Showing posts with label kennex. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kennex. Show all posts

Thursday, February 27, 2014

'Almost Human' GifTweetCap: Creep Be-Holding Beautiful Eyes

Part 1 of these gifs are available in this Tumblr post, and part 2 is on this post. Scroll to the bottom for more into on next week's season finale tweetfest, and ways to help the show get a Season 2. "Beholder" contains everything an Almost Human fan could want. It has a good dose of Fringiness (as in, similar to the much-loved sci-fi show, Fringe), Kennex-Dorian car-ride banter, and a bit of unexpected hilarity in what seemed to be a nod to Total Recall. In fact, the entire episode was a nod to one of the best episodes of one of the best sci-fi shows of all time: the "The Eye of the Beholder" episode of The Twilight Zone.

The episode "knocks it out of the park" right at the beginning with some awesome holo-golf. I don't even like golf, but this is pretty cool!
Unfortunately, a creeper (Michael Eklund) is spying on the golfer (Tommy Douglas), and quickly tases him when he notices something is up. Then, the bad guy shoots him up with something that causes a very "Fringie" wavering of the man's lip.
Next up: Kennex (Karl Urban) eats a doughnut, and it's somehow way more awesome than any other doughnut-eating cop, ever.
As Kennex enjoys doughnut heaven, Dorian (Michael Ealy) decides to slap him out of bliss by answering his phone, after Kennex insists that he leave it alone. Dorian then proceeds to tell "Samantha" just how much Kennex doesn't want to talk to her. Afterward, Kennex admits that Samantha "holo-blocked" him at dinner by inviting everyone she knows, and taking every call.
Kennex prepares to teach Dorian a few things about the bro-code, when Stahl (Minka Kelly) interrupts with an urgent matter: a Chrome (someone genetically engineered, the way she is), and 2036 Detroit Olympics participant, has died of apparently natural causes. When Kennex appears confused, Stahl explains that the man must have been murdered, because Chroming costs big money, and most of that goes toward not dying of natural causes.
Dorian confirms that the golfer was murdered when he shoots himself up with a little Chrome-DNA. The DNA suggests he was murdered by seven people, but it turns out they were all murdered in the same way. Apparently, our bad guy figures the needle doesn't need to be clean if he's just killing them anyway.
Then we see what the killer, whom we later learn is named as Eric, is doing: taking the victims' DNA, and having a doctor (John Shaw) create some sort of serum out of it, so he can become the Frankenstein of beauty. That sounds like an oxymoron, but apparently, the disgusting phase is supposed to be temporary.
The murder is leaked to the press because Chromes are a tight-knit group. Stahl goes it alone when visiting the Chrome club that noticed its missing member, but a bitch-faced Chrome (Emilie Ullerup) is uncooperative, because she cares more about the purity of her club that about catching a murderer.
Stahl finally gets somewhere when Jake (Jesse Hutch), a cute Chrome guy, notices what's going on. He also gets her some surveillance video so she can see whether the dead Chrome was being followed.
Rudy (Mackenzie Crook) proves that seven other people died from the same drug. He lifts up one of the holo-bodies for better viewing.
The others weren't Chromes, but were all good-looking people. In fact, they never would have known about the murders if it hadn't been for the death of a Chrome. As such, Rudy is quite perturbed that he was not notified of this "Beauty Killer," as he is clearly a beautiful man.
Rudy discovers what is happening: the man is stealing facial parts using a drug that had been tested but never released to the public. Dorian and Kennex visit one of the doctors (Matthew Harrison) who performed the drug trials. He explains how the drug works with an example: Kennex could have asked to have Dorian's perfect nose, then they would have performed nanobot-surgery to give Kennex the same nose. The only problem? The donors die, and the recipients become disfigured.
Later, Eric comes across his new eyes -- is this another nod to "The Eye of the Beholder"? He seems so friendly with his new victim (Alex Duncan), but of course, he's only being friendly with his new body parts, not the human beings behind them. He seems to think that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" means that you have to have beauty in your eyes, with which you behold the objects from which you will steal those eyes.
... and now he's got perfect, beautiful green eyes to go with his nasty face.
Eric needs a specific tool to perform the procedure, so Kennex seeks out Dicarlo (Tony Cox), a man who may know more about it. He finds Dicarlo hiding inside an odd choice of bots.
Using Dicarlo's information, they find the location of the doctor who has been injecting Eric with his new face, and had formerly been involved in the trials. He takes a large dose of adrenaline in the hopes of fighting off Kennex and Dorian, but this results in his death -- after giving Kennex a good choke. Dorian attempts to revive him, but fails. Good riddance!
They find the final victim using facial recognition on the last feature Eric wants to steal: cheek bones. They base the search on a photo of the goal features found at the doctor's secret lab. Unfortunately, Eric will still be able to find a new victim with similar cheek bones.
Through some clever detective work, Kennex realizes that all the victims have new 3D DMV photos, which Kennex was unable to get, even after waiting for hours. He speculates whether the killer works for the DMV, and is correct in his assessment.
Meanwhile, Eric sits at home, creepily eyeing Judy (Rhonda Dent), a woman across the way, as "Crimson and Clover" plays. She turns out to be a woman he met online, and fell in love with. He's trying to look perfect for her, and she's anxious to meet him. With the cops closing in, Eric decides to pay her an early visit. Guess what? She's blind! Queue The Twilight Zone music...
Kennex is clever a second time when he notices the well-worn spot where Eric has been spying on his Internet soul-mate, and breaks into her apartment to chase him up to the roof of her building.
Kennex is a bit depressed after seeing the lonely Eric commit suicide, so Dorian offers to watch him drink. That got "a little weird last time," so Kennex has a better idea: stop being lonely by going for the girl he really wants. Unfortunately, he's late to the party. Jake got there first.
If only Kennex had experienced that heart-broken feeling before trying to talk Eric off the ledge. Maybe he would have known what to say. The blind girl went with her heart. The funny thing is that Stahl went with her heart after realizing that perfect Chromes can be human too. Not all of them are asshats.
See that? "Beholder" has many parallels with The Twilight Zone episode. Beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder -- "ugly" people can actually be ugly on the inside, and perfect people can be beautiful on the inside, and vice versa. You just never know what a person is really like, whether they appear to you to be beautiful or ugly, until you get to know them.

