Extant is a great sci-fi drama that features aliens, androids, intrigue, and cool advanced technology set in a not so distant future. After watching the first episode of the show I wanted to know more about Molly Woods (Halle Berry), her pregnancy, her relationship with her family and Dr. Hideki Yasumuto (Hiroyuki Sanada). As the season finale is this week, lets take a look at the season so far. Caution: contains spoilers!
Throughout the first few episodes we see Molly try to reconcile the fact that she got pregnant when a) it appeared as though she would not be able to have children and b) the fact that she conceived when she was supposedly by herself in space. I don’t think I would handle this situation quite so well. Things perk up even more when we find out how Molly got pregnant by this alien projecting her dead boyfriend Marcus (Sergio Hartford). My initial theory was that Marcus was an alien the entire time and didn’t really die. That theory got kiboshed. When we saw what the alien being actually looked like it freaked me out because they are practically invisible unless they have human DNA.
Molly’s story arc gets even more complicated as her husband deals with the pregnancy and Alan Sparks (Michael O’Neill), her boss at ISEA, takes great pains to get her baby. Sparks arranges Molly’s kidnapping, has a c-section performed while the baby is still developing, and puts it in some incubation box to help it continue to grow. Not only this but he makes it appear as though Molly imagined being pregnant. Molly at least gets allies to help her in trying to find her baby and get it back, although how she was going to remove a growing baby from an incubation box I have no idea. Her best friends: Dr. Sam Barton (Camryn Manheim), Harmon Kryger (Brad Beyer) and Gordon Kern (Maury Sterling). I’m glad Gordon switched sides try to help Molly out in her drama. Kern has a hint of a backstory that they have just scratched the surface on that I hope gets explored soon. I’m still bitter about what happened with Kryger.
In the meantime John (Goran Visnjic), Molly’s husband is processing the fact that his wife is not pregnant by him and the fact that people at her job are after her. He was a jerk at first until Molly was able to prove that everything happening to her was true. I think Molly and John worked well together when they tried to figure out what Sparks is hiding and found out what happened to her baby. He is also dealing Ethan’s rapid mental development and he’s really doing a good job of it *sarcasm*. Someone that is completely ignoring the fact that his son is needing attention and reassurance from him because he’s pre-occupied with his wife must be doing multitasking real well. In his defense it’s not everyday you are dealing with an alien child that your wife had either.
Speaking of Ethan, I am loving his character development over the course of the season. He starts out doing creepy things, like almost suffocating a bird that made me go “psycho kid” The way that he acts out sometimes, like running away with his bike, shows that he can be a little kid who can have fits, not just a robot. His relationship with Molly seems distant at first but then they seem to bond before Molly got preoccupied with her alien child. Molly at times treats him like a human moreso than a robot, unlike John. I liked the conversation that Molly and Ethan had when she explained that he had a conscious. Pierce Gagnon does a good job in making us forget at times that he is a robot.
Ethan’s trust in people that he knows and even strangers also shows how he is developing as a human. We see it in his relationship with both Molly and John, as well as Julie Gelineau (Grace Gummer) John’s business partner/the person who helped build Ethan. We learn that Julie has prosthetics legs so she has something in common with Ethan. Ethan even seems to trust Julie’s up to no good new boyfriend, Odin, which may be his downfall. Julie finally figured out Odin’s plans, but is it too late? Will Ethan trust what Julie tells him?
I like how the Ethan’s story and the alien’s seem to be the same yet different. The “alien” child is trying to adjust to this new world and Ethan is as well by trying to experience being a human child. Now that we are near the finale, we have seen the manipulations this alien child can do by projecting dead loved ones to get people to help him, i.e. Alan Sparks seeing his dead daughter as a little girl. We also see what lengths he goes to protect Molly while at the same time using her. The child is able to influence others by somehow taking control of their mental functions to the point that they would murder anyone that is perceived as a threat to him. The death toll this kid has is astonishing and he’s not even nine months yet! We now know that more are coming that are worse than he is! It’s up to super Molly to stop them!
Each of these characters several times throughout the series appeared to have separate storylines, but would intersect in a way that makes it one storyline at the same time. There is so much going on with this show and it keeps pulling out twists, especially involving Sparks, Kate, the alien child, and Yasumuto’s agenda. The first time we see Yasumuto is in the first episode coming out of some kind of hibernation box and I thought he is definitely up to no good. His motives behind getting Molly’s baby and funding John’s company really didn’t surprise me considering how the actor Sanada plays a similar character on the show Helix. His tenaciousness knew no bounds in trying to extend his immortality. I knew that when Kate made an reappearance she wasn’t who she appeared to be!
The show started with Molly coming back from space, now it ends with her going back into space. This show is a wild ride so far and can’t wait to see what happens in this season finale. Check out the preview below:
What do you think of Extant? What are your predictions for the season finale? Comment below! Also check out the podcast TVTalk with Natasha and Kimberly to get more thoughts on each episode.
*Photos Courtesy of CBS/Dale Robinette
