Extant 2.09 “The Other Side”

What do you do after you’ve killed all your bad guys, had apologies from your enemies, figured out sort of what happened to your murdered husband, and lost one son only to potentially regain another? Sounds like the perfect time for a dream sequence with Lou Gossett, Jr.!

I mean, why not? Molly’s dying. The Humanichs are shut down, and the alien hybrids also seem to be. So while JD and Tobias bond over some scotch (as best they can, divided as they are by their differing roles in the military chain of command), and Julie and Charlie struggle to repair their relationship with Ethan (and to literally repair him, as Julie returns his erased memories as another sign of her late-developing self-awareness), Molly founds herself at a long lost travelling side show, with her father guiding her past a surreal sequence of familiar faces and cotton candy, in a very pretty dress.

It’s a kind of primal scene for Molly, it turns out, as it was the trip where she realized that her father was a philanderer, and it also coincided tragically with her mother’s death by car accident. An awful lot for a child to take in, but Berry (and the playful direction) makes sure to underline the links between childhood trauma and Molly’s recent history: her melodramatic over-reaction to John’s betrayal with Julie, her deranged struggles to protect Ethan, her empathy and loyalty to her alien son and his tribe of hybrids, despite their crimes.

A kind of breather and reassessment is probably a good idea, a needed break between the mayhem of the previous episode, and what’s to come soon. Because as the alien corpses come into the military facility, the human scientists aren’t prepared for one thing: these hybrids can molt! Thus a seeming corpse infiltrates the compound, and with her mental abilities, compromises the entire situation. It happens while everyone is distracted by Molly (or by Ethan, in Julie and Charlie’s cases).

Though the latter two were finally working together to shut down the Humanichs until safety protocols could be installed. Instead, they are called to action, but the robots are out for themselves now, which is going to lead to even weirder plot developments soon. Hopefully more than just the feared human apocalypse, at least, though violence is always the subtext of the robots with Lucy in control.

Still, the idea of evolve or die, of unexpected consequences and rapid developments spinning out of control is one of the themes of the series itself, if only fitfully explored when it can move on from the romance angles and the action-oriented plot developments that it tries to squeeze in. By episode’s end, Molly has figured herself out but lost her faith in humanity, and really she’s mourning one son and only barely aware that the other needs her again. A real sense of narrative balance is rarely attained in this story, but it’s not for want of actors who can perform or intriguing plot elements. They just need a crisper through line and some more inventive combinations to really get off the ground.