Extant 1.02 “Extinct”

Extant is all about tension. Its subtext is paranoia. The surfaces are all too placid, bland, functional and pristine. It’s like the whole world has been roomba’d, silently, while we were doing other things, and now we just expect everything to stay that way. No more mess. Only it’s a little more hysterical and Joan Crawford-y than that: “No more messes, EVER!” someone is sure to scream, at some point.

The most important thing that happened this week wasn’t any of the myriad little plot elements, chugging efficiently along. It was that we learned that Molly (Halle Berry) has an oral chip imbedded in her palette that allows constant monitoring of her vitals. We don’t learn if everyone has this little invasive monitor, or if it’s a luxury for astronauts only. We learn about it when she pops it out and “forgets” it in a public bathroom, because she wants to go off the grid. We get the feeling that’s a very hard thing to do in her future.

She requires the secrecy because she’s doing a couple of clandestine things this week. One is visiting missing (presumed dead) ex-astronaut Harmon Kryger (Brad Beyer), whose version of off the grid consists of living in a mobile home parked on a cliff. The other is having an ultrasound in a veterinary clinic (the only place best buddy Dr. Camryn Manheim can find to diagnose without reporting the findings to their bosses). That she’s forced to these extremes is a good sign, I think due to the short-term nature of the series. They’ve got thirteen episodes to tell their story, and they’re getting on with it.

The other tensions are even more personal. Is her husband a fanatic? (Probably). Is his assistant sleeping with him? (Maybe, and if not she REALLY wants to). Is her robot son really an emotionless serial killer? (Probably not, to judge by his evident interest in learning and his need to bond with her). Will there really be a Robot Uprising? (Again, probably not, and the reason is in the next paragraph). Is her baby an alien that likes drawing weird diagrams on her skin? (Definitely).

When Molly takes her son on a science museum field-trip, he disappears briefly, freaking the parents out. He’s unimpressed by holographic animal displays (making him seem pretty cool to the other kids), but gets attracted to an exhibit on extinction. It’s a concept he was unaware of, but the helpfully clunky and unthreatening museum robot answers his every question (her name might as well be Rosie) to the best of her limited ability. Thus the episode’s title is not exactly about a threat to the human race, but also a reminder of those that came and went before homo sapiens.

It turns out Harmon’s encounter on the Seraphim space station was much darker than Molly’s, as he saw not a dead lover but his dead mother, still in her sick-gown, reaching out to him through walls and doors. There was also an inappropriate sexual vibe, not to mention if she wanted to impregnate him she was probably out of luck. This future may have genetically engineered its eggs so they no longer roll, but the female man does not seem to be one of its concerns.