Humans 3.4: Sam

A big development in Humans 3.4, one which puts Sam very much in the spotlight of this narrative.  It was a logical move, putting him right in the middle of our central characters, but one which I was not happy to see.

That would be the killing of his synth mother, Karen, at the hands of a brutal human mob (who, I can't help saying, remind me of the people at Trump rallies).  On the one hand, she was always a marginal character, never quite in the center of this narrative.  On the other hand, she was a very appealing and powerful character, well played by Ruth Bradley.   I'll miss her.

But her death means that Joe will taking charge of Sam, which inevitably means Laura and family will be brought into his life, all the more significant in that this family now includes Leo and all of his knowledge.  Does Leo know about Sam?  Not clear.  Indeed, I can't recall who else among our originally sentient synths know about Sam - maybe none of them.

As I said in an earlier review, Sam's very existence raises all sorts of interesting questions, first and foremost being will he age, or be an ageless Peter Pan?  The actual construction of all the synths is far from clear.  Clearly they have the stuff of circuits inside.  We know from season one that they don't digest their food - they live on electrical energy.  But it's still not clear if any of them age.  Probably not.   Which would make Sam an especially significant character.

One of the best things about Humans is the way it mixes interpersonal and philosophic issues, along with the action which keeps the story moving.  Karen was a victim of this action.  It's result has now put Sam on center stage.

See also Humans 3.1: Class Warfare ... Humans 3.2: Mortality ... Humans 3.3: Human Leo on Fictional TV and the American Southern Border

And see also Humans 2.1: Westworld meets Nashville ... Humans 2.2: The Consciousness Code ... Humans 2.3: Motives and Uploads ... Humans 2.4: Android Orgasms ... Humans 2.5-6: Children ... Humans 2.7-8: Universal

And see also Humans: In Ascending Order ... Humans 1.7: "I Think You're Dead, George"

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Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams 1.3 Human Is: Compassionate or Alien?

Humans in outer space has been adapted to the screen less frequently than other themes of Philip K. Dick.   But his work in that area is equally brilliant and sometimes better than his better-known themes - I've thought that ever since I read his "Beyond Lies the Wub" first published in 1952 - and in the case of Bladerunner ("Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"), the two motifs (outer space and robots) are in effect combined.

Human Is, the third standalone episode in Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams 10-episode anthology now streaming on Amazon Prime, and which I'm reviewing one episode at at a time (see my review of the first episode for how I'll be reviewing these episodes), is just about outer space, and is science fiction at its very zenith.  Though, if we're dealing with Philip K. Dick, nothing he writes is ever just about that, whatever that is, because it's always imbued with the question that haunts and animates just about everything he wrote:  is it real or dream, human or android, this dimension or another one?

In Human Is, the question is whether Silas (powerfully played, of course, by Bryan Cranston) is human or Rexorian, a dangerous species from another planet that likes to inhabit its human hosts.  Silas left on the mission cold and distant to his wife Vera (played with sensitivity by Essie Davis, last seen - by me - in The White Princess and Game of Thrones) and returns full of tenderness, consideration, and lovemaking that Vera tells him she never experienced like that from him before.  Silas nearly died on this mission.   So is his new, much better behavior the result of that experience changing him, making him more human, or because he is no longer just Silas but a meld of Rexorian and human?

I'm not going to tell you ending.  What I will say is that this is one beautiful piece of work, down to the cinematography by David Katznelson, the directing by Francesca Gregorini, and the writing for television by Jessica Mecklenburg.  And the acting not only sails with Cranston and Davis, but strong supporting performances by Ruth Bradley (last seen in Humans - an android series about as Dickian as it gets) and Game of Thrones' Liam Cunningham.

Having now seen three episodes of Electric Dreams, I'd say it's right up there with The Twilight Zone, and better (from what I've seen) than Black Mirror.

See also Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams 1.1 Real Life: Mutually Alternate Realities ...  1.2 Autofac: Human v Machine ... 1.4 Crazy Diamond: DNA Batteries ... 1.5 The Hood Maker: Telepathy and Police ... 1.6 Safe & Sound: This Isn't A Drill ... 1.7 The Father Thing: Dick from Space ... 1.8 Impossible Planet: Eye of the Beholder ... 1.9 The Commuter: Submitted for Your Approval ... 1.10: Kill All Others: Too Close for Comfort