I asked the missus for a AnitaBot for my birthday, she said no though :/
The most recent C4 episode really moves things on, and I feel a lot better now about some of the stuff that bugged me in the first few episodes (though arguably it’s now too pat). I have to say it’s really nice watching a sci-fi show that isn’t in the JJ Abrams mould. They’re not stringing you along and milking a mystery to get to syndication. They’re just telling a story. It may or may not be a good story, but it feels like it’s being told for its own sake.
So in the scene at the party where the girl is coming on to Toby and he says no–he can’t possibly be holding out for Mia/Anita, can he?
Also, freaky scene at the end of that episode (the reveal about the lady cop).
Really enjoying William Hurt in this. Can’t get enough of him.
That was my take on Toby, yes. And the lady cop was a big surprise to me as well. I liked it.
So in the scene at the party where the girl is coming on to Toby and he says no–he can’t possibly be holding out for Mia/Anita, can he?
Of course he is. Remember that earlier scene where he almost groped her?
Well, yeah, but that’s just hormone-crazed teen male behavior. In his current state, just about any young convenient non-repulsive female will do. Which is what surprised me so much about his rejection of the girl at the party. He’s actually carrying a torch for a synth (maybe because she saved his life?).
I’m not claiming its rational (especially given that at that point, he hadn’t seen anything but non-sentient synth behaviour) or anything like that. But that’s clearly what was going through his head. He’s got a thing for Anita/Mia.
Hah, that scene made me laugh. Obviously the writers were expressing the fact he is in love with Anita with that scene, that’s why he rejected the other girl. But it wasn’t very believable, we are talking of a full of hormones male teenager, and the girl was very cute and was basically putting herself on a plate. Even with him being in love with the robot, we all know what a real teenager would have done.
I liked the first episodes of this series, where it explores the coming of robots to daily life. They present the robots as pure appliances, and everyone knows that, but even then, the series makes a case of how the situation could be a slippery slope, with people starting to kind of care for them even if they know they are just robots, thanks to all the familiar life with them. Little kids that don’t know to distinguish between them and real humans properly and really deal with them as humans. Couples that grow distant, that start doing less activities together because the robot alternative knows with perfect detail everything there is to know and why bother. People who retreats to the robot alternative, because it will never discuss with them or hurt them emotionally. People who lose their jobs thanks to them, obviously.
But as the series got close to the end, it has to focus obligatory in the main plot, and the main plot is weak. The episode 7, second to last, has been the weakest yet.
Yeah, I kind of agree. It’s much more interesting when it’s exploring (or at least hinting at) the issues around non- or quasi-sentient synths in society than it is when it’s doing its conspiracy thriller drama with the sentient ones, who might as well be human. There were moments in the last episode where they looked like they were going to make something of it - the idea that for all their sentience, they’re still constrained by their design and their psychology is different. But they haven’t really done much with it yet. Hopefully they’ll get the chance to do so in season two, which has just been announced.
The fact that there’s a season two has kind of ruined the anticipation for tomorrow’s episode now… :(
I was hoping for some kind of definite end to an enjoyable series.
Re: the last episode shown in the US last Sunday (the one where Maxie let himself drop into the river*)–I thought it really moved the story along. Cop sleeps with his partner and finds out she’s a sentient synth, Mia is awoken, etc. Can’t wait to see Sunday night’s.
*in keeping with the “black dude dies first” trope
I thought that cop was acting weird!
I saw some clip where they showed some of the tricks the actors use to emulate a synth - They lead with the eyes and then follow with the head a bit slower.
Overall I found this watchable but somewhat lacklustre. It was certainly intriguing from the start as I love the Black Mirror/Ex Machina type stuff, and this was reminiscent of those.
But it moved away from the interesting aspects and then didn’t really go anywhere, ending up a bog standard family-drama/chase show - but without the acting chops to pull off the more emotional scenes.
The acting really came across as more of a sitcom-style, so when they tried to go heavy (‘Tom’/infidelity) it was all kind of embarrassing. Not to mention it’s difficult watching Katherine Parkinson without thinking of The IT Crowd, DS Drummond reminded me of Ricky Gervais for some reason, and Leo reminded me of Sean Murray from Hello Games! But I guess those are my issues. :)
I found many of the characters lacked personality, there was even a scene where Leo had to give quick one-word summaries of all the synths’ personas so we had some idea of what they were meant to be about. Exceptions of course - I think the best character in the series was Odi!
Just be glad you’re not from the UK. Then you’d be thinking of the woman from the IT Crowd, a cocaine snorting psychopath from the Football factory and Merlin.
Was Ms Parkinson in the Merlin clip you linked? I didn’t see her (though I did skip around). BTW, is that Merlin show on in the US?
Nah, that Merlin clip was because Merlin in Humans is Leo from Merlin.
I was a bit wrong before: Katherine Parkinson is probably best known in the UK for a series of strange Malteaser adverts and the cornish receptionist in Doc Martin.
BTW, is that Merlin show on in the US?
No idea! There’s a BBC America website for it. It’s a pretty crappy show, and has Giles from Buffy in it as one of the most cartoonishly evil “lawful good” kings I’ve ever seen.
Believe that Merlin briefly aired on NBC and then SyFy in the US.
Yup. And it’s now on Netflix.
Season 2 has started airing on C4 in the UK. I’m liking it so far, 2 episodes in. It’s certainly doing more to flesh out what it means to be newly conscious, and exploring the boundaries of personhood.