I've been watching the two seasons of the Netflix series Lost In Space. Of course I do not pay for a Netflix subscription. The series is surprisingly good -- better than there is any reason to expect it to be. There is the usual assortment of superwomen telling men what to do, and magic niggers, but that seems unavoidable in movies and on television these days.

One character in particular stands out, that of Doctor Smith. Those of you who have seen the original series (which was god-awful, by the way) know that Dr. Smith was a stowaway aboard the space ship of the Robinson family. He was ingratiating, deceitful and untrustworthy, the source of many of the problems that confronted the Robinsons.

In the new series, Smith is a full-blown psychopath. The producers also made him a women, but that is not especially pertinent to the character. There has never been a more perfect presentation of a psychopath on television than Dr. Smith. She is articulate, intelligent and charming, and has absolutely no compassion or empathy of any kind, although she is able to fake empathy and regret when it suits her purposes. To get into space, she drugged her own sister and assumed her identity. When in danger of being exposed, she committed murder by allowing a man she could have saved to get blown into vacuum.

Anyone interested in seeing how a true psychopath thinks should watch this series, which is pretty good in its own right, although I will say that the writing gets a little confused toward the end of the second season, and the physics is a sad joke, as is usual in science fiction on television.