Extant 1.05 “What on Earth is Wrong?”

So this is how it’s going to be. A filler episode like last week’s, followed by movement on all fronts this week, amping up the pace as requested. Not the most original way to run a series, and it doesn’t work as well as it used to. These days, we want the chaos to overwhelm, one big shock or reveal following the next. Astonish us, science fiction, anything else is too dull!

This week we get to worry over whether Ethan can heal himself, while Molly infiltrates her former employers under the guise of buying their outlandish story. The story which has changed from last week, from “we made you pregnant for science!” to “what pregnancy, crazy lady?” Of course they have the baby, which is all they ever wanted. For what purpose we still don’t know. They boldly just throw her unconscious, drugged, Cesarian-healed body in the same field where they dumped her child.

The bad guys at ISEA accept her return under the guise of not having her where they can keep their eyes on her. I don’t know if there’s also some crazy plan for her husband’s Humanichs, as John and his staff spend the episode vying for custody of Ethan. John reminds Julie of the hierarchy she signed on for (co-creator of Ethan or not, they aren’t partners) in no uncertain terms.  And Ethan does recover/reboot, though only by conveniently having forgotten the details of his kidnapping. Or has he? Remember, he knows about secret keeping now.

The Stepford Wife moment comes from Doctor Sam, who plays along with the whole Space Madness angle, though it doesn’t take long for Molly to figure out she’s been compromised. There’s even potential for forgiveness there, as she promises Sam it better have been a life or death threat to justify fucking with her this way.

They do find bio-evidence of her pregnancy, or at least of her pregnant blood, since she was bitten by a jumpy dog at Daddy’s cabin. But what can they do with that information when everyone is allied against them? And how does she get back the baby that didn’t want her to let him go? Plenty of time to find out, and John is at least still on her side (as is the missing Kruger potentially), but it better be really freaky.