit higher. Although there is a suggestion that it was once much higher. The Teeps – telepaths – are a mutation, and the facial mark identifies them. It would seem to be part of the mutation.
Teeps have just been approved for use in police investigations and can read the minds of suspects without permission. This has not been popular, with either the Normals, or the Teeps. Honor, the Teep from earlier, is now working for the police – Clearance – but it is not by her choice. The man partnered with her, Agent Ross, is not too happy either, but also seems more open minded. His objection would appear to be based on the issue of snooping on people’s thoughts rather than an objection to the Teeps themselves. The Teeps seem to live in ghettoes, and the world does not look that good.
The hood is being sent out by the titular Hood Maker. Wearing the hood prevents the wearer from being read by Teeps. In the city, things are getting out of hand, and the hood may be the final spark needed. The Normals want to exterminate the Teeps and there would appear to be a Teep Underground plotting as well.
With such distrust and a world on the brink of explosion, will Ross and Honor be able to trust each other? Should they even trust each other?