Extant: S02E12: "Double Vision"

Rating: 5
OK

In A Nutshell

After last week's rather doll episode that was quite busy, this week it's much more subdued and slightly better because of it.

Things start with the bizarre suicide of Charlie! Well, attempted. He should have been dead though. Seems he decides to committee suicide rather than get help or figure out how to rescue Julie. This guys come up with lots of clever stuff but he's all rather defeated easily here. Even his suicide was as rubbish as his zero rescue attempts as JD and Molly and co walk in whilst he's been hanging there but he's still alive. Amazing huh? 

Meanwhile, JD's wife is out shopping and bumps into Hera who has been shot by a humanich. She helps her evade capture before they get together with Molly and gang to patch her up. A plan is hatched to try and get Fiona's help ... For some reason ... Why they think she's likely to help I don't know. Ethan is the mole. He gets deliberately caught by the GSC and goes for nice walk with Fiona to the park. Ethan has her use VR to talk with Molly who tries to convince her to check the drone logs. John or Toby's drone logs then? Lucy tries but fails to trace the call thanks to that handy thirty seconds rule which is mentioned so many times that you knew all would be OK.

Madame secretary Fiona, fueled by other strange stuff going on at the GSC, not withstanding some stolen human deadly virus from their labs, finds the drone had no logs. That's not good. She's now pro-Molly and suspecting that damm dirty A.I supercomputer, Taalor. She's right to, because it was the A.I who got Lucy to get the virus capsules and she's now handing them out to humanichs who are about to go on some lovely tourist visits to well-known countries around the world, chalking up those air miles for the GSC.

Another plan is hatched to bring down Taalor before these humanichs can fasten their seatbelts and start watching the in-flight movie. But this plan goes wrong, leading to JD and his crime pal to have to bail out of Taalor's datacentre building and avoid getting shot by guards who seem as incompetent as stormtroopers. Not having a clue what when wrong, Molly hatches another great plan, she'll get the new evil hybrid leader and have him help them. Right ...

Meanwhile, Ethan does what hapless Charlie didn't even think of, and tracks Julie's artificial legs. Seems they have some sort of WI-Fi chip in them. Of course they do. You'd think Charlie would have thought of that???!? Anyhow, she was down 10% of air at the end of the last episode, which 90% left. In theory there shouldn't be any air left by now, surely? Guess, as she's not in a car and phoning Molly, she might well survive.

Finally, Lucy and humanich friends at the lab, create a Molly humanich. You'd think things couldn't get more ridiculous? How could one tell difference from real dull boring Molly and a humanich robot, which I'll call Moll-bot. Well, JD could be fooled. Somehow Moll-bot finds where JD is hanging out, has found the same clothes as Molly was wearing, tricks JD into revealing Molly has the pendant that'll take down Taalor. For good measure, and no real reason, Moll-bot shoots JD in the stomach, rather than the head or somewhere conclusive.

What I liked

To see all GSC staff murdered by humanichs was the kind of gritty scene we need much more off. It had more powerful weight than anything else in episode ... or most of the season.

Taalor isn't an easy A.I. to outwit ... At least not in a penultimate episode. Next week he'll probably be caught in an DLL hell hack.

What I Didn't Like

Charlie decides this week to not engage his brain and commit suicide as he believes Julie is dead. It's just bizarre he'd have no clue in to how to find her or ask for help.

Most people die within seconds by hanging, but Charlie is still alive by the time rescue comes.

Julie only had 90% of oxygen left at end of last episode when she'd only been in box for an hour or so. Realistically she should be dead by now but stupid things happen in this show.

Fiona comes to her senses rather suddenly after not believing anything before but believes Molly for some reason.

Huh?

Every so often this show introduces some rather unexpected character turns. Charlie hanging himself takes the biscuit. The fact he survives is even harder to believe.

Let's see, open yard, two guards with guns, they couldn't surely miss JD and pal, could they?

GSC Staff take a nap

We all thought Molly was already rather like a robot, but this week we get a real Molly robot, or as I like to say, a Moll-bot.

And Finally

Better than last week, thanks to a slightly slower pace, which makes a change. Still, it all takes some believing to a large degree, especially with Charlie's attempted suicide.