Even synths can have daddy issues
THE HAWKINS
While most of the Hawkins feel like ANITA is
the greatest addition to their household, LAURA isn’t so thrilled. She fears
her children – especially Sophie – are starting to favour Anita over her
[swan-shaped apples will win kids over every time…] Furthermore, Laura has
reasons to believe that Anita is overriding her programme. Laura suspects Anita
can lie [synths are programmed to tell the truth] and she doesn’t share her
data with other synths like they normally do.
Laura finds an unexpected ally in her teenage
daughter: MATTIE. At first I thought Mattie was going to be the usual brooding,
rebel teen, but she is turning out to be much more interesting. Mattie has an
above average intellect. As a consequence, she realizes that synths may be
damaging human life instead of improving it. They are taking away their choices
in life. Why spend 7 years in med school
when there will be synths who can perform surgery by then? This ideology
drives Mattie to commit acts of synth-vandalism. She attempts to hack one of
the synth-janitors at her school, but gets caught and sent to the Principal’s
office. Refreshingly, Laura takes Mattie’s side [even though she knows she is
guilty]. Laura is happy to learn that her daughter is smart enough to realize
that the synths are “just dollies” and can’t replace people; unlike the rest of
the family who are utterly infatuated with Anita for different reasons: Joe
thinks having a synth is convenient, Sophie sees her as a real life always
nice/always happy doll and Toby thinks she is hot.
D.S. PETER DRUMMOND
We get to learn a bit more about D.S. DRUMMOND in this episode. We already knew he had a hunky synth at home. Turns out that
SIMON THE HUNKY SYNTH was sent to them by the insurance company after his wife
was partially disabled in an accident. Much like Laura, Peter feels like the
synth is taking his place [and satisfying his wives needs better than he can]. This
resentment makes him reckless and impulsive at work. His partner D.I. VOSS is
forced to rein him in more than once while they investigate the case of a black
market synth trader: SILAS CAPEX.
SILAS CAPEX: Silas
is what is known as a “head-cracker”. Basically he steals synths and reprograms
them to be resold in the black market, for a series of illegal activities like
prostitution.
LEO AND THE PLASTIC SYNTH BAND
The super-synths don’t have it any easier this
week. LEO [yes, I am going to fight
the urge to call him Merlin from now on] and Max pay Silas Capex a
visit, pretending to be friends of his friend: a guy named SALIM. What Leo and
Max really want to is to get a lead on Mia/Anita’s whereabouts. Silas informs
Leo that he wiped Mia and gave her a new personality. And bad news don’t end
there... Turns out, Salim owed Silas a lot of money; so he isn’t too happy to
see his “friends”. Things quickly go south. Silas and his henchman gang up
against Leo. Max is forced to intervene, effectively outing himself as a conscious
synth. They manage to escape, barely.
Meanwhile, Fred is still a prisoner at the BIG
BAD’S HQ, where they are performing all sort of tests. However, understanding
his synth brain is proving to be a difficult task because his “mind” is more
human than it should [in other words: messy]. HOBB – the leader of the synth
inquisition, whose deal I still haven’t figured out – comes up with an
alternate approach to learn more about Fred: “Talk to him”. Will they break
Fred? Will he betray his friends still out in the open? And if not… what will
they do to him?
Not having a great time either is NISKA who is
still at the synth-brothel. She is forced to endure one depraved man after
another. She finally has enough when an old creepy paedophile asks her to act
like a scared little girl. Niska attacks the man and ends up chocking him to
death, but not before she mentions that her “father” made her that way [meaning
free and not owned by anybody]. I believe this marks the first ever instance a human
has been killed by a synth.
DR. GEORGE MILLICAN
Elsewhere in town, Dr. Mcmillian is still
having issues with his broken synth ODI. The health providers force him to take
the new GESTAPO SYNTH who is no fun at all. She keeps checking the doctor’s
vitals and making him eat crappy low sodium food. Furthermore, she forces
George to hide poor broken Odi outside. We also learn that George was involved
in creating the original synths. Possibly a partner of DAVID ELSTER, which has
me all exited for a Walter
Bishop/William Bell dynamic to come!
*
The biggest
reveal comes towards the end of the episode. Max carries an injured Leo to a
public bathroom. Max plugs a cable to a socket, opens Leo’s wound and hooks him
up. Wait… WHAT? Is Leo a synth or a human-synth hybrid? Here is what he know so
far:
Leo refers to Max, Niska, Mia and Fred as “his
family” [hopefully he doesn’t think of Mia as his sister because that would be
weird]. He also uses the pronoun “we” a lot when he talks to Max and they talk
about David Elster as “their father”. However, Max mentions that he “was
created with a purpose in mind”, implying that Leo was born and has free will.
Also, Leo might have cables inside of him but he definitely has normal red
blood [unlike the synths who bleed a blue liquid]. In addition, at the brothel,
Leo has the “body heat” required to open the door. Hmmm… My theory is that Leo
is David Elster’s biological [human] son, who grew up amongst synths. Maybe he
had some sort of fatal disease as a kid and Elster “synthetised” him to save
his life [turning him into a human/synth hybrid]. Or maybe he is just the most
advanced form of synth. Either way, I love it!
The episode ends with Laura confronting Anita
about her odd behaviour. Laura doesn’t feel comfortable having Anita around her
kids. Things get more out of hand when she walks into Anita hugging her
daughter, Sophie [Syths are not supposed to initiate physical contact with
minors unless the parents approve first]. This is a definite sign that Anita is
overriding her program. Laura forces Anita outside and lets her know that she
is “returning her”. Aw… it’s almost as sad as Toy Story III. However, Anita seems happy with the prospect of
returning to the store. Hmmm. [This show makes me say “hmmm” a lot].
END OF EPISODE
QUOTES
“He is the
Mona Lisa, he is penicillin, he is the atom bomb” – Hobbs about Fred
“The others
think the sun shines out of her plastic arse”
“The synths
steal their jobs, they steal the synths. Makes sense to me” - Peter
“Why would
I have a problem with something that is making my existence pointless?” –
Mattie about the synths
Laura:
What is a chausseur anyway? / Joe: It’s a guy that drives you around and then
stops to give you a massage,
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