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Monday, December 9, 2013

Almost Human 1.5: Clones and Holograms

Almost Human continues to walk one of the two possible paths of all successful television shows:  in the case of Almost Human, telling a new standalone story every week, while ever so slightly moving the underlying story along.   The alternative - which we get in Hostages, for example, also on television tonight - is to just tell only the underlying story, with differences in episodes largely or entirely due to the story moving along.

In Almost Human 1.5, we get two staples of science fiction - clones and holography - not only well presented together, but actually opponents in new tech opposition to one another.  The story begins with a witness testifying by holographic projection, to keep her safe.  She's shortly killed by someone who finds her real location, and it turns out that the killer is part of a team of clones of the defendant in the trial.

Almost HumanThe other side of this story has a holographic image fooling the clones, and thereby enable the police in this future to prevail.  It's a nice allegory to the tune of crime and high-tech doesn't pay, if you can field another high-tech in the battle.

Meanwhile, we get some good Dorian/Kennex joking, with Kennex both relieved and a little taken aback to learn - and see - that Dorian's makers had the sense to make him anatomically complete (this after Kennex sees and doesn't want to see that Dorian's robotic successors are anatomy free).  But when Kennex asks Dorian what he uses his anatomy for, Dorian gets off the best line of the show, remarking that he does the same with his as Kennex does with his - nothing.

And Dorian's observation may be well taken, given what we've seen so far between Kennex and Valerie.  What's he waiting for?  Is he still in love with the woman who betrayed him?  Apparently not, but, then, what's taking him so long with Valerie? He saved her life tonight, and what better time to take it to at least the next level?  Almost Human needs to take care that it doesn't fall into a traditional television pitfall, in which couples make eyes at each all season, and little more.






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