AMC's newest show titled Humans is now halfway into the first season. With four episodes left of the sci-fi drama until August 16th, things are beginning to coalesce. So make no mistake, war is coming.
For those who have not been following the new show that premiered to U.S. viewers last month, although U.K. viewers had an earlier premiere, Humans is not a sci-fi drama that takes place far into the future. On the other hand, it takes place in the here and now, making it more relatable even for those who may not watch sci-fi. Yet the story location is based in London.
Bioengineered humanoid beings called synths, short for synthetic, are now the must-have tech product leaving the popularity of smartphones in the dust. Synths are becoming so ubiquitous, that the significance of their existence is unlike any in human history. Which calls into question, are synths possibly about to leave the reverence for humanity also in the dust?
All because since the recently aired episode four, perhaps no other technology that's ever been created by humanity, has ever brought such a division amongst humanity, as that of synths. Some loathe their existence just as much as there are some who love their existence. That synths are on the verge of becoming in society so pervasive a technology item, both within the privacy of one's home and in the marketplace, that some do not have the option to simply take it or leaving it. Especially that synths are also considered a luxury expense. And those who may loathe their existence may not even be luddites. Which makes Humans thus far, worthy to watch.
Yes, a war is about to come. For at this point in the sci-fi drama we now know what synths are capable of doing, besides those who were specifically and secretly created to be sentient, that is self-aware. For society has been told, although now revealed to be false, that all synths are not capable of self-determination. And from episode one until now, we know that some are.
Therefore there are now two kinds of synths unleashed upon society. Those who are mostly standard non-self-aware, and those who are not, whose secret existence may be smaller in numbers in the general populace. Dr. George Millican (William Hurt), formerly a brilliant scientist from the beginnings of the synth project, has grown emotionally attached to his synth Odi, an outdated care model synth since episode one. That's because although Odi is a non-self-aware synth, Millican can't help but seeing the blonde-haired synth also like a son. And being like a father, he can't bear to see Odi recycled, which is to be dead. That's because state care synth models are to be upgraded every two years, whereas Millican has resisted the state norm by hanging onto Odi for six.
Enter Vera, the state's newest synth care model introduced to Millican by a human case worker in the premiere episode, whom Millican has stubbornly resisted. Vera is by the book, devoted to caring for every conceivable need. Although unbeknownst to her being also a non-self-aware synth, her overprotective devotion comes across to Millican as stern, almost like a Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, though not as cruel. That is possibly yet.
In episode two, the caseworker shows up with Vera again, whom Millican previously had told both of them in his own way, to take a hike. Only this time before opening the door, he tells Odi to hide in the backyard shed. After opening the door, the female case worker says pleasingly, "I need to check on that D series." To which Millican replies, "I've recycled him." A convincing lie to protect Odi. And they bought it.
Yet in episode three, the game is over as George Millican tries to escape with Odi. And it's also this episode where one is introduced into what synths are physically capable of doing. In the episode, Millican tricks Vera saying he needs her to help him clear out a room. He then manages to quickly lock her in, then hastily retrieves Odi. Afterwards, Vera first hears, and then sees both Millican and Odi getting into a car through a window. Quickly turning around to find the door locked, with super strength, she then tears off the door knob to escape, but is too late. Just as Vera goes outside she shouts, "Dr. Millican, this is highly unsafe!" Now with Odi in the driver's seat, Millican says, "Step on it."
Also in episode three, there's the standard domestic synth model Anita (Gemma Chan), bought by Joe Hawkins (Tom Goodman-Hill) whose name was later agreed upon by his three children and himself. In the prior episode, teenage daughter Mattie Hawkins one day sees Anita encounter another synth just as Anita was taking out the trash, and notices she's not sharing data. All non-sentient synths are supposed to share data whenever they may have a chance encounter. Wife Laura Hawkins (Katherine Parkinson) also begins noticing peculiar tendencies in Anita, and attempts to take her back while both are in a car. At the beginning of episode three, both her husband Joe and teenage son Toby suddenly find out. Toby chases after them both on a bike as his mom's car comes to a stop at a light. When the light changes, Toby is on the verge of being hit by van. Anita notices, who then quickly exits the car to push Toby out of harm's way, followed by herself getting hit. Having both shoulder and hip damage, she's later repaired by Joe Hawkins, and it's then that viewers see that synths bleed blue whenever damaged.
After having gotten over their son Toby's close call with a van, while younger daughter Sophie Hawkins hails Anita as a hero, the matter of Anita's peculiarities still intrigues Mattie, who later attempts to hack into Anita. Even though she realizes that hacking into a synth is illegal, even by an owner. The hacking is momentarily stopped, just after Mattie sees Anita is suddenly frightened. Even so, the hacking sets off a signal on the internet, monitored by a young man named Leo (Colin Morgan), who along with a black synth named Max (Ivanno Jeremiah), are both attempting to reunite with their family of lost synths. Anita was among those lost synths, all who were basically kidnapped five weeks earlier to be reconditioned before being sold later, though she was known as Mia then. Leo is then given the first clue as to Anita's whereabouts.
Niska, a blonde-haired synth is among those whom both Leo and Max are also desperate to seek. Niska, like also Max, is a sentient synth, yet she is the first known synth to commit murder, killing a man after getting fed up working at a synth brothel. Shortly afterwards, she manages to steal clothes at a mall, and acquires blue contacts to hide her identity as a synth. Which, is how one can recognize a synth. For supposedly all synths, even no matter their skin color or ethnic looks such as the Asian looking synth Anita, all have deep iridescent green eyes.
The key word is supposedly, because in the case of Detective Inspector Karen Voss (Ruth Bradley) who has brown eyes, it's revealed at the end of episode four that she is in fact a synth. Prior to that, she takes in fellow partner Detective Sergeant Pete Drummond into her home just after his wife declares that he no longer makes her happy. For wife Jill, who undergoes physical therapy from a synth named Simon, has now grown attached to him. Not much a surprise to Pete, for he also sees the danger of not only society's over-reliance on synths, but also society losing humanity, and had said so to Karen. For both are also investigating the synth brothel murder.
Then, shortly after she makes a place for Pete to sleep comfortably for the night, Karen goes to her bedroom. It is there, that she opens her mouth wide to pull out an elongated blue bag, like a disposable blue stomach, and throws it into the trash. As already stated earlier, things are coalescing in the AMC sci-fi drama Humans, and so far, it's looking good.