Want Almost Human Season 2?

Almost Human is by no means "certain to be canceled," but it is "on the bubble." It could go either way. So, next week is our last chance to make a good showing for our favorite show. Let's do this!

1. Tell your friends to watch, and live tweet. You never know when you may be quoted in my next article, or elsewhere! Networks are beginning to look more and more at live discussion events, especially since it indicates that people are watching live.

2. Next week, we will most likely be tweeting #AlmostHumanLives to push for renewal (for this episode, it was #RenewAlmostHuman). I'll update this if that changes. Join the Almost Humaniacs Facebook group, and the Almost Human Task Force for more information, and for more Almost Human fun!

3. In addition, RewardTV is a Nielsen site that gives away prizes for taking TV trivia quizzes. Pay attention to the commercials during the finale, then take the quiz. You can only take the quiz the day after the show, and then it goes away... but they love when you get the questions about the ads correct. That means the advertisements are working, and that everyone is making money off the show. That's the whole reason they want people to watch live... to make advertising money.

4. By all means, if you have a Nielsen box, you should definitely be watching live so that you'll count in the ratings.
Posted by at 3 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, February 6, 2014

'Almost Human' GifTweetCap: XRN vs DRN

You can find most of the gifs from this recap on this Tumblr post. "Unbound" marks the first Almost Human episode that is completely devoid of Kennex-Dorian car-ride-banter hilarity. Instead, Rudy offers up all the humor required for an episode of the series, even though the banter is sorely missed. There are still some nice moments between the pair, and the episode is a fantastic break from the normal routine. Still, I expect the show to get back to hilariously awkward and inappropriate homosexual innuendo next week. By the way, I've gotten friends who are not sci-fi fans to watch expressly for the banter and comedic moments. So, tell your friends to watch and live tweet! You never know when you may be quoted in a recap!

