“Krysis” is episode five of Red Dwarf XI.
It’s six in the morning (due to the clocks being altered having been pushed forward a year for several years to allow Lister another hour in bed) and Kryten is bringing him breakfast. That doesn’t go as expected. Kryten isn’t feeling himself. He’s lost interest in all his favourite activities – which all involve cleaning things; he is service mechanoid after all. Kryten no longer sees the point in cleaning below eye level, or even getting up in the morning (something Lister agrees with) if the entire universe is going to end anyway. He’s even lost faith in Silicon Heaven.
Kryten has started questioning things as today is the anniversary of his creation – which was 2,9760,000 years ago. Mechanoids are apparently designed to last for around six million years – which puts Kryten roughly halfway through his lifespan. So Lister decides that Kryten must be suffering from a midlife crisis (or ‘Krysis’) when, confronted with his own mortality, he starts questioning the point of existence. This is a concept that the perpetually shallow Cat doesn’t get, having never regretted anything.
The idea that he is having a midlife crisis is proven when Kryten appears with the mechanoid equivalent of a sports car – a new shell. It’s in Ferrari red with twin exhausts, new features, subwoofers and a faster walking speed. Lister decides that they need to show Kryten just what he has achieved. Rimmer says this isn’t much, as all he does is look after Lister. So Lister decides to try and find a ship from the series like the one they rescued Kryten from (in the titular episode) with the same type of mechanoid on board to show Kryten just how much he has evolved, and seeing a mechanoid that can’t do things like lie, exaggerate, act pompous or all the other stuff Lister has taught Kryten. The rest of them will go into stasis until then. This does not go to plan, and Kryten doesn’t get cheered up as intended.