Wednesday, November 20, 2013

'Almost Human' in Ani-gifs and Tweets: A Deep Episode about Sex-bots?

Note: The gif-cap for the "Pilot" episode can be found here.

 Strangely, "Skin," an Almost Human episode about sex-bots, was both deeper and funnier at the same time in comparison to the "Pilot." It had a surprising amount to say for a subject that could normally degenerate into a silly mess. And the best part is that the most hilarious scenes had nothing to do with sex-bots. These laughs weren't cheap.
The episode opens with a red-headed sex-bot named Charlene (Darla Taylor), and her human client, Sebastian Jones (Robert Moloney), ready to get it on in a hotel. First, he's got to check for bugs, as in cootie and disease bugs. Gives a whole new meaning to buggy software! Is this how sex will be in the future?
Someone is watching Sebastian on surveillance, and sends in someone to kill him, grab Charlene, and throw in a sparkly "DNA bomb" to contaminate evidence. The culprits are wearing "flash masks" to hide their faces from the security cameras (that's a real thing now, by the way, but it's done with infrared lights). Clearly, things are not what they seem. 
Later, Dorian (Michael Ealy) and Kennex (Karl Urban) spot some kids outside the station who want to see some cool android tricks. Dorian impresses them with his face lights, but Kennex makes them scream in terror when he shows off the imperviousness of his synthetic leg.
When they get inside, they learn that Sebastian was the creator of a line of high-end "bang-bots," but he had gone bankrupt before his murder. Oh, and Charlene, the bot he was with at the hotel, left behind the fingerprints of a 25-year old human abductee.
Another woman is later abducted from a parking garage, while her son Victor (Raphael Alejandro) is sitting in the car. Kennex proves that he's not so bad with kids after all when he bribes Victor with the most amazing toy ever created in order to get some information about what he saw. Seriously, watching the entire episode is worth it just for the giraffe scene alone. The following gif is only a teaser, and does not do justice to the scene.
For those of you who would like to share this image all over Tumblr, half the work is done:
Just reblog this Tumblr post.
Meanwhile, Sebastion's seized belongings indicate that Lorenzo Shaw (Jos Viramontes), his former partner, was suing him. When they meet with him in a sex-bot store, Shaw informs them that their biggest client, an Albanian group, had just dropped them because they were "cutting out the middle man," in order to make their own bots. While there, Keenex asks Dorian to hack into their records to find the Albanians, since Shaw is tight-lipped about them. When they visit the Albanians at a sex-bot night club, however, all they get is the run-around.
The car Victor had seen driving off with his mother inside had been using a "tag scrambler" to make the license plate change. They track its last location to a warehouse containing a disgusting blob that used to be Charlene. They had peeled off Charlene's skin because it was real human skin. Rudy (Mackenzie Crook) tries to get some information from the android, but it's too damaged. However, ripping open Charlene's android skull is enough disturb Dorian.
The cops finally track down the current location of the tag-scrambled car, and it's filled with Albanians and another sex-bot named Vanessa (Ella Thomas), who has amazing hair. She is carrying the human DNA of a missing woman just as Charlene was. Kennex attempts to question her, but his questions are entirely inappropriate as far as DNR-type androids with feelings goes. Dorian is highly disappointed.
One question she fully understands, however, is who asked her to go with the Albanian men. That would be Yuri (Rowland Pidlubny)! The boys go back to the club, and break down a few doors till they reach the seedy backside of the place, but it's empty.
Shaw had mentioned that sex bots are based on some of the same DRN technology with which Dorian was built, and they include GPS trackers. Rudy elevates his nerdiness to a new level of "adorkable" as he attempts to "plug in" to Vanessa's GPS while trying to be professional and without sounding sexual. Her first saved GPS location is the place she was "born."
As soon as Kennex and Dorian get the location, they raid the warehouse, and find many woman in various stages of skin-removal. Thankfully, Victor's mom is among them, and she holds out her hand for Kennex, hoping for some good news. He tells her that Victor will be happy to see her, leading to a sigh of relief and a smile. 
Meanwhile, Dorian has set up a dating profile for Kennex under the name Dr. Richards. The most hilarious part of this is the reason he did it: because he scanned Kennex's testicles and found that he was "backed up!"
Kennex is initially upset, but gives in slightly at the thought of actually finding a hot date. But when Dorian asks him to describe the type of woman he wants to meet, he describes Det. Stahl (Minka Kelly)! With perfect timing, she calls at that moment, causing Kennex to revert to a crushing high-school kid. The whole thing is cringe-worthy, even to Kennex himself. Dorian rubs it in by imitating his nervous discourse, and Kennex begs him to shut the hell up.
The moments of hilarity are broken up by moments of honesty, when Dorian wonders what one should say to a child when their parent dies. "A better place" is the reply Kennex uses for both children and adults, to give them hope. Dorian asks whether Kennex ever told his now dead partner's son that his father went to a better place, but it was just too difficult for him to go there.
Dorian has learned that the best proof of one's existence is that they are remembered after they're gone, and wonders who will remember him. Kennex tells him that, as a cop, the people he helps will remember him. Later, we have a moment of tenderness when Vanessa must be destroyed because of her human DNA. Dorian uses what he learned to tell her that she is going to a better place, and that he will remember her.
We have another humorous moment when Dorian sets up Kennex on a date, and loudly informs him of the date in front of Stahl! Kennex calls him "Benedict Android" for the silly prank, but Dorian's also got horrible timing: he already has plans. Instead of going on a date, he decides to spend some quality time with his previous partner's son, and tell him about his father. Amazing, the humanity you can learn from an android by simply being honest with yourself!

The episode is available for a limited time on the FOX Almost Human page.

 "Almost Human" airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on FOX.
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownNovember 22, 2013 at 6:47 PM

    And somehow, people still manged to work in sparkle mentions! ;)

    ReplyDelete

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