Extant 2.08 “Arms and the Humanich”

We rise back to average for this episode that seems almost like a deck-clearing exercise. Several plot threads come to a head, some of them much sooner than expected. We seem to have dealt with all the major topics of the season thus far, so what’s left for Molly Dodds and her two sons, Ethan and Ahdu?

Well, we know what’s left of Ahdu is not much, since he ages and passes away from the viral warfare, complete with death rattle. Pretty harsh, but then he was a serial rapist and murderer of women, however much those results were the byproducts of siring his children.

How do you know his children were alien? Well, they all wore subdued-hewed hoodies, liked to camp out in the woods, had weird visions of motherhood and family, and (like one of their mothers at least) had a tendency to go off the handle when pushed. Also, their eyes glowed like robot eyes.

Which is ironic, as the actual robots (the Humanichs army referenced in the episode title) didn’t glow at all, and looked completely human until you explode their insides and goo and gears fall out. We know this because Lucy, the anti-human anarchist, gets shot by JD when she’s trying to kill Molly. And why is she doing that? Because Julie’s corporate bosses have deployed her creations against the alien hybrids, and she figures Molly is the main cause of all the problems.

It’s passingly cool when the confused alien children find they can’t control the teen army of androids with their mind powers, but the carnage that results is pretty grim. It’s personified by one of the most recent births, looking very little girlish still, flees and hides under a bed. Molly can’t protect her, and everyone but she and Arris are killed.

Back in the lab, the injured Lucy enters zombie mode, and tries to kill Julie after she blackmails Charlie to turn off her fail-safe. This is one seriously screwed up artificial intelligence, and it takes Ethan to shut her down. Luckily for Julie, she’d had a long talk with Ethan earlier where she apologized for lying to him finally. He may not trust humans anymore, but he still cares for some of them.

Melina Kanakaredes has some poignant moments as JD’s ex-wife the judge, forced to care for the dying Ahdu against her better judgment. She and Molly bond over motherhood, and soap star Kanakaredes knows how to sell such bonding moments. Both JD and General Toby have been shown to have beautiful exes, but now both are drawn to Molly almost beyond their control. Which causes problems when she too starts to succumb to the virus by episode’s end.