Almost Human 1.07 Review: A Psycho Scorned

This is a friendly reminder for all those that have yet to watch last Monday’s episode of Almost Human, entitled ‘Simon Says’, that now would be a brilliant time to go and catch up on that. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Since I have a few notes I would like to touch base on concerning last week’s episode, I’m going to write a brief review. Now, you’ll have to bear with me a bit, seeing as I did watch this episode a good eight days ago. But here goes.

I just wanted to write that this episode was rather enjoyable. Despite its similarities to the film Untraceable, at least in the beginning, it was a rather intriguing episode. It was blatantly obvious that the guy was going to go after Kennex by the middle there, but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable.

Michael Ealy really showed his chops in this episode. The AI he played had to demonstrate a larger, more erratic, range of emotions that was just brilliantly hilarious. I absolutely loved when he got in that altercation in the beginning, with the detective in charge of back-up power distribution. And then in the way he showed him that he was much more useful than those other AI’s with no emotion. I think the guy’s slowly coming around to his kind of AI.

All in all, it was a good episode. Urban showed his great ability to act, in his display of Kennex’s need to save himself for once. And, like I said, Ealy really proved that he can play just as hard.

My rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Best Line:

“The good news is the donut machine does have a full charge, but we are out of chocolate sprinkles.” – Kennex says, making fun of Detective Paul.

Okay, that’s as brief as I could make it. Now I really am going to go watch Friday’s episode of Bones.

Almost Human 1.02 Review: The Importance of Being Remembered

For all those that have yet to watch last night’s episode of Almost Human, entitled ‘Skin’, I suggest that you go do that before proceeding ahead. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

This series is kind of brilliant. While the pilot episode was a little tedious in that it had to set this world up for us, this episode kind of made me fall in love with this series. Just the way it began, that opening was perfectly wonderful for a futuristic cop drama that shows us more about people through the eyes of one synthetic (read: robot) than some people are able to express it today’s world.

Really, I kind of loved this episode. No, it didn’t share as much continuity with the previous episode as I like for my television, but I’m kind of okay with that because this episode was much better than the pilot. After watching this, I see more of a mix of many different series, blended together quite professionally. This is the kind of cop drama I can get into.

Can I just comment on the CGI work and special effects? They’re amazing! I mean, for someone who has watched Once Upon A Time for three years now, this sci-fi series blows their special effects out of the water. For a TV budget, I can find hardly anything remiss, and I tend to have an eye for seeking out terrible special effects. I feel like I stepped into a movie budget on television. That being said, that could worry me if this series doesn’t reach a high amount of viewership, more so than normal, it could mean unreasonable cancellation based on its likely high budget. I certainly hope that isn’t the case.

Karl Urban was much more interesting tonight as Detective John Kennex. The man has this strange kind of humour to him that I just find adorable. While I can see them eventually pairing him up with Minka Kelly’s Detective Stahl, I would like to see a bit more chemistry between them and scenes shared before that develops further. They could have something interesting, but at the moment it seems more one-sided in her awe for him, despite how he explained his ideal woman is basically her in a nutshell.

For me, Michael Ealy’s rendition of Dorian that was the star of the episode. The very subtle way in which he is able to play his emotions into what is basically a robot is simply phenomenal. Every time his face shows up on screen, I can’t help but watch the minute nuances that display emotional in the slightly stilted synthetic way. This is the man to watch in this series.

Also, I’m very much enjoying the partner relationship between Kennex and Dorian. They do seem to be coming along as a great team, and I am quite intrigued to watch this develop over the course of this series. I’m sure there will still be many obstacles to overcome, despite how they seem to have clicked more as partners since Sunday’s pilot episode. They are definitely a pair I can see watching over the long run.

All in all, I really love this series. While it is still soon to say if I will watch this series as long as it runs, especially being that I can find cop procedurals eventually tedious, as long as they keep an interesting and fresh take for my television to record each week, I will come back. There are definitely some mysteries to be solved, and some relationships to be watched over the course of this show. I’m just a little weary that there is something a little off with this show that I can’t put my finger on. Still, I am intrigued by the promos for the next episodes.

My rating: 8 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“Maybe the cats are allergic to you. Did you ever think of that?” – Dorian relates to Kennex.

“Add him to the list of kids and cats.” – Kennex tells Dorian, regarding the list of those that don’t like Kennex.

“Who is going to remember me?” – Dorian asks Kennex, in an emotionally charged statement.

“Don’t scan my testicles. Ever again.” – Kennex says to Dorian.

All right, ladies and gents, I’m off to watch Sleepy Hollow now. Stay tuned.

Almost Human 1.01 Review: What Makes Us Human

Anyone that has yet to watch last night’s series premiere of Almost Human, this is where I suggest that you do that before proceeding ahead. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

So, this week’s pilot episode of Almost Human set the scene for a not-too-distant future (it is only the year 2048) where technology has advanced to the point where crime has skyrocketed 400%. This means there are not enough cops to dissuade criminals, and thus each cop must be paired with a synthetic partner – basically a robot.

We meet up with our damaged hero of the piece, John Kennex, played by the wonderful Karl Urban. After seventeen months in a coma caused by the evil crime unit known as Syndicate that wiped out the rest of his command, he has spent the last seven months rehabilitating. But now it’s time for this detective to get back to work, and that’s where this series begins.

While I have never seen Blade Runner and thus cannot make the connections with that film, this series does appear to have equal parts I, Robot as well as the recent remake of Total Recall. The special effects were masterful, which is what I related to the latter of the two films, and the MX’s were brilliantly designed, and also had an air of the former film. That being said, there wasn’t much I saw in this pilot that could be deemed original, but it was fun to watch nonetheless.

Although I’m a big fan of Karl Urban from both The Chronicles of Riddick film, as well as the two latest Star Trek films, it was not he who shined in this series. It was Michael Ealy’s turn as the emotional synthetic known as Dorian, based on the model name DRN. His ability to play a robot with emotions, but still jilted in his acting was phenomenal, and will likely be one of the bigger reasons I come back next episode. The man did amazing, I’d almost believe he actually was a robot, and that is the mark of a truly talented actor. It’s good to know that this guy has the chops to bring to one-half of a crime fighting team.

That leads me to another thing. One of my favourite things about this episode, aside from the character Dorian and my natural-born curiousity when it comes to the Syndicate, was the relationship that has just barely had its surface scratched, in way of the cop-synthetic team of Kennex and Dorian. The way Kennex had a strong adversity to all things synthetic, and then he is eventually (that is, after throwing his MX out of his car into highway traffic) paired with one that has emotions and is as close to human as possible, especially in the way that he makes his own choices and his intuition leads him to make those decisions. These two are perfectly paired for one another, and I look forward to watching their relationship evolve. I’m sure, while they did seem to come to some sort of understanding in the end, that there will be difficulties and obstacles to overcome, and that is a rather exciting endeavor for myself as an audience member.

All in all, this wasn’t a disappointing premiere. There wasn’t much in the way of originality like I said, but the cast that has been brought together seems promising. I do look forward to learning more about John’s ex-girlfriend, as well as seeing the development of Minka Kelly’s character. There is no shortage of cop dramas on television, but this does have a slightly different spin on that, at the very least. I’m not sure if I will stick around for the entire season, but this episode does have my curiousity peeked. Also, Segway!

My rating: 7 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“Well, that last part is true.” – Kennex agrees with his psychologist defining him as hating his synthetic body parts.

“Amy, Audrey, Aquamarine…” – Dorian lists off possible A names.

Okay, folks, that’s all for tonight. Check back in tomorrow for my reviews of How I Met Your Mother, Sleepy Hollow, and Almost Human, which moves into its Monday night timeslot.