RECAP: Humans – Season 1 Episode 2

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!

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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,