The episode opens with children taking a tour of the precinct. Dorian (Michael Ealy) attempts to take the child-friendly route, while Kennex (Karl Urban) does his best to terrify them to the point of puking. --Since barf makes me barf, I've left that part out of the gif.
Meanwhile, a cyclops android steals a purse, then kills the victim for apparently no reason. A slew of MXs "kill" the thing, then place it in evidence lockup. What they fail to realize is that the bot is still kickin'. They merely placed it right where it was told to be: the same location as the mysterious head glimpsed in the pilot episode.
Mr. Cyclops turns itself back on, removes it's own head, then replaces it with the female head already in lockup.
Rudy (Mackenzie Crook) finds that the cyclops head is highly complex, and programmed by someone who really knows what they are doing.
The new-headed machine, known as Danica (Gina Carano), decides to take a cab ride. Here's a word of caution: never stop for a gorgeous woman dressed in all-black ninja military gear and guns. She will blow your head off and stuff you in your own trunk.
When Kennex sees a photo of the stolen head, he recognizes it immediately. In fact, the entire precinct knows about it, except Dorian. That's because Danica, an XRN model similar to the DRNs, was the department's biggest failure, and they buried information in a place where even Dorian can't find the truth with is genius noggin. Back when the DRNs had been taken offline, one Danica XRN was created. She went all loony and killed a large number of cops and government bigwigs over a period of three days, until Kennex finally helped to destroy the body. The gang decide that the head must be what the Insyndicate had been looking for when they broke in during the "Pilot" episode.
Apparently, Danica is out of charge, without a USB plug. She decides to replace her body with a sexbot. --Initially, I was fearful that the episode would to devolve into a silly Xena-like escapade, until she finally put her clothes back on. Hopefully, the hot bot-bod pulled in some male viewers.
Danica takes the body from the workplace of a Dr. Nigel Vaughn (John Larroquette). When Nigel enters, she knocks him out. Dorian and Kennex investigate, but Dorian seems to know the doctor. Kennex is a bit confused by the display of affection he witnesses, until Dorian explains that Nigel is his creator.
Meanwhile, Danica continues her rampage, seemingly killing and mutilating people for no reason. That includes the removal of a lab tech's eye.
Dorian and Kennex take the doctor to Rudy's lab, where Rudy uncomfortably bows before his idol.
While at the lab, Nigel presents the gang with his most wonderful creation: the "synthetic soul" shared by the XRN and the DRNs. When the DRNs suddenly began to fail, they were all decommissioned. Nigel's company, Lumacorp, went from the most powerful in the world to a pile of scrap. Nigel claims to have changed nothing when creating the Danica XRN, but he was in a different place: desperate to save his company, and his good name.
Despite having the same "soul," Danica is nothing like Dorian. She even considers killing a mother (Kirsten Robek) and daughter (Bailey Herbert)... that is, until she receives a compliment.
Nigel uses one of the synthetic souls to track Danica, then fashions a big needle that is supposed to shut her down when stabbed in the back of her neck.
Danica uses the eyeball she stole to break into Nigel's old lab and kill more people, and steal 500 processing cores, which can power one android each. She then shoots up a fundraising event full of politicians. The target seems to be Councilman James Hart (Leon Hanson), who had pushed for the DRNs to be decommissioned, causing the downfall of LumaCorp. Kennex jumps out, and stabs her as directed, but it doesn't work.
Danica then proceeds to throw Kennex around like a rag doll.
Dorian does a bit better, but still gets kicked into a pillar, and impaled with some rebar.
Kennex takes another try, getting nearly choked to death, then head-butted. I'll look past the fact that she could have killed him instantly by crushing his neck, mainly because the next part is so cool:
We don't have to worry about Danica anymore: she's now a pile of goo:
Unfortunately, there may be many more Danicas to come. Nigel planned the whole thing. He sent the cyclops to steal Danica's head, then sent Danica to steal the processing cores. Killing James Hart would have simply been a bonus, because Nigel took off with the synthetic souls and processing cores while the cops were trying to kill Danica again.
"The wall" had been mentioned once before in a previous episode, and it is referenced again in this one. Nigel takes his goods, and scales the wall with help from his androids (previous gif). Apparently, he's got to be crazy to go to the other side, but he'll also have a private place to create his android army without interference. In this image, you can see the wall near the top. It's basically the line of demarcation between beautiful shiny buildings and old brown buildings.
Also, these tulips were undoubtedly created to honor the previous effort of J.H. Wyman and J.J. Abrams: Fringe.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)