Most of the following gifs can be found on this Tumblr post. "Straw Man," the Season 1 finale of Almost Human, is packed with backstory. We finally learn a bit more about Kennex (Karl Urban)! Even better than the backstory, however, is the growing "robromance" between Dorian (Michael Ealy) and Kennex. This episode really took it to a new level. Some fans even joined in for a tweetout before the show, causing the hashtag
#AlmostHumanLives to trend in the USA!
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The episode begins with homeless people waiting in line for pills from a vending machine. One poor girl (Christie Burke) is tormented by a meanie (Mik Byskov), and a guy in a wheelchair comes to her rescue before she gets her pill.
The shelter is full, so Wheelchair Man offers to show her a better shelter out of the kindness of his heart. Then he stabs her in the wrist with a drug-ring (as in, a ring with a teeny needle full of drugs on it), stands up, and uses his wheelchair to take her to his shady-looking van.
Meanwhile, Dorian's contract is up for renewal, so Rudy (Mackenzie Crook), Maldonado (Lili Taylor), Kennex and Dorian are all being questioned to determine whether he should continue in the field. They all have nice things to say, including Rudy, who suggests that he would trust Dorian to watch his child... more than he would trust himself... if he had a child... except he's single... but if he found the right one... not that the interviewer he happened to gesture toward (Graeme Duffy) is the one, but... well, he could be!
When the interviews are finished, Kennex begins freaking Dorian out by telling him that everything the interviewers did is outside the norm. Then, he informs Dorian that he told them basically all of the bad things Dorian has ever done, which causes Dorian to become highly apologetic. Of course, it's all a prank. Kennex wouldn't tell them all that, silly "D"!
Later, the girl who had been put in the van shows up dead -- and filled with straw. Kennex does the honors of cutting open the stitches to reveal the straw.
Kennex recognizes the MO (modus operandi, in case you were wondering). His father had worked the same type of case about 10 years earlier, and Michael Costa (William 'Big Sleeps' Stewart), the man accused of the crime, was sentenced to life in prison and put on "the Red List" for psychopathic tendencies based on a brain scan.
Kennex and Dorian visit Costa in prison, and he insists that he's innocent. He also says that "Kennex" (as in, John's father, Edward, not knowing that John is his son) believed him, because he had found proof of his innocence... then he died two weeks later. Coincidence? Well, Edward Kennex was also concerned about crooked cops.
Meanwhile, Straw Wheelchair Man picks up another victim (Rami Kahlon).
When Kennex attempts to access his dad's old case files, he's presented with an access denied error. The problem is that his father had been under investigation for stealing from the evidence locker when he died. He tells Maldonado about the error, and she gets him access. Dorian doesn't seem very pleased when Kennex requests that Dorian go see Rudy while he checks his dad's files alone.
Kennex Sr.'s files prove that he believed in Costa's innocence, and they also contain photos of victims with their feet circled.
When Dorian arrives at Rudy's lab, Rudy shares an odd discovery: there was nothing at all under the victims' fingernails, which is impossible to pull off, even with a good cleaning.
Dorian asks whether Rudy has heard anything about Dorian being renewed, and Rudy says that everything should be fine, minus one hiccup: he suggested that he would want Dorian to have his baby, and they may have misunderstood him. Ya think?
His suggestion to Dorian to ensure a better chance of renewal is to act like an MX, since they are so popular. What are you thinking, Rudy?!
When Kennex arrives, he shares the fact that his father had circled the feet of the victims, and asks Dorian if he sees any similarities. Dorian says the victim is flat footed, which causes Rudy's brain to explode. He sets up a biological printer, then explains how printed bodies would have settled in their standing positions, creating flat feet. Organs cannot be printed properly, however, so the killer would have had to fill the printed bodies with straw to hide the fact that they weren't the real live victims. Rudy then prints out a cupcake for his missed birthday.
The gang realizes that the killer must be keeping the victims alive for some nefarious reason, and printing copies of them so everyone will think they're dead, and will stop looking for them.
The gang finds the latest printed copy of the newest victim, and Kennex notices a pinprick on on her finger (the skin is a perfect replica of the original). Dorian says that the previous victim also had a pinprick, and suggests it came from a pill machine. Pill machines are located next to shelters, so Maldonado sends MXs to all shelters but two -- the two where Kennex and Dorian, and Det. Paul (Michael Irby) will be.
As Paul watches out for the killer, whom they later learn is named Glen Dunbar, he befriends a homeless guy (Alex Barima) over a few "your mom" jokes, and shares some Bitcoins with him. Awww... Paul's not an asshat after all!
While Dorian and Kennex lookout for Glen, Dorian decides to sing a little Lionel Richie. The pitchy tune gives Kennex a headache. When Dorian asks whether Kennex's dad was capable of stealing evidence, John tells a story detailing how his dad was one of the most honest cops in the department: that was the reason John became a cop.
The plan works, and Glen is lured away from the MX-infested shelters. Unfortunately, Paul sees something fishy when it's already too late: the sunglasses of his new buddy are on the ground, and the shady van is driving away!
They track the van, and find Paul's buddy unconscious but still alive. Inside the nearby warehouse, they find a much less living victim who looks as if he's been there for a very longer time. The two women taken recently are both found alive.
The MXs carry off the living victims, while Dorian takes off to meet a few others after some shots are fired in their location. Dorian finds Glen apparently dead, but it's just a printed decoy of him.
Of course, Kennex stays behind by himself to look through the darkest, most eerie corners of the warehouse for evidence. Glen surprises him, knocks him around and begins strangling him. Kennex sure gets choked out a lot. It must be because of his perfect choke-face. A stab to Glen's shoulder has little effect, but is enough to get thrown across the room again, so Kennex can fire a bunch of holes into him, killing him. Buh-bye.
Turns out Glen is a cyborg, and he was kidnapping people to test out his tech improvements. When John's dad had deduced that Glen had stolen a bio printer from evidence with the help of a cop, Glen had him killed, then killed the dirty cop a week later. So, in solving this case, Kennex cleared his dad's name, saved three victims before they died, and helped release an innocent man from prison.
Later, Dorian takes Rudy's advice, walking and talking like an MX in his next meeting.
But then the reviewer (Ben Wilkinson) informs Dorian that he's only there to let Dorian know that he's been renewed*, and that Kennex was the reason. Dorian gets a little teary-eyed knowing that Kennex have him such a glowing review*.
*Dorian is "almost human."
Dorian uses Kennex's locator chip to find him at his favorite place: a noodle restaurant. He then gives John a much improved synthetic leg to replace his old one, and to thank him for causing his contract to be renewed.
After such a heartfelt "thank you" from John, Dorian begins full-on crying his little synthetic eyes out. This makes Kennex highly uncomfortable, which is utterly hilarious. But it's also fun to revise history just a bit to make the situation seem slightly different:
